Days of Christmas

Christmas, as we know, is 12 days long, and we try to keep the days between Christmas day and Epiphany as festive as possible. One of the perks of the academic calendar is that we've never had to work during these days!

On St. Stephen's Day, Dec. 26, we made our semi-annual trip to Canada to visit my nonagenarian grandparents. Unfortunately, we had to make it a short trip, because it became very clear shortly after we arrived that Adele was going to be the next victim of the Virus (that started with Dad and eventually got through everyone but Jon). She was was so feverish and cranky that we got no pictures and, after a gift exchange, lunch, and conversation, and after taking no pictures at all, we beat a hasty retreat before Adele infected anyone else.

We did get a chance to stop by Niagara Falls on the way back, and, briefly, got out of the car to gaze at the Canadian Falls:

At home, we hunkered down with Adele's sickness. Miles was still standing

So we enjoyed some outdoor time in Grandpa Jim's big backyard, gathering twigs and acorns and what turned out to be the bio-degenerate remains of a doggy chew toy. Good times!

Sunday afternoon found us at the Memorial Art Gallery for the exhibit on Little Golden Books art.

The gallery was lovely; I hadn't been in years.

I was fascinated by different cultures with art featuring breastfeeding.

From the American Art section, this was entitled, "Non-Fiction." 

Around the museum were scattered these devices called Infinity Boxes. They were really quite small; here, Adele gazes into one:

But they were filled with mirrors and lights and other objects that appeared to multiply in a circle of reflected images:

Jon's panorama

MilesFinity

Leah, Abby & TaiTai met us there.

So did my uncle!

My pics aren't as good as Jon's, but I liked this box best.

This lovely bench was covered with poetry.

After we made the rounds, we lingered by the fountain. I was beginning to feel myself getting sick, so the running water and plant life felt restorative. The kids were energized by them too.

I gave Miles a dime for the fountain and told him it got him 10 wishes. He was quiet and close-eyed for a long time, thinking of all his 10 wishes before casting his coin.

These 4 were so glad to be together again.

That night was pretty rough. Adele's ear infection made itself known in the form of half a night of wakefulness and screaming. Only Mickey cartoons could mollify my little sufferer. The urgent care center confirmed my suspicion in the morning. Fortunately, the good old Pink Medicine works as well on this generation as it did on mine. She is back to her usual mischief, today!

I got a bit sick too, but by Monday night, after a good nap, I was well enough to take Miles to one of his first feature length movie theater experiences. We saw the reboot of Annie and we are huge fan kids of Quevenzhane Wallis, now!

He was dancing in the aisles. The soundtrack is now his motivation music.

On the morning of the 30th, I got one of my Christmas wishes:

I wanted to go out in it immediately, of course, but it really wouldn't have gone too well with everyone's various illnesses. So we spent the day at the Rochester Museum and Science Center! Another one to which I hadn't been in years. It did not disappoint!

Digging for dino bones.

There was a whole beaver lodge and beaver theater with puppets and costumes. Obviously, we lingered there.

Miles passed a good amount of time on the little construction site they had. Here he is, in his gear and ready to go:

This pic is not mine, but I wanted to show the climbing maze in the Adventure Zone exhibit to give context to my story:

Adele was just not herself, still, very clingy and whiny as ear infected 3 year olds tend to be. But she lit up at the chance to try the climbing maze. Up she went, but in several places, it all became too much for her and she would find herself stuck and crying in corner up there. We sent her brother up after her, though, and with an instinctive compassion I don't always see in him, he encouraged her ("It's okay, Adele, this way, I am here" etc), prodded her, and even gave her a boost in several places (she stepped on his knees and shoulders to ascend). When they got through, Adele was so flushed with her success that she only stayed to high five us all before diving back into the maze. Miles patiently helped her get through it a total of 3 times before we made them move on. It was beautiful to watch! Grandpa Jim and Mercedes thought so too. 

My favorite part, and I suspect, the kids' too, was the huge room of animatronic dinosaurs. We couldn't get enough of them!

There were even costumes!

The view from the dinosaur room. You see East Avenue, with downtown in the background. I love this city.

Despite all the sickness, we were thoroughly pampered by my dad, Agnes, and Mercedes. As a result, we're all healthy and rested and have a bouquet of good memories from our 10 days in NY. I miss it already!

On Christmas Night All Christians Sing

This was our year for a Rochester Christmas.
Dad got his box of old family ornaments from the basement, full of ancient treasures.

Very much wish my brother could be here in person!

After our overnight drive, we spent the 23rd recovering. Christmas Eve, we felt good enough to go over to Leah and Matthew's house. We'd heard a rumor they had some gingerbread houses that needed decorating.

Tai-Tai, 3, was the most willing to let Leah help. 

Uncle Matthew kept us laughing.

Miles' design was unique.

Adele let me contribute to her cathedral. 

After the focused activity, we gave in to our usual tradition of letting the kids run completely wild.

First, the dress-up pageant. There was swordplay and a lively chase!

There's always some kind of mishap during this independent cousin romps. A few years ago, it was the dress-up picnic party which ended with Miles running downstairs naked and grinning, and Abby in a princess gown. This year, everyone but Adele was playing nicely downstairs at one point and we decided to look into Adele's activities.
Then came some hurried cleaning. She found the tempera paint and was doing some artwork, using Abby's bed as her art table. She was painting on paper, though the paper she'd been using as easel was leakier than she'd reckoned, and her palms and the soles of her feet were red. And so were many other patches upstairs.
I think we got everything cleaned up sufficiently that it was worth it, the time spent ignoring the children and catching up with family.

Soon it was time to put on our Christmas Eve best.

They walked to church hand in hand. South Wedge Mission Christmas was gorgeous! The kids all got bells and wooden rainbow angels on sticks, and were instructed to wave the angels and ring the bells whenever they heard anything that sounded like good news.
It was a livelier than usual service at SWM!

We tucked in after leaving our customary letter to Santa. This year, the kids wanted to call him Father Christmas, and were more than usually affectionate to him in their letter. This is almost certainly due to the nightly readings from Letters From Father Christmas, by J. R. R. Tolkien. Father Nicholas Christmas cuts a delightful character in those letters; I recommend the book heartily, whether you have children at home or not.

Christmas Day was wholesome and simple and tender. Though we all felt the beginnings (and Dad the peak) of the illnesses that were soon to afflict us (flu/head colds have only spared Jon so far), we enjoyed our day very much. We opened our wonderful gifts quite early, went to a sweet, simple service at Dad's church, and had a delicious dinner more gifts at Agnes' home. All the ingredients that I love best in a Christmas day: stockings and gifts, church, good food and a dinner in company. 

We're now trying to do the things we'd looked forward to doing in Rochester without killing ourselves, since we're all down with various illnesses in various degrees. I think I've had at least 3 distinct bugs just since we arrived on Wednesday. Still, it's so good to be here, and to be at rest and at play. Pray that we recover soon, though? There's so much we'd wanted to do.

And it's less than 2 weeks before I leave for Guatemala! Welcome, 2015!

Guadete!

The 3rd Advent candle is the Joy! or Guadete candle. This did fairly well sum up our last lap of Advent. It was full of varied joys.

Kindergarten is much more serious than it was when I went. Look at them learning syllables and fractions!

We were invited by friends to celebrate the 4th night of Hanukkah with them! We heard the Hebrew prayer, lit candles, played dreidel and enjoyed piles of potato latkes. Such joy!

We then left Miles at their home for the night, because one of his best friends of all lives there, and she had invited him for his first slumber party!

They didn't do a lot of slumbering, but they had a whole lot of fun.

The fun included a face-painting session, so this is how Miles looked at dance when we met him the next morning!

Adele was finally allowed to wear her tutu for her lesson.

That evening, we held our dress rehearsal for A Charlie Brown Christmas!

People have been astounding me with their creativity and generosity at making props and costumes. 

Rehearsal went swimmingly. I was so proud! We only had to repeat one part the kids weren't quite nailing, and then no sooner did we get our costumes off than some church members arrived with a delicious home cooked meal for the kids! I was maintained in a surreal level of joy and victory that weekend of the 4th Sunday of Advent.

After rehearsal, we swung out to have a look at the Living Nativity down the road:

A real sheep! Adele was thrilled

The kids remember: Angels always say "Fear not!"

Even this one.

Here are some pictures of A Charlie Brown Christmas, as performed completely perfectly and movingly by the Christ Church children and teens. We did a shortened version of the script, but we got a lot of the laugh lines and sweet moments in, including Linus' recitation, the decoration of the Christmas tree, and lots of dancing to Vince Guaraldi! Jon was the soundtrack man.

You can probably identify Lucy, Sally, Violet, Linus and Charlie Brown.

The Nativity Ensemble were the kids Charlie was supposed to be directing. They spent most of the "rehearsal" just dancing, but did a lovely mime of the Nativity story when Linus began to recite.

Observe Snoopy and his doghouse!

And our poor little tree, that only needed a little love. 

Singing, "Hark the Herald Angels Sing":

Dancing their Peanuts dances

We got laughter, tears, and lots and lots of smiles from the audience. It was, as I so hoped it would be, a gift to the congregation we love so much. I cannot begin to enumerate all that this experience preached to me. I had reinforced to me that when we go out on a limb and do something new that we feel called to do, the strength and resources to follow through will be provided, and the blessings will be endless. We had some folks who aren't ordinarily too involved in church connected closely with this project, and I had the chance to see some of the extraordinary gifts of the people in the community. I learned, too, that I really don't have to do superhuman things all on my own; the product was the result of everyone's voluntary generosity and support. They were good lessons, pleasant to receive, and I will make use of them again very soon, as I go out on a limb in the direction of Guatemala in just over 2 weeks!

(I could still use prayers for the trip, though...)

Sweets of Advent

Advent has been settling in like a new cat in the house. We are getting comfortable with each other. There is a wreath now, and, as of yesterday, a tree. The cards are going out tomorrow. Christmas preparations are starting to seem manageable. And there is a gentle glow around everything just now, dark as it is outside, which is very soothing.

This morning, we got to crunch our way through a brisk, lovely frost! Which almost kept me from being bothered by having to clear off the car. Almost. 

Last week we got a babysitter and went to a Real Adult Party! Hosted by one of my local twitter friends. We had a great time playing cards, drinking wine, and just letting our hair down a bit. Thank you, Kim!

Saturday brought us another opportunity to spy on the kids in dance class (parent weekend).

They dance with props. Oddly, this is the one Miles was least distracted by. 

She was just worn out from breaking in the new babysitter the night before.

Some dance videos: :-)

I love Advent hymns. I used to resent that, going to a liturgical church, I didn't get to sing Christmas carols in church until Christmas eve. But you know, I'm coming to deeply appreciate this restraint. To spend an entire month in feasting and give Advent short shrift, to me, is to fail to acknowledge the painful aching waiting that all of creation is doing, for justice, for hope, for freedom and wholeness. It is a good discipline to wait in hope with creation.

FINALLY we have the tree up. I forget how cheerful a sight a lit tree really is. It's a prophetic sign. Soon.

P.S. If we hit you up for a donation for this kindergartner's Walk-a-Thon on Halloween, Thank You! Because he tied another child for largest donations from that event! Proceeds went to the PTO, the Interfaith Food Pantry & the Blacksburg Children's Museum.

Because he was a winner, he got to invite one guest to sit with him on the stage for lunch today. 

Reader... he chose ME!

I am honored to be this child's celebrity guest.