The Big Problem: not sharing it with Dad. Choke. Like good practitioners of denial, we mostly managed to push the elephant in the room aside and enjoy the time together. I really want to be able to talk about Dad more now and then, but it's so much easier to pretend the problem isn't there and just write about the adorable, distracting children. Someday soon I will summon the ability to tell a few things about him and this experience. It was hard not to think of him over and over while being in his home...it's still so full of him.
Now a natural segue to the anatomy of a very generous Christmas...anyone who knows my mom knows she is a skilled and passionate shopper (in fact, I really think that she might be uniquely gifted in being some sort of personal shopper, but I digress)...and in the wake of losing my Dad and the fact that we were coming to her place for the holiday, I think she threw caution to the wind and spoiled my children rotten as a form of retail therapy! Between what we got the kids, her gifts, and also-highly-generous Mommo's, Daddo's, Granlily's, Aunt Debbie's, Aunt Karen's, and so on....hopefully they'll believe us next year when we have to tell them that Santa lost his suit in the stock market and the elves really had to cut back production. Hmm. The kids really had a blast opening up more packages than they knew to hope for. Lots of fun to watch both of them, but especially Owen enjoy the goodies.
One story I have to put down for the record...all the deciding about how to handle the concept of Santa at Christmas, etc. and what did hubby do but forget to pack the Santa gifts (the legos especially!) and bring them to NC! Ack!!! We both felt pretty ill on Christmas Eve when we realized what had happened. Santa left Owen a note that he'd accidentally delivered a couple of presents to his other house, and they'd be waiting when he got back. We thought it had all sort of gone right over his head, but a few days after Christmas Owen said, "Santa didn't bring me those legos anyway." Oh NO!! All the gifts, and that was the one thing he'd asked for! Well, he was still very excited to get them, and a pair of roller skates that had also been left when we got home :}
Well, I guess I already put up a bunch of Christmas morning pix come to think of it, so maybe this is all old news. The summary is that we had a GREAT time going home, and sharing it with Mom and Deb. It would be nice to think that Dad was able to catch a peek, but maybe that just isn't really as important as we tend to think it would be...whatever it is, we trust it's better than what's going on down here, and I'm thankful for that fact. When the story of the woman who had to deliver her baby in an NYC lobby during a blizzard and ended up losing the baby because the paramedics couldn't get thru the snow hit the news...well, that's just one desperately sad story among millions. I'm so glad that such a story isn't just OK, that it's not how things were supposed to be, and that this world isn't all there is.
We came back to a whole bunch of snow, and two of our oh-so-wonderful neighbors had plowed our drive and shoveled our path to the front door...now THAT's a Christmas gift. This was no small amount of snow. Owen and Reuel have already been sledding a couple of times ("Mommy, I LOVE to go FAST! I go all by MYSELF!"), he geared up in his ski getup and slid down the front yard slope a few times, and has shoveled alongside Daddy to his heart's content.
Some more photos that haven't gotten posted yet...
My attempt at fancy Christmas cookies for a cookie exchange:
Look at those brows...so Reuel!
The boy is SO ACTIVE. Just signed him up for afternoon gymnastics class starting soon...
Original painting from Granlily! For Owen's room!
More from the costume-box present:
Is that someone in distress I hear?
Owen has told me on numerous occasions that he can fly. He was not kidding. He really thought he could. He told me he could fly down the stairs, he just needed to flap his arms very hard, and I could not convince him otherwise. I put him on top of a dresser and told him to try flying and then stepped back and let nature take its course (it wasn't THAT high of a dresser). He flapped with all his might, jumped fearlessly with an I-told-you-so look in the eye, and then there was a pretty good thud. I figured it was better to let him convince himself than to find out he'd commenced experimentation on the stairs.
Nothing more captivating than Daddy blowing snow!
Made a giant gingerbread cookie today that didn't get finished at Nunu's house
Owen usually eats some dessert and then knows when he's done...leaves the rest on the plate.
Asher NEVER puts down a dessert when he's full. NEVER. I tried to take away the rest of his too-big cookie when he was absolutely chock-full, and he threw quite the tantrum and insisted on stuffing in every last morsel. Uh-oh!!!
The pictures just reminded me...the boys ever since we've gotten home...SO MUCH FUN together. They've discovered wrestling. This will not be easy...I'm sure I will need to watch them like a hawk, but boy do they get each other giggling hysterically. Asher usually instigates and Owen answers the call. Asher will push Owen over from behind and laugh, and Owen will look startled for a moment, but once he realizes it was purposeful with a motive of fun, he jumps right in the game. Very cute...for now :)
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1 comment:
Asher is a man after my heart when it comes to dessert.
Glad y'all had such a lovely Christmas, though I know you missed your dad. By the way, your fancy cookies are amazing!
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