Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Seattle Christmas

This year, for the second time in a row, I was able to go home for Christmas - after missing the two years before. The best part was that Toshi was able to go with me this year! We left in the evening on the 21st which was the day that everyone traveled so it was crazy. We got in to Seattle late that night and crashed. We had a very busy 10 days or so while we were there and everything was more interesting with the added pressure of my new eating habits and having to check my blood sugar all the time.

We spent time with friends and family while there, with basically everyday full of someone to see and things to do.

Saturday we began by getting the tree in the house and getting everything decorated. One of my favorite things about Christmas is getting to decorate the house and putting the tree up and mom was nice enough to save all that stuff for when we got there. That afternoon we saw Stacey for a bit at the house and that evening we were home for dinner.

Sunday morning we saw Stephanie for breakfast. She was headed out that night for Australia to be there to celebrate her grandfather's 100th birthday! It was good to get to see her before she left. That afternoon we drove down to Lakewood to an open house of the family of one of Toshi's friends - Matt. Matt and Mary are friends of ours who live in Brooklyn and have a little girl. It was fun to get to see them since we don't that often, even though they live close. It was nice to meet some of their friends as well. Our drive back to Seattle was in the pouring down rain!

Monday was a busy day! I had an Alexander lesson in the morning - so happy to have one while I was home and I need to be better about it now that I'm back in NY! Then we met my dad for lunch. After that we met Francine at a fabric store to find batting and trim for the comforter that we were trying to get started on (Toshi stayed in the car for that). Then we went and met Tatsu for coffee in West Seattle. That was a brief visit as well but glad to see him too! He and Toshi can talk photography and movie type stuff so that's always good. I had a short hot cocoa with just one pump of chocolate - not quite the same but still pretty good. After that we went home and relaxed which was good since we had been running around all day! Monday night Jeffrey got in to town after a nearly 10 hour drive from Boise. So glad he was able to come in that day! He had Wolfgang with him which was fun too. Interesting to see how the cats do with Wolfie!

Tuesday was Christmas day meaning that it was full of spending time with family. We got up in the morning and had opened presents and stockings. I told Toshi that next year we need to do a stocking for my mom. She always has such a good time putting together ours but she doesn't get one now that my dad isn't in the house anymore. I don't think it really bothers her since she has fun with ours but I think it would be fun. Presents were minimal and mostly for baby since our big present from mom is for the two of us to go to the Herb Farm once we are back in Seattle. I've always wanted to go and so has Toshi so that's going to be incredible! I might have to be a bit more adventurous about my food when we go though. It will probably be good for me!
After that we all got ready (minus mom) and went over to Betsy's for Barker brunch. A couple of years ago we started the tradition of doing white elephant gifts instead of the traditional drawing and gift exchange. I really enjoy the white elephant gifts. This year Toshi and I had gone to Bartell's and gotten gifts (including for Jeffrey to give). I had picked play-dough, Toshi had picked legos and for Jeffrey we had gotten a Rubix Cube. Toshi ended up with a mini zen garden, I got a mini orchestra and Jeffrey got Toshi's legos! Brunch was a bit tough for me since I love pull-aparts but it was ok. I had fruit, Nancy had made me eggs with ham and cheese (since the soufflee has bread in it) and I allowed myself one pull-apart. SO TASTY! Blood sugar was still good even after that.
We went home and got to relax for just a bit and then helped mom get the house ready for D'Amour dinner which she was hosting. We were concerned about the grandparents since you never know how Grandmaman is going to be doing. Jeffrey and I headed over about 4:30 to go and get them - after Grandpapa called to find out where we were which I'm sure Grandmaman overheard and that probably didn't help. When we went over there Grandpapa was in the living room and told us that Grandmaman had decided she wasn't coming. Not only was she not coming she said she didn't want to see us and wouldn't come out of the bedroom. As you might imagine this was pretty rough on both of us. Grandpapa was also upset. He said "it's Christmas, I should be spending it with my family, but I need to stay here and take care of her". We hugged him, wished him Merry Christmas and as soon as we left the apartment I lost it. When we got home and told everyone about it, I lost it again. I know that we can't take it personally but it's hard not to! Who wants to hear that their grandparent doesn't want to see them? I know she didn't really know who I was and at that time I wasn't her granddaughter but still.... Anyway... despite all that we ended up having a nice dinner with everyone. Francine even pointed out that while it was really hard to not have them there, it was actually less stressful since you never know what might set Grandmaman off.

Christmas is always a long day for us but it's great because we get to see everyone!

The day after Christmas we all went to go see the Hobbit. It was good, although a bit long. It's nearly 3 hours even though it's one of three movies, and the book is shorter than the other Lord of the Rings books! That was fun and we were glad that we had gone to the first showing of the day because it got so much more busy after that. Hard going to a movie and not getting to eat junk food! I missed my sour patch kids, although since the last time I had them I was so sick (in Denver, along with frozen yogurt it was ok). I did take a whole lunch with me - sandwich, veggies and everything, so I ate that.

On the 27th mom drove me downtown to get my haircut. I love going to Gene Juarez, they always make you feel special, and I really like the woman that cuts my hair. Chi is great. She's friendly but not overly chatty so you don't feel like you have to keep talking. She's getting married in April so we talked about that and she asked how I was doing and how baby preparations were coming along. Then mom and I stopped by Destination Maternity and got me a couple of things, including some black pants to wear to the symphony later in the week. Everything was on sale! It was awesome. I also now have two pairs of velour pants which I think I will likely be living in for the next 2 months! That night we had our dinner at Buddha Ruksa. We ended up with fewer people, which was ok because the table would have been really crowded had everyone shown up. Stacey and Elizabeth came over beforehand to say hello. I had an interesting encounter with Stacey that day and then at dinner an even more interesting one that resulted in the four GHS people - Stacey, Elizabeth, Beth and Patricia - sitting at one end of the table and not talking to anyone else including me since Emily was sitting in between them and me. Anyway... The dinner was fun and we got a chance to see a bunch of people at once. I was glad that Emily was able to come since I hadn't seen her in a while.

The 28th I had coffee with Ellyn. On the 27th Jeffrey had told us about this place he had discovered close by called Cafe Fiore - a cute little coffee shop just a couple of blocks away. So we had gone and gotten drinks - I had tangerine ginger tea which was TASTY. When I met Ellyn I had it again - second time in two days! It was fun to get to see her and hear about the goings on at Cascade. I have emailed Michael and Bobby to let them know that I will be back in June and would love to sub and play Eb. I really do miss Cascade, the people and the music. I hope that I will get the chance to play there again! That evening we went to dinner and the symphony with Lisa and Chase. I have never seen Lisa so happy which was awesome. They are still newlyweds and are very cute. We had dinner at Purple which is pricey but always tasty. The orchestra played Beethoven 9 which was good but there were some issues. I'm not sure if it was because of the strange stage set - with the choir in the back on the risers - or what, but the orchestra was not together. Could be the new conductor. I liked him overall but they play SO far behind the beat it's crazy. Not sure if that had something to do with it.

Saturday the 29th Toshi got up and went to Sequim with Lisa and Chase to drive Chase's dad's NSX. They were gone all day long. I had coffee that morning with Beth and Cafe Fiore and this time I had cocoa. TASTY! I was really glad to have seen her since I didn't get a chance to talk to her at all Buddha Ruksa. Sounds like things are going well for her although Jake is currently job hunting which is hard. They want to move back to Seattle but the need to have practiced in Illinois for 4 years before coming back otherwise their licenses won't transfer. So, for them, it'll be a bit before they move back. She says they also want to have kids but they want to do that back here and obviously with Jake not having a job the time is not now for that to happen. That afternoon Francine came over and we did some quality work on the comforter. Although I wasn't too much help, I was glad that I was there to do what I could. Because it is a twin sized it is a lot of material to work with so it's nice for her to have me and an extra pair of hands.
Mom and I tried to go see the grandparents in the afternoon and it was ok but Grandmaman was sleeping so we just went in and said hello and kissed her on the cheek. Better than being told she didn't want to see me but still not the easiest.
That night we went to dinner with Toshi's aunt, uncle and cousin. We went down to Southcenter since they live down in Kent so it was kind of halfway. Food was pretty good and the waitress was really helpful with me in terms of telling me about the cheese being pasturized and the egg for the Caesar being coddled - she answered all my questions before I even asked them! Dinner was pretty good. The funny thing was that Toshi's uncle didn't offer to pay for dinner and his cousin seemed surprised that he paid for his dinner!

Sunday the 30th we had breakfast with Tushar at Coastal Kitchen on 15th. Toshi had never been and I think he liked it. It was nice to see Tushar again. That afternoon was the baby shower and as expected we got a lot of clothes and blankets. Very little was actually from the registry which is ok, it just means that we have more to get. We did get some gift cards though, so that will definitely help with some of the things we have left. It was fun to see people even though there were a lot of people who were not able to come. We just did food and presents - no games which I was actually ok with.

Thankfully after the shower we had no plans until leaving on Tuesday morning. It had been a vacation full of stuff and having some downtime was awesome.

Monday was a low-key day of taking down decorations, the boys helping mom with the tree, Francine coming over to work on the comforter, and all of us (including Lindsey who had come on the 27th) going out to eat at Circa. Jeffrey and Lindsey went out to celebrate the New Year with Evan and Michael but Toshi and I were in bed by 10:30, no surprise since we had to be up for a 7:10 flight. Also Monday we went to see the grandparents (and stop at Cafe Fiore!). We went in the morning because mom had said Grandmaman is often better in the morning. We got there just before 10:00 or so (without Toshi but everyone else). She had just laid down to take a nap but was still awake. Mom went in to say hello and she sort of half woke up, I followed her in and said hello Grandmaman, her eyes opened and her face lit up. She said, here's the one I've been wanting to see and she got out of bed and came out in to the living room. She was her old self which was incredible. I'm so glad that we went that morning because now I have this wonderful memory of my grandmother as she used to be, not the one who has been taken over by this horrible disease. She sat and talked with us for quite a while. She pulled out my wedding photo and compared it to how I look today. She said she was excited about the baby. She asked if we had picked a name and when I told her we had she said I should keep it secret. I told her that we picked a Japanese name and she said, well that makes sense since her daddy is Japanese and I'm guessing her grandmother is very happy about that. She was lucid and able to talk to us. She did have a moment where she slipped away when Grandpapa asked about the car and if it had made it to Jason or not - she said that she had learned how to drive on that car and what was she going to do now that it was gone? We managed to change the subject and she did come back after that. I am so glad that we went - I wish that Toshi had come too, I should have convinced him to come - but I'm so glad to have that memory of her as she used to be. I have no idea what she'll be like in June when we come back. Will she remember who I am? That's my worry each time I go home is that she won't remember who I am. I know that it will happen and likely happen soon. There are times when she doesn't know mom and Francine. I noticed that they have taken down most of the photos in their apartment and I wonder if it was hard on Grandmaman to have them up since she doesn't remember people. What a horrible horrible disease this is. Even with this happy memory that I have of her I am in tears thinking about it all, not knowing what will happen with her or how she will be the next time I get to see her. She's not really my grandmother anymore. She's been taken over by the Alzheimer's.

Yesterday morning we got up early - my alarm went off at 4:10 - and we got ready and headed to the airport. We left NY with one suitcase and came back with two due to all the baby stuff (and the fuzzy blanket I had taken with me in August). It was an early morning but a smooth travel day overall. I think a lot of people had to work on the 31st and flew out on the 30th, Sunday, so it was not like it was when we had left for Seattle! The flight was also shorter which was really helpful too, and we got in early! We tried to grocery shop last night but our store closed at 7 which we didn't know - and we got there at 7. I didn't think things closed early on New Year's Day....

We are unpacked and settled back to NY. Toshi is at work and I've got my first load of laundry going. Our next adventure will be this weekend when we rearrange furniture and things in the house to start getting the baby's room ready!