A Very, Merry Christmas

Christmas was very special for us this year. Kasia was finally at an age where she understood what was happening and was extremely excited for Santa Claus to come and visit. So it was a little surprising that when Christmas morning came, with presents under the tree, Kasia woke up and immediately wanted to... stay in her room and play before going downstairs.

Eventually though she did want to come downstairs and see what all happened over night. The first thing she was amazed about was that Santa had in fact eaten the cookies and drank the milk. She didn't comment about all the presents at first, but the fact that the cookies were gone really impressed her. By the time she got to the bottom of the stairs (and it took awhile) she finally saw the stocking was full, and the presents from Santa were there.

We spent the next few hours opening presents and playing with our new toys. Santa was very good to everyone this year, and Kasia got so many new toys, that it took us a few more days just to open the boxes so she could play with them. It wasn't until around monday that we finally opened her last toy so that she could play with it. That's the sign of a really good Christmas.

Later in the day, we went over to Kenny and Sandy's house for a really nice Christmas dinner. Kasia wore a cute little red dress and even conceded to wear tights for the entire evening. At first she was flipping out over having to wear them, but then when we showed her that her new doll was wearing tights too, she didn't seem to mind anymore.

So despite the fact that we had a lot of rain instead of snow this Christmas, it was still a very wonderful day.

Christmas Eve in Williamsburg

We spent Christmas Eve this year in Colonial Williamsburg. It's a great place to go with carol singing, a large Christmas tree, and everyone in the festive Christmas spirit. But what makes it truly special is the fire. The torches. The giant bonfire in the middle of the street. There are also a number of cannons around the main square that they fire off to either announce the Christmas or the Red Coats are coming. As strange as it sounds, both were correct. A fife and drum band (in red coats) began to march on the square just after the cannons.

There's just something so Christmasy about a lot of fire on Christmas Eve. If, for not other reason, it manages to keep Frankenstein from ruining the party.

Winter Wonderland!

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Not only is the Samuel Adams Winter Classics pack back on store shelves, but Christmas is coming. We here at the Gruetzmacher household have been feverishly preparing for the arrival of Santa Claus, and Kasia is getting more and more excited every day.

The lights are up and the tree is trimmed. At least I think the tree is trimmed... I mean, it's decorated. Is that what "trimmed" means? Well, just in case, I also cut all the excess fat off it, so it's lean, mean, and green. And to top it all off, we went and saw Santa Claus last weekend.

This year, Kasia did better with Santa than I expected, though not as well as I would have hoped. While we were at home, she was all excited about wanting to see Santa. While we were waiting in line, she was adamant that she did not want to see Santa. And while we were seeing Santa, she was mixed on her feelings. It's very much a love/hate relationship at this age. She loves the fact he brings her lots of toys, but hates the fact he has a big white beard. Kasia is not a big fan of facial hair, unless it's someone she knows really well. But in the end, she did sit on Santa's lap, though she did need to have us by her side to keep her from running. We were able to get a picture, which is more than I can say about last year and our attempt to get a picture with Santa. So I really can't complain about anything.

The funny thing is that we took her to see Santa at the Bass Pro shop, which was unbelievably amazing. They were decked out for Christmas and had one of the most amazing Christmas set-ups for kids that I've ever seen. There was coloring, and race cars the kids could play with. Plus the kids could take a trip to the rifle range and practice their target shooting. I just find it amusing that the store which has been voted the most Christmas friendly store in America, is probably also the most unfriendly store toward reindeer. Rudolf and Dasher must have been quaking in their jingle-bells when they enter that store and see rows and rows of hunting camouflage, rifles, deer stands, and high powered crossbows. Is that the pitter patter of reindeer hooves on the roof? Or is it the sound of a guy in an orange cap and a 12-gauge shotgun with a taste for reindeer? At the Bass Pro shops, you just never know.

But we got the picture with Santa. That's all that matters.

To The Aquarium!

I love the aquarium. I love the aquarium in Manteo because it's big enough to have all the fish you'd want to see without being too big that it takes forever to see everything. I also love that it's small enough that it's never really crowded, especially during the off season when the population of the Outer Banks drops to about twelve people.

So for half an hour, there were a total of six people in the entire place... and then the high schoolers came. There must have been 200 of them, and they descended on that place like a pack of locusts. We kept trying to beat them off, or smoke them out, but they just kept coming. Eventually, Kasia and I just cowered in the corner, covering ourselves to stay safe and waited it out. Then, just as quickly as they came, the teenagers soon left and all was once again quiet. The staff were so relieved, that they soon started showering Kasia with little free toys for her to play with to thank her for being quiet, and not being a teenager.

Kasia is still a big fan of watching fish and always seems to have a really good time when we visit the aquarium. This time around, her favorite thing was watching the river otters swim and fight with each other. Afterwards, she would act out just how the river otters fought by shouting, "This is my place to sit! You move! You go for a swim!" and then push the otter in the water. It's cute.

Nor'easters Are a Pain

Not too long ago we had a little thing called a Nor'easter come through here. Now, being from the Chicago area, I'm not too used to what these storms can do or what they're about. I was here for the hurricane in 2003, but that one didn't effect me very much. This recent nor'easter however proved to be a real monster for us and dropped so much rain that we ended up with our own swimming pool (and to think Kara wants to pay someone to put a pool in for us... silly girl).

The rains really started on thursday, and were coming down all day. Kara was out of town on a business trip, and so when I woke up friday morning, I was amazed at how much water was out on the ground. I even took a few pictures. Little did I know, that all that water was nothing compared to what followed.

A few hours later, all our drainage ditches were full, and the water was creeping toward the house. Our backyard was so saturated that the entire lawn looked like a giant puddle. A little while after that, the yard was just water. In the front of the house, the water had come up to our house and in to our garage. I fought gallantly for over an hour trying to stem the rising waters, but being a nor'easter virgin, I was a little lost on what to do (fyi, if this ever happens again, I have the gameplan down and things will go a lot smoother than last time).

The water started climbing in the garage. Fortunately, I was able to move anything of value up out of the way, so nothing important got ruined. Then the water kept climbing up the side of the house. It spilled up on to our front porch and started approaching the door. If you looked out the back, it was just a giant lake. Kasia's plastic picnic table had up and floated away, and I was forced to rush out and get it. The water in our yard came up to my knee. Against the house it rose about eight inches. And the scare thing was that it was still raining.

Fortunately, the rain didn't last much longer, and the water never got close to coming in our house. Our garage got quite a bit of water, but nothing important was ruined. Unfortunately, some of my neighbors were not so lucky as some of their houses sit just a little lower to the ground than ours and suffered quite a bit of water damage.

For us, it was kind of a blessing, because it forced us to clean out our garage, and it was neater and more organized afterwards than it has been in years. Though, this is a blessing that I hope I never get again.

Word Up!

Attention to all you parents of youngin's out there. I know that todays TV for children is dominated by channels like Noggin and Nick Jr, but if you have not watched Word Girl on PBS, then you're missing out. This show is perhaps THE greatest cartoon ever made for kids. Why? Because in the end, I don't think it's made for kids. It's made for the parents who watch cartoons with their kids. It's hilarious. I mean, it's milk out of your nose hilarious. I highly recommend you check it out.

Happy Halloween

This year for Halloween, Kasia decided that she was going to go as a "Cute Witch." I think that every little girl in her life time has to dress up as both Raggedy Anne as well as a witch for Halloween. Luckily for Kasia, she has checked off both those boxes on her "things to do" list.

Kasia was extremely excited about Halloween this year and really got in to everything that hadto do with Halloween. She wanted it all. She wanted the pumpkins carved, though she didn'twant to have to smell them. And she really wanted to go Trick-or-Treating, but she didn't want to have to actually say the words.Kasia was skipping and excited to get to the house to get some candy, but then as soon as she sawsomebody standing there, she froze. In a voice that was barely above a whisper she would say, "trick or treat." And then after she got her candy, she would the say again in that whisper voice, "Thankyou." As we were walking back down the driveways to go to the next house, she would then findher voice and shout, "THAT WAS FUN! LET'S DO THAT AGAIN!" By the time we'd get to the nexthouse though, she was back to her whisper.

When we got home, she dumped her treasures out onto the floor and began to count them. She refuses to eat any of her candy, but she pulls it out and then puts it back in her bucket. Of course,she has no problems with eating the leftover candy that we have lying around the house. I thinkthat maybe we scared her a little too much by telling her that she'll get sick if she eats too much candy because now whenever we suggest she has a piece she just says, "No, I don't want to getsick."

For more pictures, click on the Recent Photos slideshow and enjoy the little video. If you can't tell from the video, Kasia had a problem with wanting to wear her witch hat. She insisted on waitinguntil Aunt Sandy showed up before putting it on. To her credit though, she did put it on when Sandy arrived, only for us to take it off her again a little later because the thing kept falling off.