Holiday Letdown

This weekend is holiday cleanup time and we're busy taking the tree to recycling and putting away the decorations. To counter the post-holiday letdown, we decided to visit a nearby light parade in a last hurrah for Christmas. It may be a little tough to tell from the pictures, but you drive around a mile-long loop and look at over a hundred 20 to 30' high displays. Lucie and Ryan enjoyed shouting out their favorites (Santa flying an airplane and the tunnel were big hits).

The new year also marks a new format for 20 Fingers and 20 Toes. We decided to take advantage of the new widget templates from Blogger. The "Friends" list now pulls in the latest post from each blog and it's easier to navigate to older posts. We hope all 12 of our readers enjoy the changes :>

Lucie and Me

Last month, while Megan and Ryan took in the local children's museum, Lucie and I had our own special day. After hearing about Ryan's exploits on Chex, there was only one destination on Lucie's mind — the petting zoo.

Lucie kept track of our train tickets and made sure we found seats on the top-level of the train. We had just enough time to enjoy a snack of goldfish and raisins before arriving at our destination. I had arranged to meet our friend Jen and her little girl Logan at the train station.

We've known for awhile that Lucie is a devote animal lover, but only from a distance. Since that's the exact opposite of a petting zoo's purpose, I wasn't sure how she'd do. We learned that Lucie is fine as long as there is a fence between her and the animals. A walk-in pen with 100 bunnies and guinea pigs — no thank you. Feeding carrots to the ponies through a four foot fence — yes, yes, yes.

The Joys of Christmas

I'll always remember 2008 as the year that Lucie and Ryan "got" Christmas. For the first time, they seemed to feel the magic and anticipation of Santa's arrival. They delighted in the simplest pleasures of the holidays, from pretending that their stroller was Santa's sleigh to taking the first bite of Grandma's sugar cookies to sharing in the family tradition of reading Gigi and Papa's well-worn copy of The Polar Expresson Christmas Eve. They had no expectations, and were simply delighted by everything that came their way.

Before we put Lucie and Ryan to bed Christmas Eve, they were so excited to leave out cookies and milk for Santa. When I tried to pour regular milk, they cried out in exasperation, "No, Mommy, Santa only likes chocolate milk!" A Santa we encountered out shopping one day told us this (from a safe, 10-12 foot distance) and Lucie and Ryan were not going to forget it. Their eyes lit us as we put them to bed and Papa reminded them to listen for reindeer hooves on the roof that night. What excitement!

Fortunately for us, this excitement put them right to sleep, and they were not to be heard from until late the next morning. We actually had to wake them up. Chris and I tried to enjoy this, as we figured it was likely the last Christmas we would be giving wake-up calls. If they are anything like their parents, uncles or aunt, 5 to 6 am peeks at the tree are sure to be right around the corner.

Lucie and Ryan had each made one request for their Santa gifts. Ryan wanted a new firetruck (no surprise there) and Lucie wanted a "duckie toy swimming pool". Lucie had seen something like this in a magazine and had her heart set on it. Though it may not have been the same one she saw, Santa, being the resourceful guy that he is, was able to find a toy that Lucie adored, and is actually a great game for the kids to play together.

I don't think Lucie and Ryan had any idea they'd be getting more than one present. With more gifts from family, they were stunned and delighted with their new treasures. Lucie reminded me of the little brother from "A Christmas Story" who falls asleep under the tree among his unwrapped gifts Christmas morning. By the end of festivities, she was overwhelmed by the excitement and was found walking around in a dazed, half-asleep state. What a day like no other.

Thanks so much to our parents for making the trip to spend the holidays with us this year. We were so happy to be with you, sharing in the simple pleasures of the season through two three- year-old's eyes. Though it wasn't Lucie and Ryan's "first" Christmas, I think it was their most memorable.

It's a Charlie Brown Christmas

12 simple steps to insure you end up with a tree to rival Charlie Brown's:

1. Starting in early November, describe in great detail to your kids how much fun it is to cut down your own Christmas tree (drawing upon personal childhood memories)
2. Then, once sufficiently excited, promise them that they will get to cut down their own tree this year
3. Neglect to research whether or not any Christmas tree farms actually exist in your county
4. Pick an unseasonably cold morning two weeks before Christmas (to insure most good trees are gone) and then drive 45 minutes to the last remaining tree farm within 100 miles of your house
   
5. Skimp on breakfast so everyone is very hungry once you arrive at the tree farm
6. Disappoint your children by telling them that we aren't buying the glorified shrub they have fallen in love with (see photo #1)
7. Celebrate the end of an epic search by finding a non-deformed tree of appropriate height (see photo #2)
   
8. Select tree without taking note of dramatic curve in trunk
9. Buy tree stand that requires 8" of clearance at the bottom of trunk
10. Lop off bottom third of tree so it fits into stand
11. Decorate with home-made ornaments which, at your kids insistence, can only be placed on the top-half of the tree
12. Lastly, stand back and marvel at a tree beautiful in its own right (see photo #3)
    

In our house tonight, the kids are asleep, the presents are wrapped, the wine has been opened, and Santa has come and gone so we wish a Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Sidekicks

We spent yesterday at the zoo with some friends from out of town. Ryan was glued to Chris's hip or on his shoulders for most of the day. Lucie spent lots of time by my side, holding my hand as we enjoyed polar bears eating breakfast, fed a giraffe and shared animal crackers at lunch.

Our friend asked me if this sort of pairing, Ryan following Daddy and Lucie hanging out with me, happens often. I thought it was interesting that an outsider noticed this. It has become so frequent, it almost seems natural to us. We think it's likely a combination of factors that leads Ryan to Chris and Lucie to me. Most simply, I think our interests line up that way. To give an easy example, while Ryan would jump at the chance to accompany Chris to the hardware store, Lucie would rather hang out with me on my errand to the bookstore.

That's not to say that we don't love our mother/son and father/daughter time. It just doesn't happen as naturally, so we try hard to create opportunities for this. A few weekends ago, Ryan and I headed off on the train in one direction, while Chris and Lucie hopped a train in another direction.

I loved my day with Ryan. He's such a joy to be with, and a thoughtful, inquisitive companion. We spent the morning at a kids' museum, painting a car, building a house out of foam blocks, and hiding in tires made of pillow. It felt like such a treat to just be Ryan's mom for the day.

He had fun at the museum, though in all honesty, I think he was more impressed by this water pump across the street than any of the museum activities. He asked question after question, wanting to know how all the gears and levers worked. My attempts at explanation were mediocre at best. I told Ryan that we'll make sure to take Papa to a similar water pump close to home on his next visit for a full and detailed explanation. Ryan can't wait.