Nächster Halt: Venedig

After a travel hiatus to concentrate on Baby's sleeping schedule, we're jumping back in the saddle (or in the plane, as the case may be) with a trip to Venice. We decided not to exchange gifts this Christmas, and instead to splurge on a nice hotel and hopefully some good Italian food (not to mention as much gelato as humanly possible). We're hoping Baby's present to us is that her tooth will feel better and she'll sleep as normally as possible. We've never been to Venice and haven't had time to do much research, but everyone says it's one of those places you have to see in your lifetime, preferably not during the hot and crowded summer, so it should be fun and hopefully relaxing. Hopefully our camera batteries will function this time around also.

The only strange thing is that since we're not going to be home for Christmas, we decided not to decorate the house or buy a Christmas tree or do any of the usual things that make it feel like the holiday season. At least I picked up a pine bough from a local Christmas tree seller to have some piney-fresh scent in the house, and Gretchen got out some of our old favorite Christmas CDs, but all things considered it hasn't sunk in that Christmas is four days away and counting.

Anyway, we'll probably be offline for a few days so in the meantime we hope everyone has a Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah, or whatever other holidays you might be celebrating. Buon Natale!