Christmas 2010 will be known as Sick Christmas. We all got hit with the Khris Kringle Super Virus a few days prior to Christmas and we are still pretty sick. However, we did manage to drag our drugged selves out of bed to attend the Washington Ballet Septime Webre produced version of the Nutcracker at the Warner Theater in the District. I'll just say that $250 worth of nonrefundable tickets spoke loudly in my feverish haze. It was a great performance, that I'm sure we would have enjoyed more had we been feeling better. The boys clung to us through most of the performance. I have no memory of getting dressed or of important sections of the ballet that I thought they had mysteriously deleted until I read the program and realized I must have been asleep or passed out (don't worry....Ed drove us there and back. He is further along on the road to recovery).
There was definitely a distinct DC flair to the production. General Washington was the Nutcracker. Claire's home was placed in 19th century Georgetown. The whole second half was danced in a cherry blossom wonderland. And the kids in the production, of course, were adorable.
After receiving reassurance that Santa will even come to sick kids' houses, Asher wrote his annual letter of anticipated appreciation....
....and INSISTED we bake cookies for him even though I told him I didn't think Santa had much of an appetite for baked goods this year.
WE WISH YOU ALL A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HEALTHY AND PROSPEROUS 2011!!!!
Last night, you started asking me about college. Where will I eat? Where will I sleep? What will I do for my birthday in college? All important questions. A few minutes later I heard you belting out "Sweet Caroline" while perched on the toilet. While getting dressed for bed, you ran around your room with your underwear on your head. Then you gave me a big goodnight hug and kiss, looked me square in the eyes and said in your sweet sugary voice, "Mommy I love you," before climbing up to your top bunk.
Is this six? I hope so....'cause I love it and I love you!
This is my week in facebook statuses that I was too busy/frazzled to post in the moment:
Sunday: Jen G....is great at recycling. She's been recycling the same cold since early November!
Monday: Jen G....thinks its hilarious that Ed's aunt sent us a handwritten Christmas wish list in the mail. Does she think we live at the North Pole and have little elves working for us?
Tuesday Jen G....wishes schools would just make up their minds about the robotics program. She has a staff to hire and train by January!
Wednesday Jen G....loved hearing Asher shout out random versions of "I'm turning SIX tomorrow!" It's really here....my baby is SIX!
Thursday Jen G....loved her morning run in the falling snow flakes this morning with Christmas songs on her iPod.
Friday Jen G....can cross off 'pictures of boys with Santa' from her Christmas list. Thank you church Christmas party! May I never have to see the inside of a mall again.
Saturday Jen G.....plans to pay off Asher with large sums of cash and candy rather than endure the 1 1/2 hours of chaos and noise that was his sixth birthday party ever again.
Now that I type these all out.....third-person facebook statuses are kind of dumb.
I am uncharacteristically merry about the upcoming holidays. Easy Ed thinks it's because the stock market has done well this year. But I think it probably has more to do with both kids being in school all day and finally having a job that is challenging and fun (at least for the moment). And just having so many reminders of all my blessings lately....
Here are a few little things that are contributing to my jolly ways this season....
1. Pandora Christmas Radio. I play it through most of the day when I'm working from home. It's always fun to hear a forgotten favorite. Another bonus: Having Christmas music playing in the house all day bugs the hell out of Easy Ed.
2. Salted Carmel Hot Chocolate at Starbucks. Salty and sweet. Very sweet, but yummy. Definitely get a short....there are some serious laws of diminishing returns working in that drink (not to mention calories). When I was about to exit Starbucks after drinking one the other day, I briefly considered busting through the window rather than walking out the door. It just seemed so possible at that very moment in my extreme sugar high.
3. Cinnamon-scented pinecones. Who invented these? I am not a card-carrying Michael's customer, but I was walking by the store entrance the other day when my nose came across a bin and I had to buy a package. And then I came back the next day and bought more to fill the rest of my house up with that yummy scent!
4. iPad. We found a Black Friday deal so the iPad is already in use at the Guzman home. This means our Christmas tree is going to be a bit bare this year, but early projections declare it a winner. I will write another post soon about the iPad and specifically how it is shaping Noe's learning.
5. The Nutcracker Ballet. We have tickets for Christmas Eve. This version of the ballet is supposed to have a lot of American history to give it a DC flavor. I am excited and a little nervous about how the boys will fare. The tickets were not cheap. I already have the boys in training....they listen to the Nutcracker CD every night and we have been reading the Nutcracker storybook that my aunt gifted us several years back. Tonight we went to a practice performance.....a silly Disney revue that the local high school was putting on....and the boys did well. I, however, wished I had brought along the above mentioned iPad ;-(.
6. Jillian Michaels Yoga Meltdown. I like Jillian because she isn't peppy and kicks my rear end. I also like her because the bottoms of her feet are dirty in her exercise DVDs. It tells me that she is working and not just "showing up." My arms and abs haven't looked better in years. It is a good wintertime indoor exercise alternative for me, since I refuse to get an overpriced (why should I pay big bucks to drive and park and THEN exercise?) club membership, but I don't always get my butt out the door for a run in the extreme cold temperatures (extreme cold = anything below 50 degrees to this Portland girl).
7. $1000 of non-perishable food. I get to give this away to a local organization as part of my church calling. How cool is that?
Christmas 2010 will be known as Sick Christmas. We all got hit with the Khris Kringle Super Virus a few days prior to Christmas and we are still pretty sick. However, we did manage to drag our drugged selves out of bed to attend the Washington Ballet Septime Webre produced version of the Nutcracker at the Warner Theater in the District. I'll just say that $250 worth of nonrefundable tickets spoke loudly in my feverish haze. It was a great performance, that I'm sure we would have enjoyed more had we been feeling better. The boys clung to us through most of the performance. I have no memory of getting dressed or of important sections of the ballet that I thought they had mysteriously deleted until I read the program and realized I must have been asleep or passed out (don't worry....Ed drove us there and back. He is further along on the road to recovery).
After receiving reassurance that Santa will even come to sick kids' houses, Asher wrote his annual letter of anticipated appreciation.... 
....and INSISTED we bake cookies for him even though I told him I didn't think Santa had much of an appetite for baked goods this year.
