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See how I am not at work! I just can't focus today; I got some pretty upsetting family news this weekend and the place is dead for Columbus Day and my boss is out sick so concentration? Just really not happening. I can write up IRB paperwork from home - RIGHT?!

Let's talk about baby names. SEBASTIAN! What a great name. It was on our short list, because I saw "Neverending Story" WAY too many times during my formative years, and the way the princess says "Bastian!" with heartbreak in her voice as the island is crumbling beneath her feet made quite an impact. But we were already saddling our kid with four names (FN MN MyLN Marc'sLN) and both of our last names have three syllables and that was just way, WAY too much name for one small kid to bear. And A came thisclose to being named "Eleanor", because Marc liked Ellie and I liked Nora and, you know, WIN. She ended up with her name because she goes by a v. common nickname that's a short form of her name and from birth on, she just LOOKED like the name fit her. She still does.

The best thing about not having another baby might well be not having to choose another name. Boys are HARD to name for me, and if we had another one, he might be Baby Boy Marc'sLN for a long, long time. I seem to remember that we liked Evan and Jasper and Finn a lot at the time, and this was 8 years ago before all of those names were overused quite so much, at least in the US.

Tell me your names!

First Christmas post of the year! Look, I almost made it to Halloween!

Well, sue me. I love the winter holidays. I have a son who is still absolutely dead certain he will be Santa Claus when he grows up. We are serious about our frivolity around here.

Two years ago we moved cross-country and no longer have family close by. I grew up spending all of Christmas day hopping from house to house; we started at home, doing the Santa thing, then headed to my great-grandmother's house, and then spent most of the day at my grandparents', and then occasionally saw the other grandparents. It was a full day of food and presents and cousins and just - the presents weren't the center of it, it was an EVENT, and a proper party.

The first Christmas we were here and spent it on our own, I was really quite depressed. I didn't decorate much - we put up a tree but considering that we got married on Dec. 18th and have a huge ton of winter holiday decorations, it was pitiful. cassandraclare and protean spent that night here and I'm a bit embarrassed to say that I didn't even cook. I was horribly at a loose end, and didn't know how to celebrate the holiday without cooking for a zillion people and making sure everything packed up well so we could take it to the various potlucks we'd be hitting. It was just WEIRD, and it really kind of sucked (Josh and Cassie's excellent company notwithstanding, as their arrival really kind of made the day bearable) and I never, ever want to do that again.

Last year we went home, and so I didn't have to do anything - the crazy-ass family was just glad to have us home, and they all came to my mother's house. The family's gotten smaller as people have died and moved off, so it was nothing like the days I remember, but it's also worth noting that I didn't have to plan that holiday, I just had to fly into it. It was fine.

So now another Christmas is approaching, and we're definitely spending it here. It's on a Tuesday, almost smack in the middle of the week, and nobody is going to be working that week. To me, that's a sign that we should go away for a few days, because that's pretty much how I always interpret an empty calendar. What I WANT to do is go to a lodge somewhere and sit in front of a fireplace and read lots of books and stare out the window into the trees and the snow and go to the spa every day and take long walks and sleep really late and order room service and, frankly, have the mother of all dirty weekends with my husband. However, because we have children, we are likely going to Hershey Park or something. *sigh*

So, a couple of things, then. If your holidays growing up were not enormous holiday extravaganzas, what did you DO with your Christmas holidays to keep them from being boring and flabby and just sort of blah? Also, if you know the east coast better than I do, can you recommend some kind of middle ground-y kind of place? There have to be family lodges that are nice at the winter, or something.

ETA: In response to some of the pings I've received: we'll be in Williamsburg Dec 1-3 and in NYC Dec 15-17. :D We're looking for something else, I guess.