Oh 08

Happy to report that Santa did indeed come this year, despite Giant Three Year Old’s last minute fears that he might not have been “nice” enough to earn a visit. This made me a little teary on Christmas Eve, thus continuing my multi-year legacy of having a little boo-hoo while putting toys together. It’s a happy/sad kind of sob, anticipating their morning squeals and also the future mornings when they won’t care as much.

Eleven hours in the car, lots of ever-generous family visits, friends in town from overseas, cocktails by the bucket, and wrapping paper everywhere. Christmas cards mailed late and movies with all of us under blankets, figuring out fancy electronics, playing new games, sledding on an 1/8th of an inch of snow and never finding mittens. Enough chili to feed a small town and a road trip to New Hampshire for our annual New Years bash with best friends (and 10 kids), reverting to our wild youth, bacon and egg sandwiches and Advil for breakfast.

Today, the first day back to school, back to real life really, is so strangely quiet. The little we ventured out, the little we saw: the streets were all but empty (parking spots galore!) and there were no lines in the market. It was odd, but also good: hair pulled back in a gritty post New Year’s Day ponytail, I wasn’t too eager for small talk and I was relieved that most people felt as lazy as I do today.

This is how it is after the whirl of the ho-ho-holiday. Like a snowball starting slow down a hill, I get bigger and wilder as the weeks progress, gathering up snow and steam until the crashing smash at the bottom. There I am, in a melting heap, arms one way, legs the other, out of breath, a little dizzy. But it was a great ride.