New Year's Eve sledding

I gave Adam a sled for Christmas, a beautiful sled handmade in Colorado that is both work of art and fast flyer. Well, the first run was kind of slow, but with wax and a steeper hill, it got faster.

Adam grew up sledding down his grandparents' big backyard hill in Pennsylvania, and he loves it. Isaac hadn't discovered the fun of snow yet - just its surprising coldness - but I thought this was something the two of them would love doing together.



The first time, Isaac was pretty scared and just rode down the hill once and no more. But we took him again while my family was here, and the second time, he loved it. It might have helped that he and Adam had been bent over the plastic runners on the bottom the night before, laying on the wax and buffing it smooth. Adam said the process was a little slower with Isaac's help, but I think it was worth it. As we got out of the car at a neighborhood park and laid the sled on the snow, Isaac jumped on, ready to go - a big change.



This is the hill, and below - Adam and Isaac gliding down.



Isaac loves to be pulled back uphill too.





Then we took a family ride down the hill, which was fun until I slid off the back.





Next it was Babop's turn to take Isaac down.






And Taylor tried it out too.


Adam and I took a ride together too. I'm not usually a fan of going fast on slippery surfaces (In the five years we've lived in Colorado, I haven't set foot on a ski slope.), but once I get on a sled, I love it.




Isaac was walking down the steep, icy top of the hill, then back up, again and again. On each descent, he smiled at us and said, "I'm walking carefully down that mountain, really carefully."



Thanks to Taylor for taking pictures while I was on the sled!


And then I got carried away with shots of Isaac sitting in the snow...




























Isaac finally discovered the joys of playing in the snow. It helps that we had a beautiful, blue-sky day; boots that fit; mittens that stayed on (thanks Megan!). We all had the best time while Jonah stayed in the warm house and played with Deedah. Jane, you would have loved it - wish you'd been here too.



At some point, a snowball fight started between my dad and Taylor. Isaac thought it was hilarious and started throwing snow too - mostly at me.




Isaac loves to eat snow...I tell him to just make sure it's white.





The powdery snow had melted in the sun enough that my dad and Taylor were able to make a midget snowman. A glove they found in the snow made a perfect hand on one side, and my dad gave him a Forest Creek (?) hat; we decided he was a golfer.



Isaac loved Mr. Snowman. It was the first one he's ever seen.





Tired boy - time for a quick lunch and a nap.



Portrait


And a happy boy to greet us when we got home.

Dec 30 - Jonah with my parents

After visiting all our favorite neighborhood foodie stops - the artisan cheese store, the corner wine store, the fresh seafood shop, and our amazing nearby bakery - my parents brought the goodies back to our house and cooked us another yummy dinner. Halibut with a red sauce over pasta.

Jonah was a happy boy with all the attention and all the activity in the house.

Dec 26 - Video Thank you to Aunt Kitty

This would have been a great present for Adam too...

Christmas

Here is a sleepy-looking Adam, who stayed up late helping Santa arrange Isaac's train table just right.

Isaac didn't wake up expecting anything different on Christmas morning, even though we'd told him that Santa might bring him a few presents. We all got dressed like normal and then headed down the stairs, slowly, Isaac clutching his new dump truck that he'd opened the night before.

He didn't notice the train table until he was walking into the living room. It was a good thing we stayed home for Christmas, because this present would have been hard to transport between Charlotte and here. And there was nothing he wanted more than a train table. He was kind of shocked at first, I think; he stared at it with a little smile on his face, easing into it slowly. Then once he began to discover all his cool new pieces, he played and played and didn't want to stop.

Here's the video of Isaac coming down the stairs:


And a later one, once he got into it more:





Jonah didn't really know it was Christmas, but he loved watching Isaac play with his new toys. He thought the trains were pretty cool too and kept launching himself forward as he was watching.

Isaac eventually discovered that there were a few things in his stocking too.



We kept the tradition of my family and had a big Christmas morning breakfast with scrambled eggs and homemade biscuits, although we didn't gather around a beautifully set table with our best dishes, and we didn't have sausage or country ham or preserves or grapefruit halves. We substituted bacon for Adam, and we ate in the kitchen for ease - with an infant and a toddler, it just made sense. Breakfast was somewhat chaotic but delicious.



Part of Adam's present to all of us was a new web cam so we could skype with our parents. Having never been away from home on Christmas before, it meant more than I'd realized to talk to my family on Christmas morning and be able to see each other. Isaac was delighted to show off his new trains and the real digital camera from Jane and Greg. Below, Jonah was watching too.










I love these Christmas morning shots of Jonah:




We spent the next week opening our presents slowly. I don't know how we had so many for just four of us. My big family might have something to do with it - thanks everyone!




Tiger was worn out from all the celebrating and snuggled up with Jonah for a nap.


We had an invitation for Christmas night, a gathering of neighbors at a house around the corner. Before we left, Jonah was ready to party:



After an evening in a warm house with wine, food, and neighbors, I carried my tired baby home in a snowsuit while Adam and Isaac stayed a bit longer. Colored lights adorned the Victorian houses, and hard snow crackled under my feet as I walked. I held Jonah tight and sang Silent Night quietly to him as we rounded the corner.

Christmas Eve 2009

Okay, so the above photo is from 12/21, not Christmas Eve, but I added it because of the questions about Jonah's eyes...They are definitely blue now, but they only show up that way in outdoor light. Inside, they are so dark that they still look brown.



This was my first Christmas ever away from my family, and the week had been bittersweet...Good times with friends, but constant thoughts of home and family members arriving and the warmth and laughter and lively background noise that have always been part of our family holidays. This year, we would be just four - not 15, like the years of my childhood, or 11, like recent years.
But we had a beautiful snowstorm on the 23rd that stretched into Christmas Eve and covered the city in a white glow. Christmas lights everywhere - on Victorian houses, stores, city landmarks - reflected in the snow and lit up the night. It looked like a postcard Christmas, and that made it a little easier. And we didn't have to travel through that snow, or stay up all night before a flight packing and finishing presents, and we got to enjoy our own tree on Christmas morning. Also, Isaac's main present from Santa wouldn't have traveled well. In the end, we had a beautiful Christmas here, just the four of us.
On Christmas Eve, I made apple pie while Isaac napped, and then we got him up early so we could go to church. We have tried so many churches, and we finally found one that we both loved not long before Jonah was born. We'd only been once, but it was nice not to wonder where we would go for a Christmas Eve service. This church had a service especially for families at 5pm, so we dressed up a little and headed to the beautiful stone building from the 1880's, on a corner of downtown. The snow had stopped, and a frigid wind had picked up, so I wrapped blankets around Jonah, and we hurried in a few minutes late. Inside was all warmth and light, pews packed with families, babies everywhere. The service was beautiful, and even Isaac (who had broken the silence of our last service there with "Go home. Isaac want go home.") seemed to enjoy it. He sat in my lap for much of it and gave me hugs and kiss after kiss. We all received candles as we entered, and after the sermon, they turned the lights down low, and we passed the flame down the rows, lighting our candles one by one. Then we sang Silent Night in a beautiful scene of old wood and flickering light. Isaac seemed mesmerized.

I had brought the camera to church so we could get a rare family shot. Isaac refused to look at the camera, so the photo above is what we got. Jonah is yawning - deceiving, as I put him (unsuccessfully) to bed three times that night and finally just let him fall asleep in the sling and stay there until I went to bed.

Below, we tried again at home to get a picture of Isaac - same result.


In my family, it's tradition that the children get to pick one present to open on Christmas Eve. It's fun for many reasons, but we especially like it now because it helps spread out the presents so the next morning is a little less overwhelming. We always did it after dinner, but this time it made more sense for Isaac to open a toy before dinner so he'd be entertained while we cooked and drank wine. With the happy distraction of a present from Deeda and Babop in his hands, he finally looked at me, just long enough to click the shutter.



Dinner: French goat cheese, a wonderful Bordeaux, tenderloin and roasted root veggies (beets, potatoes and carrots, all grown at our CSA or in our backyard).
It was not exactly relaxing (Isaac just picking at his dinner and needing help with many things; Jonah finally sleeping in the sling so I had to eat right-handed), but it was candlelit, yummy, and wonderful. We were all together in our warm house with the excitement of the morning to come. Adam and I were the most excited of all.

Once we put Isaac to bed, with Jonah snuggled peacefully against my chest, Adam and I got to finish our wine and eat my homemade apple pie together in the candlelit dining room before Santa arrived. Then we could relax.



A close-up of my first-ever apple pie. I was proud.