December

Today we finally put away the Christmas tree. And removed the few forlorn looking stockings that were still hanging from the mantle (and fished the others out from under beds, we even emptied them of chocolate wrappers). The pyramid of wrapping paper rolls is gone from my bedroom. The popcorn and cranberry garlands are hanging in my backyard trees for any birds that may actually be willing to brave the freezing temperatures, and the gingerbread village is off of the schoolroom table and now rearranged out under the trees for the squirrels to enjoy. I am not really sure how good gingerbread houses really are for squirrels, with their concrete hard frosting and stale gumdrops, M&M's and peppermints, but it sure is entertaining to watch the squirrels towering over them, ripping off entire walls and greedily consuming every nasty morsel. And the squirrel fights that ensue over the rights to the gingerbread are impressive.


The Gingerbread Village waiting to be demolished

Yes, I let the Christmas decorations linger a little long this year, not so much because I wanted to enjoy them a little longer, (in fact I was really growing a little tired of the extra table crammed into my dining room and the futon blocking the bookshelves even if I did like sitting by the lit Christmas tree in the evenings), but because I just lacked the energy to actually take them down. In fact the real downside to an artificial tree has nothing to do with it's lack of authentic piney smell, but is all about the need to take it apart, cram it in an undersized box, and store it for a year rather than tossing it out the door.

We started our Christmas break this year at Thanksgiving. Made and mailed our caramel apples immediately after Thanksgiving day and then spent the next two weeks trying, unsuccessfully, to get all our Christmas shopping done before Kris and I left for Hawaii. We spent a Sunday afternoon putting up the tree and then making increasingly mal-formed gingerbread men. By the end of the evening Kris and the kids had made gingerbread men with multiple heads, extra limbs and several variations of aliens.

On the eighth, Kris and I headed to the airport at 4 in the morning, having said goodbye the night before, we just left everyone, including my mom, in bed and snuck out. Temperatures at home were in the single digits, but we didn't want to haul winter coats to Hawaii so we left them in the car at the airport parking lot and hurried to the terminal. About eight hours later we stepped out of another airplane into 84 degree weather. We didn't care to spend a lot of time around the resort area at Waikiki, but instead drove our little rental car around to the other side of Oahu each day. Interesting note here: the rental cars all had defrosters on their rear windows. So, we spent three days mostly hanging out on beaches that were primarily empty except for the sand crabs while my kids huddled in the house in Colorado and watched it snow.


Here is the view from my favorite beach.

Back home we rushed to finish Christmas shopping. We put up our new to us trampoline (after Kris and the kids drove up to Black Forest and took it apart--in the wind--at it's previous home)just before Christmas. Bayley worked constantly, and in her spare time at home managed to sew new jammie pants for the whole family, which we opened on Christmas Eve and all wore that night. Erin and I (mostly Erin)baked goodies on a daily basis. And we built the afore-mentioned gingerbread village (one house per kid, plus a castle by Erin). Rhys designed his gingerbread house to look like it was on fire. Ronan's and Kegan's each had Mario-Kart themes. On Fionn's birthday (the 22nd) we went to the Denver zoo and stayed late to see the zoo lights. Spent Christmas day cooking, playing lego and playstation, drawing, eating and visiting with one set of grandparents. Went to Greeley on the 27th and played with little cousins and Grandma and Grandpa. Were treated to a trip to the bookstore, doughnuts for breakfast and the joys of television! On the thirtieth we celebrated Noah's birthday with still more lego and still more food. Older kids had a dance on New Year's Eve, so we waited to play our traditional New Year's Game on New Year's Day, which meant more presents and lots more wrapping paper mess. So, when the January 2nd arrived, i just didn't feel very inspired to undecorate, but felt more like lying on the couch reading a good book, which is why the Christmas Tree lingered so long in my living room.