Holidays

    Christmas has passed, and some of its glamour with it also. It was unexpectedly beautiful. I did not get into a true Christmas mood until Christmas eve. Of course, we followed all the nice traditions we usually follow. It started with our yearly photo session, where Catalina runs around the house and we try to catch a good pose. She's gorgeous, so not that hard :)

This year it was Catalina's first visit in a theatre. We saw "A Christmas Carol". The play was a little difficult for her and she was quite scared when Marley's host appeared, but she sat still and asked to leave only towards the end. So, I'd say a success. Here she is putting lipstick on, right before the play started.

We also like to take her to the Macy's store in downtown Philly to visit the "Dickens village" and see Santa. She always gets bored by the long wait, but she is quite happy when she sees Santa. Considering all this happened the same day the theater happened, and the line was LOOONG, she fared quite well.

Next stop, was mommy's work for a new visit with Santa. Like always, Catalina loves that event. Mommy and daughter had an amazing time, eating cookies, listening music, watching a magic show and ...drum roll please... visiting Santa!

And then, it was time for our domestic adventures. Cooking, cooking and more cooking. Some house cleaning. Christmas eve morning found me little excited. Away from our romanian families, somehow it did not feel like a holiday. So when Marius decided to dress like Santa, I was more like "whatever". Little did I know! Having Santa Clause in your house does bring the Christmas spirit with it! And also, you get almost unlimited photo opportunities

 Catalina was taking her afternoon nap when Santa arrived. After scaring the neighbor's son, Santa decided to wait inside for his favorite girl to wake up. Obviously, Catalina was not initially very found of the big man dressed in red that invaded her house. She did not want to sit in his lap, nor did she want to take the gifts from his hand. But also stated VERY clearly that she does not want Santa to leave.

    You know, how you read stories about kids who are mesmerized with Santa? Who truly feel the strongest emotion when they see Santa? I never truly believed it, since I learned at a young age that parents actually buy presents that go under the tree. And don't get me wrong, I was never upset about it, as long as the presents sat under the tree :)
     So, seeing Catalina looking so cautiously at Santa made me smile. When Santa told her the he heard from the elf (Elf on a shelf kind of elf...) that she wants a pink guitar, Catalina stood silent. I was holding her, and almost believed that Santa actually talked to the elf. She was SOOO surprised. She actually fought her fear and took the guitar from Santa. I can still feel the emotion in her eyes, the happiness that everything we told her IS real and the elf does have magic. Everything about this girl is a little magic, and this is how magic and the Christmas spirit entered our house on Christmas eve.

And when I was actually drawing the line and considering myself happy with the way Christmas started, something amazing happened. It started to snow! We've been waiting for snow forever, and all forecasts warned for rain. What do you know, Santa does need snow for his sleigh, so here we are, playing in snow on Christmas eve. We had just enough for a snowman (that Catalina loved!).

First sledding experience!

Next day was time for friends and some serious eating. So, all in all, a pretty nice Christmas. We are waiting to see what 2013 has in store for us. We hope for a lot of laughter, health and family around.

Happy New Year!

Praying

     Words can never be meaningful when it comes to the pain a parent feels when the child is sick or in danger. I am not even trying to imagine how life can go on for the Connecticut community who lost so many precious children. I am miles away, but the tragedy hit me so bad.

     I thought long before posting such a sad message on Catalina's blog. But somehow, I feel that if she ever reads it when she grows up she needs to know. She needs to know that one night her mom was in very raw pain, thinking that she did not pray enough for her. And that tonight I made this promise to her, to pray for her more often, to pray for things that matter. To pray to The One that can help us.

    So tonight I will pray that no other parent has to go through nightmares about their kids. I will pray that each and every single parent can hold a healthy, safe child at night. I will pray that all the angels that went to heaven tonight will find a way to sooth the most imaginable pain their parents suffer.

   As for my own little one, I will pray all the prayers that cannot be spoken. Because no human, mortal mind can actually round up a list of things that can be put together to keep a child safe. Only God can guard us. We need help. Let's ask for help and hope we are heard so nobody ever will cry the tears that are cried tonight and in the days to come.

Beautiful start for Christmas

 They say, a picture values a thousand words. Here is our little story :)

                        Eating candy cane while mommy and daddy pick up a Christmas tree

                                                        Catalina put the first ornament!

                                                             Cutest rein deer

                                                                 Final result!

Road trip

We decided that this year we'll skip the food and shop frenzy that always comes with Thanksgiving. So, at the last minute, we packed and hopped in the car. Detination: Quebec City, Canada. Most of the people we know told us we're going to freeze to death, that it's too far away, but...we still left.

The drive there is quite scenic, you either drive through upstate NY, or Vermont. We chose NY on the way to Quebec, and Vermont on our way back. Catalina was in a good mood both ways, but did not care about the beautiful mountains and lakes, but watched Snow White continuously...

Quebec city and our hotel did not disappoint. Cute, classy buildings with very european feel. A little bit like home. Narrow, paved streets with fancy shop with VERY expensive clothes. Everything was decorated for Christmas, so we enjoyed the lights and songs.

We took a short trip to the aquarium, to take a glimpse at the polar bears. It was quite cold outside, so Catalina needed some time to decide she's ready to have fun. But when the fun began, she didn't want to leave!

 Saying hi, to a big walrus

And of course, what is Quebec City without a visit to Chateau de Frontenac. Beautiful, majestic castle, gave us lots of opportunities to smile, dance and run around.

It was a relaxing holiday, despite the long drive. We did nothing but eat, sleep, and well...drive.
Back home we were welcomed by nicely decorated houses. Christmas is in the air!.
We got ourselves a tree and we are ready to decorate it!

Scary Halloween

   I am not at all agreeable to scary Halloween costumes, grown ups dressed like cadavers scaring little kids on the street. I get scared VERY easily. So when Catalina was born, we decided that she will always be dressed as cute little bugs, flowers or all sorts of princesses. No black spider, skeleton, even the evil witch is borderline for me.
   Catalina is older now, so we expected she will enjoy trick or treating much better this year. She was excited about her costume choices and we almost organized a Halloween party. We got lazy in the end, especially with everyone threatening with a big hurricane. As usual, I did not believe any of the stories they were telling. We had hurricane warnings before, and nothing happened except some heavier rain. we went to a romanian party were we danced our shoes and our feet off. I was in horrible pain due to some faulty designed shoes, but Catalina wanted to dance all night long so I had to dance and suffer :)

The rest of the weekend before Halloween we just stayed in, making fun of all the people buying flashlights, milk and bread. After a very uneventful Saturday and Sunday we were told not to leave our houses on Monday or Tuesday. And then, Sandy came to visit...Monday night was very similar to an american Halloween movie. Strong wind, roof pieces broken and flying around, siding peeling of the houses and making horrible metal screeching noises. Luckily, Catalina was sleeping and did not hear the noises. But this is what we woke up to:

After that, many neighborhoods moved Halloween to a different day, so people had time to put their houses in order, pick up the electric wires. Halloween morning we took Catalina's costumes out and asked her what does she want to wear for the daycare parade. After a 4 day weekend with mommy and daddy, on top of a stubborn cold, Catalina was not particularly happy to consent to wearing anything but jeans and a sweat shirt. We took the bumblebee costume with us, hoping she'll put in on once she sees all the other kids dressed up. Nope...The parade started, all the kids showed off their costumes. Catalina stood on the side angry. After everything was over, she told me: now I want my costume :)
And she was the cutest bee in the hive :)

By evening she had a pretty good idea what Halloween is and she was eager to go treat or tricking. We went to our old neighborhood and we had a blast. Not that much damage after the hurricane left people still happy and in a holiday mood. Catalina enjoyed seeing all the kids, she was particularly interested in one dressed as Santa Clause. But really, who can blame her? ;)

So, after a scary start we did manage to have a nice Halloween. Waiting for next year's fun!