Holiday, Celebrate

As promised, the holiday blog!

Harry, Ellie, and I all arrived home at 1:30pm on Friday, December 23rd, and that began what was by far our best vacation ever! Close to 11 days of no work or school made for a very happy family.

We did a lot of nothing and everything on the lovely break. Christmas Eve was very low key. I made a complete turkey dinner for that evening (courtesy of freezing an entire cooked turkey breast from Thanksgiving - woo hoo!), and it was delish. Miss El had a bit of a stomach bug, which royally sucked, but she got through it like the trooper she is and went to bed around 8pm.

Harry and I sat up and watched "It's a Wonderful Life", a first for both of us. Can I say that movie is damn depressing! I balled my eyes out at the end. Jimmy Stewart is a pretty kickass actor though. Holy crap! Around 10pm, Santa came! Ellie had left him some kosher tea crackers and milk, and the reindeer got some Scooby Snack graham crackers and a ramekin of milk as well (so friggin' cute).

The next morning, Harry was up at the ungodly hour of 4am, and I shuffled into the family room around 6am myself. Of course, Ellie didn't wake up till 8! She still wasn't at 100%, so it was a quiet gift opening morning at our house. Poor kid. I thought for sure we were going to have to cancel bringing Harry's mom home and going to his SIL's (me and El, anyway) when she suddenly perked up around 10am. Not a trace of the poor, sick little girl who woke up a mere 2 hours earlier. Suddenly she wanted to play with her toys and she was smiling and laughing. Hurray!

Harry picked his mom up from the nursing home, and we spent a few hours with her just watching TV and playing with Ellie's new toys. Harry brought her back, and around 2, we arrived at his sister, Bonnie's, house. The house was already filled with friends and family eating, drinking, and talking.

Ellie quickly ran off to play with her cousins, which always makes me smile. They're a few years older, but they watch over her. She, in turn, sometimes sits quietly while they're doing their tween-thing and observes. It's interesting to witness. She doesn't understand some of it, but it mesmerizes her. She loves her cousins.

I ended up talking with Bonnie and her best friend, Lorena, for the majority of the party. Bonnie just lost her husband last month. Before his passing, we'd seen her a few times since Harry reunited with his sisters. She took care of both her husband, George, and her son, as well as running her own full-time business out of her home. She had to travel sometimes for work as well. This was one busy lady. She protects her privacy (as well she should), so we've always waited for her to initiate when we could meet up. When George died, she reached out to us, had us ride to the funeral in the limos with the rest of the family, kept us close. I think it may have been then that I really started to think of Harry's found-again sisters as family. It's been difficult for me up until now because I have my own family, and Harry always just had his mom. That's what I married into. Changing that dynamic hasn't been easy for me, I will admit.

After George's funeral, Bonnie said she wanted Christmas at her house, and she wanted the whole family there. So we made sure we'd be there. And I'm SO glad we went. Bonnie and I are alike in a lot of ways (it kind of freaks Harry out a bit). I love her like a sister. It's easy for me to be there for her when she needs me, to understand what she's saying and how she's feeling without her having to explain or apologize for it. It's good, to put it simply.

As the evening was winding down, Bonnie decided on the spur of the moment that she wanted to throw a party the next weekend too since no one had plans for New Years Eve. Since it was also Harry's birthday, we decided to throw the party in his honor. Over that next week, Bonnie and I touched base about the menu and guest list, and the party was set!

During vacation week, we also decided to do some redecorating. We painted an accent wall in the living room and ordered a new sofa and chair as well. I also got to go home decor shopping, which I LOVE. I picked up a few things that added that perfect ME touch to the room.

I even got to bring my Buddha in from the garden (I'm sure you can't see him; he's to the right of the fireplace). The room was actually completed yesterday, and I love it. I'll have to snap of shot of it and post it later because I'm so happy with the outcome.

On Wednesday and Thursday, we took a little trip to RI, with a short stop in Mystic for lunch, shopping, and fudge. We got to go swimming at the hotel, eat clam cakes and doughboys while washing them down with some Sarsaparilla soda, and hit the outlet stores on the way back. It was a great trip and just what we needed. We'll probably be doing it again sometime soon. Ellie loves it.

Saturday was the party for Harry's birthday, and again, we had a wonderful time. Everybody was talking and laughing and dancing and eating the entire night. We got home around 11, and all 3 of us crawled into our bed and passed out. I love sleeping next to my girl.

New Years Day, we hung out around the house and had a visit from my niece and her boyfriend. We had dinner together, and she was kind enough to babysit while Harry and I went out with Tom and Stacey for drinks. It was a good night and a perfect way to ring in the new year.

We also had Monday off, and we spent the day lounging around and enjoying our last day of freedom. We were sad to see it go, but I know we'll fondly look back on this vacation time. Of course, Ellie's already asking for another home day. Truth be told, so am I.