Peace Out, 2010

Jingle All The Way

In one fell swoop, we conquered Western Massachusetts for Christmas Day. Starting bright and early at 5:30 AM in our own home. The reason for waking so early is still unknown to me, since Sadie doesn't get that Santa delivered presents overnight. But I'll take 5:30. It's a steady improvement over 3:30 for sure.

We did a little gift exchange of our own, then packed up and shipped out. First stop was Grandma and Pep's for more gift exchange, then to Grammie and Grandpa's for dinner and visiting with the Bonacker side of the family. Sadie scored awesome Mickey, Minnie and Goofy play figurines from her Aunt Kendra, among other goods to keep her little hands busy. In a new version of Yankee Swap, I vied for a $25 Friendly's gift card (wait till the lil' one gets a taste of a Fribble...).

Toward the end of the day, Sadie was weary from the excitement. But we made her rally one more time to show off her tricks. Like the little circus performer she is, she dutifully did the "Home Alone" (the hands-on-face scream), a few pushups and doled out "The Face" to spectators. Uncle Joe, a photography enthusiast, tried to get the pose on film (he did a fantastic job with all pics in this post!).

With bellies full and gifts strewn about, Sadie collapsed in my arms in full surrender. Christmas 2010 was complete.

For the Love of Santa

Today started and ended with a bang. For some unknown reason, Sadie decided "morning" started at 3:24 AM today. She started crying and upon checking on her, she requested a cookie. When she got a fat no as an answer, she asked for cake. Smart bugger. For the hour and a half following this, we tried everything to get her to go back to sleep. Promises of cookies later, playing different music, rocking, letting her in bed with us, rubbing her back, playing with her hair and a few threats. At 5:08 AM we officially gave up and let morning arrive. It doesn't take a genius to know that this set us up for quite a day.

We were lucky to squeeze in a two hour nap late morning. This was some saving grace. But the skipped nap the day before (flat out refusal!) and the early waking was a bad holiday combo.

Our Christmas Eve plans involved the Foster side of the family. We started off at Nana and Papas for dinner and gift exchange. Sadie beelined it to the tree, sorted out the presents and checked out baby Jesus. She nonchalant that the Son of God is in her hands.

We made our way over to Auntie Gerry's for some extended Foster family fun. Sadie's cousin (who is closest in age) Alia spun a Ring-Around-The-Rosy for some applause.

After eyeballing and taking an aim at Auntie Gerry's rum and coke (she claims she wanted the ice), Sadie took it upon herself to confiscate all of the pepperoni. This is particularly noteworthy because of our recent family decision to attempt vegetarianism. While it's tragic and disgusting what the animals go through, our main concern is really the quality of the meat available. There are so many hormones and unknown oddities forced on the animals - not to mention the low quality of food they are provided while alive. We don't completely object to meat, but we can't afford purchasing the all natural, grass fed meats. But I digress...

Back to the story of the pepperoni. It became sort of a joke that she was stealing all of the pepperoni to keep her protein levels up. She ate a few (I pick my battles), but after awhile she'd take one, disappear, then come for more. Turns out she was lining them up like soldiers. Alia followed suit. They were both running for handfuls of pepperoni. The finale: Sadie shoved each piece (about 10?) in her mouth at once...until I wrestled them out in fear that she's gag or have some serious heartburn that I'd have to contend with at 3:24AM.

The capper to the day was the complete meltdown at bedtime. Hysterics like I've never seen. Eyes rolling in the back of her head. Enough to make me a little scared. If Santa can give me one thing this Christmas, it's a decent night's sleep for this kid.

It'll Be A White Christmas After All

Fa-La-La-La-La

What's a holiday season without a few parties? Sadie, who's known to kick back a few egg nogs (seriously), broke out her party attire to mingle. It was our first annual "A Very Neighborhood Christmas" gathering - which consists of Alex's lifelong best friends, who all grew up on two parallel streets in Upton, MA.

There are nine friends or so that have a friendship like no other. Since grade school days, they've treated each other like brothers and sisters. They've welcomed in new spouses into the group and now kids.

Last night's party included as many friends that could make it (some live far away now), some siblings, and a handful of parents. We chowed, drank, talked and played a little Yankee Swap. One person got a remote control helicopter. Sadie watched the assembly process and helped Katie whirl it into the sky.

The newest member of the crew is Keira Sterry, who was born in August. Keira's dad Nick is one of Alex's best friends. And now with the girls only about a year and a half apart, we've been promising roller skating and sleepovers down the line.

Santa Baby

I've been talking about Breakfast with Santa since my first date with Alex - or so he'll tell you. That and pony rides and skipping meadows (all things I wanted to do as a child and only some were fulfilled...I'm still waiting for my skip, Mom).

I did Breakfast with Santa when I was young. It was in downtown Springfield, at Steiger's or something. I remember it being a dressier affair. Maybe times have changed?

Breakfast with Santa in Holliston is put on by the Lion's Club. Fortunate for us, we have a fellow Lion (Hank) across the street with the 411. I should preface this tale with Sadie's building excitement that started yesterday. Trying to get her to go to bed was near impossible. She just chattered about Santa and pancakes. Finally I gave her a stocking to sleep with, telling her it was Santa's sock and we couldn't see him until the sun came up.

Anyway, we went to Placentino (the grammar school in town). Music was blaring. Kids were everywhere. Pancakes were flowing. We met up with the Bakers, who took Emma and new addition Christopher. "Mayor" Sadie danced with Emma and posed with Jean (Hank's wife) who brought her own grandkids.

There's a stark constrast between the kids who are excited to see Santa and the kids who actually get face-to-face. It goes from wonder to horror in an instant. Tiny children clutching to their parents, screaming. No lie, there was a small puddle of pee at Santa's feet. Sadie did well though. She shot us a look of warning when we dropped her in his lap and stepped away. The body language says it all - "Keep your distance Old Man".

Last Hurrah

I've aired my frustrations the past several months about trying to get the perfect monthly picture of Sadie to mark her "birthdays". And the general complaint is that it's near impossible, with her constantly moving and doing the total opposite of what I ask. I also made the decision that as of her 2nd birthday I would retire the monthly photo, since we'll start to wean off of referring to her age in 30 day increments.

Today Sadie decided to celebrate her slow grand entrance into official toddlerhood with some self-made confetti...in the form of baby powder. I happened to be outside for a run at the time of this, but Alex thought it best to laugh and grab a camera rather than stop her from making a hideous mess. I'll give him a free pass on this one - but I could have predicted being the disciplinarian out of our duo before Sadie was an apple seed in my belly.

We grabbed a pretty little Christmas tree from the Lions Club to call our own. Sadie was beyond excited to help, but that went downhill pretty quickly. Like the danger magnet she is, she went directly for anything with hooks, small pieces or glass. We sectioned off a little pile of ones she could hang. They made it to the tree for seconds, then came back off to go for a ride in her grocery cart.

By the end, we had a beautiful tree. Now all I needed was the grand finale...the 23 month photo (note: I'm expecting little issues with getting a decent 2nd b'day pic. I'll have plenty of opportunity). With a swift bribe of a bite of Nana's peanut butter ball, I forced her to stand in her Mickey shirt (her new BFF), with chums Yukon and the Garth Brooks wannabe Elmo who sings "On the road again" (I'm going to kill him by the end of the weekend). She squealed a loud, half-assed "CHEESE!" and was back to begging for the treat. And I'm spent.

Friendly Faces

It's a bit of a Santa craze these days. Lots of buzz around this man of mystery. Sadie doesn't understand the full scope of his powers - like presents, flying reindeer and cookies - but knows he's something special. We have a full weekend planned of Christmas activities, including getting our tree and Breakfast with Santa, but we started early this week with a few decorations.

Our little plastic, vintage Santa and Frosty sit on our porch with the outdoor tree. Sadie waves to them each morning, presses her little face to the glass to say 'hi' peroidically, and pops outside for the occasional high-five. She's enamoured.