The day after Christmas, we did the annual big extended family Christmas at my aunt and uncle's home near Seattle. It's annual for them, but we haven't been there since, maybe Christmas 2005. It was really great to see a lot of extended family I haven't seen in far too long. Unfortunately, I was just plain lazy about the camera (there was a lot of good food) and didn't even take it out, which of course I now regretEach generation of the family does a drawing for exchanging gifts, but Grace's generation doesn't do it, so at the last minute I threw together a gift bag so she would have something to open... and then several of my thoughtful aunts and cousins did the same, so Grace ended up with the most gifts of anyone. She was delighted, but it did get a little comical when it seemed like every other gift was for her. Anyway, fun day without proof that it happened.
We had more or less dedicated the rest of the trip to doing/planning approximately nothing, and for the first time ever, we kind of succeeded! Our main goal was to see a lot of Lucy and her parents, hang out with my parents, eat, sleep and read.
We last saw our god-daughter, Lucy, last Christmas. My how she has grown and is starting to show signs of a delightfully spirited personality. That girl is smart and funny. Since her parents are two of Grace's god-parents and her mother is my oldest friend, it was wonderful to see her and Grace play together. We hit up Boulevard Park and then Woods Coffee where we cooked ourselves by the fire and the girls charmed (aggravated?) the other patrons.
For Christmas, Steve and I were given the gift of a night out - dinner AND a movie... dinner at the Oyster Bar, a very special treat as I had never been to the famous oyster bar and it is absolutely the kind restaurant where you would not take a child. We had a fabulous dinner of local mussels, prawns, and other delights, and no one saw me when I tripped over the steps on my way to the bathroom. I'm sure the view is one of the amazing parts about the restaurant, but since it gets dark at about 3pm there, we couldn't tell. However, there was fireplace making the dining room cozy, and they did a beautiful job lighting the evergreen trees outside. Beyond them was the black black bay with twinkling lights of all the shoreline towns in the distance. Even in the dark in the dead of winter, northwest Washington is breathtaking. It was so nourishing to enjoy such a fine meal and remember what it's like to talk like grownups. Of course, we were too tired for a movie so we split up date night into TWO. The next afternoon while Grace was napping, we snuck out and saw Lincoln. Excellent film. Boy, is it the height of indulgence to see a movie on a weekday afternoon! Thank you, Mom, for the babysitting and the dates.
Initially, Steve wanted to take Grace skiing this winter, but since I couldn't go and there were many logistics, we decided to bag it this year in favor or sledding. We joined forces with Andrea, Pete, Lucy and Roy (Andrea's dad) to head for the cross-country ski area at the base of Mt. Baker for an easy morning of sledding, with the plan to head home by nap time. We were definitely and absolutely not going to the top to the downhill area - too long a drive, too crowded, too much for the kids who were going to be done in 15 minutes, max. Ha! The best laid plans. For two reasonably accomplished and well-educated women, Andrea and I are a combo that inevitably leads to foolishness and hilarity (among our many exploits, we have accidentally gone to Canada and gotten quite lost in Wisconsin - fireworks! cheese! Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure we also got absurdly lost in Maine looking for fall color once, but I digress). Soon enough, we were pulled over at the side of the road realizing we were three miles from the top and should probably keep going. In the end I think it was a good thing. The sledding was almost definitely better. Lucy was a pretty unhappy camper and Grace had fun but deteriorated fast as she got cold (it's funny how if you refuse to wear your gloves, your fingers get cold fast when it's well below freezing). Everyone perked up after lunch in the lodge, and nap time in the car primed the girls for more play time back in town (during which Lucy locked the door to my mom's guest bathroom so none of us could get in). We ate chocolate and talked just like many a holiday season past, although now our erudite conversation is punctuated by reminding the girls to share.
A few other highlights of the trip included trips to Bayou on Bay (finally) for very yummy cajun food, browsing the shops in Fairhaven, and stops at Jalapenos (a tradition, plus fun to be surrounded by Seahawks fans on game day, however short lived their postseason turned out to be) and Mallards. We spent a freezing but fun morning at Lake Padden with Pop. We also got a surprise visit from cousin James for a few days. We enjoyed lovely mornings drinking coffee by the fire with GoGo, and lots of just good playtime around the house for Grace. She napped almost never, but one day slept until 8AM for the FIRST TIME IN HER LIFE! With the exception of one time when Steve and I went skiing without her, this is the FIRST TIME IN MORE THAN THREE AND A HALF YEARS that I have slept until 8AM. She also fully entered vacation mode, frequently answering my suggestion that she eat her breakfast, lunch or dinner with "Well, the problem is, I want candy."
We capped off the trip with a lazy day of packing, followed by a New Year's Eve feast at Andrea's parents' house. My mom brought an amazing paella and all the rest of the food was fabulous, and I won't admit how early the party broke up due to small children and our early flight... but I can guarantee it was already 2013 in Australia. Pete and Andrea had seen proof. We did get a little extra New Year's zing when the centerpiece caught on fire. Steve was a hero and put it out (or if it wasn't him, I'm going to remember him as the hero anyway).
New Year's morning early we had a head to Seattle for our flight. It was a gorgeous, clear morning with mountains everywhere you looked. We barely made our flight, but then had an unbelievably spectacular view at takeoff - we could see all the way back to Mt. Baker plus the Olympics and various Cascade peaks. The only problem was that we missed watching the Rose Parade... can it really be the New Year's without it?
Here are some pictures from the rest of the trip, but what I'm realizing is that I have got to get better at taking the camera out when we're just hanging around the house. I swear we spent time with GoGo, but you'd never know it!
Happy New Year, only 27 days late...
