Christmas, Part I

‘Twas four days before Christmas and Mommy and Daddy were sick and miserable; thanks to the aforementioned help from Nancy, however, we were able to pack up some clothes, a present ot two, and the peanut, and get to the airport.

What about Fergus?

Fergus was going to spend Christmas with Honeybear!


Here’s Honeybear.


Ok, so we got cheap tickets by flying to New Jersey via Washington, DC. We made our flight in plenty of time, got to DC around noon, and settled in at the gate where we’d catch the second leg at 2:30 or so.

Zoë was happy to be going to New Jersey for Christmas; she liked the airport! Mommy and Daddy just wanted to get to a warm bed and get some more sleep.


Zoë liked crawling back and forth on the bench where we’d camped out.







It was a long wait.



The light began to change…



Did we mention that Mommy had coughed so hard she had cracked a rib? Or that Daddy was runnning a fever?


Anyway, Daddy and Zoë went off in seach of some coffee.


When they got back, something was odd. It was about time for the flight to leave, but the plane wasn’t boarding.

They had changed the gate and hadn’t announced it.


We had missed the flight. Sigh. We got on standby for the 5:00. (They chnaged its gate at the last minute,too, but this time we were ready.)


Anyway, the battery on Daddy’s cell phone went out just as the plane was taking off, so we couldn’t call Nanna nad Grandpat to tell them what was up. And Nanna and Grandpat couldn’t call us when the limo driver called them to say that his sign (with Mommy and Daddy’s names on it) had been stolen in the Newark airport bathroom. Would some weirdo entice us into his car with a stolen limo-driver sign?


Finally, we get to Newark. Meanwhile, the airline had lost our luggage. Not a big deal—except that we had checked the peanut’s car seat and couldn’t get into the limo without it. So Mommy with her cracked rib is trying to take care of a somewhat restless little Zoë while Daddy and the limo driver (at least he said he was the limo driver) are chasing after the United baggage guy to find an abanodoned car seat.

Long story short: we made it to Nanna and Grandpat’s.

Ant Lisa and Grandpat made Daddy go out and get a Christms tree even though he was sick.


Peanut had fun with Ant Lisa.


Everything was Christmassy and nice.


Zoë’s cousins Kalena and Marek showed up the next day.




So did great-aunt Lucille!


Nanna made a wonderful dinner.



Ant Lisa and Zoë had quite a conversation.









Later that night, Daddy and Marek got into a game of high stakes blackjack. Daddy lost Zoë and the digital camera. (He was sure he had winning hand.) Marek lost his house (er, his parents’ house, as his mom pointed out later). Daddy suggested a trade: Marek would get his house back while Daddy got to keep the camera and little Zoë. Marek said no.


The next day, Donald and Mario came to meet Zoë. Donald and Mario are friends of Ant Lisa from New York City. Donald’s a pyschologist and works for the city’s child welfare department.

Donald doesn’t always look this mournful; it’s just the way the picture came out.

Mario used to be a high-powered lawyer, but now he’s a high-powered textile designer!


Later, Zoë’s cousins Sam and Crosby came over. Here’s Sam, Zoë, and Grandpat:


It was Christmas eve…


…and everyone was very excited!