grrlTravels

brief Christmas recap

The kids got a trampoline.
[Well, two trampolines.]
The End.

the hike

When it is above 60 and it's December we head outside. We had a fabulous day playing in the woods. The woods smelled like winter. The pine needles slid under our feet. The water was dark and mysterious. It was fabulous.

(I cut E.'s hair. It is a long, sad-for-me story of peer pressure, E.'s ongoing gender crisis, and the fact that we still don't live in Hawaii.)

Christmas did occur according to my calculations

I have been madly crafting since the beginning of December. It was supposed to be the beginning of October, so there was a certain terrified compulsive quality to the entire enterprise.

I am still crafting. Not everything made it out on time. After I finish crafting I will get to the Christmas cards.

Tiny Bonne Nuit Pillows
As it happens most of my friends either have sleep issues, or do not get enough sleep due to kid-related nocturnal-ness. I made tiny pillows (2 in x 3 in) which wished the recipient bonne nuit.

Mini Pin Cushion
I made this tiny pin cushion for my good friend Shelba who is a sewing buddy. The base of the pincushion is a bottle cap from a bottle of juice. It's tiny! The longhorn represents Texas and the blueberry bush represents New Jersey and the tinyness represents my wish that we lived closer.

Stuffed Eiffel Tower Embellished with Orange Embroidery
This wonky Eiffel Tower looked a lot better before I stuffed it. Once stuffed there's no going back, though.

There was other crafty stuff, but not everything went according to plan and some of it did not get photographed and some of it was not worth photographing.

By the time I finish with Christmas most of you will be decorating for Valentine's Day if you are so inclined. I've accepted this about myself. I sure hope K. has too.

dressed to impress

My children do not own festive holiday clothing. There. I said it. I told you, the great internets, confessed to you really. Confession is good for the soul. Honesty is the best policy. Fake it 'til you make it. I feel better already.

Why did this come up? Well, I'm in the midst of getting ready for Christmas, which means my mind is racing 24/7 and I'm making list after list and I write a list for each day which is laughable really, but one must do something. Anyway, I decided in a moment of complete nostalgia that I would take the kids to get a photo with Santa. I do not need one, and I'm pretty sure that 2 out of the 3 will cry (which is the whole reason to get the photo taken anyway) but I want one this year. For the first 3 1/2 years of his life E. completely refused to even contemplate a Santa photo and we didn't push it. The last and only photo with Santa was two years ago when we happened to be at the mall and there was no line to sit on Santa's lap (unheard of!) and so we rushed up, plopped the kids on Santa's lap and there it was. Of course they were wearing whatever it was that they were wearing when we rushed out the door to go to the mall which was lame at best and crusty at worst.

So I was thinking about Santa and I thought I should plan this out a little better this year because I am not going to stand in line at the mall for an hour for a photo with Santa and then I thought If I plan it out then it has to look like I care and what should the children wear? at which point I thought There is nothing for the children to wear and I have hit an impasse at which point I stopped thinking. I was always dressed up as a child for these things, you see. To get the full nostalgia rush I think there must be tights and shiny shoes and something red and/or green. But we have none of that here.

I have tried. One year I bought E. a festive holiday sweater vest. He wore it once for about 3 hours and I could not look at him while he had it on. Everyone else's kids always look so cute all dressed up in Christmas gear, but my kids just look ... odd. Z. might be able to pull something off, but the other two? No. And forget K. and I. We do not have it in us.

So. There are no sweaters and there's no red and/or green and the glittery santa hats are elsewhere and there never had been shiny shoes and there probably will not ever be. I think matching scarves might be my best bet. Scarves or goggles of some sort?

I told you I wasn't any good at this. I did tell you, confessed really, and now I feel worse.

Thanksgiving? What Thanksgiving?

[I realize this angle is odd. And almost impossible to look at without feeling dizzy. What was I thinking? I was thinking I just cooked an entire Thanksgiving dinner for the first time ever and now I need to document that but all I really want to do is take a nap.]

I did it. I did it, but some things were cold. Most notably the orange ginger carrots. And I made far too many carrots. But it happened. Thanksgiving. It happened, it was traditional, and now it is over.

[Thank you for the gravy advice. I am more than a little tempted to try that vegemite gravy. The gravy pictured above is from a packet from the supermarket. Two packets, to be precise. It was bad. Bad Bad Bad. Must. Learn. How. To. Make. Edible. Gravy.]

Oh yeah. By the time I finished cooking, there was no time nor energy to make the table look nice. Must remember to do that the day before. Genius. Also, no one dressed for dinner. That is the bonus to eating with only one's own immediate family members. Pajamas.

Anyway, it's December and it's time to think about that other holiday.