Holiday Archives - Page 29 of 46 - Enjoying the Small Things

Our Thanksgiving

November 29, 2013 By Kelle

Because it’s very important, let me preface this post with the setting:

Scene: Living room.
Brenda Lee’s Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.
The evidence of yesterday’s dinner is still present in the form of four unwashed plates, three wineglasses with lip stains and the carcass of a cherry pie (I picked all the sugary top crust off today).
Twinkly lights everywhere.
The kids are not feeling well, and we just made it through one hour of all three crying at once. Also known as The Gauntlet. We survived and now two are passed out for the night.

Yesterday was lovely. I miss big family holidays–a mess of cousins, a noisy table and telling stories with my brother and sister until late into the night. But we make do pretty well.

Annual Thanksgiving Pajama Breakfast with our neighbors/friends/loves (eight years doing this? nine maybe? I lost count).

The pajama pants Brett was wearing above? I noticed they were Playboy bunnies halfway into breakfast. That one time I bought him a gag gift when we were dating. Nice.

And our little family dinner, joined by Poppa & Gary:

My first turkey. Turned out perfect. I gloated.
Insert word bubble into picture with inappropriate 50’s housewife saying.

And now. Our favorite time of year. We swim in coziness. And my sap-o-meter rises.

We put our tree up last week. It makes me happy. So many memories, events, trips and moments of gratitude preserved in special ornaments on it. I used to point out favorite ornaments to visiting friends and tell the stories that went with them. Now I stay quiet and smile listening to Lainey tell them instead. She knows them all.

And with holiday sap comes a slobbery kiss to y’all. Grateful for this space that continues to grow and change as our family does. It’s been a place to be creative, it’s been a place to grieve, it’s been a place to express thoughts on love and family, faith and frustrations and, as always, a home to the little delights that make life grand . It’s always been an outlet that brings me happiness, and I’m excited to bring some new experiences to this space next year. Thank you for being part of it. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. And Happy Hannukah to our Jewish friends!

I’m over at BabyZone with 9 Family Holiday Traditions to Start This Year and over at All Parenting with Thanksgiving Legacy: my mama’s cherry pie.

Family Circus Halloween

November 4, 2013 By Kelle

It’s November 4th. You know what that means? It means Game On. Suck the Marrow 2013 has commenced. And by marrow, I mean twinkly lights.

And those who admirably picket and rally for Thanksgiving, don’t you worry. It won’t get lost in the shuffle. We hang twinkly lights for Thanksgiving too. In fact I think I’ll cook our turkey this year by the heat of twinkle bulbs because then I would have legitimate reason to buy more.

I like these last months so much, and I like them even more now that this weekend has brought a cold front and we’re experiencing the most delightful Florida weather–open windows, fluttery curtains, cardigans at night.

Before we twinkle this place out, a few photos from our Halloween. ‘Twas fun.

Clown, ring master, lion, strong man and carnie who was thrilled to pull out his greasy Bulls 3-Peat shirt for the event.

Nella was obsessed with her tail all night, twisting around to see its shadow in street lamp glow and watching it drag on the sidewalk. We finally had to tie it up.

As for trick-or-treating, Lainey took Nella’s hand and walked her up to doors while Brett and I coaxed from the end of the driveways–“It’s okay, you can do it.” She followed her sister’s lead with a quiet little “tickerteet” and a good “thank you,” and we smiled and shared one of those “aren’t our kids the cutest things in the universe?!” moments.

And after bragging to my father-in-law the other night that our kids haven’t even bothered to ask for any of their candy, he chuckled and said, “Well, Lainey showed me a secret stash she’s keeping in her wagon.” Apparently, that whole hide-stuff-from-your-parents thing has begun.

Happy holiday things to come. This blog is a nice little cellar to store the overflow that happens from November on.

Happy Monday.

CHRISTMAS

December 27, 2012 By Kelle

Writing posts at the end of the year, after precious days of close family moments, feels a bit like filling a time capsule with the last special things you want to remember before closing the cap. As Brett and I fulfilled our Christmas morning parent duties, satisfyingly smiling at their squeals of delight, there were seconds where we caught each other’s eyes. We didn’t need to say anything; it was understood. Did you see that? Wasn’t that precious? How funny is she? Oh God, she’s getting so big.

My friend Colette expressed the perfect explanation to me earlier this year of why supporting Down syndrome cognition and memory research is so important to her for her son, Dex. “All my memories–the things that make me laugh, moments with family, holidays, vacations–it’s a scrapbook in my brain, something I always have to go back to later in life,” she explained. “If I’m ever sad or want to smile, I can remember all those times, like flipping through snapshots in a scrapbook. I want Dex to have a scrapbook too.”

Yeah, that.

That’s what these pictures are. And what these stored images in my brain are that keep making me smile every time I think of them.

Those long swishy nightgowns that were perfectly too big enough to make my girls look smaller.

And crayon-drawn letters with big spaces between them. High pitched “How do you spell Santa?” pleas because it’s probably the last year she’ll ask. And another year of reindeer food and watching the sky and staring at two sisters sound asleep together on the night before Christmas.

Installing the Reindeer Runway

Nella steals some of Santa’s milk

Our Christmas Scrapbook:

Brandyn fed Nella blueberries at the rate of one blueberry per milisecond. Any slower, she’d go nuts.

Late Christmas Eve, my dad and Gary installed this amazing fairy garden in our front landscaping. It is just as much a gift for me as it was for my girls. There’s even a hand-painted castle with flags for each of my babies.

And then morning. Being awakened by a soft little tap-tap-tap on my back. An excited whisper. Can we go see if Santa was here? Lainey knows the Christmas drill now. She waits patiently in bed with Daddy while I go turn on the tree lights and make a pot of coffee and turn on Nat King Cole and light candles and make just enough noise to wake Nella and Poppa, and the boys quickly follow.

North Pole money

Boots on dogs? Very funny. Lainey fell on the floor laughing. Latte gets weirded out and paddles her feet across the floor all frantic. Thank you, Poppa.

I love how teenage brotherly entertainment means random wrestling matches. They both laugh while they pretend to beat the crap out of each other, out of nowhere. Apparently, it’s very funny.

She spots the fairy garden.

I’ll share deets on fairy garden later. Gary’s a horticulturist and has a nice list of plants that work good in fairy gardens as well as some resources where you can find materials to build your own.

My favorite part of Christmas? When the morning spills over into complete calm. Everyone finds a different corner of the house, kids play with new toys, adults rest on couches, the mess on the living room floor dissolves into the setting and everything is quiet and happy and good. I collapsed on the couch late morning, not intending to sleep, but I fell into one of those half awake naps where my eyes were closed and my brain was off duty but I was very aware that I was smiling and listening to the girls’ chatter while they tested out new toys.