Always Christmas is surreal. A flurry of activity. A Christmas tree bought from TROSA, climbing into the attic which only has only a few walking boards. If you miss the board you fall through the ceiling onto the floor of the lower living room (I have not done that yet so I cannot report on how it would feel, but it is quite scary to be in the back of a dark low attic where boxes from times past are carefully stowed {some dating back to my parents years}). But each Christmas box comes out, then goes temporarily back until the end of the season and the boxes are carefully loaded up, just to be found again next year.
My children have always given me grief because I feel that every ornament, even the physically challenged ones, should go on the tree. I used to insist on all the lights until we blew fuses regularly. Now that the children live elsewhere and arrive at the last minute, I can put all the ornaments on the tree that I want. They are, of course, long gone when I take the tree down, so I do have a lengthy day with all the ornaments that have their own special place.
They all try to arrive for brother Jim’s Christmas concert at The Cave. And they are never disappointed when they make it. This year Kate and Chris drove in at the beginning of the 2nd set. You could just see the happiness on Jim’s face, and on theirs. How does that make the mother feel? Fabulous.
Then there are the Christmas cookies, my grandmother’s recipe. This year Michelle, Lexton and Lyriella were here. Lexton (I cannot understand this) declined to participate but helped Lyriella keep her fingers out of the dough and icing. But even then, with all five sibs together for the event, the cookies were spectacular. Credit goes to everyone, (Michelle's sense of humor was an added bonus) but an absent Ariel certainly had her touches as Isaiah made it through the entire process and actually created cookies that were amazingly inventive! Both brothers commented on how fabulous the cookies were this year. When I was reduced to making loaves because last batch of dough wouldn’t roll, they just took in stride and made creative stuff (?) out of it.
Princess Leia made from either an angel cookie cutter or a bat!
Isaiah finally had enough and decided to change flour clothes for clean ones, but LAHR and Lexton came to surf the sugar.The flurry always speeds up on Christmas Day because the family has their other families, and so a schizophrenic pace kicks in. Presents, always thoughtful and creative, are opened, long distance family called, John racing after paper before the gift is even fully unwrapped with a garbage bag, kitties facing off, and now adorable Lyriella trying to decide if she will nap, or if it would mean that she would miss too much. Though she chose the latter, her parents would have none of it and she wound up sleeping for 2 hours! Then as they arrive back from respective other families off we go to Jim and Anne’s daughter and son-in-law’s and their children for another fabulous evening.
Hmmm Lyriella seems to feature heavily in these pictures. Wonder why?
Hats were traded around, but this was the original...a scream!
It didn't take LAHR much time to learn where the camera was and to fake snuggling with her mother while mugging to the camera!
Kate's boyfriend arrives as Isaiah leaves and the others begin to pack up. Nice timing though.We finish Christmas season with the whimper that most do probably. Each family member slips away, back to their apartments, some near some far, some on an airplane, some by car. The house is in chaos and the poor Christmas tree is dropping needles as if to shed a tear. Boxes are repacked and hauled to the treacherous attic, the Christmas tree lugged to the street where it will be removed as waste.
Thus, begins the dark time. It is cold. Bones hurt, it is still dark, the birds want fresh food as the old is clumped up from freezing and getting damp; thus, curling in a ball seems the most productive way to spend time. Looking forward, not back does not seem possible. But there you have it. A candle is held out—Haiti?, China? Nepal? A bright sunny day? (ha) Recorder practice? Work? Freezing mountain trips?
New books? Oh well, ok. Let’s get on with it.
I do miss Tanzania where everything was the same. And sometimes the remembering is enough.
So let us press on to the new year. 2010. Congratulations to the survivors.
