Friday, January 23, 2015

December 2014

Holiday spice potpourri
—HellaStorm2014:
So after three years of basically no rain at all, we got a genuine storm system this month. I had no rain gear at all, and none of us had shoes fit for the weather, so we all got actual rain boots (and I got a jacket). The kids were SO EXCITED to stomp around in their boots; Lukas forded an absolutely enormous puddle that almost came up over the tops of his! One cold and rainy Friday afternoon, I busted out the retro Santa Claus mugs and we all had hot chocolate in the warm and cozy house — perfect.
—Lukas is obsessed with ghosts: Pretty much every kiddie show they watch has at least one ghost-centric episode, and for some reason, Lukas wants to watch those episodes over and over. He pretends to be a ghost, puts stuff on his head and says “ooooooooooohhhh! I’m a GHOST!”, etc. What’s extra funny is, Annika is as scared of ghosts as Lukas is enamored of them, so he has to do all this when she’s not around. 
—Lukas loves games: The kid has figured out board games, and pulls several down any chance he gets. His favorites are Sequence and Candyland, but once he gets going, he will play every game in the dang closet if you’ll let him. 
Christmasy Goodness
—Family holiday party at Brianna’s:
The whole family was invited to a big holiday party at the home of one of Annika’s classmates, and we all had a great time — there was a magician for the kids, beer for the grownups, etc. It was basically just around the corner from us, too — bonus!
—School field trip: I went on the school bus with Annika’s class to Campbell (the same theater where her dance recitals are) to see a play — something with elves and cobblers and whatever. The kids loved it; I, ahh … tolerated it. Heh.
—Getting and decorating the tree: In early December, we went looking for a tree. The first lot we visited, where we’d gone last year, was a bust, so we drove around and sort of stumbled upon another, where we struck gold within about 30 seconds — Annika spotted a winner right away! Brought it home, stood it up, got it decorated … and that part was hilarious, because Annika is now old enough to do it right, but Lukas mainly got underfoot and/or hung stuff all in one 8-inch radius on the front lower branches — classic! 
—Advent calendars: I can’t believe I remembered to do this BEFORE December started, but I did pick up a couple of those inexpensive cardboard Advent calendars for the kids at CostPlus back in November. The kids, of course, treated each day’s advent calendar opening with the reverence and enthusiasm of Christmas Day itself — I had to let them get at their little chocolate squares immediately after breakfast or I’d get trampled trying to hold ‘em off.
—“Christmas Eve Gift!”: This year, the annual Hilton Christmas tradition of “getting” your family first went thusly: It was a tie between R. and I, the kids both got me, and R. got both kids; I got Aunt L., and Uncle J. got me (via text).
—The big day: On Christmas Eve, we hung the stockings and put out a plate of cookies for Santa, and the kids got to bed relatively quickly for fear of Santa seeing them still awake and just driving on past our house. R. and I mixed some White Russians, wrapped the remaining hundred thousand presents with help from the grandparents, then watched A Christmas Story (again). The next morning, the kids woke up not too horribly early and started shrieking when they peered down the stairs and saw that Santa had been by after all. We let them open a few presents, got the turkey into the oven, and then opened the rest — and of course the kids were out of their minds with joy. Kinetic sand, PAW Patrol stuff, a thousand Hot Wheels (and miles of track), Anna and Elsa costumes, a telescope — there’s barely a thing left on any shelf in America after our kids got it all, ha! We managed a damn good Christmas dinner, too — bless us, every one!
—Hot Wheels and cookies with the cousins: A couple days after Christmas, we got the whole gang together at our place for cookies (like 9 different kinds, made by Aunt A.) and hanging out. The kids played with Hot Wheels and all the other new presents, and a good time was had by all. 
Annika the Observant
We’ve had our hairs done at the salon in Los Gatos and are getting back in the car. She watches a pair of teenage girls walk by, sipping from their Starbucks cups. She asks, “Are those high school teenager girls?” I say yes, and ask how she knew that. “Those are the kind of shoes that all high school age of girls wear — those brown boots with the fur on top. Gio’s sister always wears those.” She means Uggs, and Gio’s sister — Gio is a classmate from last year, whose 17-year-old sister picked him up from school every day and did indeed wear the teen girl fashions of the moment. Kid doesn’t miss a trick, does she? 
The Quotable Lukas
—“my kachow car”
The little toy Owen Wilson/main character car (it’s called Lightning McQueen) that he has, from the movie Cars, which he hasn’t seen but is on the brushing app in a little animation that has him zooming onto the screen, revving the engine, and saying “Ka-chow!”
—“Is it Cwismas today?” His question every.single.day of December, and into January.
—“Did Santa Cwaus come and giff me pwesents wast night?” ditto
—“Make the wights come on!” His order to me and/or Annika each morning, to turn on the Christmas tree lights.
—“Grandpa, you're my best fwend!” Declaration to the Old Man while they were playing trains one afternoon.
—“Hey, that's Uncle Jake!” Pointing to a picture of an out-of-uniform Derek Jeter on the cover of his new book, a Christmas present to Grandpa from us.
—“My got! To wook at space!" In pleased wonder on seeing Annika's new telescope.
—“It's eighteen four, can I have my tweet now?” In response to me putting time limits on how often they can dig into their Christmas treat stash (I’d said “no more treats till 10:30 a.m.” or something like that).
Bad terribleness
My mother, the kids’ Mamalah, died unexpectedly on December 21. I don’t have the heart to write about it again, but for posterity and by way of explanation, here is what I wrote to our friends the day it happened. 

My mom's COPD, which is incurable except by lung transplant, was chronic but manageable, and during our weeklong Thanksgiving visit, she seemed better than we've seen in awhile. In early December, as I told you, she was in the hospital for it, but never really felt better, and nevertheless was released after a few days. This week, she took a sudden turn for the worse, and my other relatives and her friends -- against mom's specific wishes -- notified us kids and called us to get here asap. I arrived at 2:00 a.m. Saturday morning, had the day (during which she was non responsive and laboring for breath), stayed with her through a very long night, and was with her when she passed this morning at 7:30 a.m. We'll have the funeral tomorrow. My poor sister was en route home from Japan but arrived here this afternoon; everyone else was already here. We are well supported by a veritable army of relatives and friends. Annika and Lukas, thank Shatner, are safe at home in California with daddy and the grandparents. I’ll be home midday on Tuesday the 23rd, so I can still have Christmas with the family.

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