Much snow is expected, so Gran and I found ourselves in heavy traffic in the grocery store trying to stock up (along with the rest of the folks in Bellingham). It was STRESSFUL! But after that, we had all the stress relief we needed because Kristin had given us gift certificates for facials that we redeemed at the Beauty School this afternoon. Such bliss! I'd never had a facial before, and one entire hour of pampering and massage and creams and toners really hit the spot!
The driving here is a bit of an adventure, what with the ice on the roads, but so far we've met with no major catastrophe. Michael and Kristin and the kids and Gaynell and Jim came over this evening for our family Christmas party. We had pizza and opened gifts, and the kids were beyond excited with their presents. We gave Mirella a pair of purple cat slippers and she insisted on wearing them immediately. And Caedmon loved his Colorform Thomas sticker set, applying and removing the trains from various points on the background. Dennis received some wonderful gifts: the first thing he opened was a snowman with a snow globe stomach that lights up in different colors. He LOVED it! He screeched with delight when he opened it and kept running around to showing it to everyone. He received a couple of very nice books, one called Monkey with a Tool Belt that is just hilarious, and one Richard Scarry book filled with pictures of cars and trucks and things with wheels, and he got an Ernie that's just the right size to travel around with us. He got an Elmo video (a holiday one) that he loves and a wooden fire truck that David spent nearly an hour assembling that he also loves. And he got something that we love, a lap tray for the car and the plane that he can use to play or eat or color. He racked up! And somehow we've got to fly it home...
It was so special watching the children play happily together and watching them open those gifts with such delight. Michael and I spent time pushing Dennis and Mirella around on the carpet in the plastic booster seat, with them gigging the entire time. We all had such a good time together, and the evening ended way too soon with the Carroccinos and Kings leaving to take their little guys home to bed. We put in Dennis' new Elmo movie to help him unwind before bed, and he made it about 3/4 of the way through before his eyes completely glazed over and we put him to bed. For the adult unwinding, we made Blue Alaskans, drinks we invented made with Blue Hawaii mix poured over fresh snow, and toasted our wonderful vacation thus far. And we still have another week here! I'm so excited about it!
No comments:
Post a Comment