Happy Lollidays

In a magazine, I saw the time between Christmas and New Year's Day described as the Lollidays.

I agree.

In the days since Christmas we've cracked open our newest (bigger than ever) Lego set, eaten all the good food and enjoyed each other.

One of my favorites is silent reading time.  We gather in the family room, with our books.  One big difference from when they were younger is that when Braeden asked me what a word meant, I didn't know and Emma didn't either and then Mark told us to be quiet because he was reading and wasn't it supposed to be silent reading time?

I used to know what all the words meant in the books Braeden read and I used to be the one telling Mark to be quiet and read.

Times change.

Speaking of Mark, we have inadvertently been torturing him a little.  One of Emma's new games is called Snappy Dresser and one of the versions is you analyze what the characters are wearing and play a sort of Spot It game to distinguish the differences (mostly difference in color).  It is fast paced and Emma is really good at it.  Mark was just sort of stuck and then I remembered the child is color blind.

We decided to play a different game.

One day we joined Adam for lunch and I got home at 10:30 PM.  It was a long story but a longer day.  Adam is moving to a new office so we took the brute squad after lunch to move his stuff.  Then I started scheming (with input from a few of the guys that report to Adam) on what he needed at IKEA to better outfit his office which is nicer but more cramped than his previous office.  (A few of the guys tried to convince Adam to just take over the conference room.  "It would be a total power move!"  Adam is not the kind of guy that goes in for a total power move.)

The kids took Adam's car home and Adam and I took Joan to IKEA.  I did not buy one single thing for myself (kind of a big deal). We bought some things for the office and headed back that way.  It was snowing and icy but Joan was a champ.  We carried everything in together (stacking smaller things on the platform of one big box, including my drink which Adam questioned the wisdom of me bringing) and assembled.  Because IKEA is kind of our jam.  (Although I wished Mark were there too.)

I called the boys (Emma was at work) and told them to cook some frozen pizzas because we wouldn't make it home for dinner.  Braeden said, "I'm sorry you're stuck there so long."

But it didn't really feel like being stuck because I love being anywhere with Adam.

We finally got everything done and headed out into the winter wonderland.  We hit an Arby's drive thru because even though we weren't super hungry, we were a little hungry.

It turned out to be a good idea because the trip home was not great.  The freeway was closed because of crashes and we were finally able to exit and take a remarkably underutilized road that Adam knew about.  (Why did no one else know about it?)  It was icy and I was a little white knuckled but Adam warned me of potentially dicey curves on the unfamiliar road and again, Joan was a champ.

We made it home and even though it was a long day, I was with Adam.

Saturday I had a migraine so I holed up in my office with Adam's noise canceling headphones and listened to a playlist on Amazon music that definitely put me in a zen state.  I texted anyone who would listen for food and Emma brought me a tray of artfully arranged cheese and crackers and Braeden brought me a cup of ice and a Grapefruit Shasta.  I felt like I missed the whole day but they carried on without me.  They played Mario Cart in the basement and when I took off the headphones,  the whoops ascending up the stairs confirmed that they were having a good time.

So it's had its ups and downs, these Lollidays, but they've been a nice break and a time we've enjoyed each other.  I'm already excited about/dreading taking down the Christmas decorations (it's a big undertaking) and I'm already excited about/dreading heading back to work (mostly because I know I will be cold).