A Bit From the Holidays

Well  the holidays are officially coming to an end and I have to admit that it's a little bit sad. I've really taken a break these past two weeks and it has been nice to be simply lazy! I've just sat back and enjoyed not having to work, prepare lessons, not having to drag the kids out to run all the various chores and errands, I pretty much stopped doing laundry and housework (what's that?!) and spent many an hour sitting on my butt doing what you could call nothing. Thank goodness I have a great husband who has been filling in for where I have been seriously slacking! I'm certain my house, children and husband will all be happy to see me make a come back as I've really let things go around here. Normally I'm pretty good at staying on track even over the holidays but with being pregnant I really just took the time to relax while I had the chance.

However next week it's back to reality- grocery shopping, cooking meals, cleaning up after the kids, doing laundry and back to work too. Normally I'm pretty excited to go back to real life but right now I'm just enjoying my freedom a little too much. Oh well all's well that ends well.

So before I get completely off track I just wanted to mention a few things that I/my family got to enjoy over the holidays.

1. Boxing Day Shopping!!! I have to admit it has been a few years since I had a really great boxing day shopping extravaganza, but I was fortunate enough to get one this year for a number of reasons. One- I had two extremely generous mall gift cards from my boss and competitive dance students which made it financially viable! Two- my kids are finally past the nursing stage, I think the past few years I had one or the other who was still breast feeding leaving me unable to leave for too long. Three- I have a great hubby to stay home with the kids who allowed me to disappear for the day  even though Marshal was throwing up and sick. And four- I had a great shopping buddy to go with! Rachel and I woke up bright and early and got to the mall around 8am. We were able to enjoy 6 blissful hours shopping to our hearts content. You might think I'm crazy but I really do love to shop, it brings me so much joy, and when you're not really spending any of your hard earned money and everything is on sale, who cares if you have to wait in line for 45 minutes! It's just a means to an end. Seriously a highlight of my vacation.

3. Les Miserables- It's such a fabulous musical and such a fabulous movie. My husband was even willing to go and watch it with me though he didn't really enjoy it, as musical theater is just not his cup of tea. But he went anyway and that's what's most important to me. It has been a long time since I saw Les Mis, and truthfully I have never actually seen a professional production of it (though it is something I plan to do before I die!) But it was just fantastic. It's such a great story and the performances were terrific. A highly enjoyable night out.

4. We took the kids skating! And by that I mean we attempted to take Marshal skating while pulling Cohen around the rink on a sled. It was actually pretty funny because I think Marshall assumed that the skates had some sort of magical powers that would lead to him just moving along the rink with no effort on his behalf. Haha. Lucky we brought a little chair for him to hold onto and then we found one of those ice bars to help new skaters. It was pretty cute as he tried to walk on the ice, after a little while he got bored and decided he'd rather go play on the play ground. Which we did for awhile. It was nice to get out of the house and enjoy a beautiful day as this was after about a week of being stuck in doors thanks to freezing cold and illness.

5. New Years Eve Dinner- We went out for Chinese food with our friends Barb and Jordan (her husband, yes we have the same name.) It was a bit of an ordeal getting us there as Barb made reservations and then we had to move them back a few times as Jordan (her hubby) kept being delayed in his return home, but we eventually got there and it was completely worth it! I love Chinese food and it's been a long time since we went out for it. It was a great evening- great food, great company and great way to spend New Years Eve. After stuffing ourselves to the brim Dan and I went home and stayed up to ring in the new year, something we have sadly not done in the past few years. I know it sounds pathetic but once you're parents you get boring fast and sleep is always much more appealing than staying up! Anyway I was determined that we would actually stay up this year and so we did. And by this I mean that Dan stayed up and watched a movie while I fell asleep. Then about 10 minutes before the countdown I woke up and we tuned into City TVs countdown and drank our Martenillis at midnight. I know you wish you were as cool as us!

6. Lunch Date with friends- we had the pleasure of going over the Glenn's house as a family and having a lovely lunch date. The kids played, the adults ate and we all had a delightful time. It was fun to hang out with these "old" friends or ours. Any they really aren't old friends as we are still friends with them, but we used to live in the same apartment building so we saw each other all the time. Of course we have both since moved on, once our families started to grow, so we don't see each other near as often anymore. It was fun to get together and hang out!

And I think that's all I got for right now. It wasn't a super exciting holiday but is was a nice one. I'm thankful for the break and the time I have had to spend with family and friends.

Jordan