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Wednesday, January 02, 2008

A Great End to 2007 and Great Start to 2008

Thank you to Lara for providing such a wonderful start to the new year with her Blog Exchange post giving out "Best New" awards for 2007. I hope to continue the upbeat tone, by posting about how much fun my family has had over the last two days. (The Big Giraffe keeps claiming that today was the best day of the year, so far.)

Yesterday we went to First Night Worcester with two other families. They say pessimists are never disappointed. I don't want to call parents of small kids pessimists, but it is fortunately difficult to disappoint people whose only expectations is that their kids will inevitably have at least a half a dozen meltdowns. To describe us as pleasantly surprised would be an understatement! We really enjoyed First Night. We saw an animal show (not with giraffes), watched some ballet dancing, and listened to Caribbean music for kids. It was definitely worth the $20 that the Big Giraffe and I paid. That is not to say that my children did not have meltdowns, but they were manageable and they came between moments of great enjoyment. On a complete dorky note, we also got to use the Garmin GPS that my parents got us for the holidays, even though we already knew the route. We just wanted to try it out.

We then went out for an amazing meal!
  • Prime rib
  • Yorkshire pudding
  • Quiche
  • Green beans
  • Pecan, pear and Gorgonzola salad
  • Garlic mashed potatoes
  • Fruit salad
  • Chocolate cheesecake
  • Chocolate fondue with fruit and marshmallows

I'm getting hungry again just thinking about it! Of course there was also wine and pink champagne to toast in the New Year at 8:30 pm.

Where on earth could three families take five children on New Year's Eve for that kind of feast? Well, when I said that we went out, I didn't actually mean out to a restaurant. I meant out of our house. One of the families hosted and somehow put it together so well in advance that everything was ready to eat very quickly after our return from First Night.

In addition to the wonderful hospitality and company enjoyed at the home of friends, the other good news about not being at a restaurant is that there is a lot more room for kids to act up. The better news is that they again had far fewer meltdowns than I expected. Each child took his turn (yes not only were there five children, but they were all boys) causing some measure of trouble, but given the amount of time spent walking in the cold, the stimulation of all the shows, and the amount of excitement, I think they all did really well. However, we ended up turning the GPS off on the way home to let them sleep peacefully once we confirmed that we have been using the proper route when previously traversing the route.

It really was a fabulous way to end 2007...followed by a fantastic beginning to 2008!

This morning we headed out to meet a co-worker of the Big Giraffe's (whom he has been insisting that I would enjoy meeting for several months), her husband, and their three kids. (Yes out with five kids two days in a row.) We went to a theater where we were able to sit in very comfortable chairs, socialize for an hour over food from an extensive menu, and then watch Water Horse. This was not your typical movie theater.

Why didn't we watch Alvin and the Chipmunks, you might ask. Well for two reasons:
  • My older son (OS) and I really wanted to see a movie about an "underwater horse" and everyone else rode along
  • Alvin was sold out


More information on the venue and the experience may be found on my post at New England Mamas, but I will say that for this trip we really needed the GPS!

For the second day in a row, the children's behavior was far better than expected, and the Big Giraffe's prediction that I would like his colleague was correct. I really enjoyed meeting and spending time with the entire family. I also enjoyed the movie, but it was definitely scarier than I would have liked for my kids. That's not to say that they didn't enjoy it, but there were parts that did scare my kids, my older son in particular. It would probably be better on DVD where I could have fast forwarded through the scary scenes, like when the water horse was trying to bite people and when the soldiers were firing artillery at what they believed was an attack by the German navy. (The movie took place in Scotland during World War II.)

A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: Ending one year with pre-existing friends and starting another with new friends makes for an enjoyable and memorable transition.

Labels: , ,

posted by Alex Elliot @ 7:51 AM   9 comments
9 Comments:

  • At 1/02/2008 8:18 AM, Blogger Ashley Winters said…

    First Night sounds like fun! Happy New Year! May 2008 bring you and your family great joy.

     

  • At 1/02/2008 8:58 AM, Blogger Jodi said…

    Happy New Year!

     

  • At 1/02/2008 4:06 PM, Blogger Heather said…

    Wow two days of fun! My kids want to hang out at your house.

     

  • At 1/02/2008 4:07 PM, Blogger Jen of A2eatwrite said…

    It sounds like you had a wonderful start! I hope that continues!

     

  • At 1/02/2008 4:18 PM, Blogger Kami said…

    Wow, two great days! How wonderful :-)

    I am drooling over that meal. YUM!

    Have a great 2008!

     

  • At 1/02/2008 5:13 PM, Blogger skiplovey said…

    That low expectations thing is hilarious and so true. Expect the worst and then maybe something not so bad will happen. Happy New Year.

     

  • At 1/02/2008 5:33 PM, Blogger painted maypole said…

    Worcester, Mass?!? My SIL lives there! :)

     

  • At 1/02/2008 10:52 PM, Blogger Nancy said…

    It sounds as if you've started 2008 in a great way :)
    We thought about First Night this year, but thought it might be more trouble than it's worth, but I think we'll give it a shot next year. (Especially after your wonderful review!)

    Thanks for stopping by. I've been a total flake about blog surfing the last few months - I'm glad I didn't lose you!

     

  • At 1/06/2008 4:54 AM, Blogger Lady M said…

    Happy New Year!

    I didn't realize you were in Worcester. That's where my parents went to college at met each other!

     
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Name:Alex Elliot
Home:MA, United States
About Me:Professional Mom of two cats, a dog, an ant farm, and oh yeah...two boys: a 6 year old and a 3 year old. Also found in my house is my husband who is known on this blog as The Big Giraffe.
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For those of us who didn't get an instruction manual with our babies and for whom parenting hasn't always gone as planned. On a more serious note this blog is about supporting a woman's ability to make her own choices about parenting including the choice, for whatever reason, to bottle feed her babies formula.

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