New Year's Night 2010

After a very fun New Year's Eve spent at our house with friends, we had a tough time getting Berit to calm down for sleep. True, it was 11 p.m., and was entirely our own fault. She had one of those meltdowns as our friends left, because she had had such a super fun time, and because she didn't want it to end, and because she was completely exhausted and might be ailing from a mysterious stomachache/sore throat illness that we deemed Not Real But Maybe?

Anyway, she made herself throw up (not uncommon, and unrelated to mystery illness) so we were dealing with that around 11:30 p.m. and of course, it woke Marta up. You'd think she'd be entirely immune to dramatic screeching from her sister in the middle of the night, but after a half-hour of it, I suppose it would get to anyone.

I went to Marta around 11:45 p.m. and rocked with her in the chair, while she told me all about how she wanted to go sledding the next day, and that the last time she did, Daddy pulled her up the hill and Berit "Cried per her Mama."

Suddenly I heard popping sounds coming from outside the window, and my half-asleep, half-romanticized-by-baby's-adorable-story self (OK, a tiny bit tipsy as well), immediately assumed there was a crazed shooter taking out his relatives on New Year's Eve next door. It dawned on me that no, those were actually fireworks, and since Marta was already awake we crept into my room, which has a wall of windows facing the lake. A party across from us was shooting off real fireworks, and they were the first ones Marta had ever seen. Trevor heard the fireworks from Berit's room (where she had just fallen asleep) and crept out, too, and we stood together while Marta and I pressed our cheeks together watching them. Marta kept exclaiming, "Sparkles, Mama!" and was completely excited by them. It was so special, and I kept thanking God for that perfect moment of middle-of-the-night haziness combined with Marta's first fireworks reactions.

When they were over she told us all about her jammies and how she was "Just so cozy and snuggly," and we wholeheartedly agreed. I took her back to her room and rocked her a little more, and she told me about the fireworks, about the "pink sparkles! And red sparkles! And green sparkles!" and was so filled with joy that I lingered longer than I usually do. When I put her into her crib, she said, "Thanks Mama. I love you."

And that might have been my favorite night of 2010.