Christmas Photos

The Christmas season is over...and no, we didn't send out a card this year. I can't tell you how much of a failure I feel that I can't get a Christmas card together. We had good intentions--we had a friend of Maya's take photos of us outside at Washington Square Park--right in front of the arch. They would have been great, but, well, it was about 2 degrees that night and windy, and we couldn't get a single photo that wasn't blurry. Sigh. The view above is our living room, Christmas night--the kids all got new bean bag chairs, and the table is piled high with wonderful presents from the West Coast relatives and friends. See our cute little Christmas tree in the corner, on a side table? We bought it in Harlem this year, 3 blocks from home. It was perfect and narrow, and our place has been cozy and festive.

Right before Christmas, we went to Great Wolf Lodge. It was a super trip--less than 2 hours from the city, pretty much everyone there was our demographic--families with 3 or 4 kids of wide age ranges. I love waterslides. Seriously. Our big kids are total swimmers now, so the ropes course and water basketball were big favorites, and they have a toddler area plus a not-too-hot hot tub, so it was loads of fun.
Here are all of us in front of the big fire place in the lodge. This is as close to a Christmas card you're going to get from the Spositos. Sorry about that.
See that sweater that Maya is wearing? Well it used to fit me, and then I accidentally felted it. SO bummed! But at least I still get to see it since it fits her.
Here are three happy little people--tired out from waterslides and the neverending Magic Quest that keeps them running all over the lodge with magic wands for hours.

I have more to report on too--like Jonah's birthday, which was the day after we got back from PA--10 boys in a 900 sq. ft. apartment--it was loud, chaotic and lots of fun. He thinks he has the best birthday in the whole world. Shhh, don't tell him that he might one day change his mind. Turns out only 1 friend couldn't come due to holiday plans, and 1 more had pinkeye, so didn't come at the last minute. I thought for sure that several more would be busy, but, well, seems everyone was happy to drop off their boys for a few hours while they shopped or prepared for the holidays. So now we have an 8 year old boy on our hands. He's such an energetic joy right now--fun to play games with, developing a true brotherly relationship with Simon and growing into himself, if that makes sense. He loves playing with all his new Lego and Playmobil toys, Nerf guns, remote control vehicles and Nano bugs. I'm not really having the issue that he doesn't play by himself anymore, which is a nice new development.
Christmas was mellow, low-key, I think we all had a slight virus--we stayed in for several days in a row after our very extroverted waterslide trip and birthday party. It was nice--games, toys, puzzles, movies--we watched the snow pile up outside and felt cozy and good. Friends in Brooklyn had a party a few days after Christmas and we made the journey, which included a long walk through lots of snow. The kids had a blast playing in their yard--building snow tunnels and slides and having snowball fights. A few days later we had a really nice New Year's Eve party in the W. Village with friends, and lots of good food. Simon likes champagne too, by the way, in addition to wine and beer. And he can stay up past midnight, no problem. Riding the subway home, across Times Square on New Year's Eve at 1 am is an adventure. Packed trains, it feels like the middle of the day--everyone partying and dressed up and cheering whenever the doors open to let more people on. It would have been super except for the guy sitting next to Jonah that tossed his cookies. The kids told me tonight that someone on the train took a picture of the puddle on the floor. I don't need to see the picture, because I'll have it in my head forever--I think it was the salad he must have had earlier that must have done it. Aaaaahhhhh, New Year's memories.