Happy 2010 to all! I hope your celebrations were festive and memorable. Ours were ... well, rather characteristic of parents with young children. Gone are the days of revelry past midnight, sipping champagne and laughing with friends and caring about absolutely nothing but the fun in that moment. My kids have taught me long ago that they could care less if I stay up to see the ball drop or get many hours less of my usual dosage of sleep. They'll be up at the crack of dawn, regardless of how I celebrated that famous Eve. I must now be more careful, cautious of how I spend my time, lest I reap the draining consequences the next day.
We (to be fair, I need to say "Don") did whip up our traditional New Year's Eve meal -- something posh and indulgent and delicious after the kids went to bed. Don's lobster risotto was, in his words, one of "the absolute best" he's ever made and I have no choice but to agree wholeheartedly. The meal was superb; the movie ... eeehhh. We saw Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and I have to say that I was sorely disappointed. Up until this point, the movies haven't been bad -- but this one was rather horrendous. It's been ages since I read the book, but even I could remember enough of the plot to recognize that the movie didn't even come close to capturing the complexity of the story that was unraveling in that thick volume. I wanted to love this movie, but what I felt was anything but that.
The kids allowed us the luxury of sleeping in until 7:30 a.m., and 2010 began the same way almost every day in 2009 did. "Can we have some orange juice?" "Can we have some breakfast?" Jack barking, needing to go out and even more importantly needing to eat; coffee gurgling in the coffee maker. Absolutely nothing was new about this morning, this new dawning of a new decade. I couldn't help but smile.
We had a lovely day today, spending most of it with my old childhood friend and her family who came home for the holidays from Maine. For several hours we tried to cram in as much conversation as we could, for months and months will go by until we see each other again. Aidan immediately teamed up with their eldest daughter of the same age, while Grace and their youngest -- also the same age -- became fast friends, two little peas in a princess-dress-up pod. It was heart-aching to see them go, to see any of these decades-old friends go.
An interesting thing occurred shortly after they left. We had just donned our coats, ready to head out the door to run an errand, when suddenly Aidan burst into tears. "I don't know what's wrong," he sobbed, throwing himself into my arms. "All I know is that I just can't go anywhere." I smiled -- my boy had finally had enough socializing. The excitement of Christmas, the constant flow of friends and cousins, playing and playing more than he's ever done before ... it had all finally caught up with him. My boy has an introverted streak after all, just like his Mama -- his energy bank had completely run dry and he broke down. He dragged his weary self over to his favorite chair, covered himself with a blanket, and just rested there. I took that opportunity to take to my bed, crawling under the covers and reading a few chapters of my book, until I too succumbed to that Lovely Beast which completely wipes out my own well of energy. I love my family, my dear friends, the wonderful chaos of this holiday season ... but it takes an inward toll, all this talking. My book fell closed as I fell asleep.
Ah, 2010 ... you are here to stay. I wonder what you will bring ...
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1 comment:
yeah I didn't think the movie was all that great as well. I couldn't wait to see the movie too, but I didn't find it all that exciting the way the book is. Oh well, I hope the next movie is better, it better be it's the last.....
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