Je suis malade...

Sunday and Monday were all about being a grownup.

Doing stuff. Making it happen. Setting goals and making them realities.

My plan was to continue being a grownup everyday for the rest of my life and so this morning I got up, had some coffee and started the laundry. I came up with some grownup plans for my office nook, but the thought of executing those plans was exhausting. I decided to execute them another day.

Then I started putting the slipcovers on the chairs and sofa and felt very tired. And headachy. And my throat felt scratchy and I realized that my body was forcing me to stop being a grownup and get into bed.

I have been here ever since, popping motrin and cough medicine and killing zombies with plants.

Many of All six of my readers have been wondering about the state of Rebecca's Mystery Illness. This morning the pediatrician called to tell me that all of the results came back normal, even and most especially the one which would have pointed to some of the Big Scary Illnesses like cancer. We go back in to the doctor tomorrow for a strep test, even though it seems unlikely since her sore throat just started. Interestingly, my child has no fear of having blood taken at all. Since the age of three she has happily sat through blood draws like it was a walk in the park. Throat cultures on the other hand leave her shaking like jelly. Luckily our appointment is in the morning so she won't be worrying about it all day.

Lastly, I dreamt that it was Christmas eve and I had forgotten to buy a Christmas tree. I also dreamt about cutting my hair.

Now you know everything.

Sister Tree..

We had a small Christmas tragedy today at Shiny Red Houses. In spite of having my act together in virtually every other holiday way, we had somehow put off our annual "run and play through the forest of Christmas trees and feed the goats at the local Fancy Schmancy garden center."

The Fancy Schmancy garden center wrapped up their Christmas festivities over the weekend and shipped the petting zoo back to Siberia. The Christmas trees were largely gone and there was great sadness.
  
Luckily, our Second Favorite Fancy Schmancy garden center still had its animals, though they were not allowed to be fed by my poor pitiful homeschool urchins who were desperate to nourish the bellies of farm animals.

We admired the goats and even the llama. There were about a dozen big trees left, the rest were the most sorry collection of scraggly dwarf trees I have ever seen. There were definitely not enough trees to play hide and seek in so the kids tried to make the little sad trees more attractive by giving them snow ornaments.

It was pathetic. I had failed my children and ruined Christmas.

They consoled themselves by pretending that they were going to buy a real tree, which while small and full of bare spots would be superior in every way to our nine foot, pre-lit Martha Stewart artificial tree. They propped up the listing trees and encouraged the trees depressed by the weight of being overlooked on Christmas.

Finally, it was time to go. The girls took last sad looks at the forest that Christmas forgot and began to leave.

And there, right as we were heading to the exit, I saw the sign.

"50% off all $9.99 trees! Just $4.99!"

These were barely even trees, more like branches. Each was about two feet tall and clearly needed a home. The girls looked at me. I looked at them.

"Go ahead. Choose a tree."

There was joy and delirium! A tree! A real tree!

Now you should know that I have six lit trees in my house. Each bedroom has a small tree, there is a small tree in the kitchen decorated with vintage cookie cutters, the main nine foot tree in the living room and a tree on the porch which we call the "sister tree". The "sister tree" is a five foot skinny tree which the girls decorate together. The ornaments are pink and lacy and feminine. The lights on this tree gave out last week so I bought some new lights yesterday and planned on redoing the tree today.

Well, our little consolation tree became our new sister tree today.

It still had snow on it when I propped it up in an old silver champagne bucket.

 

The lights and decorations went up in a flash of giggling and grinning.

The experience reminded me of the purpose of the tree. Bringing in a tree which stays green all year and covering it with lights to ward off the darkness is the essence of hope and faith. Tonight the sister tree means so much more to me and reminds me of all of the light with which I am blessed.

Merry Christmas to you and your families and may your holidays be filled with light!

5:30 am...

That was the time that the children woke up and decided that sleep was for chumps.

By 6:00 I stopped pretending that I was asleep and we woke up David.

Christmas had begun!



Santa left some of his cookie.


Lily's gifts all have green bows.


Rebecca's have red bows.


The stockings were full!


Rebecca likes to empty her stocking slowly, savoring each item. (Notice the handsome cinematographer in the background.)



Lily likes to dump hers on the floor.


My mom sent the girls some of their favorite gifts. Handmade American Girl clothes, including matching jammies for the girls and their dolls.



The girls love them! The craftsmanship is gorgeous.


Check out this coat. My mom used a scarf to make it.



These princess gowns have matching gloves and are fully lined! Amazing!

Remember those fairy dolls that the girls were hoping that Santa would bring?



Here they are! They are so lovely.

This gift from David was my favorite!


We had a perfectly lovely day. The kids played, David napped and I puttered. It was a day of jammies and snuggles and comfort.

I hope that Christmas brought peace and joy to all who celebrate and a day of movies and Chinese food to those who don't.

Merry Christmas and let's bring on 2010!

Proof of freakishness...

Today I was thinking about how cute it would be to put all of the gifts that my mom sent us in that old Radio Flyer wagon that I junked this summer. I could just picture it next to the tree. So precious.

It was outside filled with ice, so I went out and spent about ten minutes knocking the ice and dead leaves out of it. Then I dragged it into the house and put it in front of the heater so that the rest of the ice would melt.

Once the ice had melted into dirty puddles on the kitchen floor I wiped it down and placed one of the plaid blankets that I junked this fall into it. Then I methodically placed all of the gifts into the wagon.

I stepped back.

Hmmm. Looks a bit crowded. I'll just slide the tree over a bit.

Hmmm. Still looks kind of weird. I'll try it on the other side of the tree.

Hmmm. This is not working.

I took the wagon back outside and came in the house, carefully avoiding the puddles of dirty water still on the kitchen floor.

Next I went down to the very scary basement and rummaged through my collection of 472 decorative baskets and crates and found a few to bring upstairs.

Once again I placed gifts just so and stepped back.

Hmmm. Better...but not quite right.

Then inspiration! A three foot plant tier would be perfect.

I dragged it over and placed the gifts in it and stepped back.

Ahhhhh. Just right.

And it only took me one hour and a completely disgusting kitchen floor to achieve.

Eat your heart out Martha!

Practical magic...

Today we went to see the real Santa.

I know that some folks will only go to a Santa who looks real. In late October they dress their children in their Christmas outfits and march them to the mall like little soldiers to get the perfect picture of their children with the perfect Santa so that they can use this photo as their Christmas card.

It bothers me a bit.

I do not believe in Santa as a prop for a photo opportunity.

I probably just lost twenty-five readers with that statement.

Sometimes you've got to be edgy and just tell the truth.

When Rebecca was a toddler I took her to a perfect Santa. Sure he looked perfect, but he did not have the soul of Santa. He didn't ask questions. He just smiled for the camera and handed her a candy cane.

There was no magic and if there in no magic then there is no Christmas.

For a number of years we didn't really bother with visiting Santa. Then we wandered into Seasons Four in Lexington about five years ago.

Santa is there on the weekends. He sits in a little pavilion and the children visit him. There is no charge for a picture, there is no photographer for that matter. There is no fee to visit with Santa or to take a picture with him, though he accepts donations to the local food pantry. Mostly he just sits and chats with the kids.

Rebecca and Lily were very excited to see him. Lily wanted to wear a pretty dress and fluffy coat. I think she was trying to distract him from some of her naughtier moments this year.

Once the girls were settled in next to him he asked them if they were still living in the same house or if he needed to change the address on his list. He wanted to know if we had dogs so that he could be sure to bring dog treats for them. What town do we live in, he wanted to know and then told us the exact time that it would be sunrise on Christmas and warned the girls not to peek until then. He told them all about the elves who take care of the reindeer and what sorts of snacks they prefer. He told us that the power at the north pole used to be generated from all of the coal that was used for the eyes and buttons of snowmen, but that now they use wind power since it's always so windy.

This is why we love the real Santa.

It's all the details, the small and important logistical details that cast a Christmas spell over my girls who are both hard core believers.



We are now in the last days before Christmas. They are tucked in bed and should be sleeping but keep peeking out the window to see if the snowstorm has hit yet.

They are all hope and magic, unmarred by cynicism. If I have done nothing else right, I know that I have given them this gift, this ability to immerse oneself in a dream and believe in the glittery possibility of tomorrow.

Let it snow!

Disaster strikes!

There were so many possible topics about which to blog tonight.

I could tell you about the cool Christmas junk I found today. I could tell you about going to the zoo at night to see lights and reindeer. There's also the time I got Sister Anne fired from Queen of Peace school.

Sadly instead I must tell you that I managed a truly amazing feat.

I fell up the stairs.

I fell up the stairs and smashed my head on the corner of the DVD cabinet and spilled a beautiful salad all over the floor.

I have no idea what I fell on. Usually it's the dogs who are trying to kill me on the stairs, but tonight they were upstairs asleep when I crashed headlong into the furniture.

After falling I tried to salvage my salad and it was while I was picking bits of lettuce off the floor that I noticed that my head was wet.

I reached up to brush it away and realized that my hand was covered in blood.

A head wound!

Blood!

Christmas will have to go on without me!

I called David who was working in his office.

"I have split my head open and am bleeding. I may need stitches. The presents are in the basement!"

In he dashed to evaluate my wound.

Luckily, not only will I live, I will not need stitches.

The bleeding stopped.

Christmas is saved.

For now...

Ready for disaster...

I have an announcement to make.

I have finished wrapping all the Christmas gifts that need to be wrapped and I am sending my mom's package out in the mail tomorrow.

I have decided to forgo Christmas cards because now that I have this blog I can just "Merry Christmas!" "Happy Hanukkah!" and "Happy New Year!" from here.

Our Christmas menu has been decided upon, all that is needed is one grocery shop. Easy peasey.

I am done! Ready! Prepared! Ten days before Christmas!

I am not being boastful.

The nuns did not teach me to be boastful. I am merely thanking the universe for not striking me down with any vicious flu's or ailments before I had everything in place.

The fate of Christmas depends upon me tending to all of the little details and one flu bug, one disaster can blow it.

Now I can rest easy knowing that even if I get hit by a bus tomorrow, my babies will still have Christmas.

Except that David doesn't know where I hid everything...

Maybe I should write down instructions. Where everything is, what Santa likes to eat, what to leave for the reindeer... Sort of like a Christmas Last Will and Testament!

What if I get sick before passing on this critical information? Christmas will be ruined!

I have to go...

I have a list to make!

The Nutcracker!

This weekend was all Nutcracker all the time.

The dance studio where Rebecca and Lily dance performs the Nutcracker and both kids danced in it this weekend.

Friday night found us at the dress rehearsal.

Saturday night was the first performance of the Nutcracker. I love attending the Saturday night performance because it's a little like being on a date with David. I get all dressed up and then we watch our girls dance.

I adore watching all of the girls dance. The youngest dancers are four years old.

Do you have any idea how cute a bunch of four year old girls dressed as fairies are? I almost died from the cute.

The oldest dancers are seventeen. It is extraordinary to see the complete transformation of dancers. The youngest are led on stage and through their dances. As the older girls appear on stage you can see them becoming more focused and steady in their steps. By thirteen and fourteen they can dance and smile at the same time. Their movements are more confident.

The sixteen and seventeen year old's bring down the house. Some rise high en pointe. They smile and dance with a grace which appears effortless, yet every audience member knows that to stand on one's toes, to leap from ten short digits is the product of work, pain and dedication.

When the older girls dance onstage in solos, they are cheered from backstage by their friends.

Those whoops and shrieks of joy for each other bring me to tears each and every time.

It is a thrill to witness it.

I know that Christine, the owner of the dance studio reads this blog.

The rest of you should know that the reason her studio is so special is because of the culture she cultivates.

There are no demands that dancers be thin or plan on becoming professionals. She wants the children to love to dance and to love the people with whom they dance. She knows every dancer at her studio by name and at the end of the year everyone gets a medal.

Mothers sometimes tell me about what goes on at other studios. Dancing is work, form must be perfect; it can be a grim business.

I am so so grateful that my girls are part of such a great place, and look forward to moving their bodies, each year with a little more grace and a bit more confidence than the year before.

Thank you Christine and Lauren (Nutcracker in the picture and dance instructor) for loving my girls so much and for making sure that each year they keep on dancing.

Housewife Nirvana

Firstly, let me say how much I love your comments!

Pom Pom, Lisa, Cheryl, Ginger, Michael, Amy, Ms. Twinkle Toes, Mari, Claudette, Julie and even crusty old TJIC- you are all such generous readers. Your comments thrill me. I don't write back as often as I should, but please know that you are why I keep writing.

Secondly, brace yourselves. I have now exercised for three days in a row. I am up to fifteen minutes. I also ate a salad for dinner. The next thing you know I 'll be telling you that math is fun.

Thirdly, I thought I would give you a little homeschooling update. It's going so very well. I have no idea why I waited so long.

Rebecca hasn't been this happy in years. She loves writing and I love being able to give her the time and freedom to write. Being able to spend six weeks on multi-digit multiplication instead of two has been very helpful as well. We do not move on to a new concept until she has mastered the old.

Lily, it turns out, loves math. She really is the strangest child I have ever met. She is always looking for patterns and relationships in numbers.

Another benefit of homeschooling is that we could spend a few hours in the middle of the day decorating gingerbread houses.

I have to confess something to you right up front.

I used a glue gun to put them together. I have a strong childhood memory of watching my mother attempt to put a gingerbread house together using frosting. I learned many swear words from her that day as her house kept collapsing.

That is why I used my glue gun. Duct tape would have been all wrong for this project.

After putting the houses (store bought) together, they looked like this.



Rebecca chose to do a big one.



Lily chose a teeny tiny village and was kind enough to let me decorate two of her houses.

There was candy involved in this project.


See those Necco wafers? Completely disgusting. Great for roof shingles though.

My approach to gingerbread house decorating is to keep it simple.





I have to brag about this snowman a little bit.



Isn't he cute?

Rebecca and Lily go for broke when decorating their houses.

I love how Rebecca used candy to create shutters and flowers.


It's so cheery!

Lily added a deck to hers.


The girls collaborated on this one. It includes an ewok bridge and an ewok holding a sling shot.


It was a perfect afternoon. The children were cheerful and polite. There were no wedgies, nor were there any burping contests. There wasn't any whining.

Housewife nirvana.

Christmas junk!

Since today was Friday the girls and I went to Urban Renewals to see what treasures we could unearth.

I have not been finding much really good stuff lately, but I did find a few things that I loved.

In the Christmas section I found two huge bags of ornaments. Usually I don't bother even looking through the Christmas stuff because I have plenty of decorations.

However, there was something in these bags that caught my eye.



Vintage ornaments!







Each bag was .99 and contained a whole bunch of handmade ornaments which I completely fell in love with.









I also found this granny blanket.


Usually these are made out of itchy acrylic, but this one is wonderful. I think that it's real cotton and wool. It needed a bit of mending and when I had it on my lap to mend it it was so warm and wonderful.



It was 4.99.

We may get snow on Sunday.

I see a day involving hot cocoa, a good book and this blanket in my future while David and the kids play in the snow.

December dreamin'...

Come on in!

One of the great things about going to my Dad's house for Thanksgiving is that their yard is full of trees and bushes which I can use for my window boxes. Each box has a combination of pine, yew and holly.





Remember those old ice skates I picked up while junking a few months ago?


One pair peeks out of the basket on my door with some pine and holly.

Even though it is almost winter, love still blooms.


Come and have a cup of hot cocoa on the porch!


One corner of our porch has the "sister" tree. It is about five feet tall and narrow. Rebecca and Lily decorate this one all by themselves. All of the ornaments are pink and very feminine.





Remember those sleds I got a while back? One is now in my living room!


Everyone keeps their sleds in the living room right?

Here's the living room. Notice Lily annoying Sophie.




Lily got in trouble for stealing Sophie's stick. She had to sit on the step. It's the big punishment around here.



Notice her playing with the little Christmas tree while she was supposed to be sitting and contemplating her misdeeds. She earned another three minutes on the step for that.

The chandelier above the dining room table got a sprucing too.


In the kitchen I have a small tree decorated with old cookie cutters.


We've had these red translucent ones forever.

Back in July I found this silver ice bucket. I knew it would lend a bit of tarnished glamor to my holiday decorating.




Are you in the Christmas mood yet?