Christmas with the in-laws

Kevin and I spent last weekend in Chicago with the Bodines. We realized that for all the times we go to visit my family, we never go downtown. On our first day there we rode the train into the city. We saw the window display at Marshall Fields (Macy's), ate dinner at an English Pub, browsed the International Christmas market, and saw Mama Mia (a late anniversary gift). The show was lots of fun, and we had a really good time.

It has been a long time since we went away, so we were glad for the excuse to be gone for a few days. We (especially me) needed the break. Elinore was totally terrified of my parents' dog. If they were even in the same room, Elinore was in a panic.

We are so excited to be at Mom and Dad W.'s tonight!
Here is Elinore in her Christmas dress. 

Christmas in a cup

A couple of days ago, I was reading someone's blog (someone from the States, though I can't remember who) and they were saying that one of their Christmas traditions was to get a gingerbread latte during the holidays. Now I don't really care much about Starbucks, and if I were in the States I probably wouldn't think twice about it, but we do strange things to try to reconnect with our home culture and at the time I read it, I thought "Hey, I could do that, and maybe I'd feel more like it's Christmas!" Seems kinda crazy, and even now it's hard to explain but as many of you have lived overseas, you probably know how it is. So, even though it cost as much as 4 meals ($2.50) I decided to spend some of my Christmas money on a gingerbread latte. It was tasty and I was kind of enjoying it until I got outside where the sun blazing and I started feeling very hot. Then I wished I'd asked for an iced gingerbread latte. I took off the lid to try to cool it a bit and the very hot latte sloshed down on my bag and leg. So now I was trying to catch a songthaew with my drink in one hand, while trying to hold my latte soaked plastic bag at a distance with the other. Thankfully, I made eye contact and got a songthaew quickly. At last, I could enjoy drinking in peace... except that the songthaew was so bumpy that I couldn't drink from the now lidless cup without splashing myself. "Oh well," I though, "at least I can take a sip when he gets to red lights and lets other people off"...except he sped through all lights and let only one other person off before me. So all the way home (on the songthaew, running across the road, riding the motorbike taxi home) I was holding my drink at a distance lest it slosh me. When I got home, I found I didn't really care much about drinking it anymore. Maybe I shouldn't have worried about being late and stayed to drink it in the aircon of Starbucks. Or maybe I should have waited til I had more time. Or maybe I should have remembered that Christmas doesn't come in a cup.

Saturday Night Reflections

I know that everyone is especially busy in December, but I figure that 12 days is long enough to go without posting any thoughts. I certainly have nothing profound to say, but I am thoroughly enjoying the Christmas music playing and the glow of the tree lights. How good it is (should be) to stop every year and wait for Christmas. There is no other day during the year that is anticipated, advertised, and shopped for like Christmas; it even has its own music dominating the radio stations for 6-8 weeks before the actual day. If only all this hype could point the way to the actual meaning of Christmas and not take on a life of its own. I guess we all have to make our own decisions about what we need to do, or not do, to make our celebration of Christmas the life-transforming event it truly is, year after year after year. Although some of my reasons for loving this season of the year seem superficial, I hope I can use them to prepare me for the Main Event.

The First Real Chore

Elinore's first chore is to unload all of the silverware from the dishwasher. We sort of happened upon it accidentally. I was unloading the dishwasher, and she came in and wanted to help. She pulls out each item (one at a time - don't worry, no sharp objects) and hands them to me. As I take them from her I say what it is (fork, spoon, spatula,...), and I put them in the drawer. The first time she cried when all the silverware was put away!! I definitely need to take advantage of her enjoying helping.