Back to the Land of the Living...In a Big Way

After spending a full week on the basement couch, by Friday I was ready for some action.  The good news is that I felt mostly fine for most of that week.  After the one really bad day, I felt significantly better the following day, the congestion got progressively better day by day, and by Friday it was just a few noseblowings to feel normal.  Thankfully, that was just in time for a rescheduled day with Heather, Peter, and Mason at Strong Museum!  We had wanted to do it a couple days after Christmas, but obviously the flu got in the way.  We wanted to do it this week because they had a dollhouse exhibit that was ending soon, and that was meaningful because Heather's dad built dollhouses when we were younger and they were a big part of our childhood playtime.  We figured it was a good excuse to get together and introduce Mason to the museum!

We met up at the museum mid-morning and I was delighted to see my little buddy!  We got right to it, heading toward his first priority, the mini Wegmans!  He has something similar at a children's museum near him, but this is definitely a bigger one!  He wanted to be a worker for a bit...

Then he moved on to shopping, but there is an item limit (it's low but I totally get why, since you need to put all your things back and I can see kids tiring of that fast) and that did not go over very well!  At one point he said something like, "I'm never coming back to THIS Wegmans again!"  It was pretty funny.  He still checked out some of the other sections, like the bakery, and then it was off to the next thing!  He did some dress-up on stage...

And then he crawled in one of the crawl and climb structures nearby, while Heather and I chatted with an older employee who was clearly feeling the weight of break week!  She said she barely ever works break week, so this chaos was a bit of a rude awakening!  She'd already been up in the structure three times that morning to "rescue" kids!  We had a nice chat, though.  

This wasn't in the dollhouse exhibit itself, but this gorgeous Christmas house was on display.  Heather and I agreed that about a third of this was the size of her dollhouse that we played in for hours.  The rooms in this one were so pretty, all decorated, and very detailed.  It was amazing!

Mason went on the Sesame Street stairs, and the smile was because he saw himself on the TV screen they have so you can see how you look on the steps, as if you were on the show!

We headed up to the second floor and checked out some of the imaginary play area where Mason liked pretending to drive some of the vehicles they have.  Then we headed over to the video game area.  We figured the interactive video games section was probably a bit beyond him, so we just took a quick swing through the Video Game Hall of Fame, since us older folks remember so much of the items on display.  Heather and I took a selfie in front of one of our favorites from our days playing on my Apple II GS and her Commodore 64!

Carmen Sandiego is the best!

We went through the arcade section, which I think Peter liked exploring!  Mason wanted to play foosball and bubble hockey, which obviously I am VERY used to with my boys!  

We headed back downstairs for lunch, with a quick stop at the area where you can draw a fish, scan it, and have it pop onto the fish tank video screen.  He just did a quickie, writing his dad's name on a fish, but he was pretty tickled by it popping out into the tank!

We refueled with lunch--and although the food was good, it was a little pricey and it made me miss the days of fun foods like Subway, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell being in their food court!

We moved on to one of Carter's favorite spots, the crooked room!  I forgot to take a picture, but Mason loved it (especially the usual letting yourself slam into the padded wall), and he delighted in taking each one of us through it himself!  They also have this funky perspective room, and it was cute to see Heather and Mason looking like the same size!  (It will happen soon enough, but not quite yet!)

We played with the bouncy ball tracks (where you hoist balls up and they go through different tracks, marble run style) and the air cannon before moving on.  They just built a new, massive actual marble run outside this space.  It's not done yet, though it did appear to be testing.  I'm looking forward to hopefully going on our free Thrivent night in the spring and checking it out then!

We headed up to the National Toy Hall of Fame next.  We had fun trying to pop the bubbles on this screen, and I liked that this picture captured the three of us.

We went down through the Storybook area, where I showed Mason Carter's favorite secret passage in the mystery solving area.  He liked running around the big ship, went into the Jack and the Beanstalk climbing structure nearby, dressed up again, and then played for a bit in the fake-sand sandbox.  He checked out a couple things in the Berenstain Bears area before going back through the superhero hallway.  He did the photo op that looks like he's climbing the building, walked over the superhero city diorama, and did the super strength thing with that glowing green turbonium machine the boys have always loved.

Finally we worked our way to the dollhouse exhibit!  It was actually interesting because they seemed to focus more on the evolution of the architecture of dollhouses, highlighting the outsides more than the insides, as well as focusing on early kits that probably made dollhouses more accessible to less affluent families.  It was a little bit of a bummer because the insides are typically more interesting than anything, and there were only a few with much happening inside.  The craftsmanship on some of them also wasn't up to snuff compared to what Heather's dad did.  His stuff would have fit right in!  

I sort of loved the setup of this one, a mid-century modern split level house.  The craftsmanship and furnishings were pretty basic, but I liked the look of it.

This 80s one cracked us up because the furniture was the EXACT set Heather had in her house!  It was funny to see the same couches, kitchen, vanity, bed, etc.  When we walked into the exhibit, I said to Heather that there HAD to be something in there that she owned, and sure enough, this was it!

The craftsmanship of this one was incredible.  It was like a log cabin on the outside, but the inside also had amazing details carved in the wood.

I had seen this one on the internet somewhere not long ago and absolutely fell in love with it.  Each wall was a different color and it was so pretty!  You know me and color!  I loved the modern style, too.

I was looking around trying to find a dollhouse like my mom's, which was a 50s-era metal one with a bunch of molded plastic furniture.  I brought it home from my grandma's at one point and used my 80s Glamour Gals to play in it.  I loved it.  The closest I got was this one, which appeared to be metal and had similar furniture, but was a ranch instead of a standard two-story colonial.  

With that, we had to wrap things up.  Mason really wanted to ride the carousel on the way out.  It felt appropriate, as he is the child of one parent from the "Home of the Carrousel" and he lives in the "Carousel Capital of the World".  Binghamton has a ton of carousels in their public parks (many that originated in North Tonawanda), so he is a connoisseur!  

I somehow never realized that this one was a Herschell as well!  

After the ride, it was time to go.  Mason was so sad!  He wanted me to go with them, but I told him that I had to go watch Jacob play basketball.  But we will plan a weekend sometime soon.  I tried to get a selfie, and the first one was a full-on sad pout, and this was the best we got!

That face!

Saying goodbye was tough, but we'd had a very fun day!

Once I got home, it was just about time to leave for Jacob's basketball game.  I had to miss his first game after Christmas because of the flu (I was able to watch it via an app on TV, at least), and they had a long break before their last game before the holiday was canceled due to snow, so I was excited to see him play in person for the first time in weeks.  It was about an hour away in Attica, so we had a hike ahead of us!  Thankfully, the weather cooperated despite it seemingly snowing all day every day since Christmas, aside from some patches of blown snow on the country roads.  

Jacob didn't start the game particularly strong, but he finally stayed in the game long enough to get in a groove, and then the threes started.  By the time the game ended, he was the new school recordholder for threes in a game!  The record was low, only seven, so he'd been figuring he'd beat it one of these days since he'd had nine in a game before.  We got excited when he hit six, wondering if this would be it.  Then he got seven and eight in pretty quick succession, and BOOM...record set.  It was really exciting, and fun when some of the other parents and JV players got into it!

Sadly, the following game his teammates seemed to forget he was there, although we're not sure if that was on purpose or just how the game went.  He only had three shots and one three-pointer, which was a bit of a letdown after such a big night previously.  But it was enough to earn him all-tournament team honors with one of his teammates, and they did win the tournament, as well.  

 

It also got him on a local players of the week list, although his teammate was #1 and he was #14, but it was still an accomplishment (and good for two free Chick-fil-A meals!).  We're so proud of him.  He was back at it Monday and got a few more shots and another five threes.  He still wasn't thrilled with how much he got used or that a super small former teammate of his scored 29 points against them.  He also is struggling to get a two-point shot to fall, but it was still good to see him show what he can do...and as a result we got to see exactly why he didn't pick that school, because that school's coach went OFF on his team as it became apparent they were going to lose.  Fun.  Wednesday night they took on a really, really good team, and it was even more sobering than we expected.  They lost by more than 60, their first loss of the season, and Jacob was held scoreless.  They could barely hold on to the ball or get anything going, and the few shots he had just didn't fall.  It was nightmarish, and I felt bad my parents came out (on my dad's birthday, no less) and saw that mess.  It's becoming pretty clear that one of his teammates doesn't like playing with him (I think he thinks Jacob stole his spot or something), and another teammate's dad is telling his kid not to pass to him (to maximize his own chances), so that seems to be why Jacob isn't getting as many shots as he should, given that he's shooting over 50%. The teammate that won't pass to him is so selfish with the ball, and it's hurting their play and their morale, to the entire team's detriment.  Unfortunately, no one seems to want to nip that in the bud, even though his teammates aren't happy with him.  We're trying to think through how to get some action there, without overstepping.  Jacob's a captain, but he can't seem to grasp that this could be something to talk to the coach about directly if it's impacting the team.  He plays in Buffalo Tuesday, which should be fun since we'll likely have some family.  Fortunately, they shouldn't play anyone else even remotely this good, at least until sectionals.

Now back to last weekend, though.  As Sunday approached, I was struggling a bit with how my Christmas break played out.  I mean, on one hand, I had a LOT of forced relaxation I wouldn't have had if I was healthy.  Not that being sick for part of it was great, but I definitely would have felt guilty just lounging on the couch watching TV for a week straight if I was healthy.  And sometimes we probably should just have a half-comatose Christmas break, right?  I may not have been disoriented and full of cheese like the memes indicate, but having a guilt-free chance to catch up on TV and be absolved of most cooking and cleaning duties?  I mean, there are worse things.  So, I did well on the Netflix-and-chill part of my break, but that also meant I didn't get the same family time I normally enjoy, I didn't work through the to-do list I was saving for that week, and I didn't get out and do any fun activities until Friday's museum trip.  Then Friday night and Saturday night were full of basketball, and the rest of the weekend felt like I was merely playing catch-up on all of the house cleanup and other things I didn't get to do while I was quarantined.

Sunday at 5pm Carter had his first travel baseball practice (I know, already), and I was on the hook for getting him there.  Craig and Jacob were off shooting hoops, but Carter said he wanted Craig there since he's been so involved in his baseball stuff, so they met us there when they were done.  That left me with about an hour or so alone, and I had realized earlier in the day that it was one of my last chances to do something I've been meaning to do for a couple years now.  The Lamberton Conservatory at Highland Park has been a spring destination of mine a couple times, but they do a holiday show at Christmas that only runs a couple evenings a week.  I finally remembered at the right time, and decided Sunday would be it.  

It was so beautiful and so magical.  I'll (mostly) let the pictures speak for themselves.

I've never seen a poinsettia like this!

These were actually moving lights (like a dance floor), but I love how they look on the cacti in a still photo.

This was a weird cactus!

Still a few flowers here and there!

I know Christmas lights on palm trees are a thing down south, but pretty rare to see one here!

An orchid!

It was so pretty I had to walk through twice to make sure I didn't miss anything!  The one downside to a night visit is that it makes it even harder to see the tiny quail that freely wander around.  I normally worry about stepping on them, but it's even scarier in the dark!  I was a little bummed that their central outdoor courtyard and pond didn't get in on the action, but I suppose it makes sense given the snow and ice out there.

Speaking of outside, even the outside view was lovely.

As I drove there, I noticed there was a lit tree on the Highland Bowl stage across the street.  It was a little chilly and we'd just gotten a bunch of snow, but I decided to take a little stroll to see if I could get a good picture of it.  It was a little challenging in the dark without any well-worn walking paths, but my boots did their job and it was still neat to see.

It was a nice way to end the official Christmas season and close out my break.  It's been a challenging week back between a couple basketball games and all that drama, a few work things, Craig being on the road yesterday and today (and having a home game tomorrow), and now Carter being home sick with (hopefully just) a cold.  The holiday hangover was a tough one for all of us, I think.  The good news is next weekend is a long weekend.  This weekend will primarily be spent de-Christmasing.  I'm looking forward to my cozy January decor, but it's always a long process to get there.  I've been walking around my house for the last few days wanting to start gathering up all of the Christmas stuff, but I've held off as it's easier to do the whole process at once and not have empty spaces and bins making things seem more chaotic than they already are.  Wish me luck for finding a good balance this weekend, somehow!

Random Thoughts from Quarantine, New Year's Edition

I've been sitting on the couch in the basement for five full days now.  You get a lot of random thoughts when you're stuck in one spot for a while.  For lack of a better post, why not share them here for a little random, point-in-time wrap up to the year?

- I haven't really appreciated this basement enough.  It's cozy and works well for this kind of quarantine--a place to sleep, a place to sit, and my own bathroom.  If it had a shower and kitchenette, it'd be pretty much perfect as a little apartment.  I have gotten into a pretty good routine down here, actually.  When we bought this house almost 16 years ago, we wanted an extra space that wasn't so detached from the rest of the house like our old basement was.  I already knew it was pretty perfect for displaying all of our memorabilia, but I don't think I really realized just how great it was for having that extra space until now. 

- There are worse things during Christmas break than some forced solo downtime, although I may have reached some sort of limit today.  I worked my way through a couple comfort movies (Mary Poppins and 10 Things I Hate About You), two seasons each of two series I had gotten behind on, a four-episode documentary, and probably another thing here or there.  I downloaded my first book (although it turned out to be an audio book) and listened to some of that.  But I found myself at a loss for other things I wanted to watch for much of the afternoon.  There's always a long list when I don't have the time, and then I forget most of it once I do.  Some of it's not streaming (at least not for free--what are we already paying all these stupid apps for then?), but it always feels like a lost opportunity when I can't think of anything!  Tonight I did manage to get through Wicked and the movie If (about imaginary friends).  I felt a bit more productive after that.  And for the record, there are some TV shows I still have on my list, but I can do those in small chunks, much easier than full movies, so I try to prioritize movies when I'm stuck.  Now I'm waiting for midnight so I can't get too into anything long, so I'm watching Reading Rainbow on PBS Retro.  The episodes (except for one at 1am) are all more recent than my prime, but it's like a weird comfort thing.  And now that I see it again, I can see how the new host, Mychal Threets, truly was the perfect person to reboot it. 

- I'm actually not very good at watching TV anymore.  During the pandemic, our entire household schedule and setup changed.  The boys sort of took over the TV more, and Jacob started staying up later (that was probably age more than anything), so we lost our dedicated TV adult TV time.  We stopped watching our DVR shows, and I got out of the habit of watching TV.  I also got a phone somewhere in there, which probably made it less important.  I also didn't have a lot of brainspace with everyone always in the house, and I think it just got hard to do dedicated time for myself with a TV.  I've gotten a little better, but it's still hard for me to sit and watch a movie without getting distracted by my phone. When I scroll through all the streaming services, it's a reminder of how many shows I'm still not watching.  I just don't have the mental space, especially for overly dramatic stuff.  So, I will continue to be out of the pop culture loop for most shows.  I have done pretty well overall this week for someone who doesn't watch TV anymore, but it does make me wonder how I managed to watch so much TV as a kid.

- Note to self: Next time you're quarantined, grab the Wii on the way down!

- One channel I keep checking when I need something new is Buzzr, a retro game show network.  I actually discovered a game show this morning that I swear I've never seen, which I didn't think was possible.  It only ran one year, so maybe that's why.  It was hosted by Monty Hall of Let's Make a Deal fame, and it was called Split Second.  The format was weird--these vague three-part trivia questions that the three contestants had to split.  I found it a bit clumsy, and the contestants didn't do very well.  Their cash totals were pretty low and the bonus round was a total luck crapshoot rather than skill, so I guess I can see why it didn't last long.  It did have another life before 1986, and I guess it got rebooted on the Game Show Network more recently.  But I was such a game show nut back in the 80s and early 90s that I can't believe I hadn't seen anything about it before now. 

- I'm a little bummed that I'm missing all the bonus Christmas decor time upstairs.  I always sort of wanted a tree down here, but it would need to be a small one and we didn't spend enough time down here to put the effort into it.  Until now, of course.  I really want to get back upstairs, because I figure it all needs to come down in a week and a half, and this was supposed to be my time to just soak it in.  The boys aren't even putting on the tree lights, darn it.  I keep looking at my Advent calendars all done, and can't quite believe we're there and past.  It always goes so fast.  It honestly feels like I just put it all up, and with how much work it is, I try to maximize it as long as I can without the task hanging over my head.  I have tried to make my winter decor really enjoyable so the downshift isn't as sad, but January is rough enough as the lights start to disappear.

- My family has been eating out all week because Craig can't cook.  I feel like we've run the gamut, which probably made tonight's "special" New Year's Eve dinner pretty routine.  Hopefully I'm allowed to start cooking and get out of here tomorrow.  I never quite thought I'd want to cook dinner again, but here we are.

- I've learned while living down here that even when the laundry is 15 feet away and visible, I can still manage to forget to change it over or take something out.  Perhaps that ADHD gene started with me?  (Coincidentally, I may find that out in a couple weeks...)

- We're finishing off the year with yet another snowstorm.  I've missed a lot of snow this week, not that I'm too sad about not driving in it.  Craig has the snowblower now, so I also don't have to feel bad about not being out shoveling.  Buffalo and Syracuse are getting even more hammered.  Syracuse actually has more snow this year than Buffalo and Rochester combined.  What a crazy, cold, snowy December.  I'm really hoping for some warmth and clear pavement in January, although I'd be willing to trade that for better weather come March, if I have to choose.

- PSA: Next time you or someone in your house is sick, keep an empty tissue box when you get one, and use it as a receptacle for the used tissues.  It keeps them all contained so you're not picking up a million gross, germy tissues that miss the wastebasket.  Game-changer.

So...with 24 minutes left in the year as I type this, I figure I should probably try to reflect on 2025.  It was definitely an interesting year with lots of ups and downs.  Jacob's recovery, another school change, Carter's diagnosis, me trying to get my health managed in lots of different ways, another job evolution for Craig, another Disney trip, and the World Series were probably the biggest stories of the year.  I'm thankful Jacob's leg is finally better and Carter's health seems to be under control.  I love watching both boys play their sports, even more now that they're both doing so much better.  I'm a little sad Carter's and my adventures seem to be dwindling a bit, but I'm grateful for the few we had, including all the Disney exploring.  Going through most of a year without massive anxiety has been simultaneously eye-opening and also just how it should be.  I took dozens of walks through all seasons.  I wish I had some other big accomplishment, but honestly, with all that's happening in the world these days, most of us seem to be just hanging on in a lot of ways.  So I guess walking into the new year a little battered but still moving is a reasonable accomplishment on its own.

I try not to make resolutions or have expectations for a new year, because just when you think you've got a plan, life has a way at throwing you curveballs that throw everything off track.  So I just try to live life one day at a time.  But God-willing, we've got lots of basketball ahead, as well as more baseball than ever for Carter.  I pray for good health and happiness for all of us, restoration of health for lots of friends and family, and fun new adventures for all of us.  We have memories to be made and joy to find.  Time to tip-toe into 2026 and see what we can make of it!  (Now to peek upstairs and see if I can share a distanced "Happy New Year!" with whoever is still up!)

Christmas Epilogue

We opted to stay over Christmas night in NT so we could go to the outlets the next morning.  Carter desperately needed new sneakers and Jacob always likes to look.  The boys were lucky enough to get Grandma's pancakes for breakfast, and we made it to the outlets early, around 9:30.  We actually did well.  Carter found sneakers (in the men's section!), I found sneakers (my go-to pair is getting worn around the toes), Craig got sneakers, and Jacob got workout shoes and some pants.  

We headed home immediately after that, and thank goodness because we had to drive through some crazy snow.  The roads were mostly okay, but trucks would kick up snow, almost to a white-out, when they'd drive by in the left lane.  It wasn't that slippery (aside from one lane change), but traffic was pretty slow.  We got home to snow on the roads but not really on the grass, but within hours we had a solid coating, and by the evening we had 3-4 inches.  Buffalo and areas south of us apparently got some ice after their snow.  I'm glad we didn't!  Yesterday we had a bunch of rain, and all day today was super windy.  Our gusts were up above 60, but Buffalo had one at hurricane force!  We had a tree go down in our woods, behind the neighbor's house, which took down another tree and a pole.  A bunch of neighbors haven't had power in probably 12 hours now.  There were snow squalls made worse by wind, and more snow is coming.  Everything that melted yesterday and overnight was replaced pretty well today.  Other areas are under blizzard warnings, so it's a bit of crazy weather to end the year.  

Anyway, Jacob had practice in the afternoon once we got home, and I found myself wanting to take a nap after unpacking.  I'd had a bit of a scratchy throat since Christmas Eve night, but figured it was probably a combination of lots of talking, my reflux, and a couple glasses of wine.  It didn't really bother me, though--it was just there--and I felt completely fine.  By the morning after Christmas, I noticed a little urge to cough, but again, I still felt fine.  But by that afternoon, I was tired and noticed a little more congestion, and when I was done with my little couch snooze, I was pretty sure I was coming down with something.  I was dispatched to the basement pretty quickly, and the congestion hit pretty hard that night.  The boys got me a combo test the next day, and sure enough, I'm one of the latest in a record number of flu cases right now.  Well, shoot, that's not exactly how I wanted to spend my post-Christmas glow.  

The first full day was pretty rough.  I was tired, progressively weak and achy, and congested with massive sinus pressure.  My fever was low, but I definitely had the chills/sweats fluctuations.  I was so out of it that when my TV viewing kept erroring or losing WiFi, I was taking tiny snoozes working up the energy to try to fix it.  Fortunately, when I woke up in the middle of my second night downstairs, I noticed I felt considerably better.  It was past the point of it being the medicine, so I felt like there was a good chance I was past the worst of it.  I was, as of now anyway, though it hasn't been a completely straight line.  I still had my cough and had to blow my nose a lot that second day, and my fever briefly came back at night.  By today my congestion was still there, still annoying, but I could breathe more regularly and the cough was much better.  But I haven't had to take Tylenol since yesterday morning, and I haven't medicated at all since this morning when I was trying to be more normal when I went for my biometric screening through work.  It's a $125 incentive for both Craig and me to do them, and I had to cram them in at the last minute, not knowing I'd end up sick for it.  But it's fast, I masked up, and it was fine aside from my BP being a bit high, which is probably the illness (or maybe the mask--I get so hot).  Still, I was able to work a full day as planned and just feel like I have a pesky cold now.    

I'm still stuck in the basement for a bit, considering there's an asthmatic, a germaphobe, and an immunocompromised kid upstairs.  I have been spending my time catching up on TV and movies (new and comfort movies), and finally felt good enough yesterday to blog.  I have been jumping between devices, from my phone to my computer to my new tablet.  I've been trying to get that set up with some apps, and I did download my first Libby book on there.  Might as well read while I have the time.  I keep masking up to grab other activities to keep me occupied, like my bills to pay or my new calendar that needs things written in it.  I had a lot that I wanted to accomplish over this break, but I can't do some of it while trapped down here...and what I can still do will only accomplish so much until I'm released.  We'll see.  I'm a little worried about the long list of things that I'll need to do in the house when I'm finally free.  As it was I had to sneak up while Jacob was gone tonight to wash some dishes since the sink was full and Craig could only wrangle so much.  It all happened pretty quick upon returning home, so I'm not sure what is left undone or is getting messy without my oversight.  There could be a lot to do.

Of course, most important is that hopefully I didn't pass it along to anyone else--definitely not my immediate family, but also the many people that I interacted with throughout the holiday.  I really had no idea until it truly hit, so I don't know that I could have really prevented it without being overly, weirdly, peak-COVID careful.  I have no idea where I caught it, as it had to be before Christmas Eve unless the throat thing was unrelated.  I didn't really have a lot of direct contact with people after Wednesday the prior week.  I didn't work outside the house, and Jacob didn't have basketball.  I don't know if I could have just caught it from a surface while running errands, or maybe from coughing people behind me in church?  I didn't do much else, so I'm really not sure.  My cousin called me when she saw me post about it, because she was worried she might be Patient Zero (although she didn't test for anything).  She was congested on Christmas but assumed it was allergies because she otherwise felt fine until Saturday.  But presumably I was infected far before I saw her Christmas night.  Interestingly, my mom had some shortness of breath and higher heart rate right before Christmas, but the cardiac doctor didn't find any issues.  I noticed when I was feeling terrible that my resting heart rate was high, around 110, which made me wonder if she had maybe been exposed (prior to me, clearly) and felt okay but still had those minor impacts.  She did say she had a very minor cough, too, so who knows?  I had that happen with COVID, where I was definitely exposed, never tested positive, but had some random symptoms and ended up showing antibodies consistent with an infection.  Viruses get in and do weird things, so maybe?  But the further we get away from when everyone was exposed, the more comfortable I'll feel.  And truly, with this record flu surge, there were numerous possibilities for people who had no idea to expose others, so anyone really could have caught anything from anyone.  It still sucks, but I'm doing what I can to limit the impacts now.

The biggest bummer is that I was supposed to spend the day tomorrow with Heather, Peter, and Mason at Strong Museum.  We've postponed to Friday for now, hoping that we can sneak it in before the dollhouse exhibit closes.  Heather's dad built them, so they hold a special place in her heart.  It would still be fun to go later if we have to because Mason's going to LOVE it, but the dollhouses would be a bonus.  Hopefully we can make it work.  

So, not the week after Christmas I was expecting, but some forced relaxation isn't the worst thing as long as this flu actually exits the way it should.  It was a nice holiday, though I'd like to get back upstairs to enjoy my decorations before I'm compelled to take them down.  Wish me luck!

Different, But Good

Well, Christmas is over and it was quite the ride this year.  I felt like I was ahead of the curve for most of the month, but as time ticked down, I realized there definitely weren't enough hours in the day to get everything done.  I worked Monday but decided I needed to take off Tuesday.  I had finished everything I needed to, and my mind wouldn't be into work anyway.  Originally we thought Jacob had an afternoon game that day, but then it was confirmed to be a night game.  Either way it meant we couldn't do our usual Christmas Eve Eve with church and dinner, which was a bummer.  We woke up to some snow on Tuesday, and word came early that Jacob's game was canceled.  There wasn't that much snow and it was supposed to turn to rain later, so initially we were a little confused, but it turned out that the team they were playing still had school that day and they had enough snow there (about 45 minutes away) to have a snow day.  It had been a week and a half since Jacob's last game, so we were bummed it was canceled, but I definitely needed that time back!  Initially we thought we could do our Christmas Eve Eve as planned, but then Jacob's coach set up a scrimmage from 4-6, which effectively took over any possibility for church.  I spent most of the day doing food prep, packing, and some final running around and wrapping, and then took a break so Carter and I could go to church.  Christmas Eve is one of my favorites, particularly because our church does a beautiful candlelit "Silent Night" at the end.  It's so beautiful and is always one of those moments where I transition from Christmas prep to actually celebrating Christmas.  Then it was back home to prep our lobster dinner (salmon for Craig) and more food, including our breakfast cinnamon rolls.  By that point I was so tired, so over all the work.  Usually my breaking point is that last stop at Wegmans when everything feels overwhelming and I just sort of want to cry right then and there.  I didn't have that this year, but it definitely hit me in the middle of the food prep and the endless rounds of dishes with so much final stuff needing to be done.

It ended up being a pretty late night with all of that, plus trying to shoo the kids off to bed so the gifts could come out.  Carter is officially past the Santa thing, but I refused to bring gifts up until they were upstairs.  Of course Jacob had to come down for something in the middle of it, but whatever.  His loss of the surprise, I guess.  After everything was out, I did a longer than usual moment sitting in the dark with the trees and lights.  I had been listening to our church worship director's Spotify playlist during all of my cookie baking and food prep, and one of the songs on it was also part of the Christmas Eve service.  It was such a beautiful song that I just sat there for a bit listening to that.  

I love the Scandinavian-inspired star that I got last year.

I was very happy with how all my decor turned out this year.

We were planning on getting up pretty early because we ideally needed to get on the road by 11 or so, but let's just say we all needed sleep!  Still, we were up at a reasonable time.  Craig (and Carter's hippo) crashed the stair picture!

And here's the real stair picture...

They're really looking giant these days, no?

After I typed that caption above, I actually took a few minutes to gather up a folder of all the stair photos so I could look at them in sequence.  The first one was in 2012 with just Jacob, and then he was solo again the following year when Carter was still a baby.  From there on it's been both of them, and the transition from the first one together to this year is pretty shocking.

I mean...seriously?  Time is a THIEF.

Gifts this year were a bit all over the place.  We didn't really have any big gifts for either kid, though we did have a couple fun ones.  We'd make good on it, trust me.  But first, stockings!

So, back when Carter was in his really bad UC flare at the end of the summer, I bought him a stuffed hippo he really liked at Aldi.  I subsequently got my capybara from the same line.  The hippo definitely brightened his life at a tough time, and quickly become a full-fledged member of the family with his own voice and personality.  Carter has even animated him with AI apps, which is pretty funny.  He'd been saying the hippo needs a friend, and Craig took it upon himself to order two!  I spent most of the season obsessed with finding Christmas hippo pajama pants at Five Below, which I did on my epic shopping night out when I picked up the stocking stuffers and a few other things (which, incidentally, two-weeks-later me was SUPER grateful I did--that kind of last minute shopping might have done me in!).  Separately, Craig had ordered a hippo shirt, and in the end it made the perfect Christmas PJs!

The hippo had his own gift under the tree--a small hippo--and Carter got this big snuggly one.  

Jacob got a sleepy Simba like Carter's Figment that he got at Disney this summer.  I ordered it from Target, and the package got stuck for over a week past its delivery date.  After the incident a few years ago where that happened and we ended up with a box of cat food (and the actual gifts out of stock), I checked in with Target and they sent a replacement in two days...only to have the other one finally show up a couple days later.  So we now have two Simbas, one of which will probably get donated at some point.

Jacob also got a few pairs of pajama pants, a real Apple charging cord and some new headphone adapters, a TENS unit for stim at home, some shorts, and this year's ornament, a Mickey Mouse nutcracker.  I also got him (and the family) a WiFi extender since he always complains about the Xbox WiFi not being good because it's at the far end of the house.  We might actually need a new router, but we'll give that a shot first.  Carter got a new water bottle for school, a bunch of soda flavored lip balms that he wanted at the Coca-Cola store at Disney, a Blue Jays shirt, a couple other shirts (he really needed long-sleeved shirts that fit!), some new Christmas socks, and baseball cards.  He had a couple too-expensive Lego sets on his list, which he didn't get, but at the last minute Craig ordered him something a bit more reasonable, which was waiting for us when we got home.  We also allowed the boys to get an Xbox game earlier in the month when it was cheaper.  Carter also got a $12 boost in a game he's been playing, and Jacob was also allowed to order a pair of sneakers he wanted.  Craig got a new snowbrush and The Office Polly Pocket set (I know, sounds funny, but he got the Peanuts one for his birthday and said he liked the Office one, too, and I found it SUPER cheap).  The boys gave me a cool baseball sweatshirt.

After gifts, I prepped our cinnamon rolls and bacon, and then it was a longer-than-ideal process of getting packed up to leave.  As I said, we should have been on the road by 11am, but that didn't quite work out.  There was just too much.  We finally hopped in the car (my car, which barely fit what we needed, but mine is more trustworthy) around noon.  We got to Aunt Marie's around 1:30.  It was nice to see a few of Craig's cousins and their kids.  It's not quite the chaotic, full-extended-family stop it used to be, but it's always nice.

After that is where things got a little different.  Craig's parents were staying at a hotel in between houses.  They sold theirs but had a little delay getting into their new house, so it was a hotel for the holidays this year.  And since his parents and brother aren't really on good terms right now, that meant we had two stops that night.  We went to the hotel and hung out with his parents for probably an hour and a half in the lobby, to give them their gifts and spend some time with them.  All things considered, it was a nice time.  It'll be better to be with them in their new house next year, though!  Because of their transitional phase, their gifts all came to our house ahead of time.  I got a tablet so I can read digital books, Craig got a snowblower (which came in handy immediately after Christmas), Jacob got some shorts, and Carter got a Jays shirt.   

After that we headed to Craig's brother's house.  We had a delicious dinner, exchanged gifts, and watched Elf.  We were missing our niece who was still in Pittsburgh with her boyfriend, but overall it was a nice night.  It's always still weird because we're used to being with the whole family and we don't like being in the middle of their issues.  It's hard to hear them talk negatively about one another and know the truth is usually somewhere in between, and not really know how or if to take sides.  We love them both, but having to manage all those feelings and relationships is challenging.  We hope that in time they will find a way to reconnect and make peace, but it's entirely possible this Christmas is the first of many like this.  After that, we headed to my parents' house for the night.

This Christmas Eve night was much better than last year when Jacob was up all night worrying about his leg.  It was nice to have a normal night and Christmas morning this year.  We went to church with my parents, grabbed breakfast for all the boys at Starbucks on our way home, opened a few gifts, had a lovely ham dinner, and then opened more gifts.  

We clean up pretty nice!

Jacob got some compression shirts and shorts, Carter got a Soda Stream, a shirt, and a viola ornament, Craig got a Braves shirt and some money, and I got my angel ornament, really nice hanging kitchen towels, dish drying mats, my Chihuly calendar, and super randomly--a sewing machine!  My mom had bought it to replace hers, but ended up getting hers fixed.  But since she'd already used it, she gave it to me.  I haven't used a sewing machine since I was 13 years old in Home Economics (when I made my very cute stuffed pig), and I have no idea what I will use it for, but I guess we'll see how it goes!

I gave my mom a Bills sweatshirt and some gloves that have the phone-friendly fingers, both of which were on her list.  We splurged a bit on my dad (my brother split it, as well) and got him a Bird Buddy birdhouse with a webcam.  Might be a bit of a stretch, but my dad loves appreciating God's creation, so I think he'll enjoy the birds!  

In the afternoon we played a game of SkyJo, the family favorite card game.  It truly is a lot of fun, and Jacob loves it more than anyone.  After a little bit I needed to make some food for our last stop, Uncle Jeff's.  We had a good time there catching up with everyone.  My cousins are great, their kids are nuts, and it's always a nice evolution of the Christmas night chaos we all grew up with.  It's hard watching the older generation age, and I wish more of the cousins were able to be there, but it's still special every year.  We took our stair pictures once again, too.
  

We're missing my cousin Nicki's two girls, my cousin Chris' daughter, plus Kate and Max

We're missing Nicki (the oldest), my brother, Chris, Kim (who was there but chose not to be in the picture), and Kevin.

We were truly blessed to grow up how we did, with so many cousins and loving grandparents, aunts, and uncles.  I wish I lived closer to be more connected to them as adults, but it's always nice to catch up.  And I'd say we all chose spouses well, too!  

We finished off the night with an abbreviated Trivial Pursuit game (like the old days, but shorter), and I happened to win the game for the ladies!  The winning question was about the name of the company started by Thomas Watson, and I suspected it was IBM because their supercomputer was named Watson.  I was right!  I won the girls a night out at everyone's favorite local bar.  Whether or not I'll be able to be there when it happens, I'm not sure, but it was fun to get bragging rights.

Overall, it was a good Christmas.  I think all of the elements were there, even if the structure felt a bit different than usual.  It was a bummer we couldn't do Christmas Eve church together as a family, and obviously Craig's family dynamics were quite a bit different.  But we got to see everyone and do (most of) the things, got nice gifts, and had a lot of fun.  What happened right after, however...will wait for the next post!

That was fast...

I blinked and suddenly we're less than a week away from Christmas.  Yikes.  I've been trying to write this post for probably two weeks, and apparently I've been busy.  So let's try to catch things up.

After spending a good chunk of the post-Thanksgiving weekend decorating the house, I've really been enjoying all of the Christmas decor.  I love my little tree forest next to my desk and the theme tree behind me, and of course the big tree with hundreds of memories.  My parents came to watch Jacob's game a couple weekends ago, and it was fun to have my mom looking around my tree for things she recognized--lots of stuff she made, in particular.  I'm just getting a nice, cozy vibe this year, and I'm trying to soak it all up while I can.  I can't believe a week from tomorrow we'll already be starting our Christmas celebrations.  This month has absolutely flown.

Most of the trees came from the Target dollar spot--one for $5, two for $3, and the rest $1--and two came from Walgreens super cheap this year.  The two with branches are sparkly sculpted glass and came from my grandma's house.  I almost destroyed one a couple years ago when it fell on the fireplace hearth, but I salvaged it.  The tea lights were probably 50 cents each at IKEA forever ago.

The sports tree!  Note the green needlepoint cheerleader from my middle school years, my parents' Sabres glass ball, and an Amerks ornament that was a favor at a season ticketholder event, I think.

I've bought a good number of gifts, but really need to buckle down and figure out what's left.  We're pretty much past the point of any online ordering, so that stinks, but I'm closer than I've maybe ever been at this point, especially since I took one evening last week to do a three-hour marathon that included the stocking stuffers I usually leave to the end.  Big kid Christmas is definitely different, although we still venture into little kid Christmas at times--hence the stuffed hippos currently stashed in my closet.  I'll probably share more on that story after Christmas!  I have a few gifts in particular I'm excited about, in particular my dad, and a couple things for the kids, and one unexpected but fun find I got on a crazy sale for Craig.  Wrapping will commence this weekend.  Tonight is Christmas cards--finally!

Jacob's basketball season has been going for a couple weeks now.  It was a bit surreal seeing him step on the Bishop Kearney court again as a home player.  We had once envisioned him playing his high school career on this court, and then that didn't happen when he had to reclassify.  We never really envisioned him being back, but here we are.  Seeing him play with one of his best friends from his first stint at the school was pretty cool.  

The team is doing well, having won all of their games so far.  I wouldn't say they look fantastic, but they're getting it done.  They have one kid who's only a 7th grader that was a starter and was one of their leading scorers, but he was playing with a hurt wrist for a few games and might have finally gotten it looked at, because he wasn't at practice yesterday.

Jacob is doing okay, all things considered.  His body has been holding up pretty well, which has been a relief.  He's still getting back in the groove a bit after not having played regularly in nearly two years, but he's getting there.  He's so much bigger and stronger, so he's also sort of playing with a new body in a lot of ways.  He had around 7-8 points in each of the first three games, and then had a goose egg last game.  His coach just seemed to have an issue with him that game and didn't hesitate to take him out, which was a little odd.  But he's definitely putting the work in.  Overall, he hasn't played as much as he'd like--the first game was a blowout so he sat most of the second half, and he's had a few longer-than-ideal stints on the bench mid-game, presumably not for any reason other than just rotating other people in.  They ended up winning a mini-tournament in their third game, which was fun, though it was a hard-fought game. 

On the Carter front, he's been doing well.  He's right around 100 pounds now (!) and is barely an inch behind me.  He's been growing like a weed since we got his ulcerative colitis under control.  He's barely had a symptom since he went on a steroid and then started infusions.  Today was his fourth one, in fact.  He's had a couple recurrences of blood, but it would seem they were part of his body fighting off cold viruses, which can happen because any ramping up of the immune system can risk a small flare.  But no pain, no urgency, and nothing else concerning, so we'll call it good.  They did decide to up his dose because his levels dropped a bit more than they would have liked with the new eight-week interval, so we'll see how this round goes.  It's encouraging that even with lower levels he still stayed healthy on the GI front (the stubborn colds tend to linger), but the online support group I follow is a stark reminder of how complicated things can get.  Also, we're about to go into a new year and I'm a little terrified to see the bill for the next infusion once our deductible resets.  It'll hurt to start the year, but we'll likely hit our max out-of-pocket again and get some "free" time for the rest of the year.

Carter had his winter concert for both orchestra and chorus last week.  He's sort of over chorus at this point, so this will be his last year of it, but viola will survive for another year.  I do wish he practiced more at home because he seems to do well and get positive reviews from his teachers without it, so it makes me wonder what he could do if he did practice more.  

Here are a couple samples from the concert:

As part of Carter's ulcerative colitis treatment, he recently had to go to get an eye exam.  One of the side effects of his medicine can be vision changes, so they wanted to get a baseline.  All was well, although he hated having his eyes dilated because it lasted hours (Jacob was the same way, maybe it's a kid thing?) and he couldn't use his phone.  If you know my love for glass art, you'll know that I loved that the office was filled with glass artwork like this:

After Jacob's last home game, I dragged Carter with me to a street near Jacob's school that always does Christmas up big.  We'd gone once before after Jacob's winter concert back in middle school, and I was eager to go again.  Most of the houses have some sort of decorations, and some go wild!

Note the Bills-led sleigh!

There was so much going on here!

It's been a while since I've caught a good sunrise/sunset, but the other morning was a doozy.  The pictures don't really capture how dark the purple clouds were above, but the color was fantastic.

After weeks of cold and snow, we actually had a couple warm days this week, as well as some rain last night.  I took a lunch walk in 50 degree weather yesterday, and it was absolutely heavenly.  I didn't realize how beaten down I already was from all the cold and snow until I breathed in not-freezing air and got to take my first walk in weeks.  All of the snow in those pictures is now gone (although it's trying to come back tonight along with 55mph wind gusts!), and while I normally would be upset to lose the White Christmas, we've had a really good run during the holiday season for the first time in years, and I really would like to walk more, which I can't do well when there's snow on the ground.  As it was yesterday, the remnant ice patches were a bit treacherous!  

This week, despite my relatively decent Christmas spirit (thank you, Zoloft?), has been a bit heavy.  There was a school shooting at Brown University that killed two people (within a day of the 13th anniversary of Sandy Hook), a mass shooting at a Hanukkah event in Australia killed a lot of people, famous director Rob Reiner and his wife were stabbed to death by their son, and the political realm has been even more twisted than usual.  Health care costs are about to skyrocket, and you can just tell people are feeling the weight of a world gone wrong right now.  Personally, my uncle is really struggling with cancer, my cousin is in the thick of treatment, and I'm also still praying for two friends with esophageal cancer, my friend's daughter who had the liver transplant, and my other friend's daughter who beat leukemia but still deals with a lot of fallout from that.  Plus, of course, my own kids.  But we did hit Jacob's one-year anniversary of his surgery, and the 10-year anniversary of his bone cyst discovery this week, and things seem relatively calm compared to all that.  But the prayer list is long.  I'm thankful that the anxiety hasn't overtaken me, but it's hard knowing people are dealing with so much.

So, now we're on to the big countdown.  I truly can't believe how fast this month has gone.  Getting to the last section of drawers on my Advent tree this morning was sobering.  It feels like we just started!  This weekend will hopefully include a lot of wrapping up (and actual wrapping), the Knighthawks' home opener, and making some decisions on food for our various Christmas stops.  Our Buffalo stint will look a little different this year since Craig's parents are doing some hotel living until their new house is ready, and I realized the other day that our usual Christmas Eve Eve traditions of church and a fancy dinner won't be able to happen because Jacob has a game that night!  And it's a far one, about a 45 minute drive away, so it will be a busy, late night.  I wanted to do church then on Christmas Eve at noon, but it sounds like that's when we'd be going to Craig's Aunt Marie's, so we might have to shift our Christmas Eve morning festivities (gift opening and breakfast) a bit earlier so we can do 10am church and an 11:30ish departure.  That is daunting, but that might be what needs to happen to fit it all in!  So many things to figure out between now and then!  But here we go!