It was a pre-Christmas celebration for us this year when we went to Washington D.C. the weekend before the actual holiday. Hayden had just arrived home from 12 days in Myanmar the day before. Jessica was recovering from a long bout of single parenting and dog walking duty and Austin was Austin… still enjoying Mundo Verde School right up until his last day before the Christmas holidays. At least it looked that way when we went to pick him up on Friday afternoon in his after-school class and watched him concentrating on making cut out designs. When I tiptoed over to surprise him at his desk he jumped up and I got a welcome hug. He was excited to see us and ready to come home. Maybe he knew that his first of three Christmases was about to happen.
In truth, the timing was not good for D.C. family and yet they welcomed us as always. Hayden valiantly declared he was just fine and not jet lagged even though he had just circumnavigated the entire world. Jessica set to work, after a stressful day at State Dept., to fix us a nice dinner where we toasted being together once again. Austin kept sneaking over to feel the presents we had brought, that were now under the Christmas tree. It was finally bedtime and I distracted him with a few favorite holiday stories – The Polar Express and T’was the Night Before Christmas. I had barely finished the second book when Austin closed his eyes and was out for the night.
"Are we gonna open presents?"
Bring out the presents...we're ready!
Saturday morning could have been Christmas morning with Austin peeking in our room and hurrying us all downstairs ready for opening presents. All our carefully shopped for gifts in Buenos Aires were finally opened, admired, tried on in Hayden’s living room. In exchange we opened some gifts from Burma so perhaps this should be remembered as the Argentine Burmese Christmas! The Spanish books from Argentina for Austin were not a great success as he will have to “grow into them” as his Spanish develops. The Dancing Bear Toy Store gifts from Asheville were a big hit as Austin sat down by himself to put together a complicated Lego space ship. During the course of the weekend he finished an entire puzzle with Art and Jessica which was the idea when I bought it. The annual “Austin’s World” photobook was a big hit which pleased me.
Puzzle time...
First look at Austin's World's book....
Gift from Burma...
It was a short visit but included a lovely walk in the Arboretum despite the raw cold and Sunday brunch at our new favorite restaurant, St. Anselms, in the Union Market section of Washington D.C.. I did spend time speaking Spanish to Austin and though he is still shy about saying things back to me he definitely understands much of what I say. We got silly with the Spanish alphabet and number flash cards I had brought from Argentina but Austin knew exactly what we were saying. It is a thrill to see his Spanish evolving each time I see him. By the time we left to fly home they were moving on to gift wrapping, planning and packing for the next Christmases…the 25th at home and the afternoon driving to Philadelphia and New Jersey for more gift exchanging with Jessica’s family.
We lit the first Channukah candle on Sunday night with Austin standing between Art and Hayden, his eyes shining, listening to the prayer in Hebrew. Watching them lighting the candle placing it in the menorah that we had in our home for years, I remembered my own little blonde haired boy learning this ritual from his father with great nostalgia. I was young and ready to embrace this new holiday and learned to make the latkes and the challah and felt enriched by it all. I miss it.
Lighting the Channukah candles...
We came home to our own Christmas tree which was the first tree I have put up in 5 years. It holds memories of our life together in each ornament purchased in the places we have lived and travelled - from Manila to Dubai to Uganda and China. I don’t forget the many Mexican ornaments inherited from Mother and Dad which remind me of the colorful Christmases I spent in Mexico City with them. Life is too short not to enjoy some sparkly lights which evoke the magic of this holiday. I am grateful that we did share in the magic of Christmas and Channukah through Austin’s eyes …and it's good to be home again.
Our Christmas tree at 50 Black Horse Run
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