vacation

Well, as anything done twice is a tradition, our little family now officially has Christmas traditions. Just like last year, we spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with my family, and then went over to the Pod to spend Christmas Day with Adam's. This year the Pod dinner was a brunch, and we came back to my parents' for a prime rib dinner, but otherwise it was much the same.

With one big difference! We did NOT go to Midnight Mass this year. Last year we did that and got back at 2 am and got about four hours of sleep. I then crashed at the Pod. Sure that we'd get even less sleep this year if we did that (courtesy of Birdie, who still doesn't sleep through the night), we went to our church's children's mass at 4 pm. It was great, except for Fr. M's children's story about Michael the Mouse and how his gift to the baby Jesus was plugging a hole in the stable with his behind. Maybe it's a Canadian thing. I'll give him that the kids had a grand old time making all the animal noises on his cues as he told the story. It was fun listening to them squeak and moo.

And, wow, our thanks to our hosts! Christmas was all around wonderful, both at my parents' and at the Pod. Good food, good company, great presents. Micah and Jenn were at the Pod too, fresh from Texas, and brought greetings and gifts from the folks who'd gathered down there at the cabin, so in one way or another, all of our loved ones were present during those two days.

Then, as we did last year, having spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with extended family, we spent St. Stephen's Day (or Boxing Day for our Commonwealth friends) as a nuclear family celebration - and this year the nuclear family was up from two to a grand three! We went to San Diego and stayed in the swankiest hotel either of us have ever been in, but maybe it was just the right time of year, because it wasn't much more expensive than some of the less swanky hotels we've been in. (Okay, I take it back, it might not be as swanky as the hotel in Edmonton with the indoor water slide, but when I was little, I don't think I appreciated hotels properly. They were all good as long as there was a swimming pool.) There was a balconey, and in the morning, as soon as it was light (okay, as soon as it was light and we were awake), we looked out and saw a bright red trolley lapping up the miles across a foggy blue and green landscape. It was so pretty. I love San Diego.

Except for downtown San Diego. The second night we were there was spent getting lost in downtown San Diego, searching for the home of a friend of my grandfather's. I've never passed so many porn shops in my life. We spent literally an hour in a confusion of president streets (Hamilton, Washington, etc.) criss-crossed by state streets (Texas, Alabama, Oregon) without ever finding the particular ones we were looking for, which must have been, I think, in a slightly better part of town. But, like all big cities, the slightly better parts of town can be a block away from the horribly bad parts of town, and from what our friend said when we gave up, went back to the hotel room and called him, we weren't that far - at least at the beginning. We'd gotten way off course by the end.

But the highlight of the trip was Sea World. Adam and I hadn't been there since we were little, but we both remember loving it. I remember always being convinced, for days after any visits, that what I REALLY wanted to be in life was a marine biologist.

It was still amazingly cool. And amazingly cool. We got there in between storm systems, but the clouds just meant we didn't have to bake in the sun while waiting for the Shamu show to start, and the gusty winds meant that Adam's new kilt was a great choice of clothing, at least from my point of view.

There's just nothing quite as awe-inspiring as REALLY BIG animals performing athletic feats that would be amazing in really small animals. Nine thousand pounds of mammal propelling itself up into the air and spinning around is just a wonderful sight to behold. And then there's all the other cool stuff - polar bears, beluga, bat rays that you can pet, giant lacy sea anenomes, dolphins that are even more atheletic than the killer whales . . . and wooden bridges to climb on and tunnels to travel through and the bay to look at - it was a great day. And having Brigid made us fit right in with all the other young families; it was a fun feeling. Being our social child, she seemed a bit more fascinated by the people than the animals, but her wide-eyed stare took in everything.

So now we're back, and dog-sitting for my parents. It's been a good vacation, with a lot of time to just hang out and relax, which, as young parents, is really what we need. This isn't the time to go out and conquer new worlds, it's the time to stay in and reconquer old ones. Just being together and not rushing to karate or rushing to work or rushing to errands is a great, peaceful gift for the three of us to share.

So, that's what we're doing this week. Oh - that and discovering that though every other new food has met with approval (yams, carrots, rice cereal, oranges, coffee), Brigid DOES NOT like green beans. I wish all y'all could be hear to see her disgusted face when I tried it on her. I even mixed it with breast milk to make it a little sweeter. No go. She obligingly takes it into her mouth (our obediant girl) and decisively lets it trickle out while puckering dreadfully (our independent girl).


Our prayers go out the those suffering from the tsunami. We've heard that all SIL/Wycliffe folks are accounted for, and that's a great blessing, but it's hard to fathom what is going on in that part of the world. Lord have mercy.