Apparently, both condominiums we have owned since moving to VT are simultaneously on the market.  Our first ever home purchase (way back in 2002!), in Colchester VT, is now up for sale.  Our little unit was the lower left unit (it was like living in a basement, for real).  The kitchen has been totally re-done (it was not nearly that nice when we lived there, although that stove, and the bathroom vanity/sink was totally us!)  It also looks like they replaced the tile throughout and chose to cover up my bold paint colors in the 2nd bedroom.

Our condo in downtown Burlington (the one that we lived in before our current home) was ours from 2006-2009.    It was also the place that H came home to after he was born.  It too, is on the market (and has been for quite some time!)  Ours was the upstairs unit (remember that we had that horrible downstairs neighbor?  I hope that’s not the impetus for the move!)

It doesn’t appear that our sweet little home in central VT (that we owned from 2004-2006) is on the market, although I hear it has changed hands at least once (possibly twice) since we sold it.  That was such a great little house—it was a cape.  It was a 2-bedroom, 1 bath home, that needed lots and lots of work, even after we did lots and lots of work to it!  But boy, did we love that house!  It ended up being too far from work though, and once I transitioned back to working in Burlington, it was time to head north again and sell that little place.  Still, it wouldn’t have been the best place to have kids.  The schools in that area weren’t great, and although it was a fun little place for us in our mid-20s, the town it was in probably wasn’t the most ideal atmosphere for having little kids.  Ultimately, even though we loved that house, we’re so glad to be where we are now!

Ahh….still basking in the Christmas Day afterglow:)  We had a wonderful time.

H climbed into our bed around 4:40AM (that’s generally the time of day when he first starts stirring, but doesn’t fully wake up for the day until sometime between 6 and 6:30AM).  He stayed in our bed for a while, and then at 6AM, he started chattering about brachiosaurus, and the number of stomachs possessed by various animalia.  It was quite clear that H, despite talking incessantly the previous day about how it was Christmas Eve, had forgotten that it was Christmas morning completely.  Around 6:15AM, H asked for a snack.  I rolled over and asked Rob if he was ready to get up for some breakfast (e.g. Ahem, Christmas).  Rob wasn’t really ready to get up, but did so reluctantly, knowing that it was Christmas morning and that he didn’t want to miss H’s initial mindblown reaction.  So we followed H’s lead, walking down the hallway toward the living room, where H walked PAST the tree, PAST the presents, and into the dining room, without any sort of overt sign that he knew what day it was.  Once in the dining room, he sat on the floor, and waited patiently for us to join him.  He gazed out into the living room, and stared at the illuminated tree for a full 10 seconds.  We waited expectantly for H to realize what day it was; even the tree seemed to be standing there with baited breath.  H then rubbed his eyes.  And finally, realizing what day it was, he exclaimed “Christmas!!!!!!!!!!” and ran into the living room to begin his initial inspections:

H received a ton of really wonderful gifts.  I loved the leisurely pace of his unwrapping—we began around 6:15AM and didn’t finish until close to 3PM.  H would unwrap something and then play with it for an hour or so, or until he was ready to check out his next gift.  We took a break around 9:00AM for some oatmeal cinnamon pancakes, bacon, and leftover Hanukkah latkes (yes, I enjoy the delicious irony of our bacon and latke combo).  H refused to stop playing to eat, despite the fact that the entire reason he got out of bed that morning was because he was hungry!  He finally relented around 11AM and had some pancakes.

For Christmas, H had asked for one gift in particular—a very special gift that he inquired about no less than 37 times during the past month.  He wanted dry erase markers for Christmas.  And so, with unparalleled glee, H danced around the living room with his dry erase markers, elated that he got exactly what he wanted:

For dinner, I made a beef roast with yorkshire pudding and broccoli.  Dessert was chocolate cream pie (not my own concoction, I’m not *that* much of a domestic diva).  We shared plenty of stories all day long, a roaring fire, hot drinks, and lots of cuddles.

The day after Christmas was just as great.  We went to visit a friend whose house is situated on a golf course.  The golf course was covered in several inches of fresh snow, so we embarked on our first sledding excursion of the season.  It was a spectacular day with sunshine and blue skies, and lots and lots of beautiful snow:

What a spectacular day we had!  Followed by hot chocolate and leftover chocolate cream pie.  And our little fetal Friesel got to go on his first ever sled ride, in utero.   A mighty nice start to winter, indeed.