December 2018

School days & friends & holiday potpourri
This was a busy busy half-crazy month, as always, but waay more fun than a normal busy month! Among all the millions of things: We got a new car — a white Tesla 3, which we all loved immediately, of course! We toured the Fantasy of Lights in it, on a rainy Sunday night, and the glass roof made for excellent overhead viewing, especially through the light tunnels. Annika and R. started a new thing where they take a walk outside — her in her pajamas — after she’s been read to/with, which seems to do wonders for her ability to settle down and get to sleep (and it’s good to have some 1:1 time with Dad; two nights near xmas, they brought me and Lukas along to see the neighborhood lights, which was super fun). We played Monopoly as a family (not like the cutthroat trash-talk fest that it always was in my family growing up, but not for lack of effort on Annika’s part — hoooo boy, her Anger when Lukas wouldn’t sell her a property she wanted!). Lukas had his tumbling holiday performance; his class’s part was only the length of one song, like all the rest, but he clearly loved doing it and now wants to perform in the gym/school’s spring show. He’s been promoted to the next level, and his skills are really noticeably improving — core strength! I volunteered to help in the classroom during his holiday celebration, which mostly had to do with helping tie the necklaces they made and cleaning up multicolored sprinkles from the cookie station. Annika continues to get more independent in the kitchen; one of the holiday treats she made was a batch of hot chocolate, from a recipe, on the stovetop, all by herself! We drank it out of my cute Santa mugs, with lots of marshmallows. I took the kids for haircuts — Annika’s first since before school started, and Lukas’s first-ever in a salon — gotta get ‘em looking nice for xmas! Lukas lost his two front teeth, one at school and one at home a couple of days later. They both had pajama day at school — Annika and the rest of the fifth grade on the Thursday before break (on account of their Friday field trip to Castillero to see the students’ musical showcase, which was pretty great and did make her feel better about middle school in general, I think), and everyone else on that Friday (which is when I discovered that Lukas has shot up recently, and his old PJs are nowhere close to fitting anymore, lol!). And finally, Lukas’s superstar week was the last one of the term — he came up with his own sharing items, including sharing Annika (“because you’re special to me!” d’awwwwwwww!!!), made his own poster with almost no help, and enjoyed the fame and importance of it all very much. 

Christmas, around which the entire Kid Year revolves
We started it off this year with three advent calendars: Lego (his was Star-Wars-themed, hers was holiday friends), traditional chocolate, and treasure hunt (for which I’d planned for like two months and still almost ran out of prizes, lol). We got the tree on the second weekend of December — the first tree we saw, on the only lot we went to — we’ve never gotten that lucky before! Decoration day was a blast, and between that day and other random times in the lead-up to the big day, we watched all of the traditional xmas specials — Pee-Wee’s, Yo Gabba Gabba!, Charlie Brown, Frosty, Rudolph, etc., some more than once. The grandparents spent xmas eve (and xmas night) with us. On the 24th, Annika rose before anyone and hid with a book and a blanked in the bathtub so as to maximize the advantage of surprise in the ancient Hiltonian grudge match known as “Christmas Eve Gift!” … and she got us all. The student has become the master …  The big day itself dawned nice and early; Annika made sure we had a white Christmas (paper snowflakes she’d spent weeks making, and scattered all over before the rest of us came downstairs) — and, per expectation, Santa had come through for us all. Full stockings hung heavy on the mantel (pushed aside to facilitate entry and exit through the fireplace), the treats we left out had been consumed, and there were so! many! presents! (But no dog. boo.) Among other things, Santa delivered a Nintendo Switch, with some games and an extra controller so we could all play Mario Kart. The cousins came over in the late afternoon, after we’d had our feast (which this year included a ham, immediately a favorite of Lukas’s), for another round of presents and fun; we all went to bed early, stuffed with food and good cheer. Lastly, on Boxing Day, at her request, The Eldest Child stepped out of the world of Believer Magic, and joined the side of Co-Conspirator Magic; despite being verklempt about the whole thing, I’m glad to have her with us, and helping to make magic from here on out. Happy Christmas, every one!

Post-Xmas drift week
In the dead week after xmas, we did a few things that needed doing, e.g. we went to Los Gatos to get the kids’ passports; both R. and I had to be present for that, since they’re under 16, and — hilariously — Lukas’s pic was taken with his hair flame-red. Entertainment-wise, we played a lot of video games, went to the school to run around/play basketball/etc., read books, had a family game night with Beyblades and Don’t Rock the Boat, and went bowling with the Patels, all eight of us, running up a tremendous bill and having a great time. 

New Year’s Rockin’ Eve
R. and I almost never go out on Amateur Night, but this was the first time just the four of us celebrated at home. We ate dinner, made snacks, watched Finding Nemo on the big screen, and finally watched the ball drop (on time-delay from the east coast) at midnight. I gotta say, it was my favorite NYE in a really long time — just my beloveds, safe and happy and together. Here’s to a great 2019!