Christmas review

How nice it is when your audience clamors for more (see comments, last post). As predicted, we were exhausted by the drive home. Also, I had to work today! Anyway, back to the Christmas recap:

Anthony and I had a wonderful getaway. We went to a late dinner and then slept in, with no little people waking us up. After a leisurely breakfast (think omelets, with smoked turkey, mushrooms, and brie), we went for a hike in the woods. We originally intended to go skiing but New Mexico wasn't as lucky as Colorado, and only had about 5 inches of man-made snow. Definitely not worth the hassle of ski gear and rental. It was a beautiful crisp day, perfect for hiking without a jacket. The dry, thin mountain air soon had us panting with our hearts pounding in our ears. We hiked into the wilderness about 2 miles, mostly up, over fragrant spongey pine needles to a ridge with beautiful aspen views. Anthony saw the tail end of a large elk bounding away; I only heard its large muscular bolt from us. The only other creatures we saw were twittering little wrens - not a single other person on our hike. Several times as we walked a strong wind would race up through the pines toward us. It was loud and terrifying, but like a jet plane racing overhead, ultimately harmless. The trip back to the car was easier cardiovascularly but more treacherous, being downhill on slippery little rocks and leaves, making one think of how dreadfully unfortunate a twisted ankle would be! We did, however, make it back without incident.

Back in El Paso, I hurried in the house, a little faster than Anthony, to see my children. "Mommy!" Anna joyfully cried, but Colin's face FELL when he saw me. "Where my Daddy is?" he asked me, accusingly, and he would not hug me. Once he saw his Daddy was back, he did warm up to me, too.

Later that night, we went Christmas caroling. The kids really enjoyed it, but we adults were all missing Stephanie's voice. Christmas Eve I went to the gym with my mom, we took the kids to an empty Peter Piper Pizza, and then we ate Tamales, a traditional hispanic favorite for the night before Christmas.

After the "Night Before Christmas," (which Anna has memorized in its entirety from school), we put the kids to bed then listened to them on the baby monitor while Santa made Jingle bell noises and said, "Ho ho ho!" outside their bedroom window. They were silent, and I thought maybe they were already asleep, until we heard Colin say in a stage whisper, "Anna! Wake up!"

"What..." Anna whined.

"Santa coming. And reindeers!" Colin whispered back.

"You already told me that 30 times!" Anna told him.

They repeated this conversation two more times, then Colin belted out a solo of his favorite preschool song (Autumn Leaves are Falling Down) which Anna apparently slept through, then Colin joined her.

To be continued, with pictures...