Gimme some of that Christmas sparkle

I realize that we are circling the holiday drain, and Christmas will be here in the blink of an eye. I write this after driving cross-town to a big box craft store for a last minute gift, and the strewn garland, picked-over candle aisles, and 60% off holiday tchotchkes made it seem like Christmas had already come and gone. But I guess people have done all their shopping and are now home dreaming of sugar plums. Or trying to jury rig their God-forsaken exterior lights from Ocean State Job Lot to illumitate for another week.

2011 has been a tough year. I'm not sure if I had idealistic visions of what life in CT would be, but it has been quite the adjustment. We are lucky in that we both have jobs in a pathetic economy, we bought a great house with tons of potential, and we are closer to most of my family and old friends. But it's probably no surprise that we don't have a robust social life, we miss the adrenaline highs and cameraderie that we loved at Crossfit, and we lack a sense of community that we found at the coffeeshops, bars, and buses of Seattle.

Part of it is that we're parents now, so we don't have the luxury of spending half a morning at a coffeeshop shooting the breeze. The other part is, we are totally in the 'burbs now, and it's much harder to find a good little dive with a decent vibe. When we were in Seattle I'd get lonely on a Sunday afternoon, dreaming about going to my parents house for roast chicken. Now we do that, and love it. I guess adjusting means making peace with the things that are no longer, or finding decent substitutes, or just enjoying the good things that we have now.

As for Crossfit, we've been going to our gym when we can (not enough). Sometimes I try to do a Crossfit workout there, but there's no partner cheering me on, and definitely no Metallica jamming in the background. Other times we do pull-ups and push-ups in our garage, which isn't too shabby. But, yeah, we really miss Crossfit.

And friends? I have my old friends (silver), but not the new friends (gold). It takes time. I have to periodically remind myself that I didn't have my great Seattle friends until I'd been there a couple years either.

In order to end on a more positive note, one person who has shined brightly here in CT is Nanny, Edie's daycare provider. Nancy (aka Nanny) has operated her home daycare for 30 years. It is the Four Seasons of daycares- the four kids each get their own crib, and she washes and irons the sheets each night. She takes weekly outings to the Little Gym and Playgroup. She usually gives the kids dinner leftovers; they eat pork roast, mashed potatoes, grilled green beans, and warm apple crisp for lunch. On Wednesday, Nanny's hosting a Christmas lunch for the tiny tots, complete with presents and a visit from S-A-N-T-A. Maybe I can sneak out of work on my lunchbreak. I'd just love to see Edie with that jolly guy this year...