It's Christmas time in the city

Griffin at the Henry Ford Museum last week.
The presents are wrapped, the clothes are washed and packed, the cookies are baked, the Christmas parties are attended, the Christmas tree is starting to drop its needles... we are finally ready for Christmas!!!! The last few weeks since Thanksgiving have been NUTS - to those of you who have e-mails in my inbox, I promise before 07 I will reply!!! This Christmas more than those in the past, I have felt the push that I am sure most Mamas are familiar with. I feel the need and strain to be "Super Mama" all year long but especially during this time of year. I want Griffin to have so many warm memories of holiday traditions but maybe I have picked too many traditions to commit to. I was discussing this feeling with the grocery clerk at the mega-market at 12 am after I got out of work last week and was just getting the time to buy some groceries. She made a worthy point-- she bets that Super Woman wouldn't feel so super if she had a husband, kids, mortgage, house, pets, car notes, student loans and a job to worry about. Yeah, why didn't I think of that!
All that aside, this has been a wonderful time for our little family. We were able to spend a long weekend with The Moms and some of our favorite people on the planet, The Dawgies. We ate, drank, met an incredibly talented illustrator, ate, drank, did some off road driving, ate, drank, the guys went to a Pistons game, ate, drank, shopped, ate, drank, saw a movie in the BEST movie viewing facility in the land (thanks, Karen, Bob and Jodi) and oh yeah, did I mention the food and wine??? Most of all though, we soaked up each others energy, shared the scents, flavors, sounds of our lives and gave gifts from the heart. Unfortunately, the camera with ALL the photos from the weekend is MIA but as soon as it turns up, I will post pictures. Griffin and I joined a dear friend of mine, Victor, who is moving to Thailand in a few days, in a trip down to the Henry Ford Museum. Griffin loved checking out the cars, trains and planes and especially loved the trains that were set up for Christmas celebrations. Of course his most favorite time was eating the lentil curry soup we had after we left the museum at a great Middle Eastern food restaurant, Cedarlands, in Dearborn. We also had wonderful holiday celebrations with Grandpa Johnson, Uncle Jeff, our playgroup, and some families that we are close with. This afternoon we are headed down to Bruce's folks house in Indiana...ahhhhhhhh, now that is a place made for relaxin' and I can't wait to get there. So from our home to yours have a very Merry Christmas.