The Gift Goes Up

My dad likes to take risks.  Whether it's straining way over a guard rail and dipping his upper body into the top of a volcano to get a great picture of the innards of said volcano that was bubbling, or teaching his second daughter how to sky dive, he loves risk and a good challenge.

This year for Christmas, we gave Dad something we knew he'd like, we just weren't sure where he'd put it.  Mom & Dad's house is beautifully put together.  The piece of art we gave Dad doesn't really go with the rest of the house, but we had no doubt he'd find a place for it.

The logical place for the gift made sense, but it was in a difficult place:  a section of wall above the staircase just off the dining room.  Dad spent a chunk of his day today hanging his Christmas present.  From the looks of the pictures Mom sent, it looks like Dad's not lightened up on the risk taking much, even at his age:

Congrats, Dad, on a great job hanging a great picture in a great place!

Christmas Day 2012

We got an early morning Christmas present in the form of an absolutely gorgeous sunrise.  This was the view out Mom and Dad's kitchen window this morning:

One real sign the kids have grown up:  we didn't start opening presents until after 8am!

After a lovely Christmas dinner, the adults sat at the dining room table for awhile, catching up on each other's lives.  We watched the birds out the window for quite some time, and Erin captured some beautiful shots:

We also enjoyed seeing some wild turkeys, several bald eagles, and a golden eagle.

It was a peaceful, merry Christmas indeed.

Christmas Eve 2012

We got up while it was still dark and headed over the Mississippi and through the snow-white fields, making it to Mom & Dad's house by noon.  I jumped right in and started helping Mom with the final food preparations, which included divinity, a candy that tastes almost like a homemade marshmallow:

Christmas Eve Dinner Menu:

Prime Rib

Ham

Potato Casserole

Green Bean Casserole

Classic Iowa Sweet Corn

Grandma's Homemade Rolls

Grandma's Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

Cabbage Salad

Cranberries

Lots of sweet homemade goodies after presents

Intergenerational bonding always happens before, during, and after presents.  It's a Christmas Eve highlight for me to watch it in action:

Visiting Santa

I mentioned recently how I'm up against the "this is the last time..." when it comes to our Christmas traditions.  As we were planning out the Christmas season, I made it clear to the kids that I know they're getting older, but I have a collection of photos of the kids with the Marshall Field's/Macy's Santa every year, and I want one last pic of the three of them with Santa.  Thy balked.  I said, "Please."  They bellowed.  I said, "This is very important to me."  They caved!
We already did the Walnut Room and Christkindlmarket on Friday, but due to a time crunch on Friday evening, we put off Santa until this morning.  We scored street parking directly across from Macy's - truly a Christmas miracle,  Chicago style.  My favorite pics of the day:

The Walnut Room, 2012

As I've mentioned before, Kelsey's a senior this year, and Baird and I find ourselves saying to each other this is the last time... when it comes to some of our family traditions.  We know it's not like we'll never see her again, but we understand that things will be different next year.  She may or may not be home for the holidays in 2013.  We're working to try and balance long-standing family rituals and traditions with growing children who are leading increasingly busy lives.
It was in this context that we headed to the Walnut Room after the girls finished finals this afternoon.  The ornaments on the Walnut Room tree are average this year, but the decorations at the base of the tree are more stunning than any I remember:

And while my girls are certainly growing up, they were both willing to close their eyes and make a wish when the Christmas fairy came around and sprinkled her magic fairy dust:

It's Christmastime in the City

An Early Christmas Celebration

Tonight we celebrated an early Christmas with Missy's family.  We did our annual trip to Brookfield Zoo.  We wound up with an extra parking pass and several entrance passes, and so we decided to perform some acts of kindness.  We randomly selected 5 groups to bless with our extras, and they were thrilled.  It was a fabulous start to a wonderful evening!

 After the zoo, we returned to our house for pizza and gifts.

No, I didn't make these lovely treats, but they were the perfect accompaniment while we watched the movie Elf.

After tonight, I'm so ready for Christmas!

The Tree is Up!

Our Christmas tree is a nod to the time that has passed since Baird and I were married more than two decades ago.  Here are my favorite ornaments that feature our kids:

Kelsey was first introduced to the Japanese anime character Totoro when she started taking Japanese a few years ago.  The character is huge in Japan, but much more obscure here in the U.S.  She asked for a stuffed Totoro for Christmas 2010, and we were so excited to put this smile on her face.

Back in the day, we had a volunteer at church who would make these cute little frames for all the Sparkies in our Awana group.  I have a collection of nine of these ornaments - three kids from all three years of Sparks, but this one is my favorite.  While all of the kids loved being in Sparks, Erin outshone her siblings in her enthusiasm, and volunteered as a Leader-in-Training for several years, starting when she was in sixth grade.

This silver ornament is one of three I was given as a gift years ago.  The photo of my preschool Drew reminds me of how much he loves this season.  Talk to Drew for just a couple of moments, and you'll come to learn he's equal parts enthusiasm and mischief.  The little grin on his face in this pic shows that mischievous side.  He loves the Christmas season almost as much as I do.  The year this photo was taken, he was chosen to sing a solo in our church's children's choir.  He sang the second verse of Away in a Manger.  My mother's heart swelled with pride and laughter when he sang:

The cattle are glowing

the baby awakes

But little Lord Jesus

no crying, He makes

 Yep, "glowing" cattle.

So, with the tree finally decorated, the rest of the decorations up, and all the boxes put away, Christmas tunes cranked on the stereo, and all this reminiscing, it finally feels like Christmas!

The Start of the Season

This year, Thanksgiving came early and there's an extra weekend before Christmas, and so the season seems to be stretched out a little bit.  Usually I can hardly wait to pull out the Christmas CDs and start decorating, but this year I seem to be in a little more of a lazy mood.  I think my inner procrastinator is hard at work, encouraging me to put off the preparations.  Lest you think I'm a total Scrooge, we did break out the Christmas CDs and decorate the basement over the weekend.  Then today, we received the first Christmas card of the season, from my childhood friend, Fonda:

RB&B&B Circus

Sometimes, it's all about connections.

Erin not only babysits for humans, she looks after several people's pets while they are traveling.  One of Erin's regular cat-sitting gigs has a friend who writes the music for the circus.  "The Cat Lady" offered Erin circus tickets in exchange for Brookfield Zoo tickets, and Erin took her up on the offer.  We were told to go to the will-call window at the United Center, and the tickets would be waiting.
As often happens with will-call, the tickets weren't quite there when we arrived.  Erin called the Cat Lady, who called her friend, who said, "Gimme a minute."  Cat Lady let Erin know her phone would be ringing shortly with a strange phone number, and that Erin should be sure to pick up the call and  verify the necessary details.  Sure enough, Erin's phone rings a few minutes later, and it's the number of the circus's corporate headquarters in Florida, verifying the number of tickets needed.  A moment or two later, the phone rings at will-call, tickets start spewing out of the computer, and the agent hands us our complimentary tickets, which just happen to be front and center - some of the best seats in the house.  It was all a little magical, and certainly added an extra element of fun to the enchanted evening for all of us, especially Erin and one of her besties.

Thanksgiving Day 2012

H A P P Y   T H A N K S G I V I N G !