Visiting Santa

When we were unpacking the holiday decorations last week, we happened upon an old photo of my brother and I visiting Santa at Park Royal Mall. I'm 5 and he's 7. He's in his cords and zip-up jacket, I'm in my red polka-dot Christmas dress. The kids grinned at this picture, as we've had many chats over what the job of mall-Santa must be like.

So then they decided to do their own visit to Santa.

These are pictures to treasure right? Look at Hannah's (uh I mean Santa's) big belly.

Our kids know Santa is not real but that he is a gloriously fun idea, and they have lots of fun stuffing each other's stockings on Christmas Eve and waving at the pretend Santas they see in the street. They know he's part of our European heritage, just like the tree, the elves and all our Saturnalian Traditions.  They have just as much fun as all those kids who think he is real. And many times they choose to pretend he is real, and we do our best to go along with it when that happens (though we stumble on a few details).

xoxo

C

Holiday Crack

Do you know what has been sitting on my counter for a week?


THIS!



I have been off sugar and chocolate and caffeine for over a month. Every day was a struggle, I wanted my fix so bad (hence why I decided to go off the toxic stuff!). But after awhile, I didn't crave it, but I missed the habit of it, wanting to sneak off in the afternoon with my book. But my book without sugar was not the mid-day escape I sought. Sigh. New rituals had to be learned. DRink lots of water and wait, the craving will pass . . .

And then my darlings made this, their usual holiday ritual. And every time I walk through the kitchen (so about 45 times a day) I can smell the rosebuds. The gummies. The sundrops. These are my favorite kinds of organic, dye-free crack, and they're sitting right there in my kitchen!

Have you noticed how much Christmas seems to equal chocolate? When I first ditched chocolate and sugar back in October, I resisted the bags of Hallowe'en candy and then things were alright again, nothing major in the stores. But when the end of November came, suddenly chocolate erupted in the grocery store. It was all right there, in your FACE as you stand at the teller or come to the end of an aisle. Turtles! After Eights! Hershey's Kisses! Celebrate the season by eating junk. What the hell?!!

I know, I know, this is nothing new,  and I've ranted about this each year. Why are all our seasonal, ancient holidays reduced to sugar? That stuff WILL kill you (just watch this). As I bought stuff for the kids stockings, I hemmed and hawed at the usual chocolates. It was my favorite part of Christmas, the taste of delicious Turtles. And yet, do I want that to be my kid's tradition, what they most look forward to?

(I didn't buy the chocolates this year. They'll live, I promise.)

I do parent in many ways that are against our cultural grain (just wait until my next post!), and I know some think our kids are deprived of the fun things in life. But seriously? I'm trying to help them grow strong bodies and healthy habits. All the adults who think the kids need sugary treats are the same ones who struggle themselves to stop eating the junk. I'm just trying to skip a step, start healthy and stay that way.

So anyway, back to the crack.

After much begging, (daily begging) we gave in and said they could eat some of the candy on their gingerbread house. That included me. I dug in with a knife (I'm serious about my sugar) and gobbled up a bunch of rosebuds. After many weeks without any of it.

It took about 5 minutes to get a headache, 10 minutes to get a sore throat and start sneezing. Ugh. I am done with that jazz my friend.

But the kids? They loved it.


xoxo

C

Goodbye old friend.

I am sad to share that we bid farewell to a lovely family pet this week. Toby has been with us since before Leif was born, a gift from me to my mother when I was pregnant with Leif. My mom and Al's first dog, also a Toby, had passed away the year before, and I had debated offering to fill that hole in their hearts with a new furry friend. My mom was on the road with me during part of my former job, visiting clients up island. I called ahead to the Campbell River SPCA, asking if they had any medium-sized dogs. They said they had one, named Toby. That had to mean something, right? We went in and saw a sweet, frightened little guy, so hopeful to get out of there, but not even willing to bark to get our attention. He had been turned in to the SPCA because he kept chasing the ducks in his owner's pond.

He's a retreiver people. Think about it.

And he was a wonderful friend to everyone. He chased bubbles, and deftly stole the butter off the counter, without touching the plate. If you sat with one leg crossed over your knee, he'd stand with his stomach on top of your dangling foot so you could 'rub' it by moving your foot back and forth. He loved barking at birds. And squirrels, and rabbits. When Leif came along Toby was thrilled to have someone his size to pal around with.

He was a happy soul in all his days with Mom and Al, riding in Mom's car with his head out the window, watching the ducks and squirrels from the safe restraint of his leash, tromping through the forest with Al at the cabin. He had found his perfect match in those two, and brought them as much joy as he could.

He will be missed by all of us. He was a good dog.

xoxo

C

Snapshot.

Here is a slice of our day today.

Leif and Hannah are racing around the house, while Ivy is hiding behind a barricade made of sofa cushions, all of them wearing their pj's, skateboarding helmets and ski goggles, shooting each other with their new Nerf guns. Bing Crosby and Sufjan Stevens are singing quiet christmas tunes on the stereo. I have a bad case of laryngitis, after trying to teach the kids to ski on the weekend, yelling encouragements across a vast mountainside. Suddenly text messaging is something I can see the merits of. For now.

I just read a favorite Waldo Emerson quote that is on my fridge:

finish each day and be done with it.
you have done what you could.
some blunders and absurdities have crept in;
forget them as soon as you can.
tomorrow is a new day.
you shall begin it serenely and
with too high a spirit to be encumbered
with your old nonsense.

Those are my words to live by baby.

xoxo

C

These little ones

Watching my kids grow up is just the coolest thing. When I look at them, now so big, I still see, in a blink of the eye, what they were like as little babes. And while I miss those times, when you could pick them up in a bundle of blanket and sleepers, when they could fall asleep on your lap or slung over your shoulder, it is incredibly awesome to hang out with them as people. So here's what these people are up to these days.

Leif has started playing ice hockey in a local league. It's just one night a week, so he gets a taste of the sport he loves, and we only have to commit to one extra night of sports. (He already plays soccer 3 times a week). He is really enjoying it, and wants to join the minor hockey league next year, but that is still on the table for much discussion. No promises yet.

Ivy is loving Twister. She practices her Left's and Right's as the spinner, then gives her all on the floor trying to reach as far as the rest of us can. All four of us  LOVE watching her grow up.

 

There is a whole lot of treasure map drawing and pirate costume wearing going on around here. With the purple pirate ship in the backyard, and Leif's multi-part treasure hunts, they fulfill all Ivy's dreams of sailing the high seas with a hook for a hand. (See her hook-like finger?)

Yes, I still managed to find the perfect holiday pj's this year (but they cost a million bucks). Red with skulls is the best combo ever!

We wish you a Merry Solstice and Happy Christmas, and send big hugs to all of you who are too far away to grab in person.

xoxo
C

This tree.

Growing up, our Christmas tree had white lights. We went to the Nutcracker Ballet at Christmas, and had a fancy Christmas dinner at The Hotel Vancouver. I am a sucker for tradition, for rituals that harken to a familiar rhythm that we cycle through each year. When our kids were old enough to care about Christmas, I started laying out plans for creating new traditions. The farm where we'd buy our tree each year, the one type of tree I adore that we'd get each year, the advent calendar I'd fill each year with a decorative craft for the kids to make together, the christmas pj's we'd all wear each year, the tasty baking we'd do each year, the old-skool lights I'd hang in our tall tree outside each year, the handmade stockings I'd make for each child that they would cherish (along with all these traditions) each year.

You know how that looks 10 years later? Hint: it's synonymous with the fresh wrinkles on my face and panic I feel every September.

Created traditions are a drain on fun. There, I've said it. Why? Because somebody made them happen for the others, and after many years of continuing to need to make this happen, somebody starts to loathe the whole process and has no one to blame but herself. The kids found the ballet boring when I took them years ago (frankly, so did I. My childhood memories are far better than the reality) The stress and panic of finding holiday pj's that are just right and not gender-based and fit everyone and don't cost a million bucks can really drive a mama crazy. Agreeing on a Christmas dinner menu that accomodates everyone's various diets, feels traditional, can be done a bit potluck-style . . . dammit! This is supposed to be fun.

But the most glorious thing occurs when you give in to life. It takes on it's own natural shape and rhythm, and you don't have to orchestrate anything, it happens.

* I was too overwhelmed to remember to get our advent calendar out of storage in time for Dec 1st. So we didn't have forced, pre-planned activities every day, we just did what we felt like doing. And I could stop fretting about filling all those little boxes with something creative and new. Cheers to that!

* When I went to put up our outdoor lights, I couldn't find the ladder (a lot of tools dissappear into the work truck and never resurface). So I struggled like an idiot, trying to hang the lights with a hockey stick while balancing on a patio chair. Then the kids asked if they could decorate some short bushes, and we ended up with 5 lovely little trees, each one a burst of light in the darkness, extending our many strings of lights all across the property. They exclaimed at the end "Can we do this every year? I LOVE having my own tree to put lights on!". What do you know, a tradition was born all by itself.

* The farm where we always bought our tree had run out of my favorite tree (a noble fir) as it has been plagued by some pest that stunts it's growth and now all the nobles are pre-cut imports and cost $100. So we walked up the street to our local garden centre and bought a sweet, little local Douglas Fir for $15. On the way we ran in to a bunch of neighbourhood families, all making this same local pilgrimage to buy the best little trees you can get. We stuck it on a little table, and it was as tall as the ceiling. And the whole process was exactly what I've always wanted. It was easy.

* When we got our decorations out for the tree, all the strings of white lights didn't work. So we used these cute bubble-gum-ball multicoloured lights, and it reminded me of the tree we'd decorate at my Dad's house after my parents got divorced, how it was covered in rainbow lights and bubble lights, and how initially, it looked so foreign and odd to me, 'cause I felt trees had to have white lights, had to look like my mom's tree, which was the best tree. But how I grew to love that rainbow tree, how I learned that bubble lights are actually an old thing from his childhood, not some new-fangled modern invention, how maybe he was creating what his tree looked like as a kid. I loved that. Our tree now has the bright red silk balls my mother had on her childhood tree, and the multicoloured lights of my father's tree. And the decorations from my childhood, Kit's childhood and ones our children have made over the years.

And of course we topped the tree with a Storm Trooper angel that I fashioned out of fabric and a vintage toy we got last year. We've never had a set thing we topped the tree with, so each year it's a new idea struck at the last minute, when the tree is almost finished.

The kids declared our tree topper as the best and want to use it ever year from now on. It's tradition.

xoxo
C