Originally Jeff and I were going to go out for NYE to a fancy dinner. But we decided to cancel our reservations and stay home instead. I am really glad we did. Keegan got to spend the night w/ my parents as he had been asking. Harper hung out with us through our sparkling wine and first round of appetizers and then went down for the night. He slept until 6am and then went back to sleep until 7:30. And we had a romantic evening and kissed in the New Year. It was more of a goodbye to 2008. A year that brought us a new house, our sweet baby boy and opportunites to grow stronger as parents and a couple.

Resolutions so far:
1. Let in less poison (not the rock band).
2. Pursue goal of ice climbing, first start get back to yoga.
3. Pursue goal of balance, first start get back to yoga.
4. Deal with impending career crossroads by figuring out next steps.
5. Try to see things from Jeff's perspective more often.

At breakfast yesterday Jeff asked me jokingly to make some kind of sexual resolution. I won't be sharing that here. Don't worry Erika I won't torture you with it either ;)

Cava. Tiny food. Candlelit shower. Fireplace. Countdown. Happy New Year!!!

This made me giggle during lunch today.

Joel Stein: We liberals really don't love America as much

I don't love America. That's what conservatives are always telling liberals like me. Their love, they insist, is truer, deeper and more complete. Then liberals, like all people who are accused of not loving something, stammer, get defensive and try to have sex with America even though America will then accuse us of wanting it for its body and not its soul. When America gets like that, there's no winning.
But I've come to believe conservatives are right. They do love America more. Sure, we liberals claim that our love is deeper because we seek to improve the United States by pointing out its flaws. But calling your wife fat isn't love. True love is the blind belief that your child is the smartest, cutest, most charming person in the world, one you would gladly die for. I'm more in "like" with my country.
Fox News' Sean Hannity loves this country so much, he did an entire episode of "Hannity's America" titled "The Greatest Nation on Earth." In that one hour he said, several times, "the U.S. is the greatest, best country God has ever given man on the face of the Earth." One of the surest signs of love is it makes you talk stupid.
Conservatives feel personally blessed to have been born in the only country worth living in. I, on the other hand, just feel lucky to have grown up in a wealthy democracy. If it had been Australia, Britain, Ireland, Canada, Italy, Spain, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Japan, Israel or one of those Scandinavian countries with more relaxed attitudes toward sex, that would have been fine with me, too.
When a Democrat loses the presidential race, real lefties talk a lot about moving to Canada. When Republicans lose, they don't do that. Although, to be fair, they don't have a lot of nearby conservative options. Not even Hannity is a committed enough conservative to yell, "If Obama wins, I'm moving to Singapore."
This doesn't mean I'm not fascinated by American history, impressed by our Constitution or don't appreciate our optimism and entrepreneurial spirit. In fact, I love everything Hannity listed on his TV special other than Madonna. But there are plenty of things I don't like about America: our foreign policy, our religious fundamentalism, our provincialism, our intellectual laziness, our acceptance of sweat suits in public.
When I ran the idea that liberals don't love America as much as conservatives by talk-show host Glenn Beck, who will move from CNN Headline News to Fox News next month, he totally agreed with me, which is precisely why I called him. "It's absolutely true, deep love. As a parent loves a child," he said. "But I think liberals laugh that off, the way the rest of the country laughs off the love Texans have for their state. Texans don't think, 'Oklahoma, you (stink).' Well, yes they do -- but they don't think other states (stink). They just have a love for the republic of Texas. ... I don't have disdain for other countries. Well, except for France."
I asked Beck why Democrats rarely share his overwhelming sense of American exceptionalism and Francophobia. "I think it's because in the late 1800s up until the 1930s, the progressive movement started to think the European ideals are pretty good, that it's one big world," he said. "Well, it's not. If you look at all the countries like people, there are differences between people. And I happen to like this person the best." When I look at the countries like people, I love Sweden the best.
I accused Beck of loving America just out of birthplace convenience, which is kind of like loving the girl who happens to sit in front of you in homeroom. "If I were born in Great Britain and read about Britain and America, I'd love the values and principles and the men who founded this country," he said. "I love that we crossed these mountains and didn't know what was on the other side. I love that the Pilgrims didn't want to come here, but they came here because they felt prompted to by God. There's always been a spirit of adventure and awe in this land. And I don't think any other country has that." Beck, it seemed, loves America the same way little boys love camping.
Despite Beck's rationalization, I still think conservatives love America for the same tribalistic reasons people love whatever groups they belong to. These are the people who are sure Christianity is the only right religion, that America is the best country, that the Republicans have the only good candidates, that gays have cooties.
I wish I felt such certainty. Sure, it makes life less interesting and nuanced, and absolute conviction can lead to dangerous extremism, but I suspect it makes people happier. I'll never experience the joy of Hannity-level patriotism. I'm the type who always wonders if some other idea or place or system is better, and I'm missing out. And, as I figured out shortly after meeting my wife, that is no way to love.

Joel Stein is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times. E-mail him at jstein@latimescolumnists.com.

This blog is on vacation. Since I didn't get one from work...

There is a family in a little town west of the capitol of New Hampshire. This family has three children and two parents who are not expecting Santa this year. The ice storm left them without power for many days. And times were already tight with the car breaking down and all of the money going to heat and food. But recovering from the ice storm took the last little bit they had put aside for Christmas. And the mom had been hoping to get some money this week but has not been able to work because schools have been closed also due to the ice storm. And they are too late to benefit from any lists of children in need because the ice storm just happened and wiped them out. So their parents had to tell them that Santa had been effected by the ice storm too and therefore they would not be getting a visit from him. In the midst of this they still found a way to open their home to a friend who lost power on Sunday after working a 14 hour shift at the emergency operations center. This friend works in my building. And she ran into another person who she shared her story with. That person is my friend who had spent time this morning telling me about the difficulties in her life. She came into my cubicle and told me she felt terrible complaining after hearing this story. She and I agreed there is no way we can let those kids go without Christmas presents. So my friend is taking our money (which she does not have extra of herself) and going shopping tonight. Tomorrow we will make sure that those gifts get to the the friend in this buidling who has promised to deliver them to those three kids in time. When I think about those kids waking up to nothing it breaks my heart even more so as a parent than ever before.

Harper turned six months old on December 10th. Already a half of a year old. We are clutching to every moment of his infancy but it still flies by. He had his checkup last week and is doing very well. He is a little over 18 pounds and is in the 92 percentile for height. He is rapidly growing out of everything and I have pulled the 12 month box from the attic in preparation. Harper is loving the solid food. He eats lunch and dinner and all the same bottles in between. We got the okay to move up to level 2 food and start feeding him baby yogurt. I am guessing he will be all over that. He rolls over and we often find him that way in the morning. He also sits up but still needs support as he is apt to tip over backwards. Keegan loves to be in charge of keeping him upright. Oh and what a talker. And a laugher. He seems to be very happy at daycare and they run an excellent program. Best I have ever seen. Makes the gazillion dollars we pay slightly less painful.

If babies are truly made up of the love between two people than Harper is quite the statement. He is so joyful and patient and sweet and caught up in the world. Really the best baby ever. Except for not being so much into naps lately he really is easy to please. And he gives you the goo goo eyes like he is beyond in love with you. He gives the best hugs. And he is crazy about the big kids. Whenever his brother or sister enter the room he is mesmerized. Not to say he is not fussy sometimes or that he is not a lot of work because all babies are. But the love and happiness he brings to our lives is immeasurable. Jeff and I are always sharing Harper moments with each other.

As you have no doubt heard by now the northeast was walloped by an big storm on Thursday night/Friday morning. As a result many (1.5 million) people were without power. For the first time since living in NH for 11 years I was not one of them. Parts of the city did lose power but not our side. Our theory is because we now live on the side with the capitol building and the Governor likes his electricity. Whatever the reason we know we are extremely lucky. Not so lucky were Erika, Jay and Sammy. There was no way I was leaving them out in the cold (literally). So I pestered Erika until they agreed to come up and stay with us. The result was a very cozy time. After the kids went to bed we had an adult slumber party. Mostly us around the kitchen table all with a laptop chatting back and forth. And Jeff found an excuse to open a $200 bottle of scotch. He and Jay were quite happy while Erika and I made wrinkly faces at the smell. She and I had G & Ts earlier and Jay makes a mean one of those. They got word the next morning the power was back on in their neighborhood. So we stuffed them full of waffles, eggs, blueberry sausage, bacon and bagels. They needed their strength until the heat kicked on at their house you know.

My parents also lost power but my mom was staying at my grandparents anyway and my dad had just gotten home from a trip. He bunked with their neighbor who has a wood stove. They came up to our place to watch the kids so we could do some shopping downtown without them. Harper wouldn't mind but Keegan is very into the Santa thing. So once again the big guy will get credit for all the awesome stuff we are getting the kids. We bought as much local as we could but will have to order a couple of things online. My parents stayed over with us last night and their power was still off today. They will stay with my g-parents or friends tonight instead of us so my dad's commute in the morning isn't too long. There are many places still without power and therefore many schools closed tomorrow. Keegan's school was delayed on Friday and Harper's was supposed to open late but when I got there they decided to close instead. They didn't have power in that part of town. And when I called my office they had gone offline an hour earlier. So even though there were wide spread outages, my baby had no daycare available, my building had no power and the gov declared a state of emergency, Friday still counts as an unpaid day off. Awesome.