Yuletide

The children are nestled all snug in their beds. Jim is nestled all snug on the couch. Sugarplums are all consumed, stockings emptied, carols sung. It was a beautiful Christmas. One which I will describe to you after a brief trip back in time to last Saturday night, when Jim's sister and brother-in-law arrived from Ontario for a four day visit.

Or should I say, a four day eating tour of the Northwest. I am not sure why, when company comes, we feel obligated to eat like every meal is our last, but if you're feeling underweight, start making your plans to visit. We hit the schmancy brunch buffet, our friends' house for fake Christmas feasting, an Indonesian place, dinner out at a restaurant (grown-up restaurant!), dim sum, and hot pot. By the end of their visit they were begging for vegetables.

Jim hatched a scheme whereby instead of dropping our company at the bus station for their trip to Vancouver, we would rent a minivan and just drop them at Vancouver itself. So we got a hotel reservation and had a quick trip to the... I don't know what Vancouver's city nickname is. The awesome, neato city? The trip up there was silly in the sense that we relied completely on technology to guide us (modern technology, not the less-recent advances like cartography and printing on paper), and technology was all, whatever, you guys, I had somewhere else to be, and I didn't actually SAY I was going to be available on Wednesday. There was some bumbling, in the automotive sense. But we got there, saw my in-laws' in-laws (who were genuinely charming), and made it to our hotel in time to wander around Robson Street on a bustling Saturday night.

We got tourist Thai takeout, which wasn't bad, and ate in our hotel. The girls think every hotel is a combination of the Taj Mahal and Never-Never-Land. Naomi was excited about "breakfast service," which sounds even more snooty than room service, somehow. We spent the morning (post "breakfast service") in the super deluxe pool and hot tub. Now I am feeling sad, and missing that hot tub. Sigh. On the way back to the States, we made a way too quick stop at Granville Island to see if things were still hopping at the public market. Answer: yes!

Christmas Eve, I am sorry to say, there was some shopping. Not too much, and mostly groceries, but sorry, and thank you, retail workers. In the evening, we went to the children's service at church, which featured not only a living nativity, but also Muriel's first ever choir performance. I am happy to report that my stage mother routine was limited to instructing her not to suck her finger or pick her nose while on stage. And she nailed it! Singing good and loud, knowing all the words, no unfortunate actions with hands or dress. At one point two of her little choir mates were showing us their naked torsos. Fortunately Muriel was not influenced by them.

When we got home the girls put out Santa's cookies and went to sleep with remarkable alacrity, considering the number of church cookies apiece. Jim made us a late Christmas Eve dinner, non traditional in the sense that it was a seared ahi tuna salad, but traditional in the sense that it was super tasty and lit by tea lights in jars with glue-brushed wrapping paper on them. Blah blah, stockings, blah blah cinnamon roll dough, blah blah up way too late. But then... a Christmas miracle! Both girls slept in till SEVEN THIRTY! Sleep, the greatest gift of all!

We made it back to Christmas- I knew we could do it. Santa brought the girls what they asked for in their super cute letters to him- "glass" slippers, aka, those plastic sandals with the princesses on them. They are horrific (slippery, clonky, foot-deforming, and to me somehow emblematic of early female oppression training), and I am so grateful that Santa is around to bring presents that I could never in good conscience purchase and gift. I was gratified that they liked their cheesy bathrobes, a gift that cost me a good deal of time and frustration, because really, shouldn't there be a zillion kids' bathrobes around for Christmas purchase? Eh? I got Jim some practical garment-category gifts, some nougat (his kryptonite), and a carom board. He got me a beautiful necklace and an e-reader which I am not going to name because the last time I put the name of a gadget in here, I got a weird spam comment right away. If you are curious, it is the e-reader that is associated with a retailer that goes by the name of a big river somewhere that has lots of feisty crocs and whatnot. And so far I LOVE it. The e-reader, not the river. I am afraid of crocs.

Anyway, hours and hours of sweet harmonious play (the sort that makes you feel like having kids wasn't a bad idea, as it turns out), lasagna for Christmas dinner, more cookies, another screening of "White Christmas," nice long chapter of Naomi's new chapter book, second Knuffle Bunny book (which Muriel got for Christmas), everyone asleep, dishwasher humming, third cup of tea, and here we are. I feel like the happiest, luckiest person around tonight. Merry Christmas, Friends!