Post-holidays

Christmas:

K had fun at Grandma and Grandpa's, as always. It was his first Christmas when he understood what was going on. He was wary Christmas morning when all the grown-ups kept asking him a little too enthusiastically, "Do you think Santa came?" He scowled at everyone and silently ate the leftover carrot and cookie scraps left by Santa and the reindeer, but perked up when he got his stocking. K's haul consisted mainly of way too much Thomas stuff, plus various motor vehicles. He got so much that we actually didn't give him our present -- an engine shed and a new piece of track -- and decided to save it for his birthday instead.

I cut down considerably on my usual baking and candymaking. I made peanut butter kisses (using Hershey's Meltaways -- big mistake, but Target was all out of the normal kisses) and rugelach (which turned out fine despite my dough troubles), and included some imported torrone from a shop in our neighborhood. I also made a separate batch of biscotti for my mother-in-law, who is perpetually dieting but will eat those.

New Year's:

Dr. Mrs. and Dr. Mr. CT came to visit! We haven't seen them in so long. I really miss having them in town.

My brother, my sister-in-law, and their 18-month old daughter came to visit too. It was fun having both kids in the house. K enjoyed having a playmate. As soon as he saw his little cousin, he complimented her pajamas and offered her a train to play with. He also bossed her around and scolded her all weekend ("M! Don't step on the tracks! DON'T DO IT!"), but she didn't seem to care.

Instead of exchanging Christmas presents, the grown-ups decided to get a babysitter and go out for a fancy dinner. We went to L'Espalier, which used to be my go-to special occasion place. Now that it's moved from a Beacon Hill townhouse to a hotel, it's lost a lot of its charm for me. Still, it was a great dinner and a nice chance to be an adult for a few hours.

To figure out whether I should be drinking wine at dinner, I peed on a stick. JW was getting a little excited, but I cautioned him that it was probably a false alarm. It was. But it occurred to me that (1) I really don't want our next kid to be timed so that I have maternity leave through the dead of winter, and (2) if I could go back in time, maybe I should have tried to get pregnant last year and have the kid this spring or summer. (Although now that I think of it, that would have put me in my first trimester during the bar exam. Not ideal.)

Back at work:

Things have been busier and I've been getting lots of new startup technology clients, which is exactly what I wanted. I got a "you didn't get a bonus" memo, which is fine since I was nowhere near making my hours. The new first-years are arriving and I'll be going through training with them. It'll be interesting to see how, if at all, things change once they arrive.