December: Merry (NY+MN) Christmas

The sights and sounds of Christmas in the city were so exciting this year. We were in a rush to squeeze are the NY festivities in before going to grandma's home in Minnesota for Christmas. Isaac made a gingerbread house at his pre-k. I had to snap this picture quickly since Isaac ate the entire thing within a half hour of getting home. Yum.

First "must do" on the list: Macy's. Isaac is holding his letter to Santa here before putting it in Macy's mail box. He didn't want to write anything on it, just mail it. He told me orally that he wants to make sure Santa knows he wants a new "Mater" (tow truck from Disney's "Cars").

We stood in line to see Santa. Yes, Alex too (though he had a seat).

Isaac told Santa about his hopes for Mater but seemed a little intimidated.

The ward had a Christmas party the next weekend with (gasp!) santa. Isaac seemed a little irate that he was seeing Santa again had he hadn't yet brought him his Mater. We tried to explain to Isaac we were still in the wishing and planning phase and that gift delivery isn't to be expected until the 25th. He still seemed a little put off by this Santa guy who apparently had to be reminded several times with no result.

Amid it all, we decided to take a tour of our local Italian ice store, Ritas. Yes, bliss does come in cup size portions. This guy was the nicest guy. He indulged Isaac's request for lots of samples and even let him "help" make a batch of Italian Ice.


We made our annual trip to the Big Apple Circus. As you can see here, Alexander was very interested in Isaac's treats--cotten candy in particular.

We mixed it up a little by heading down to CMOM one morning for a drop in class. Yep, Isaac loved drumming.

What holiday season would be complete without a trip to Bryant Park and purchasing $5 chocolate chip cookies. We were sitting eating our treats and isaac was scuffing along the pebbles with his shoes. Next thing we knew, the grounds sweeper showed up with a police officer! The sweeper was irate Isaac was spreading pebbles over what he had freshly swept. The police officer calmed the sweeper down and gave us a wink. I think he sided with us that the sweeper was a bit insane. Or maybe this city is insane. Or maybe I'm going insane in it. Its hard to tell anymore.

Alexander got one of his christmas presents a bit early; a play table. He is standing up and starting to pull himself around. I wouldn't call it crawling, yet, but he certainly gets around.

Isaac got a kick out of the elephant sculptures outside of Columbus Circle.








Before we could say "St. Nick" we were on our way to Minnesota. We relived all the best of Minnesota Christmas. First, a trip to Ridgedale mall to meet Santa. Alexander had to power nap before his big photo moment. Isaac had a blast driving this fire truck around the mall.

Christmas Eve, we opened a Christmas present early: we all got ice skates. We went ice skating at the local skating rink. For Isaac's first time, he did really well.


That evening, we read "The night before Christmas" with Grandma Larson.

Christmas day we ripped through our presents. At first, Isaac needed some coaxing to open them; after he realized what was happening he was pretty excited.

Alexander was crawling a little when we got to Minnesota on the 19th, but by the time we left, he was an efficient crawler and could make a fast crawling dash for the bobbles hanging on the Christmas tree.

While in Minnesota, we got to spend time with family. Isaac and Alexander got very excited at any mention of spending time with their cousins AJ and Clara.

New Years Eve was more exciting than we bargained for. The power went out in several rooms in the house. We went down to the power breakers and tried flipping the circuit breaker to no avail. It was then that we did the American thing and turned to You Tube, search inquiry: blown fuse. We learned from an elderly electrician in Wisconsin how to replace a fuse.

Then we realized there was a distinct possibility that by opening the fuse box, sticking a screwdriver in it and attempting to unconnect wires, we could die a very shocking death.

But we stood our ground for lawyers everywhere: looking death in the face, and showing strong matchless determination and courage (or pure stupidity). We were doing it to defend my mother's honor and make a statement that she would not have to start the new year in the dark. We were showing our children getting a law degree is a choice and isn't something people get who can't do anything else. We were defending apartment dwellers everywhere who have never had any experience in home maintenance. We did it for the Wisconsin elderly electrician who had so much trust in us to make a you tube video. We did it for Americans everywhere.

We made it to Lowe's before they closed for New Years Eve at 6pm (Home Depot closed an hour earlier). We found not one part that actually would fit, but three circuit fuses that all kindof might work.

At home, we got the flashlight and got to business. We said a prayer and hit the main power circuit breaker to the house. In the dark , we replaced the fuse. We tried it with the lights on, it didn't work. We tried another, and the other one we purchased. None worked. Sigh.

If it is any consolation, when my brother-in-law who is a very skilled electrical engineer showed up the next day, it took him six hours to find and fix the problem, and it was much more complicated than the fuse box--a wire had become dislodged in another part of the house and was shorting one of the lines. If YouTube had a video explaining how to do that, Cliff and I would have done it (and done it more efficiently, because we are apartment dwelling, YouTube watching, American Lawyers).

That evening, New Years' Eve, we got what we hadn't had almost at all: Snow. Lots of it. Big, fat, fluffy flakes fell New Years Eve as we drove back from a party some family friends were having.

Happy New Years to all our friends!!!