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Ask me anything and I will tell you/write a post about it.

I have lived in 5 states, got married at 20, moved cross country alone, and I am not offended easily!  I promise!

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(if you don't have a blogger account, feel free to email me: brianandcaitlin(at)gmail(dot)com   )

It’s Christmas Time in the City…

 

(We pretty much sang that song all day)

My sister, Carrie is in town (again!) and yesterday we spent a wonderful day in the city!

I must say that we were definitely the cheeriest people in all of NYC!

My sister also made it her personal mission to say “Merry Christmas!” to as many people as possible!  And she thought that several people sounded “super grateful.”

We started out in Times Square and then hiked on down to Macy’s on 34th street (THE 34th street) to check out their deco and Santa.

Unfortunately, we were foiled, and you had to stand in an hour line to get into the little train where Santa was hiding! 

We were already feeling a little stress-sweaty-eyelid-twitchy just being around all of those people/whiny children (note to self: NEVER EVER EVER take Joseph and Isaac to Macy’s at Christmas!) so we were out of there!

Oh, the joy of being child-free!!

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Next, we went to Ground Zero.

I have never been before, and I’m so glad that we went.

So sobering.  I must say that living here and having my husband work in the city has given me a much different perspective about that day.

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But, on to shallower things,

like our delicious Thai food lunch.

 

MMMmmmmm!!

Afterwards, we decided to stand in line at Tkts (discount ticket stand) to see if we could get any tickets to Mary Poppins.

(Not Mary Poppins.  But- it’s Harry Potter!! So, here it is on my blog)

But, when we got up to the ticket stand, the only seats available were row “X” for $70 each.

We said, “Pass!” and skipped away!

Oh the joy of being child AND obligation-free!

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Instead we settled for a carriage ride through Central Park.

On a full-moon night, while the buildings were just starting to light up.

After that we did some various Christmas shopping that I can’t talk about here because Carrie’s kids read my blog! (Hi Brenna, Grace, and Aidan!)

(My lips are mysteriously blue)

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We decided to try some delicious-looking chestnuts that were roasting on a street-vendor’s open fire and…

They were DISGUSTING!

So we gave them to a homeless person!  He seemed grateful.  “Merry Christmas!”

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We made a quick stop at Rockefeller Center

had some Junior’s cheesecake

and we were on our way back home!

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I didn’t mention that I failed at subway planning and we ended up walking for miles and miles throughout the day.  Let’s just forget about that part. (as soon as my legs stop throbbing…)

Let’s also forget how I missed our stop on the bus ride home, and suddenly we found ourselves alone on the bus at the end of the line.

And how the bus driver took pity on two smiley-Christmas-spirity girls out alone at 10pm and drove us back to our stop PERSONALLY.  All by ourselves.

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All in all, it was a wonderful, laughter-filled, stress-free day!  Hooray for New York at Christmas with sisters and no kids!

Thank you to my Brian for watching the kids and to Carrie’s Brian for sending her out here!  B-R-I-A-N, Brians are the best!!

Trimming the Tree

(Joseph’s reaction to discovering our Darth Vader ornament)

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Let me start out by saying that decorating the Christmas tree used to be one of my favorite things to do!

(Doesn’t everyone trim the tree while holding a blankie and a windmill?)

(or a Santa hat and a sword?)

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And now Joseph says that it was his favorite thing he did in a long long long long time, while I…well…I would like to sign up for childbirth or a colonoscopy before I do that again.

First of all, this tree is the pokiest tree known to man.

I recently had a flu shot, and this tree, if it barely grazes your skin, hurts worse that a hundred flu shots.

See?

See my face of pain?  Would I make that face for nothing?

(And a little treat for Brian…)

Secondly, even though I bought some kid-friendly ornaments (read:non-breakable) from Target to occupy Isaac, all he wanted were the “Balls!” “Balls!” '”Balls!!!” A wee bit stressful for anyone who might want to see those “Balls” again.

(Yes, he is licking the ball)

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And Joseph would barely balance the hook on the last needle of the branch (probably afraid of being harpooned by our Tree of Pain), which meant that I literally caught a few of the balls on their way to the ground.

Lastly, Isaac is a little…physical.  He thinks that, if you are on the ground, you are free game to be tackled/karate chopped/stomped on/jumped on.

Are you ready for my favorite picture in a looooong time?  It is terrible  of me, but it really sums up my feelings towards Isaac…

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Haha!  Can’t you just see an “ISAAAC!!” thought bubble above my head?

So, there was some laughter,

 

and some tears,

 

but all in all I think I gave the boys a good memory.

(Joseph kept saying that all of the ornaments were “beauties”)

You know, until they FORGET IT ALL BECAUSE THEY ARE STILL TOO YOUNG AND WON’T REMEMBER ANYTHING I’VE DONE FOR THEM SO FAR!

But, whatever.  I didn’t become a mother for the accolades.  Just so that I could retire at 22 years old!

Our Decorating Time O’Fun ended when Isaac grabbed one of the ornaments from my (late) Grandma’s tree,

and I freaked out, practically tackled him, and grabbed it back yelling, “NOOOOO!  THAT’S MY SPECIAL!!”

Whoopsy, doopsy!  Mama lost control! 

I was pretty embarrassed that Brian had to witness it.

As he sat comfortably on the couch with his zoom lens.

(Payback for me videoing him instead of helping while he chopped down the tree while wearing an Isaac-hat?)

So, our tree got decorated! 

And I ran to the bathroom to grind my birth control pill up into a powder and snort it.

The End.

(It was a beauty)