Back when I was working in an office, I would consider my day successful if I got through all the editing that needed to be done, did some writing and was still able to get home in time to spend some time with the little guy before he had to eat and go to bed. These days, my checklist for success is a little different.

Did I get dressed before 5 p.m.?

Did I eat a breakfast and lunch that consisted of more than chips and/or cookies?

Did the little guy and I get through the day without any major meltdowns?

Did the little guy go down for a nap at a decent time with little or no fussing?

Did I get a couple hours of work done?

If I'm able to answer yes to all these questions, then it's been a good day. Today, the answers are all yes (I'm wearing sweatpants, but that counts as getting "dressed" these days). Bonus: The house is still reasonably clean after cleaning over the weekend.

Also, the little guy deserves big props since he was content to watch Dora the Explorer while I had to be on a work phone call for an hour. I'm a lucky mommy.

For as long as I can remember, my family has had a tradition of having brunch the Sunday before Christmas at Tippecanoe Place in South Bend, Ind. It's a mansion that was previously owned by the Studebaker family and it's especially gorgeous at Christmas. In the beginning, my parents, myself and my brothers, along with three other couples and their families, made the trip every year. My parents met with these couples once a month and one year they decided they wanted to have a special outing with everyone's kids for Christmas. Today, only one other original couple remains besides my parents, but their kids now have kids of their own (and obviously I have a child as well), so we have a whole new generation participating. It's a day I look forward to every year and it's even more special now that I can bring my own little guy.

Except for maybe the first few years, the same Santa has frequented this restaurant for brunch every December, going around to all the tables to listen to each child's Christmas list. I remember listening for his bells and his jolly "ho, ho, ho," mentally preparing for my moment with Santa. It took a few years for Santa to remember us (after all, he sees a lot of kids every December), but eventually he recognized and came to expect our group each year. By this time, my youngest brother was the only child left in the group who was young enough to really get excited about Santa, so Santa always remembered him in particular. Both of my brothers are deaf, so Santa took the extra step of remembering a few signs so he could wish my brothers a merry Christmas without interpretation from my mom. This made my youngest brother love Santa even more.

One year, Santa brought a present for my brother. He remembered how much my brother loved to draw and color, so he gave him some art supplies. All of us were amazed that Santa not only remembered our group every year, but that he took the time to bring my brother a special early Christmas present. The next year, my brother (with my parents) brought a gift for Santa, and so began the annual exchanging of presents between him and Santa at our annual brunch. Even as my brother became a teenager, he still looked forward to talking to Santa at our annual brunch and exchanging presents. In turn, Santa watched with pride as my brother grew from an adorable little boy to a young man in college.

This year was no different--Santa came to our table and visited all of the little ones, then brought out a special present for my brother. However, this year as he brought out the gift, he whispered that this would be his last year at Tippecanoe Place. My brother gave Santa his last gift, a red and black scarf, and told him about his sophomore year in college. Santa then told my brother, with my mom helping to interpret, how much he looked forward to seeing him and our family each year and how honored he was to be able to watch him grow up. My mom cried as she signed and both Santa and my brother had tears in their eyes as they said good-bye.

Later, away from the little ones, we found out that the kind man who had played Santa all these years was a third grade teacher. He is retiring at the end of this school year and going to live with his wife at their vacation home. Next year somone else will serve as Santa and our little ones will grow up only knowing him. For the grown ups, though, the real Santa retired this year.

It's been awhile since I've posted anything, so here is my life over the past month, via bullet points (because I'm extremely wordy and bullets help make me more concise ... sometimes):

• My husband is home and has no plans in the immediate future to travel again for work. He is working a lot lately, though, as is the case for most people in retail this time of year.
• Halloween was a blast. We carved pumpkins, the little guy was the cutest elephant ever, and I got to take him trick-or-treating for the first time.
• I had another round of meetings in Chicago for work. The days were long and hectic, as usual, but the last day ended with an early holiday lunch for the office at a fancy restaurant, which was fun.
• We finally bought a car that allows someone to sit in front of the little guy's car seat without forcing their knees into their chin. It's shiny and pretty and we love it. The little guy enjoyed checking out all the new buttons as well.
• I realized that neither of my goals for the summer--potty training and moving the little guy into a twin bed--were accomplished. We're still working on the potty training, though, and we have a twin bed frame waiting for a mattress.
• I booked a trip to NYC for my dear friend's bachelorette party. It should be a blast, but it will also be the first time I'm leaving the little guy overnight in more than a year. The mommy guilt has kicked in a little bit.

As for the rest of this week, I'm hoping to rearrange some things in the garage so I can dig out our Christmas decorations. I started decorating the day after Thanksgiving last year and I'm hoping to make it a tradition. And of course there's Thanksgiving. I'm a pretty lucky lady this year--I have a wonderful husband and son and I get to work from home so I can spend as much time with them as possible. Even on the days when the little guy is throwing things out of drawers and D is working from sunrise to sunset, it's a pretty good life.

As I mentioned in my last post, D is working away from home during the week for the next four weeks. So the little guy and I packed up and hit the road to go visit D for a couple of days. All I needed was my trusty laptop so I could work while the little guy napped. The Internet connection was a little spotty, but it worked well enough.