Happy New Year!

Now that that’s out of the way, can we all breathe a collective sigh of relief that the business and stress that naturally accompanies the holiday season is over?  Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the holidays, but now that I have a little person to contend with, I also love when they are over.  Here is my holiday recap, starting in mid-November, because that is really when craziness descended upon my household.

Nov 12: Elisabeth and I return to Japan after a great visit to the States.  We deal with jet lag, inexplicable amounts of unpacking (somehow, I came home with more than I left with), and prepping for…

Nov 17th: Damon’s Homecoming!  Woohoo!  Except…

Reunited!

Nov 15-16: I come down with nasty stomach virus and turn into a worthless corpse laid up on my couch.  All the cleaning, baking, and other general Homecoming activitizing (yes, that is a made-up word) that I inevitably left for the day before Damon’s arrival does not get done.  That will teach me not to procrastinate!  (Eh, it probably won’t.)

Nov 21: Elisabeth turns 1!  The realization that my baby is no longer a baby turns me into an emotional wreck.  But only for a moment because there is party planning to be done!

Nov 22: Thanksgiving.  Our friends host the squadron for Thanksgiving dinner.  Being the control freak that I am, I get inordinately stressed out about this event.  And I’m not even the host.  Has everyone RSVP’d?  Who will bring what?  Are there enough chairs?  Will my food be edible!?  I should probably work on these control issues.  I should probably also not worry about my stuffing ruining Thanksgiving since there is enough food to feed a small army.

Nov 24: The big birthday party! (Still to be written about in detail; it is imperative that I record how psycho I went over this event as a reminder of what not to do in the future.)  Following a major holiday with a major birthday party is not ideal.  The grocery shopping, the cooking, the planning for one of these events is enough to make one’s brain go haywire.  But two of these events in three days!  Oy.  (And yes, again I acknowledge I was not even hosting Thanksgiving.  Just accept that I am not normal and move on.)

Nov 25: Damon travels to the States for several days to complete some training, leaving me slightly hungover with a completely wrecked house to clean on my own.  (What, you weren’t hurting a bit the day after your child’s 1st birthday party?) Oh, and Elisabeth chooses today to come down with a cold.  Naturally.

Nov 26-Dec 21: A flurry of holiday parties, farewells to friends leaving Atsugi (we miss you Deals and Oldenborgs!), gift wrapping and vacation planning.  And Elisabeth meets Santa for the first time.  Twice, actually.  The first Santa is around 15 years old.  Elisabeth is not pleased.  The second Santa is possibly drunk.  Elisabeth doesn’t make it out of my arms.  Maybe next year.

Fleeing 15-year old Santa

Dec 22-Dec 29: Damon, Elisabeth and I travel around 24 hours to get to Kauai for Christmas vacation with my parents and two brothers.  It is so worth it.  Great, great vacation that I will write about more later.  But a preview: Before leaving Japan, my dad says to me, “I figure with six adults to take care of the baby, we should each have her around 2 hours/day.”  “No, no, no,” I reply, “There are four adults to take care of the baby.  Damon and I are off duty.”  And so it is.  And it is glorious.

Dec 31: Back in Japan, we are off to Tokyo to ring in the New Year with some friends.  Despite our jet lag, Damon and I rally and make it to midnight.  Actually, past midnight!  We are rock stars!

Jan 1-present: We are idiots.  Ignoring our need for sleep and dealing with a little girl who is awake every few hours effectively turns us into zombies.  Welcome, 2013!

As for resolutions this year? (Besides De-Zombify)  Blog at least once a week.

Er, I think I resolved to do that already.  These dang holidays just got in the way!  This time it’s for real.  Seriously.