Even a “low key” holiday
is action-packed. Where to begin, even? First, here's a holiday centerpiece that Ro made at school. I think she told me that her art teacher gave her some extra berries to work with. I presume this is because she was really into the project. She did such a nice job--I have to say, it looks pretty professional to me, very balanced composition with the different greens. I think it's cool that they did that with the kids.
Grandmama came to
visit early rather than test nature and risk snow on the pass around The Actual
Day. This wound up being a good call. Plus, she got to visit when
Rosalie’s school put on a winter puppet show. Rosalie was the
sheep. As you can see, she was brilliant.
Seems like they had a
lot of fun putting this show together, from making the puppets to rehearsing as
a school, to presenting the show. They all took it very seriously. Rosalie was thrilled to see us in the front row when they came
out to take a bow. I think she almost came and sat in my lap, but we
gently coaxed her back on stage. Adorable.
They sent home Rosalie’s
portfolio and it sounds like she’s doing great in school. Obviously we
are very proud.
The next day I took
Rosalie with me to work for the annual holiday luncheon. Grandmama's gifts
came in handy: she sported her new pretty dress and spent most of her free time
with her new remote control car that is powered by hand-crank (doesn't need
batteries!). People were impressed by this sustainable toy.
While we were there at
the luncheon I thought a couple of times how cool it is that this was the
room where our wedding reception was held! And the guy catering the luncheon
(who was now my boss) was the guy who catered our wedding!
Also, a couple of high
school seniors who were my former 6th grade students came to find me to say hi. They walked with me and Rosalie
back to their/our old homeroom classroom, and we explained to Rosalie that she
was in my belly when I was giving these girls a spelling quiz. It felt so full-circle, with Rosalie so big and with Shanley and Ellen talking about where they were hoping to go for college.
There were some great
nostalgic moments during our time on campus that day. I feel so lucky to
have such a great husband and kid, and such a great work community that I can
keep coming back to in all kinds of roles. What a special place that is. I'm glad she liked it too. What's not to like about a place that has a pink feather Christmas tree and teddy bears right next to the food service line?
Recently (in the past
few weeks), Rosalie mentioned that an older kid from school told her that Santa
Claus is not alive. "That's not true, right?" she asked with a
nervous laugh. That was such an easy question to answer. "Of
course it's not true!" I insisted. I've always talked about the
spirit of Santa, and without going into too many details, I've mentioned that
people don't see him. I never say, "There's Santa!" when we see
a guy dressed up. I always say, "There's a guy dressed like Santa!" I
feel bad for that kid who thinks that Santa is not alive. The holiday spirit of
love, joy, gratitude, and generosity is alive and well all over the placde, even for that kid, even when he doesn't realize it. Thank you, Santa, or whatever we want to call you!
In Rosalie's letter to Santa, she agreed that she could pare down her list
slightly and ask for markers for another kid to have (someone who doesn't have
markers). Just always loosening the jar lid to think about others and
remember to feel grateful for what we do have.
Her top priority on the
list this year was GUM. She'd only had a few pieces so far in her life, and when we have given her a piece of gum, she takes it very
seriously. She loves it so much, you can tell that she knows it is a big
responsibility (do not accidentally swallow it, do not let it fall out of your
mouth). On Christmas morning, she got the gum she asked
for--strawberry--and she was so thrilled. "I knew Santa would
come," she said, hugging her new stuffed kitty.
By the way, how did
Santa know she likes kitties? He's pretty magic. Another by the way, it's a good thing
I got Ro two packs of gum because she finished off a pack in one day.
She's been rationing it out since then.
Another object of
obsession this year was the Lego house. I
was pulled into the project early on. I
can’t really say I was an unwilling participant. However, I was more of a consultant and
piece-finder because I didn’t want to get too involved and take over. At times the diagram was confusing.
However, she stuck through it, and I must say
she is quite the talented Lego-ista. I’d
be watching her and feel surprised that she would just nail it in the right
place, first time. She was very, very into it, doing a little dance with joy when something came together.
Definitely some
spatial intelligence going on there.
Anyway, rewinding back
to Christmas Eve, we had a quiet, easy night. After dinner we
drove up to "Olympic Manor," a neighborhood where everyone agrees to
do Christmas lights. We parked the car and went for a walk around that
neighborhood. She was truly thrilled about almost every house we saw.
She skipped and ran and effused over every lovely thing that she saw.
Her joy was our joy. It reminded me of when we stayed up late to
watch fireworks on the 4th of July...that breathless, tired, slightly
overstimulated ebullience. She was so excited to be staying up late
(8:30?) with us and having a night time adventure. We all were, actually.
This year’s season has
also been a time for decorating cookies.
We had a delicious time at Heather, Owain & Jimmy’s house with luscious
gingerbread, frosting, and a lavish array of sprinkles. The five of us were in sprinkle-y
heaven. So when my friend from culinary
school invited me over to decorate cookies last week, I was so on it. She was in the pastry program at school when
I was in culinary, so she was full of cool decorating tricks! Here she is demonstrating a dragging
technique to make a string of hearts from dots. I also love those "flowers" on the tree next to it.
Anyway, I had so much
fun that night that I didn’t want to leave—and since she had so many cookies,
she invited me back the next day and said I could bring Rosalie too. By the way, this woman has six cats and room
to run around. Rosalie heaven. We stayed for many hours the next day,
forgetting to eat lunch. When Ro was
finished doing a few cookies she would go off by herself and commune with all
of the cats quietly. Weirdly she didn’t
even eat a single cookie when she was decorating. She was lost in the process as much as we
were. We could have stayed a week. Here are a few cookies she & I did that
day. Feeling grateful to Melissa for her
generosity and teaching talents!
And now for some gratuitous snowflake-head shots. It's from our "photo shoot" for this year's holiday card. It was nearly impossible to choose a picture with that mega-watt smile. Happy Holidays!
