Holiday Musings and a Top Ten list. Already.

It was wonderful to spend ten whole days at home with my family for the holidays.  I was a little worried at first, about being there for so long--generally, five or six days is best for all concerned.  But, probably because I hadn't been home since last Christmas, the ten days were a lot of fun for all concerned.  Oh, sure, it wasn't all rainbows and lollipops; there were little meltdowns and squabbles, but that's what makes a family a family.  Oh, and I didn't cry!  Well, ok, I cried on the plane, but controlled myself when I saw my daddy.  :)

I got NO pictures of food, for some reason.  And I had some tasty meals.  Oh well.  There was a turkey catastrope on Christmas Day, but there were plenty of side dishes to enjoy.  And I will admit to having a bite of ham (well, I had to have something on which to place the cranberry sauce, lol).  I highly recommend the carrots with brown sugar and mustard recipe from Cook's Illustrated.  Our New Year's dinner was also tasty.  Outside the house, the chicken sandwich (again, please don't tell the vegetarian police) at Michael Symon's restaurant bspot was terrific.  Not to mention enormous.  I think that piece of chicken was bigger than my head.  I ended up leaving half of it behind, but what I had was yummy--the breading had a little bit of spice, the bun was soft and yummy, and the coffee barbecue sauce I put on it was saucy deliciousness.  The best part of the lunch, though, was seeing a darling gal pal from college.  It had been much too long.  All I'll say about my lunch at Applebee's is:  boy, Applebee's doesn't like vegetarians.  And they must loathe vegans.  But the company (my sister and another dear friend from KSU) was delightful.  :)

Most of the trip was happily spent with my pip of a nephew.  My goodness, I love him.  From the moment I got there, with him hiding in the airport to surprise me, to the moment I left, again at the airport, but instead of hiding, he allowed me to hug and kiss him in public, we had a grand time.  Yes, we had a couple of little squabbles (we're both pretty spoiled, right?), but we both let them roll off our backs and had more good times.  No, I don't love his violent video games, but I do like watching him use his logic and intellect to figure them out.  And it's pretty adorable how he loves to have me watch him play.  (It was also fun to have Scooter, the family dachshund, who is also a pip, always want to sit on my lap.)  I have so many wonderful memories of my nephew from this vacation that I decided to do a top ten list.  So, I present my first top ten list of 2012:  the Top Ten Adorable Things My Nephew Did/Said During My Holiday Vacation.  Clearly, there are WAY more than ten adorable things to remember, but I'll just do my favorites.  They're presented in descending order...

10.  To surprise me, Danny left a new drawing and two stuffed animals he won for me on my bed in the guest room.
9.  Knowing how I love to read, Danny left two of his books on the guest room nightstand, for me to read.
8.  The bed in the guest room was a little hard for me to sleep on, so I moved out to the couch.  Danny brought me his SpongeBob fleece blanket, to make sure I was warm enough.
7.  Danny asked his mommy if we could watch a particular DVD.  He didn't like the movie all that much, but he knew I would like it, so he wanted me to see it.
6.  Tucking him in on New Year's Eve, he let me give him as many kisses as I wanted.  As he was falling asleep, he asked, "Can we please play more board games first thing tomorrow, Aunt Tari?"
5.  He let me sing Disney songs as we played Disney Monopoly.  Then he began to sing them with me.
4.  At midnight on New Year's Eve, of course his mommy had to get the first kiss.  But he then walked past his nana to say "Aunt Tari gets the second kiss."
3.  We watched the new Iron Chef, Chef Zakarian, and his first battle on Christmas night.  Danny rooted for Chef Z during the Next Iron Chef series, too, mainly because of the chef's Hello Kitty bandaids.  Anyway, after telling Danny about my new crush on the chef, thanks to the infamous "Shazam," Danny thought about it for a minute, then, through the rest of my trip, at random times, Danny would look at me and say, "Aunt Tari?"  I'd say, "Yes, baby?"  And he'd say, "...shazam."  It made me giggle EVERY SINGLE TIME.
2.  During that same episode of Iron Chef America, Danny left his usual chair and came to sit on the couch between his mommy and me.  When he sat down, he took my hand and mouthed, "I love you."
1.  Before we got in the car to head to a hotel for some swimming and a yummy/overpriced breakfast buffet, Danny let off a couple of leftover firecrackers in his front yard.  Before he set each one off, he'd shout: "Hooray, Aunt Tari's here!!"  Gosh, I love him.  My next trip can't come soon enough...