(More) Christmas Memories.

Earlier in the week, on that dreary and drizzly Monday, Alice and I had a play date lunch at the Four Seasons hotel.  The Four Seasons?  For a play date?!  I know.  I thought the same thing when we were invited to meet up there.  But I was told the restaurant was kid-friendly and that they had an adorable teddy bear tree for a fun photo-op.  So, despite the terrible weather, Alice and I ventured into the city to see the friends we'd met at our first Mommy&Baby class.

I'd been to the Four Seasons for afternoon tea last year when I was big and pregnant.  And, I'll just say, I think that was a bit more of an enjoyable experience.  Yes, the Bristol Lounge is kid-friendly, meaning they accommodated us with highchairs, but still... you are dining in a very nice restaurant with very squirmy babies.  Luckily there was a lively lunch crowd so the squeals from our kids were somewhat drowned out.   

The teddy bear tree was, indeed, adorable.  But, by the end of lunch, our kids were all so sick of us shushing and handling them that there was no way they'd happily sit for a photo-op.  Oh well.  Maybe next year.  And, maybe next year, we can also write a letter to Santa to be mailed off to the North Pole!  How fun.

And one more thing... I've been looking through old photos my mom sent me and I found one that brought back such a funny Christmas memory.  Back when we were kids, Cabbage Patch dolls were all the rage.  But they were SO expensive and we didn't have a lot of money.  So one year, when I was about 6, I remember my sister and I asking Santa for a Cabbage Patch doll that looked just like us.  Me with the red hair and freckles.  My sister with the strawberry blond hair and blue eyes.  Luckily my mom had some crafty sisters who were able to make that happen and, on Christmas morning, there were those beautiful dolls, sitting on the couch next to our stockings labeled with our names.  I've always been an early riser and happened to sneak out to peak at what Santa had brought us before either my mom or my sister were up.  When I got out to the couch and saw our dolls... mine with the red hair and my sister's with the blond hair... I liked my sister's doll better.  So I switched them!  And then quickly jumped back in bed.  When we got up as a family to go out to the living room to see what Santa had brought us, I ran to the couch, snatched up the blond-haired-blue-eyed doll sitting next to the stocking with my name and exclaimed, Santa must've mixed up the dolls and he gave me THIS one! as I held my sister's doll up in the air.  My mom talked to me about Santa's mistake but, by then, we were both totally in love with the mismatched dolls.  So my sister kept the doll that looked nothing like her (being only 4 years old, she didn't really care) and I kept the doll that looked nothing like me.

Oh!  Christmas memories.....     

Homemade dolls. Christmas 1985.