Catching Up: December 2010

Last night I took down our small, but sweet collection of Christmas decorations in our little attic home. After it all, I told Andrew it was one of the lower points of my day. Looking back and planning this post, I

 (re)realized just what a wonderful Christmas season we had. Yes, there were points of tears, exhaustion and injury (only one trip to the ER!), but overall I feel like we celebrated our Christ's coming to earth thoroughly and joyously. Before our Christmas travels we had enjoyed some special moments at home including reading wonderful holiday childrens books by the light of the Christmas tree, and celebrating advent Sundays with my folks around the fire in song. Both of my girlies love music and seeing their delight during the singing of Joy to the World, Hark the Herald Angel Sing, and Angels We Have Heard on High was a beauty to behold. Michaela knows many of the words and can keep a pretty decent tune for 3 1/2 and Sophie just watches and dances (spinning in circles with her arms up) with great glee. But to go along with all the "home" memories...I did put UP the decorations about a month ago. It took only one naptime to assemble, but the joy that came from simple lights and ornaments on window sills was extravagant. I love Christmas decorations.

   Strands of lights framing one doorway.

Sparkle!

This was a fun project...I have this stick wreath in our hallway and I placed a collection of glittery crocheted snowflakes amidst the branches...! And two kissing turtledoves if you look closely.

Other than this little decorating venture, there wasn't much to report for early December. We stayed healthy! And I greatly enjoyed a couple shopping adventures sans kids (THANKS Mom!!!) I spent nights and naptimes writing cards and wrapping gifts and by the 21st we were ready to go to the Cabin in Vermont: Our final destination for our Christmas celebration.

Although I didn't get out to see THE view until a couple days in...this is the view from atop the hill...the hill, through the sugarbush, that I have trekked hundreds of times. Funny how a landscape can be so familiar it's a second home. (I love you, Bean)

Back to reality...most of our time was, in fact, not spent hiking around taking in the views, but inside with these two kids (who happen to be ours!). Upon our arrival we felt we needed to encourage the creation of an alternate living/playing space so we crumpled and allowed our little loves to open one gift early...four days early.

It was all worth it!! This tent and tube brought hours of entertainment!

And Bayleigh also found it a good place of respite when the girls were otherwise occupied.

There were many joys wrapped into being at the Cabin this Christmas, but one of the best ones for me was the luxury of reading. I had collected quite a few of our "seasonal" books and thoroughly enjoyed going through them with Michaela...particularly during Sophie's morning nap.

Another joy(?)/realization was that the Cabin-in-winter-with-little-kids means lots of time entertaining INdoors. There is only so long these tykes can be exposed to the elements! So we cashed in on the riches of the Nativity for entertainment as well as inspiration.

Here is "Mary" on her "Donkey" on the way to "Bethlehem Town" (this was acted out at least 15 times)

Another form of entertainment was this "jungle gym"...With firewood removed, this wood box served us very well.

I know you may have a lingering question about the ER episode which I mentioned in our introduction, well, here is the patient...Maybe you are surprised, maybe not. I'm not totally certain if I've explained the dramatic physical exuberance with which our Sophie-girl lives life. She is a runner, a climber, and (as Andrew dubbed it during this trip) quite accident PRONE. She did trip and crash into the corner of a speaker box and we did go and wait at the ER for 2 hours, but we didn't ever get seen and so were able to exhaust our own medical repertoire by applying butterfly bandages and prayer to our wee daughter's forehead. Three weeks later, the wound looks dandy! But it was a trial...one we are glad to have under our belts and over with.  

The bandage job.

And back to our indoor activities...here are the girls enamored with Baryshnikov's Nutcracker. Well, M is enamored...S is simply interested in getting M's attention. "I'll do whatever it takes, sister, even if I have to hook your lip!"

 Two folks that I haven't introduced yet...who GREATLY added to our daily delight...are my brother, Pete and sister-in-law, Keri. They were with us for these pre-Christmas days and we so enjoyed them. They are expecting their own bundle of joy in June and (in my humble opinion) will be fabulous parents. My girls love their "Unca Pete" and "Aunt Kehwee".

Here's Pete on round 18 of ring around the rosy. Heroic.

And Keri warming Michaela up to the idea of tobogganing.

The day after we arrived we decided to trek into the woods to cut our own "Christmas Tree." I only put quotes around that title because of previous experience. Our Cabin is NOT on a Christmas tree farm...in fact the only evergreens on the property are quite established and quite huge so our "trees" of Christmases past have been more in the category of saplings or large undergrowth. Definitely full of character, not full of dense branches, if you catch my drift.

The tree crew!

Installation of the tree. With numb hands and an avid observer in corner left.

There were a few other decorations that added to the Christmas spirit. Like this santa-hamster wrapped in a garb of lights atop Rodger (our resident moose).

This next round of pictures I will just entitle, "Sledding." My Mom and Dad arrived the eve of Christmas Eve and came ready for some snowy fun. Michaela, after some hesitancy/being overwhelmed with all the clothing she had to wear, rose to the occasion and (finally) really seemed to enjoy the winter wonderland. I'm SURE her Nani's enthusiam was an inspiration.
Too Sweet. Two peas in a pod.

Sophie (opposite of M in many areas of life) LOVED the thrills and spills and even discovered a word that would communicate her desires. For our 1 year old:  "more sledding" = "Up...Up...Up!" Grandpa happily acquiesced to her requests!

Sophie's prehensile toe...a.k.a adult mittens make great boot improvisation for toddlers

Smile!


Do these grandparents love their grandaughters or what?!? From front to back: Sophie (age 13mo), Grandpa (age 61), Michaela (age 3 1/2), Nani (age 62)!!! Yes, they made it all the way down the hill! 

Before we thought of mittens as boots, we tried plastic grocery bags...quite a fashion statement.

We discovered the mild slope behind the farmhouse to be a perfect ride for little ones!

Beaming gratefulness for this place!

Onto the morning of Christmas Eve! Andrew took it upon himself to follow in the traditions of his forefathers, or really his foremothers, and make abelskivers for all of us. After a somewhat disasterous first batch (the pan wasn't hot enough) the rest turned out beautifully! YUM.

With tummies full, we had a lovely skype chat with Hannah and Matija...our Croatian family contigent.

And continued thinking about, missing, and even toasting our loved ones into the the evening with vino from Croatia! We had a lovely dinner together, read some poetry, sang a carol or two and put the girls to bed.

When we awoke, it was CHRISTMAS MORNING! Joy, Joy, Joy. There are obviously different things that are special with each age, but one thing (of many) that was great about this year was the fact that M is still too little to have significant expectations about the day. This meant that EVERYTHING was special and that we could set the pace. So after the initial squealing...we did stockings, then had a leisurely breakfast of eggnog french toast and bacon, then we slowly but surely made our way through gifts. It was wonderful.

 Here are a few shots from the morning.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

One other gift that we enjoyed, along with the rest of the Northeast, was the gift of snow. It came in a windy fury. And left us with about 10inches. Well, that's what they said. It was such a cold, dry snow that it blew and left some drifts of 20inches and some valleys blown bare down to the dirt. Amazing.

The storm also left us with some artistic whimsies for our Cabin window panes.

 

Isn't this an impressive Viking ship? Completely created by snow, ice, and wind.

And this crouching gargoyle in another corner? Do you see him?

And finally, come Monday with the winds still howling, we had the GREAT joy of welcoming Mimi and Papa to the Cabin. They braved the fierce storm to celebrate Christmas again with us and we were so very blessed. Within 18 minutes of their arrival we decided to jump right into the gift pile :-)

 There were ribbons galore that Sophie loved... 

And plenty of other things too!

Wonderfully, since my mother-in-law had 4 boys of her own...she loves to gift her granDAUGHTERS with all things glitzy, glamorous, and GIRLIE!
M with her bling...(clip-on earrings, a bangle bracelet for each wrist, a sequenced clutch)

Sophie with hers...

There were, of course, also a healthy dose of books.

After a delightful evening "cozied up by the fire" (as Michaela likes to say)...we awoke to this clear sky welcoming the day. 

Here comes the sun!

It was a winter wonderland on Tuesday and we got to enjoy a relaxing day with Mimi and Papa. We even ventured into town and out for lunch and over to the Woodstock Inn to rub shoulders with all the swanky skiiers up for the holiday week...but really just to look at the local ginerbread house display:-) Lots of fun.

Our day finished out with some cleaning and packing, more fireside chat and a little more Nutcracker. And in the morning we embarked on the loooong journey home. Phew.

Sunset on the Jersey Turnpike

But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,A...

To All and To All a Good Night!

If you've made it to this point in the post...well done, friend.
No more marathon posts!
Looking forward to sharing January news.

Joy to the World, The LORD is Come!