Tomorrow

Here is a sneak peek of my favorite Christmas project so far this season.

It involves branches, moss, the wood cut from the base of our Christmas tree, paint, and Goodwill.

I am not showing the whole thing today because:
1. it is not quite done – need some more fishing line.
2. I am starting a December Project tomorrow, one which requires me to write here everyday, a little documenting and wondering and listing. And today, I thought – what if I don’t have 31 posts in me? Sequentially? And then, I knew immediately – I do. But, I am saving this one for tomorrow anyway, a welcome to December.

Merry Christmasing!

Happy Halloween!

We celebrated small-town, trick-or-treating through the downtown of our spooky village. The shop owners along main street dressed up in costume, opened their boutiques, banks, restaurants, and pet shops to the throngs of begging urchins, and dropped candy into their bags.

The kids, wide-eyed and grinning, still couldn’t believe that this holiday is real. What luck, what loot.

We enjoyed recognizing friends throughout the hordes of parents, and everyone enjoyed the electricity of the younger set, so thrilled at the complete indulgence of this once-a-year dream of a night.

Jake thanked the givers in a booming roar, and did not budge his feet along the sidewalk until they responded. He stayed another second to shout “Happy Halloween!”, which often garnered him more treats, and always rewarded us with delighted grins from any by-standing adults. Sabine shot me secret smiles whenever anyone gave her peanut-butter cups, my favorite, and I do think her favorite part of the evening may have been at home later, bathed and fed and candy sorted, when she delivered me a little treat stash of my own. “I don’t know why, but I just love sharing with you, Mom.” Mmm, me too.

Happy Halloween to me.

Jake’s food intake today, by 5 PM:
1/2 glass of skim milk
1/4 of an apple

He frequently fasts, then feasts, his body riding the rhythm of growth pretty dramatically. However, though he is currently in a “fasting” week, I practically had to force him to eat what little he did today, and finally realized… we had a Halloween trunk-or-treat party the other night. After a couple of quick questions, he boldly and unapologetically announced that yes, he had eaten all of his candy, and the wrappers were right under Sabine’s chair, by her desk. Sabine, under interrogation (she clearly knows better) admitted that she had a little, too. She said Jake shared with her, and he helpfully pointed out that he did share – that one M&M that fell on the floor. Nice.

Amended diet plan for our growing 4-yr-old:
1/2 glass of skim milk
1/4 of an apple
1 Kit Kat
3 Twizzlers
bag of Halloween pretzels
2 Hershey’s bars
1 Twix
Taffy – 1 grape and 1 banana
2 Milky Ways
1 Dum Dum sucker
SweetTarts
2 packages of mini M&M’s – (minus the one that fell on the floor.)

Orange

I am off tomorrow, heading out for the weekend. Back Monday!

Late New Year

We spent a bit of Friday night at Uwajimaya, selecting galangal and lemon grass for our late Chinese New Year festivities last night. The unfamiliar smells, colors, and textures captured us. She asked why the fruit has spikes.

Threading shrimp on skewers for a house full of friends, especially for my Chinese-food hating brother-in-law. Just wanting him to try one of my favorite things, and I think he liked a couple of dishes… We learned a few cooking tips for our next feast, and though I tried the galangal soup, I do not have a recipe to share yet. I look forward to experimenting with it over the next few months, awaiting the arrival of the lime leaves, in shortage here because of the California freezing.

Happy Year of the Pig!

Why Not?

A Real Day, a Regular Day, yet a Valentine Day.

Have a Happy Happy Valentine’s Day.

I heart Necco

Why do my hearts read a blurry “U R A 10” and “DEAR ONE”, Sabine’s “I LOVE YOU” and “CALL ME”, while Jake’s all say something like: “If a house is broken, a construction worker will come fix it.” ??? Jealous.

Next Friday, sign-ups will start here for a kids postcard exchange. Each child signed up will send out 3 cards representative of their corner of the world – just a heads-up in case you see any at the market this week before I post all of the details and instructions.
Must get through V-day first! Happy Weekend.

New

Happy 2007.

I hope your New Year’s Eve ended as mine did, with 9:30pm crepes with nutella and an 11pm countdown. Sure we COULD have stayed up till 12. But none of us were committed to the principle of that particular matter. So when you look at the photos of our revelry –

– you probably would see what I am starting to remember – the love of good friends, the sounds of children’s laughter. My entire life, I have felt guilt over a particular trip to McDonald’s when I was about 4. I remember jumping up and down with my older brother and loudly clamoring for happy meals. When I look back at my Mom (single mother in college) digging through her coin purse to pay for the extravagant happy meals on that day, I felt guilty for my selfishness. How could I be so greedy when she was clearly trying so hard to make ends meet? A couple of years ago, when I finally spoke to her about this incident, she giggled and told me that we were just fine back then – she was probably trying to get rid of small change. Our perspectives were so different, neither probably telling the whole story. In the same light of skewed memory, I look back at my childhood New Year’s Eve photos more skeptically after last night. Was it all just a party with paper hats and shouts of “Happy New Year!” and those blow-y things, or were my parents as happy as we were last night to get the kids to bed at 6pm? Yes, 6. And no, there is no way they could have been as happy as we were last night at 6:30, ready to settle in for a movie and snacks and some quiet.

The beauty of the photos without the blog – I can believe that the only tantrum I threw was the 1 caught on film; our poor kids will know the truth about their childhoods. There is puke and yelling and selfishsness.
More than that, though, there are secret hideouts and good friends and made-up games with tickets and tackles. There are apple-peelers, orange juicers, and bunny stickers. Thanks for one of my favorite trips, Wises. We have settled into a new level of “whatever works” and comfortable familiarity.

It has been quite a week. I have much to later recount. Today, here are our few new 2007 starts:

The beginnings of a bunny dollhouse.

The beginnings of a clean house.
The beginnings of a healthy son.
The beginnings of a working clothess dryer.

Not lofty, perhaps, but for today, good enough.
Hello new year. I hope that you enjoy fond memories of 2006, and make some grand new ones in 2007.

“There are 1000 bunnies here.”

Some highlights of our last few days:
*a suitcase full of bunnies
*snow, glorious snow
*hanging out with family
*out of control gingerbread houses
*Jake exclaiming, “Oh – I hope it’s for me!” as he opens a gift
*Jake yelling, “Oh – you got a box!!!” as he helped someone else open up a gift
*realizing again how very little is required to bring joy to one another
*one brother driving hours out of his way to spend a few minutes of Christmas with us
*listening to their uncle tell the Christmas story and talk about the true meaning of Christmas as they nestled in their beds on Christmas Eve, and hearing Sabine finish by responding, “Oh, I know. Yes, I know all about that.”
*4:28 am creeping out the door — “We’re just going to check if he came.”
*Jake sleeping with his rocket ship later, muttering with his eyes closed, “Santa gave this rocket ship to me. It has fire and is very fast.”
*bunnies hanging, bunnies piled, bunnies waiting
*a bunny dive
*bunny hugs, bunny stories, bunny tea parties
*overhearing a bunny conversation about what fun it was to ride in Santa’s sleigh last night
*uncles, cousins, everyone counting bunnies, but every time someone asked Sabine if she counted them, she replied: “No. There are 1000 bunnies here.”

It has been such a treat watching this project through to completion. Jer and I hung, stacked, scattered, set up, and hid 1000 bunnies on Christmas Eve, and just marveled at the help and thoughtfulness and love that went into that huge pile. Bunnies from people we haven’t talked to in years, from ones we talk to every week, and from ones we have never met. I wanted to share a bit of our Christmas miracle with you today – thanks, friends. Thanks so much.
I hope everyone is enjoying your holiday time. I look forward to some time with friends and family, and will be back in a few days. Merry Christmas!

Merry pink Christmas

Thanks, Julia, for a fun, cozy gift! Julia sent some things representing her New York life, including a Serendipidity mug, a bag from Columbia where she works, and a good book, slippers, and candy for my kids. They have never beheld such grand lollipops. Love it! Thank you so much!!!!
Check out Kristi’s Pink Christmas extravaganza.
Thankss, Kristi, for organizing this project!