Christmas vacation

I love the days when we're all home - Gary and I are both off work, the girls are home, no visitors, just us. We have spent the last few days with good food, games, toys, movies, and the kids. And it has been wonderful - there is no better way to spend a holiday than with children. The girls are enoying their Christmas gifts, and we are having fun just being with them.

And while gifts are not the most important part of Christmas, it is hard to deny their significance. As a parent, it is incredibly satisfying to be able to give your children not only what they need, but some of what they want. This year we succeeded. Alison actually got everything she wanted - probably not true for the other two, who lacked a couple of items on their list. But their lists are lengthy, so I don't think they are complaining. All I've heard for the last two days is the sound of the girls playing together. Well, that and the strains of Rufus Wainwright singing Judy Garland ... one of my favorite gifts ...

Today we ventured down inside the loop to see Lucy at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. This is her first trip - ever - outside Ethiopia, so it's quite a coup for the musuem. Lucy is the Australopithicus afarensis, discovered in 1974, that predates home sapiens, apparently the oldest and most complete prehuman evert found. Fascinating stuff. The exhbit was well done - quite a bit on Ethiopia and its "uniqueness" (a word I am generally hesitant to use, but I would say here it applies), from a religious, cultural and anthropological standpoint. The skeleton/fossil itself is pretty amazing - and I am always amazed at what anthropologists are able to tell from mere skeletal remains.

I am also amazed by those who look at this evidence and can refute the belief in evolution. And don't play the religion card - my high school science teacher, along with a physics colleague of my father's who was Assemblies of God, and many other noted scientists all say the same thing: It is possible to be a Christian and a scientist. As my high school teacher put it: I am a Christian and I am a scientist. And I have no problem reconciling those two beliefs. There is no litmus test for one or the other.

Following our visit to see Lucy (we were suitably impressed), we went to Katz's deli for lunch. We love the one in New York, so we figured we should try out the local version. While it did not have the ambience of the original, the buidling effectively recreated eating in a downtown venue circa 1940 - re-created tin ceilings, iron balustrades, tile floors, subway signs, and enough NYC memorobilia on the walls that one could feel, if even for just a moment, that Delancey Street was just outside. The pastrami was great, and the kosher dogs satisfied the girls. And the knish ... perhaps not as good as the original, maybe not even as good as the kosher joint where we ate in Estes Park. But good enough for today.

Tomorrow the girls are ready to venture to the mall - the gift cards are making them antsy. So much for holiday tranquility ...