‘Tis the season for non-stop Christmas partying while visions of afternoon naps dance in parents’ heads.  Our weekend started with a wonderfully entertaining double birthday party that included a hilarious clown/magician who made Huck laugh till he was crying with joy.  We had to leave early to make an appearance at Troy’s very successful community party/toy & coat drive at the church where Huck made me tell Santa his desire for 100 rolls of green tape and three packages of bobby pins.  New Yorker Santas are a little edgier than, say, Midwest ones, and this guy (who we’ve been visiting every December since Huck was nine months old) looked at him and said what the rest of us have been thinking: “What do you want all of that for?”  Huck then smiled sweetly and added, “And some surprises.”  Our own neighborhood’s Santa-like sweetheart Donetta donated her valuable time and painted kids’ faces all afternoon, and when she realized Huck never quite made it to her line she insisted on taking him into Troy’s office and giving him whatever he wanted, which ended up being a Santa face.  Troy threw his back out that morning while reaching into the fridge for the mayo (heroic), so after the party we went to our friends the Pasbjergs’ home so that Carl could give Troy some pointers on how to manage his back pain.  We tottered home three hours later with much Christmas cheer in our bellies.  Sunday morning came too early (and I had to gently pull Troy out of bed) and was filled with even more fun.  The children’s choir sang “O Come All Ye Faithful” quite beautifully during church and then decorated one of the majestic evergreens, compliments of the “tree farm” right outside.  Then it was off to our neighborhood’s annual cookie contest party at our friends the Fiaschettis where my Butterscotch Oatmeal Delights tied for fourth place.  We spent the afternoon filling ourselves with many delicious things before again limping home and passing out from that good old Christmas-time-of-year exhaustion.

And in case you’re wondering, this morning I managed to get a few rolls of green tape from the hardware store down the street that has known and loved Huck (and his daddy) since he was a baby.  When I told them this was what Huck wanted from Santa they threw in an extra one.  The Christmas spirit looms large on 181st Street in Washington Heights.