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| The view from my parent's log home in the Northwoods |
Perhaps the best time to reflect on the Thanksgiving, Advent, Christmas, New Years season is now that I've put my son on a plane and sent him back to school. It goes so fast with so many memories made that it's overwhelming at times to allow all the goodness to sink in.
American Thanksgiving brought us back to Wisconsin to visit my parents and to meet up with Will during the few extra days off of school he had. We soaked up our time with him and appreciated the added blessing of grandparents and great-grandparents. Throw in a turkey, a case of 14 Hands, and four decks of cards for Hand and Foot and you've got yourself a party!
One afternoon found us at the local bowling alley. Notice that Wayne's name is missing. He claimed he had work to do, but we all know the real reason he was a no show. Check out my score below and the writing is on the wall. Chicken.
We were also able to spend a few days with Wayne's side of the family that lives in southeastern Wisconsin. That meant a trip to
We headed back home and hit the ground running. That weekend we had a funeral to attend and our church hosted an Advent by Candlelight for our ladies later that day. It was the 2nd Sunday of Advent, my Christmas tree at home wasn't up yet but it was just what I needed to focus my thoughts on the depth of meaning that Advent brings. Good thing too because business was hopping and I found myself in the salon most days along with trying to give my daughter a decent education.
Speaking of my daughter, we were able to see the musical Anne and Gilbert at the downtown theatre. We brought along Zanna's godmother, Karen, and enjoyed a lovely afternoon!
The next weekend was Christmas for Kids at church and I had cookie decorating to focus on. I prefer to snag the job that ensures all the kids will love me.
This was followed by another week of teaching/salon work, another funeral to attend and finally .... Will's arrival!!
And at this point I went into serious nesting mode. It was all about home and traditions and love and hugs and Christmas books and food. Serious food. I had menus planned with all the favourites, baked the treats that are enjoyed with anticipation and made sure the Christmas lights were all on by the time the sun went down at 4.
All Will had to tell me was, "I'm actually looking forward to you making me eat vegetables because when I'm on my own, I have good intentions but then I say ... nahhhhhh." And that boy was greeted with a fruit/veggie smoothie almost every morning along with a host of other opportunities that were highly satisfying for me to observe his vegetable consumption.
There was definite improvement in his packing skills this year - he remembered plenty of underwear and his winter jacket. And I also noticed that it didn't all smell nearly so bad as last year. Could hygiene be improving with age? We can only hope ...
Christmas Eve was a lovely affair as all Christmas's should be. Our service was a mix of the children reading parts and playing Christmas songs on their instruments along with our choir singing, Wayne's sermonette and participation of the congregation. Zanna played her violin like an angel and Will kicked butt on his piano piece he had done for the recital at school. (Sorry, should I not say "kick butt" when referring to a song played at church?) Anyway, it was beautiful - the candles lit during Silent Night, the candlesticks on the windowsills, the tree shining brightly ... and my new dress was just as cute as I had hoped it would be when I saw it in the catalog;)
Christmas Day service was more low-key but also quiet and reflective. Zanna and I played a couple duets together on our violins. It was so special to be able to do that with her! I also noticed when sitting next to Will during one of the hymns that he was singing the bass line. Let's just say I was more than a little verklempt and had a sudden urge to write thank you cards to the LPS music department for all their tireless work.
This year's Christmas dinner was a bit different in that we invited a guest that we were not related to. By this, I mean a member from church so I guess you could say we are related through Jesus. But you get my drift. I wanted her to feel as much at home as possible so I asked her to bring a dish that means something to her, possibly from her Jamaican background. She decided to bring (what we now know is) a very traditional dish that includes a fruit native to her country. What we didn't know was that this fruit is #3 on the list of the world's most dangerous foods. The ackee fruit's seeds are extremely deadly as in ... you could die. So if you couldn't tell by now, we managed to survive and appreciate this particular dish without succumbing to it's threat. I'm thinking of having t-shirts made up - I survived Christmas 2015 - has all new meaning now! Having said that, also on the list of dangerous foods is the hotdog. Which is hilarious since we keep serving this at all of our kids' programs at church.
We had a green Christmas with unusually warm temperatures leading up to the holiday. I had no problem with this and wasn't worried that "Christmas wouldn't feel like Christmas without snow" because it's just as well to me! It made up for it a few days later and the kids enjoyed an afternoon of sledding, shovelling, and snowman making.
Now it's a new year and I've resolved to read more books and make more cinnamon rolls. After all, I have no intention of setting myself up for failure;)
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