If you know me, you know that Christmas is my favorite holiday. In my opinion, there is no competition. However, my children might disagree. E is becoming all about that orange holiday otherwise known as Halloween, and we might just have found baby G’s favorite holiday. Hanging out with lots of people and eating tons of food? Yup, that sounds like him.
We went to our most local family for Thanksgiving, which was both strategic since both tiny humans aren’t loving of long car rides right now, and intentional, since we were officially welcoming home some family that we haven’t seen as much recently, but who have recently moved back to Massachusetts! It was funny to think back to Thanksgivings a few years ago when the “kids” were in their 20s and we were talking college and jobs and apartments. This year brought a new generation of kids at the table, lots of energy, craziness and fun.
It’s definitely different, though. I didn’t get to have many conversations, and I’m pretty sure I probably started a few and walked away mid sentence to attend to a crying child, but it was also everything a holiday should be. The small ones had so much fun, all doing their own thing. One was psyched there was two dogs there, and got many tongue baths and giggled every time he made contact. One seemed more indifferent, and one cried every time the puppies looked in his direction. We had a kid who ate more food than Tom (seriously), one who survived off crackers and whipped cream, and one who’s just discovering the world of solid food.
E is just starting to figure out that people sit down for meals together (as opposed to just getting snacks whenever they’re hungry) and he’s really excited by it. When we had started eating, he kept looking around and explaining “Mama! So many friends! So many!!” He was super excited. Once baby G took a breather from eating for a minute, he started playing peek-a-boo with a napkin which was amazing, since I’ve never seen him do that before. None stop giggles and loud shrieks when he wasn’t getting enough attention.
When it was time to leave, E was so upset he started crying because he didn’t want to leave. To me that’s the sign of a successful day, although also the sign of two small children who both skipped naps. We thought we’d hit the jackpot when they both passed out in the car on the way home. My heart felt full and I loved the feeling of heading home after a long fun day with family, and two sleeping children. Unfortunately they both quickly remembered that neither of them like to sleep in the car, and so they sobbed the rest of the drive home. We tried talking and singing and pacifiers, but all they wanted was their bed.
So we did the best we could, drove home, and then dumped them immediately in their cribs where they both passed out. Close enough to a win.
