Maeve and Lilly

I think it was Thanksgiving weekend that we decided to take the train to New York for Christmas. This was the first time since 2004 that we’d make the trek to see Nanny and Grampy for the holiday and the girls were jazzed. In an effort to minimize the amount of luggage schlepped back and forth to NY, Santa shipped a bunch of stuff by way of Amazon.

We also opened some of the larger/more-fragile presents on Tuesday night, the day before we left. The girls were especially excited about their Ugg-knock-off boots. Also of note was the ream of copy paper that Maeve got (this in an effort to keep paper from disappearing from Momma’s office due to Maeve’s art addiction).

Wednesday (12/23) at 2pm, we drove to the Park’n'Ride and waited in the freezing sleet for the Van Galder bus to Chicago. The decision to leave the driving to someone else was a good one. While we relaxed in the back of the double-decker bus, the traffic crawled along the icy Interstate passed car after car in the ditch. Four hours later we were delivered to the front door of Union Station.

After checking our bags and grabbing a bite to eat, we boarded (senior citizens and families traveling with small children first, thank you very much) the Lakeside Express at 9pm. We were just in coach so we put the girls’ seats back, covered them with a pink Hello Kitty blanket and told them it was bedtime. They were a bit concerned that the lights were still on and annoyed that the old Indian gentlemen in front of them was on his phone the entire night. (“Haylo? Yays, I em on deh trayn.”) I think they fell asleep sometime after 10 and woke up around 4:30. I managed to get them back to sleep for a few hours. We rolled into Rochester at 9:30 (15 minutes early!) and saw Nanny and Grampy waiting for us.

Christmas Eve was a blur of making rice pudding, eating Pontillo’s pizza, and a party at cousin Liz’s house. Maeve soundly trounced Uncle Jimmy in a drawing contest before we headed home. Christmas morning dawned with an obscene number of presents under the tree. Despite the quantities, the girls managed to get through them in record time. Prize possessions now include Lilly’s Guitar Hero for DS and Maeve’s music sequencer/sampler. We spent the rest of the day in front of the fire waiting for word about the arduous journey of Uncle Joe and his family from Oklahoma. The girls went to bed disappointed that their cousins Adrianna and Alexis would not be here when they woke up.

Two days later, the crew from Oklahoma made it. The girls cooed and fussed over 15-month Adrianna and giggled awestruck around 16-year-old Alexis. On Monday, the day of our departure, it finally started snowing and the girls were able to get outside with Uncle Joe for some frolicking. The afternoon was spent packing and preparing for our 11pm train.

Maeve delivered this extremely insightful comment as we drove around a parking lot: “In the olden days, there were kings and queens. Now we have lawyers.”

Just in time for the deluge of Christmas photos, I got the rest of the photographic documentation for Fall up for your viewing enjoyment. Take a look.

Maeve crawled into my lap when I was watching a live DVD of Isis. After about two minutes, she asked “is this a rocking-out band? …because they have tattoos.” Then later, “I like this music, especially the squeaky parts.”

Maeve is a trip. Not only does she seem to be reading well above her grade-level, she tosses off sayings with the nonchalance of a teenager. Over the past few months, these little gems have tumbled out of her:

• That’s how I roll.
• Come on, peeps.
• Come on lady. Do the math.
• What were ya thinkin’?
• Ya think?
• WhatEVER.
• Let’s get a move on.
• Tryin’ to play a game here.