Well, that was just about long enough, wouldn't you say?

I have so many stories to tell, and there's no way I could get it all in here, not even if I spent the whole day writing this entry instead of catching up on two weeks' worth of work like I should. So I'm afraid this is going to be a bit slapdash, and mostly pictures with brief anecdotes.

The first thing I really have to say is that, even though I was tentatively optimistic about the trip, given how good Penny's been on past trips, she once again exceeded all my expectations. Penny was consistently well-behaved, cheerful, happy, and even as polite as you could possibly expect a two-year-old to be.

She warmed up quickly to all Matt's relatives. She endured late bedtimes and days where napping wasn't even possible and slept late in the mornings. Oh, and she did it all while teething, as I discovered Christmas morning.

I'm not saying she was perfect -- who is? -- but she whined less than I did. I'm more proud of her than I could possibly express.

It didn't snow while we were in Chicago, but there was some left on the ground from a storm a couple of weeks ago. It was melting and icy, but Penny loved it. I think frequent trips outside to play in the snow contributed mightily to her good mood.

The day after we arrived, we managed to go visit Matt's childhood friends, the Pojes. We were lucky to have caught all of them at once; Jason is working some hellish schedule that is an attorney's equivalent of the doctor's ER stint, and Tristan and his family were only a day or so from heading back home to San Diego.

Matt's sister's husband is Lithuanian, so they put on a traditional Lithuanian Christmas Eve dinner, complete with a full twelve courses, the only meat allowed being seafood, and several fun and touching traditions. I liked the communal breaking of bread, and the fortune-telling with the straw under the tablecloth.

I did mention that Penny loved the snow, right? This is her on Christmas day, with her pet snowball that she insisted on bringing inside with her.

Matt's dad and stepmom got Penny a pile of presents. And I do mean a pile. The great thing was how many of them Penny really seemed thrilled about.

The clear winner, for presents, though, was this enormous stuffed tiger. Bob sat Penny on its back and "flew" them around the house. (It's a joke.) She demanded more and more, until he was ready to drop. It was funny... until he went home and suddenly it was Matt and I who had to do it.

I didn't get to drive any industrial vehicles while we were at Matt's grandparents, this trip, but Grandpa did hook a bobsled up to his mini-truck and haul us around. It was a lot of fun, even for Matt and I. Penny had a blast.

We came home from Chicago and stopped at my parents' for a couple of hours to visit with my family. Penny was over the moon when Sam played the piano for her and even let her "help". (I don't think this was quite what Sam had in mind, though.)

After we got back from Chicago, Matt and I packed up every single toy Penny had downstairs and replaced them with her Christmas haul. She didn't seem to notice the switch, so probably most of the old toys are destined for Goodwill. We only got Penny a couple of things for Christmas, because we knew everyone else would be getting her tons of stuff, and she's not old enough to be really covetous, yet. Much to my delight, she loves this toy, which rolls large jingly marbles down a series of tracks.

We "did" Christmas with my family on New Year's Eve. At my request, Penny's major present from my parents was a slide that can be used indoors or out. She spent more time sending her CareBears down it than actually sliding down herself, but at least she was having fun, right?

There isn't really an anecdote to go with this picture so much as I am vastly amused by the way she's sneaking fancy chocolates when she thinks Matt isn't looking, here...

Okay, maybe I spoke too soon about her lack of covetousness. At least, she certainly seems to be searching the bag for the "good" present while disdaining the cute outfit my brother and Sam gave her...

Last night, we went down to visit K.T. and Kevin and Jess. Jess's present from us was this magnetic drawing board. We got one for Penny, too, and she was terrified of it -- the eraser doohickey is very loud. But as soon as Penny saw that Jess was enjoying it, she jumped right in. Penny and Jess were absolutely adorable playing together.

I think that's enough for now, right? If not, you might to check flickr for my display of the lengths Matt's mom went to to try to make Penny feel at home, and the blog for an early report and my early Christmas post.

--Liz