Season of love

Avi at the park with Aba this morning; last night at Union Square.  I must admit, I am a fan of all the Christmas hoopla down there.  In the St. Francis Hotel lobby, they have a giant gingerbread house, like 400 lbs of gingerbread! I love it.
I also love that while the letters on the sliding doors are mean to spell Happy Hanukah, they have ranged from Nappy Hahuka to the current posting of Phanky up Ha Ha (which Leeor tells me was Saba's creation, and that makes me love it even more).
Avi using Christmas cookie cutters with playdough after coming home from the park with Aba.  I found them at our local bakery (Leeor got us a beautiful apple pie that I can't wait to eat) and we all strolled home together.  Avi loves my sunglasses.
Some photos from the last night of Hanukah . . .


And from the first weekend, when Avi was only too thrilled to open gifts from "everybody," which is what he called the group of family here, Auntie Maital and Chris, Auntie Jen and Uncle Itay, and of course, Saba and Safta.  He still asks, "Where is everybody?" and he was so excited by all the action that for almost a week, he woke nightly and requested to "go upstairs and play with toys and see everybody."

Today is Christmas Eve and I feel giddy as a young child. I love Christmas Eve.  I always loved it even more than Christmas day, because even though we got to open our presents in the morning, it also meant that Christmas was over and I usually felt a little morose (I think I was meant to be a person who deals with feelings for a living. Anyway).

So it came as no real surprise to me when I felt a similar let-down after Hanukah ended.  I have celebrated this holiday with Leeor for the past 6 years, and I suppose with Avi now old enough to get into it, it was really festive and fun.  Not to mention that I feel like it's more integrated with who I am; I am no longer a guest with this holiday; it's part of my family tradition and it feels good.  Lighting candles every night was such a special, meaningful ritual.  We had a lot of fun with all the family in town for the first weekend, but it was during the week that followed that the three of us fell into our groove.  Avi sat between us at the table each night and helped to light the menorah while we said the prayer.  Then we sang the song and Avi tried to sing along.  He would always clap afterward, so of course we clapped, too, and then sang out, "Happy Hanukah!"  It was so sweet.

There has already been much Christmas cheer, too.  Avi learned "Feliz Navidad" with M and we sing it together.  He seems just as happy to say "Merry Christmas" as he does "Happy Hanukah."  Present opening has become something of much excitement, too, and Avi helped his sharecare friend open her gifts when she appeared somewhat ambivalent about the whole thing.  

This morning I went to yoga with my favorite teacher and left feeling joyful, present, and so grateful.  We have loving family who supports us in so many ways; just yesterday, Saba and Safta drove from Monterey to babysit Avi while Leeor and I had a lovely night on the town together.  Tomorrow, we go to my mom's house in Sacramento to celebrate Christmas with her, and my brother and his wife are coming up this weekend.  We have a beautiful, healthy baby girl (!!) growing inside my belly, and Avi loves to offer kisses to his little sister.  He also loves to look at his own baby pictures while reminding us that now he is a big boy.  

I have a feeling that 2010 is going to be an exciting, uplifting year; we have much to celebrate.  For now I am content to sit in my cluttered, messy house while Avi naps and Leeor and I enjoy a leisurely day off together.