Christmas Overview

My holiday break consisted of spending about five days at my parents' house. Overall, not too bad. I got to see my nephews Brandon and Ryan, who are 4 (almost 5) and 3 respectively, and it was nice to see how they are doing at this stage in their lives. I rarely get to see them. I also got to meet my baby niece Emma. She is an absolute doll. She laughed and smiled more than she screamed and cried, and she was quite a screamer! She is usually a very happy baby and loves people. She was fun to be around. The boys got to be a handful at times, but boys will be boys, right?

On Christmas Eve, we went to Mass at 5:00, so that we could skip it in the morning. Later we did our customary "open one gift the night before" tradition. Of course the boys wanted to start a new tradition: "Let's open TWO presents the night before!", but we didn't let that happen. Once the boys were in bed, their parents wrapped up some of their gifts in color-coded tissue paper (green for Brandon, red for Ryan, and pink for Emma) so that in the morning, they'd know whose was whose.

So Christmas morning, it was fun to sit back and watch the boys tear into their presents with giddy delight... they loved all their presents, particularly the ones having to do with firetrucks and firemen, and the "Rescue Heroes" toys. They loved to run around saying, "I'm a very brave HERO!!" "Hero" was undoubtedly their favorite word, maybe second only to "You know what?"

Most of the rest of the time I spent at my parents was spent lounging around eating. And eating. And eating. And playing with the kids. And eating some more. Sheesh. Now that the holiday break is over, I'm so ready to start taking this weight off. I feel like a lazy slob!

Today was a bit different, though. We took the kids to The Magic House, a huge children's museum that Brandon and Ryan had been to during their last visit to St. Louis, and liked so much that they actually remembered it. There, we could pretty much stand back and let the kids do their own thing. It was nice, actually. That place is way cool... especially if you're under 5 years old. :) We exhausted ourselves on only the first floor, and there are three floors, so there's plenty that we didn't even have time or energy to explore. But I recommend it if you're looking for something for young children to do! They'll be entertained for hours. It was kind of crowded, though. Probably due to it being during a holiday.

Well, now I'm back in my apartment and I return to work tomorrow and normal life. The Phoenix family is in town until Thursday, but I said my goodbyes tonight since I won't make it back over there anymore while they're here. I hugged both the boys and said I'd try to visit them sometime next year. I hope to be able to do that. We'll see.

Ok, wrapping up this long entry... goodnight!