Christmas 2008

There is one word to describe Christmas 2008 - WHEW! We managed to pack-up and move to Anna's new house on December 19, followed by unpacking, cleaning the old house, mailing Christmas cards, putting up Christmas decorations, celebrating Christmas, journeying to New York and concluding with a visit from Gramma and Grandpa.

The big Christmas present was the move to the new house. Mom located a small moving company and managed to find free professional moving boxes on Craig's list (this involved

speeding down to Southern Fairfax county immediately after an ad was posted leaving a sick Dad with a sick daughter - but the boxes were free). After lots of packing, a team of Russian movers showed up at 9 AM in the rain to move our worldly goods. Incidentally, Joe noted that we have acquired many more worldly goods since our college days when everything would fit into the trunk/backseat of an economy car. This time it took a large moving truck two trips. Joe was skeptical of the moving crew and was convinced they were going to take off with our furniture and hold it for ransom. As luck would have it, they delivered it to the proper location. The only thing that did not make it was the big couch in the basement. Apparently when Joe purchased the couch 10 years ago, the store had to cut it in two and reassemble it in the basement. The Russian mafia was not familiar with this technique, thus the couch was left behind after 1 hour of trying to free it from the basement (dry wall repair was later needed as a result of this effort). The couch was finally freed two weeks later by Marvin the upholstery repairman who was able to disassemble it and reassemble it again. No dis assembly required for the new house. Anna missed all the excitement and spent the entire day with Ms. Be. When we picked her up and pulled into the driveway of the new house, she exclaimed, "I want to paint. I want my purple paint shirt." Needless to say, she has adjusted well.

We managed to put up a Christmas tree in between unpacking boxes in time for Santa's visit. While Anna did not fully understand the role of Santa, she did understand the concept of presents by the end of the holiday season. When she awoke on Christmas Day, Anna found a kitchen just her size under the Christmas tree, complete with a battery operated stand mixer and blender. Uncle Tim and Uncle Rod provided the accessories, including cookware and food. After seeing that, there was no need to open any other presents (most of which were from Gramma and Grandpa), she proceeded to play with the kitchen all day and had a wonderful time blending packing peanuts. She did not open the remainder of the presents until several days after Christmas. Mom fixed Christmas dinner and unpacked some boxes while Dad raked leaves. Anna cooked. Christmas Day concluded with a visit from Anna and Charley, who also were treated to little Anna's special dish - "peanuts."

The day after Christmas, we departed for New York to celebrate the holidays (as well as Joe's birthday a bit early) with Joe's family. Anna was greeted by ALL of her Aunts and Uncles who came bearing more presents for her. We stayed at Aunt Mary's Christmas wonderland. Actually, the Christmas wonderland was provided by Uncle Joe who has a Christmas village display that rivals anything you can find at a store. During her visit, Anna was treated to some block building with cousin James, who may have a certification in building block engineering based on his elaborate structures. She also played the piano and enjoyed watching cousin Andrew play the guitar as well as do the chicken dance for her. Cousin Luke also provided entertainment, including more block building. The highlight of the trip for Dad was the family dinner in honor of his birthday with authentic Italian food (thanks to Aunt Mary for arranging everything and to Aunt Loren for bringing the cannoli cake). Anna, not one to miss out on Italian, ate her share, including calamari. She was rather upset at the end of the dinner when she discovered that her tights were "broken." Aunt Mary was able to contain the crisis after showing Anna her broken tights. It was a great gathering and wonderful to see the entire family. A big thanks to Aunt Mary for hosting us!

We rang in the new year by braving the 50 mph winds and heading for the First Night celebration in downtown Fairfax. While many of the outdoor activities were canceled, we did enjoy some of indoor performance, including one of Anna's favorite local singers - Mr. Skip. We are extremely happy to begin 2009 in a new home and look forward to another year of adventure with Anna.

Christmas in New York