Monthly Archives: December 2008
“SURPRISE!!!”
Sunday my mom and I traveled down to Chicago to surprise my sister for her birthday.
Since my sister, mother of seven, wife of one and a preschool teacher, is by far the hardest working woman I know, we try to make a big deal out of any occasion we can for her.
Her daughters came up with this great idea after our previous trip to Chicago was cancelled. Needless to say my mom and I jumped at the chance and then proceeded to pray to the Weather and Health Gods that all would go smoothly so we could make it down there.
Our prayers paid off because the sun was shining and the roads were bone dry. And amazingly enough, there wasn’t even a runny nose found on any of those cute seven faces.
The ride down to Chicago was filled with many phone calls between our car and my nieces and brother-in-law as we tried to organize the perfect time for the onslaught of surprise. To say we were all excited was quite the understatement.
All the hard work and careful planning paid off as Debby was so happy and so surprised it made us all laugh with happiness. At one point she even exclaimed while looking at mom and I, “I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU ARE STANDING HERE! IN MY LIVING ROOM!”
It was a short visit but a VERY fun one.
One filled with many cute faces:
a big birthday party for both Debby and my nephew Aryeh (who’s birthday is Wednesday):
The lighting of the last night of Hanukkah:
A very special Von Trapp like family sing-along:
although I don’t think the Von Trapp’s sang Hanukkah songs. But maybe that was in the Sound of Music 2.
And of course some of Aunt Becky’s famous self portraits and goofy pictures with my cute eldest niece.
I think, I hope, this was just what my sister needed to give her that extra umph in order to get through the rest of the winter in a house full of nine.
Happy Birthday Dear Sister. I love you so.
We Had Ourselves A Merry Little Christmas
Despite all my bitching and moaning, Christmas turned out very well this year. Better than I expected.
Christmas Eve I had my folks over to my place for dinner and then we all went back to their place to spend the night. Santa only comes to my parents house because at my house we have a gas fireplace so… duh!
Ben got to open a couple presents on Christmas Eve and one was for the whole family. It was a puzzle. YAY! A puzzle! What a great idea for everyone to take part in.
It was 500 pieces, but no big deal. My mom, dad and I are so quick and smart. This puzzle would be finished by morning.
Before sugar plums danced in his head, Ben left Santa and the Reindeer some snacks. I’m sure Santa appreciated the extra instructions on what was what. I mean you try getting ALL over the world in one night and see how your vision and reading is.
In addition to these great treats, Ben also left Santa a letter.
My favorite was the option on cookies for next year. This kid is nothing if not thoughtful. I think I see politics in his future.
Christmas morning came fast… a little TOO fast for some of us, but Ben’s joy made up for the lack of sleep.
And good lord, that kid raked it in. Which pleased me to no end because I was worried it was going to be a lean Christmas. But as my VERY generous mother said, “Christmas comes but once a year.”
My uncle Bob was also incredibly generous to Ben this year. One of the gifts he got him was a digital camera. The boy took to it like a PMSing woman takes to chocolate covered salt.
As soon as it was out of the box, he was taking pictures of his toys, his grandparents and a few too many of his mother.
At one point I asked to look at his pictures and said, “Oh wow! I didn’t know you got a Jaba the Hut doll. Wow, he’s huge! Look at all those chins on him!” To which Ben replied, “That’s not Jaba. That’s YOU Mom!”
The diet starts today.
Oh and as for the puzzle. After hours of back breaking work, days of mind numbing concentration and many a grumble made, this is how far we got on the damn thing.
We are smart people. We can do puzzles. But this puzzle is without a doubt The Hardest Puzzle Ever. Someone evil made this. Someone without a soul or a human heart created this. I haven’t looked closely at the box but I’m pretty sure I could find Dick Cheney’s name on there somewhere…
Minus the Devil Spawn puzzle and the fact that I’m not going to eat until mid 2009, it was a very nice cozy Christmas. What more could a good Jewish girl ask for?
Happy Merry Holidays!
