Christmas was good.  We left on the 22nd to make the seven-hour drive to Arkansas to see my parents.  As always, P loved every minute of her time there.  Wee P, on the the other hand, received an early Christmas gift of  two new molars and two new eye teeth and therefore acted like an enraged demon child throughout our entire visit.

Since we were leaving for Boston at an absurdly early hour on Christmas morning, we convinced P that the 23rd was Christmas Eve in order to get the opening of presents out of the way on the 24th.  Luckily, she’s at an age at which these kinds of Santa adjustments are easily made.  Moreover, her young age and the fact that she can’t really read much yet made my forgetting to bring the kids’ stockings to my parents’ house a non-issue.  P didn’t even notice that Santa had filled a cousin’s stocking for her.

It didn’t occur to me until Christmas Eve (well, the fake Christmas Eve on the 23rd) that I had neglected to buy anything for Wee P’s stocking.  Again, we were lucky, and Wee P was perfectly content with her fruit-filled stocking labeled, “WILL.”

Okay, maybe it was just that she couldn’t see the stocking and its disappointing contents through all that hair.  Maybe Santa should have brought her mother a comb.  P seemed a little confused and asked, “Why did Santa bring me socks and toys, and he only brought Wee P a bunch of grapefruit and bananas?”  I mumbled something about it likely being a result of Wee P’s constant screaming for the past three days, and P seemed satisfied with this answer.

Our flights to Boston weren’t fun. We spent 15 hours of our Christmas Day on planes (included four hours on grounded ones) and in airports.  P and Wee P handled the trip and its frustrations far better than I did.  The complimentary cocktails helped.

On our first morning in Boston, P got to build her very first snowman.

It’s a good thing she got out in the snow that first day, because the temperature rose to 60 degrees the following day, reducing poor Frosty to this.

While in Boston, P also got to go see her very first movie in a theater.  It was Disney’s Princess and the Frog.  Even though I’m not a huge fan or Disney or of princess movies, I was excited about this film, as it’s the first to feature an African American heroine.  I liked it for the most part and even got a little teary-eyed toward the end when <<spoiler alert>> a certain toothless, Cajun bug was reincarnated into a wishing star.  Nevertheless, I thought the film stunk in terms of its portrayal of women’s bodies.  Check it out – the princess’ head circumference is approximately twice that of her waist.

Fortunately, P seemed unbothered by the bobble-headed princess and her pinkie-sized waist.  At least,  she showed no signs of restrictive eating behaviors as a result of viewing the celebration of such an unobtainable figure.

Eat on, P!  Yes, that bucket of popcorn was bigger than both P’s and that princess’ heads combined, and yes, she ate every bite of it, and yes, it cost a small fortune.

All in all, the trip up north was great.  We did a lot of hanging out with Chris’ family, all of whom are wonderful, generous people.  We also got to make a trip into Boston’s Chinatown for the best food we’ve had since leaving China.  Wee P had the restaurant workers wrapped around her wee finger, and it was very clear that she remembers and loves the sights, sounds, and smells of China;  she positively glowed with happiness throughout the entire meal.

The one sad aspect of our trip was the death of Chris’ sister’s beloved bulldog, Bella, on New Year’s eve.   P was sad about Bella.  After all, she’s known her since they were both mere pups.

I tried to take the opportunity to talk a little with P about death.  However, P clearly didn’t really get the whole idea of the finality of death, and she kept insisting that if she wished hard enough on a particular wishing star (the one that was formerly a toothless, Cajun bug, by the way), Bella would get well again and come home.  I finally gave in and told her that she was probably right.  We’ll save the death discussion for another couple of years, I think.  In the meantime, P has been practicing writing sympathy cards.

We finally made it home on the 2nd and almost immediately received a snowstorm of our own.  Here’s a good friend of ours hanging out in our snowy front yard.

P enjoyed her second opportunity in as many weeks to play in the white stuff.

By the way, see the hat she’s wearing?

It’s pretty old.

Happy 2010, people!

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