Christmas Vacation

Things are always a little hectic around the holidays. Between traveling and shopping and organizing and visiting, it's almost always great fun and almost always exhausting. This year was no exception - it was fabulously fun and fairly exhausting.

Because we were going on vacation in mid-December I'd sworn that this was going to be the year that I got everything done way ahead of time so that when we got back from Mexico it was smooth sailing. Of course that did not happen - not just because things were crazy at work before we left, but also because it wouldn't be a Molloy Christmas without last minute rushing and shenanigans! It was not until we got back from Mexico that I realized that some of the presents that I'd ordered on-line (several weeks ago - I was TRYING to be on top of things but obviously that was not meant to be my life!) had yet to arrive a mere three days before Christmas Eve. After sorting through emails, following up with stores and calling delivery companies it boiled down to either some packages were stolen from the porch (possible but unlikely considering the number of packages we have had delivered to our house over the last six years without a problem) or that they were never delivered and are sitting around in a warehouse somewhere. After receiving credits for both items, I had to then do a mad scramble to find the gifts at stores, which was part of the reason that I'd ordered it on line in the first place - I don't really like shopping. Especially when the stores are packed and the lines are long. Good thing Aunt Lauren is so resourceful!

On Wednesday evening for our usual Girls Night, I took Elise to Target so that she could pick out gifts for her brother, cousins, Dad and Aunt Lauren. As I have mentioned in previous years, we think it is really important to emphasize the giving aspect of Christmas, while understating the getting. She is becoming a pro at this now. Elise definitely got the shopping gene from someone (not me) because she was very clear in what she wanted to get people and very decisive about which items she thought they would like. For example, she made a bee-line for the scarves as soon as we got into the store and put one right into the cart proclaiming "This is the one Lauren would like" and then moved on. At first I thought she was just being lazy and throwing the first random thing she saw in the cart, but after prodding and encouraging her to look at other things, she convinced me that she really thought that it was the perfect gift for Lauren (a sparkly scarf! Lauren likes shiny things and to be warm! It actually is perfect!). After that, I just let her pick things, giving little to no guidance. She picked out a Flyers t-shirt for her Dad, a Thomas the Tank Engine fold-n-go train track for Luke, a bin o'dinosaurs for Eamon and a little plastic horse (ok that one was random) for Abby.

On Thursday, Elise headed over to Gram and Grandpa's for a sleepover with her cousin Abby and I took Lucas for his first annual Christmas-gift-pick. He didn't seem to quite understand as well as Elise did the year we started this with her (he picked out cars and trains for everyone) but eventually got the hang of it with some encouragement and strong reminders that we weren't picking out gifts for him. He eventually picked out an Ariel doll, a baby doll and some Special Agent Oso action figures for Elise - all things she loved - so I'd say it ended up being successful.

On Friday, Marty, Lucas and I joined Elise at Gram and Grandpa's house for the Stauffer-Molloy family Christmas Eve festivities. We decorated the tree, opened presents and had a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner. Elise got the Little Mommy Walk and Giggle Doll that she'd been asking for for the last few weeks and was completely thrilled with it until she realized that it does what it wants to do, not what she tells it to do. As a fairly bossy child, she was a little thrown off by her doll not following instructions, so she continues to love it and play with it (with it turned off and obediently following her directions).

Christmas morning, Elise crawled into bed with us at about 6:15 declaring that there were tons of presents downstairs and we should go see! I told her that we needed to wait until Lucas got up - which I figured would be a matter of minutes but ended up being more than an hour later! Elise really practiced the skill of patience (though she did ask if she could go "check on him" multiple times - a request that was denied) and was completely beside herself with excitement when we finally heard Lucas stirring around 7:30 (still firmly on Mexico time!). After a lovely and leisurely morning of opening gifts, eating breakfast and packing, we headed to my aunt and uncles house for the Meredith family gathering. The kids love going there - not only because they love playing with their first and second cousins - but also because my aunt and uncle have a HUGE playroom with a million toys AND the softest carpet ever. A soft carpet is a strange thing to randomly mention, I know, but our kids - who have lived in a house with hardwood floors and thin rugs their whole life (and have friends with similar houses) roll around on the carpet like puppies. Lucas even gave himself rug burn on his cheek from rubbing his face on the carpet (I wish I was kidding! I am not!)

After a fun evening of great food and fun, we got on the road and headed out to Ocean City where we spent the next few days with my parents and my brothers' family. Unfortunately, pretty much as soon as we got to the hotel a blizzard came through making leaving the hotel nearly impossible as it was freezing, windy, snowing like crazy and pretty much everything was closed, as the beach is not so much accustomed to snow storms. Fortunately, there were lots of really great things to do in the hotel so it didn't make all that much of a difference that we were snowed in! The kids had a great time bonding with their cousin Eamon, and Elise had a great time playing in the indoor pool and ice skating in the skating rink in the lobby.

Last year, Elise used the little walker to skate around and picked it up pretty quickly. This year, she started off very wobbly and uncertain with the walker and didn't get much better. Marty and I were confused. How could this be the same confident and coordinated little girl who picked this up so quickly last year? After about forty-five minutes of not really succeeding and being frustrated, Ellie got it into her head that she wanted to skate. For real - not with the walker. So she went around a few times, holding our hands and then after a bit she said she wanted to do it on her own. And she did! She just skated around without holding on to anything and hardly ever even fell. It seemed pretty incredible that in less than an hour she went from barely being able to move an inch with the walker to skating completely by herself without falling. She was so good, in fact, that she told me she wanted to go over and help the little 8 year old girl who was holding onto the wall because "she's needs help - she's not very good."

While we were in Ocean City, we also got to celebrate both Aaron and Eamon's birthdays, which was great because who doesn't love happy cake?! On the way home on Wednesday, we stopped at Gram and Grandpa's for yet another family gathering - this time with the Stauffer/Costello crew. Lucas bonded with his second cousin Ryan (12), who kindly humored him and played with him, and everyone enjoyed a wonderful meal and evening.

Turned out that we'd missed a relatively big snow storm here at home, but by the time we settled back home Thursday it was already starting to melt.

We had a wonderful holiday week and a fabulous 2010. We are excited about what 2011 will bring for the Molloy Clan!