Merry Christmas!

Two more pictures from our holiday walkabout in downtown Portland-



Samuel and I near Pioneer Square.



Eva and Samuel with the reindeer at Santa Land.

portland christmas

I forgot to post about our Christmas-y holiday day downtown. The day was clear and sunshine-y. I think. At least I remember it that way. It must have been a little bit like that to get us out there walking around. It was also warmish, as in there would be no snow anytime soon, but coldish {enough} to warrant a stop at Stumptown for coffee and hot chocolate {for Eva, who, by the way, thought the hot chocolate was better than Starbucks, but not as good as the hot chocolate she drank a week later at the Elephant deli we discovered after Shoemaker and the Elves.} Then we walked up to the Benson Hotel to look at the Gingerbread exhibit, which was fun, but smaller than I had envisioned it. Although, after thinking about it a bit and reading the little info-flier the concierge gave me, I had to admit it was something else. The chef made a small part of the city of Venice and hid three or four holiday figure made of mascarpone among the buildings and streets. The kids found those and we walked around the hotel a bit and looked at their decorations. We also took in the decorations of the National Bank across the street.

And then it was off to Santa Land at Macy's and over to Pioneer Square to see the big tree. We ate tacos at a restaurant nearby and ended our walk about with some pomegranate-raspberry frozen yogurt from one of the food carts nearby, which I had been dreaming about since the last time Eva and I tried it.





The kids had a lot of fun looking at the ornaments outside of Santa Land.

boxes

So the Christmas gifts are arriving and I have been doing my best to wrap them and put them up on a high shelf inside a box that no one can see into and mostly don't care about because it looks so normal. But then today two very large boxes showed up and I need to do some camouflage or some such on those two boxes because some people in the house (not me, I already know) are interested in them and their contents. My stance on this- because *I* was told when I was a kid that if I looked at anything, everything would be sent back- is to tell the kids that if they look, they simply won't be surprised on Christmas. Still, I like to help out with that in any way that I can and not leave things lying around to test or trap or teach lessons about. It's supposed to be fun, after all.

These boxes are particularly disturbing because there are things- toys- found therein that certain children in my house have said they no longer want. They changed their list. After some things were already ordered. Only they don't know. And I intend to return those unwanted things before anyone is the wiser. But first, I have to open the boxes, wrap and hide what I am going to keep. Then, I have to box up what I am sending back and get rid of it- soon. But those are extra steps and I am sure will invite extra questions. Plus, one of the boxes will rattle if shaken, which will give away the contents. Possibly. And on and on. So now, while the oldest child has been talked into taking a bath! I am going to go and figure out what to keep and what to send back and what to order in its place. Which seems like a pretty straightforward plan, at least in theory. Wish me luck. I thought I was done.

Love and joy come to you...

Yesterday I started picking up the living room- putting away some of the Christmas toys, clearing away some wrapping paper that was still hanging around. I definitely wanted to vacuum. There had been some small efforts to pick up the last couple of days but I was feeling like something a little more advanced. I felt like clearing away at least some of the Christmas that was still lingering in the corners and crevices throughout the house, particularly in the living room. Samuel had other ideas, however, and was crestfallen when he saw me putting away legos and hauling out the vacuum. He said he really didn't want Christmas to be over, it was too soon, and if I started putting everything away and cleaning everything up, it would mean that Christmas was over and that was sad. Well, he convinced me. I did a little cleaning up when the kids were in the other room but focused most of my efforts on the kitchen and other parts of the house. It's still Christmas here, at least for a little while longer. I know from experience that Christmas will eventually go away on its own. The tree will dry up, the frost will turn to dew, new toys will be exchanged for newer, interests will march on.



Maxwell on Christmas.

christmas eve

Shhh. Do you hear that? That is the sound of me taking a very deep breath and sighing. This day, the longest day of the year, is coming to an end. The kids are winding down with cookie decorating. The pullah is done. The other cookies are done. The knitting is {mostly} done. I am ready to watch White Christmas with the kids and finish up the knitting.

Watching Samuel and Eva as they cut out cookies and talk happily to one another about which cookies to leave out for Santa, I find myself wondering, albeit briefly, if maybe I imagined the intensity that filled the house earlier. The hippety hops were brought out and there was jousting and hopping and falling and bumping and tossing and laughing and crying and shouting and laughing and hilarity and madness. It seems inexplicable that all of that has melted away. Ha. I was here, though, so I know I am not imagining it. And I am not imagining the peace that has taken hold, at least for the moment, now. One, then the other. Both sides. All in a day- the day- before Christmas.



Eva making cookies on Christmas Eve.

Eva in her fort behind the Christmas tree. Are those guinea pigs I see back there with her?

Eva hanging the last of the ornaments she made this year for our tree. Do you see the small, white stuffed guinea pig up near the top of the tree? A little while after we decorated the tree, the kids and I drove around the neighborhood looking at lights and listening to The Nutcracker. At one point while we looked at some Grinches and Santas and Bears, Eva said, "I wonder why more people don't decorate with guinea pigs?" Yes, the pigs have truly taken over our household. How to explain that many people don't know that guinea pigs are Christmas animals too?

ellen's chocolate covered raspberries and cinnamon covered chocolate truffles!
eva roller skating around the house naked
samuel playing with one of eva's new barbies, the one with the fancy boots and making her "police-woman-barbie"!
finishing the knit dinosaurs and eva's coming to tea with her new tea set
jack and his bone and running back in the house to find it after being outdoors for a bit
devising a mending solution for the agent #4 lego set so it doesn't keep splitting in two every 10 minutes
ellen and evan visiting
fun with mario kart
wintry mix falling from the sky
kids' first white christmas
maxwell loved the market chicken
mastermind
ellen's glove animals
eva's little fairies
ladybug chocolates
lovely abundance and love for all

merry christmas and eva lost another tooth this morning (both bottom middle teeth are gone)! a second tooth in about 12 hours! she is a little hesitant about how her mouth is feeling right now. she wondered how good it could be for you to loose teeth, whether that hurts you? could you die if you lost a tooth? she is anxious for the new teeth to come in and also feeling nervous at that new sensation as well. so many changes for eva. she feels at once proud and excited that she has lost her first teeth and also apprehensive at what this means for her (and her teeth!).



fun christmas games with aunt ellen and new barbie- GRRR! ROAR! (oh yeah check out ellen in her new hat!)

eva lost her first tooth!

Oh how exciting to lose your first tooth and on Christmas Eve no less! As family lore goes, it is a pretty good story as well. Eva and Samuel went to give Jack his special bone shaped sugar cookie they made for him. While giving him the cookie, Samuel apparently blocked Eva from view (so the story goes, they have been at each other all day...) and she bit him. When she bit him, her loose tooth popped out! I heard first, "Hey! No! I wanna see!" and then "Hey, she bit me!" and then "Momma Momma my tooth came out" (while consoling the bitten one). Truth be told, I believe she did bite him but it was more of a scare tactic because it didn't leave an indent in his clothes or anything (smile).

And now the Christmas pullah which the kids braided this year and which gave me yet another good lesson on what matters and letting go-



Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

sleigh bells ring

I admit to keeping things quiet with regards to winter festivities this year. To be honest, the intensity gets to me and by the time the holidays are here I am all worn out. This year I scaled back even more and have basically waited until just a few days before Christmas to get the kids involved in holiday fixings- cookie baking, cake baking, bread baking, bird seed-on-pine-cones, wrapping a few gifts, if quietly, not flurrying. And I really appreciate all of the snow and its help in giving Samuel something else to think about and enjoy. It has actually been a lovely December, peaceful, with some wondering about Christmas, advent calendars, lists to Santa, tree decorating, candy canes, checking out holiday lights, without all of the wall-bouncing and intensity of previous years (I mean there is always some wall-bouncing). I don't know if this is due to the kids being a little older or my letting things flow even more and peaceful wishes or the snow or a combination (I suspect the combination) but I am actually really looking forward to Christmas and the other winter holidays this year, even looking forward to preparing for them! I am eagerly awaiting the grocery delivery this afternoon with thoughts of cookie sprinkles and peanut butter for the birds.

Eva has been checking out gifts hidden here and there and found the Christmas chocolate that Santa usually brings. I guess this year I will leave the chocolate for Santa. She found some gifts in the garage from Grandpa and of course one of her gifts was left in its original box out front when it was delivered, so I guess that will be from us as well. It is a pink big wheel and it was going to be a super surprise! I guess it still was a super surprise, just not what I had um expected (here goes some flowing...). Now she lets out little hints that she is thinking about it like, "You know momma, I think I would really like a little tricycle that is all pink...maybe even more than some other things..." So, you see, she got a pretty good look at it!

I expect to start cookie-ing tomorrow or the next day. As tomorrow is Winter Solstice, I will want to do some festive thing, probably for the birds, definitely something with candles and possibly a cake, although Eva may want the cake on Christmas. It is to be a love cake with hearts, etc but perhaps we can have it both days. Not sure how I will make pullah and cake on Christmas Eve. I assume by that point there will be wall-bouncing...

Ai yai yai the groceries are going to be late due to the weather. At least we weren't cancelled!

Yesterday


I am loving my new socks and slippers!

Today


Snow silenting...

I remember watching this for the first time one Christmas and love the song Feliz Navidad. I have had it in my head ever since!

This special has 7 parts to it, each about 10 minutes long...


Samuel and I watched a couple of the segments together tonight.

trees

It is the time of year when you drive down the road and wherever you turn, you see trees strapped to the tops of cars, launched out of trucks, toppling into houses, decked with garland and lights, ornaments hand made and store bought. Festive corn popping, hot chocolate sipping, holiday music choraling. Cats wishing for catnip, dogs dreaming of candy cane shaped bones, rats hoping for more hmmm food? Children talking of this toy or that, imagining the magic of Santa Claus. And now this house, this home, is no different. To the season we add our own tree. I have mixed feelings about bringing these trees into our homes in such quantities this time of year and would very much like to bring a live tree into the house one of these years and return it to the wild after the holidays as a planted, sustained, living tree. Someday. For now I do the best for the one we have chosen, covering it with love with my family, allowing the memories of Christmases past to flood my mind, anticipation of the Christmas to come creeping in. If I think too hard about Christmas I become as excited and enthusiastic as my children, unable to fathom that I must-wait-for-how-many-more-days until Christmas?

I broke with tradition yesterday twice and cooked the turkey without stuffing it AND I made the stuffing/dressing with sprouted grain bread (Alvarado Street Bakery). The stuffing turned out amazing and I highly recommend it. I didn't dry the bread at all before using it, just cut it up and added celery, celery leaves, thyme, shallots, leek, garlic and some of the broth from the giblets. Oh and butter. And apples.

The kids wrote up their Christmas lists for Santa Claus today. Samuel sent his off in a hurry, in the mail, direct to Santa Clause, The North Pole. We usually get a reply letter from him after a couple of weeks. Eva opted to hold onto her list and leave it for Santa with his cookies and eggnog on Christmas Eve. I was remembering leaving lists in the fire place? at one house I lived in while growing up. I had completely forgotten this memory until reading something about this tradition somewhere out there on the Internet. Fascinating what memories are still in there somewhere.

I am happy to say that our rat Charlie is feeling a little better and has regained a bit more mobility in his leg thanks to the anti-inflammatory meds I have been giving him. I think his leg is permanently wounded but it isn't purple any more and he has more energy. It is hard for him to sit on my shoulder and move around because of his foot being not as flexible, so I have to move slower than usual and sometimes give him a hand, but it is definitely an improvement.

We are reading the second book in the Mushroom Planet series- Stowaway to the Mushroom Planet...we are suspicious of one of the new characters and there is a distinctly suspense-ish feel to the beginning part of the book. And at long last we got Comet in Moominland after a couple of friends highly recommended it. Looking forward to reading about the Moomin Trolls, particularly after reading so many troll stories of late.

I at long last have Oscar Wao back in possession and need to hurry up and finish it before I need to return it again...It is really just such an amazing book, night and day with some other fiction I have tried to read recently. Wondering what will come along to read next.