What a wonderful Christmas. I kind of can't believe it. It is the day after Christmas and ....I'm not depressed! It happens almost every year that I just relish in all of the lead-up to Christmas, I absorb as much holiday energy and spirit as I can and then by the time Christmas morning comes along, the kids get to their very last present and at the moment they're all opened, a feeling of exhaustion and depression sets in. But somehow this year I avoided that dreadful moment. I don't know how I did it. Maybe I am just relishing in the general spirit of new beginnings and allowing the light of the season into my life. In fact, I worked so hard on my gigantic To-Do list all fall long that when I took one last look at it four days before Christmas and saw that everything I was going to get done was done I just chucked the list in the recycle bin and felt better than I had for a month. And I have just been able to enjoy these precious days.
One of the best things this year has been our perfectly white Christmas. I know, I know, people all over the place manage to have a Merry Christmas without a flake of snow, but I get so grumpy when our season is snowless. And even when we get a lovely snowy day or two during the month I sometimes have difficulty in relishing it because I know that it probably won't last. And indeed, despite a few snow storms during our month the green grass was completely bare until Christmas Eve. I had heard in the forecast to expect some snow, but I didn't really believe it. Sometimes our little University neighborhood seems to be the black hole of weather and we get nothing while all around us people are getting snow. Bad attitude, I know. But magically it came. We were out to lunch with our dear friends the Radants - we had decided to spend the day together because let's face it, you need some plans on Christmas Eve to pass the time or your kids will just completely flip out. At least mine will. So we were out to lunch with plans to find a sledding location up a canyon after we were done. It was raining slightly when we arrived around 11:30 which gave me hope for finding a good snowy hill if we drove for a bit. But as we sat and ate our chicken sandwiches we suddenly saw the rain turn to fluffy white flakes which quickly developed into somewhat of a blizzard. By the time our food was gone, enough snow had fallen already that we realized we could just head to my parents' house and enjoy their very down-hill back yard. We finished up our lunch and headed out to the very snowy and busy streets. Before we went sledding we had the chance to do some Christmas caroling at a care center in the neighborhood, thanks to the footwork of Krista.
Singing at the care center was a really nice chance to spread a little cheer and hopefully help my kids recognize the needs of others. It was a little nerve-wracking for them to sing to strangers of various physical appearances and ages. I was very proud of them for not recoiling bashfully, for singing out and even walking around in the lunch room where we were singing and meeting some of the residents. It brought a nice remembrance. We should find some other opportunities to do some service there besides just at Christmas.
After some singing and visiting, we headed to my parents' home. We forgot to bring our camera and felt bad about it for a minute and almost went back for it but actually I'm kind of glad we didn't. We ended up not worrying about capturing moments but just enjoying them. The snow wasn't super deep but it was enough for the kids to spend an hour or two hurling themselves down the hill. Little Bundle wouldn't go near a sled and spent much of her time just scootching down the hill on her bum, at which time we discovered that she has outgrown her snowsuit, as evidenced by the bright red rings of skin showing between the tops of her boots and the bottoms of her snowpants. We tried to keep her legs covered up as best we could but I think we only just avoided frostbite.
After sledding we headed home and I had enough time to slick up the house and do some cooking before both the Preslar and the Romney grandparents as well as Margaret and two of her girls came over for a Christmas Eve appetizer buffet and a movie. We also put together some hygiene kits to donate to the YWCA. Oh yeah, and the kids and I made cookies. Sheesh I was tired. Despite my sleepiness I thought we had a very pleasant Christmas Eve, including the opening of a single gift and a hurried read through of Luke 2, which I don't think the kids noticed we were reading to them. Oh well. Then it was off to bed so Santa could do his thing (with as much energy as a limp noodle).
Since this post looks a little sad without any pictures at all, I shall post one of our last white Christmas, five years ago, when we had our magical sledding afternoon and Bitty was the one wearing the snowsuit that is now outgrown by Bundle.
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