Advent 2

Evenings in our little apartment, with its one large space for kitchen, dining area and living room, are frequently cozy and pleasant (well, if no one is melting down, fighting, torturing the cat, etc). 

We got a bench, so you will frequently find both kids sitting like this and playing at something while dinner is being made (ok, most often, while Jon is making dinner). 

In other news, Miles recently made some breakthroughs in reading. With his teacher's encouragement, he's started reading some very short-word, simple books. They're extremely basic, but he's extremely proud! And yesterday, this happened: 

One of my small triumphs this year has been to actually follow through on nightly advent readings. Each year we make a wreath at church, each year I hopefully place it on or near the table, and each year... well, it literally and figuratively falls apart.

The construction on our 2013 wreath is improved. And something about this apartment has made it easier to actually round everyone up and sit them down before dinner and have a moment to remember that we are in waiting.

Each night we open another door on our secular Father Christmas advent calendar, light the candle(s), read from the lectionary for the day, the kids do their little sticker-based advent activity and then we sing:

First verse last week, second this week.

For all the struggle it is for them to sit still through the reading, they look forward to it each night. At the cry of "Advent time!" they often come running, shouting "Advent!!" It's made the dinnertime roundup easier, actually. 

I look forward to it too. I  need the daily reminders from the lectionary that the word of God will not go back to him empty, but will accomplish its purpose. We are hoping for so much more than a rest from work and an end to the shopping, after all. 

Oh. Also, we put up our little baby tree this weekend. I love my family for being so content with what we have. So far, anyway.

"Helping us unpack" (Popping bubble wrap and spreading general disarray, but who's counting?)

She was so please to discover she had ornaments of her own to put up! Thanks, Grandma & Grandpa Grunert!

"It never was such a bad little tree! All it needed was a little love."

Our Netflix fireplace. 

Our nativity characters have good company in our books. Also, I recommend wooden sets for homes with tinies!

Advent is for adults, they say, and Christmas for children. I'm not sure how true that is, but I'm grateful for the pace of Advent, and for the hope of it.
Lately I've been loving the words to the carol, "People, look east!" by Eleanor Farjeon. Here's a short portion, though all five verses are lovely:

People, look east. The time is near
Of the crowning of the year.
Make your house fair as you are able,
Trim the hearth and set the table.
People, look east and sing today:
Love, the guest, is on the way.

Furrows, be glad. Though earth is bare,
One more seed is planted there:
Give up your strength the seed to nourish,
That in course the flower may flourish.
People, look east and sing today:
Love, the rose, is on the way.

Don't let the light go out

In Blacksburg, the first weekend in December can only mean one thing: Winter Lights Festival & parade! I look forward to it earnestly each year. We haven't missed a year yet, even when Adele was less than 3 weeks old. She was much easier to handle then, too, sleeping in her wrap... those were the days. :-)

So. There's hardly time to eat on the evening of the festival. Santa & entourage arrive at the Lyric Theater at 4, kids choir & other carolers start at 4:30, the holiday gift market opens at 4, tree lighting at 5:30, Tuba Christmas at 6, parade at 7:30... It's a lot of merriment for one night.

Despite that Miles has been saying resolutely all week that he did not want to "go even near Santa," I still drove them into the Line at 4:30. Well, in my defense, Adele hadn't said for certain whether or not she wanted to see Santa. And I was willing to hope for a small miracle that would give me a better picture than I had any reason to expect.

Miles reaction to Santa was not terribly different from his reaction two years ago . Still, he managed to inform Santa that he wanted markers in all colors, and to say a reasonably civil goodbye.

Adele wouldn't get near him.

But I did get a miracle of a kind, because though the kids didn't care for Himself, Santa's wife managed to befriend them in short order! She looked right in their eyes and took their hands, talked to them gently and was just basically a toddler whisperer.

Resistance is futile, Miles!

See?

Best friends in 2 minutes. 

She told me she's 88 years old and "they still let me do this!" May she still be charming children years from now. Bless her.

Out from the press and noise and into the ... 66 degrees. It was a bizarre December day.

The kids didn't mind the warm, though,and once the rain stopped, I found I didn't either.

We were all attentive to a very impressive childrens' choir. Blacksburg Master Chorale, junior version.

Soon it was time to climb the hill for the tree lighting!

I always enjoy both the wait and the lighting. This year, both seemed more meaningful. Some areas of life seems particularly dark this year, and the act of lighting lights and disturbing the uncomprehending darkness is one I support to my core.

The wait was longer than I remember it being in the past.

It's okay to wait, we told the kids. It's like Advent.

After a lot of happy anticipation at the top of the hill, a procession that included Santa, Mrs. Claus, and the Mayor of Blacksburg made its way up to give a little speech and begin the countdown.

3...2...1...

Let there be light!

This was the first year we stayed for the parade. It's a testimony to how much better the kids are sleeping than last year that we were willing to let them stay up for an event that BEGINS at 7:30.

Frosty Parrot was frolicking around pre-parade, to the kids' delight. 

Our camera continues its dysfunctional battery-eating behavior. All pictures taken with the ipod.
I hope the blurriness conveys the dizzying delightful spectacle of it, rather than the small cameraness of it.

Snow-producing truck. For reals. (Pic borrowed from town of Blacksburg)

When he could stop gaping, he was snatching up candy. 

Adele's transports were beautiful to watch. Even the deafening fire engines just made her laugh gleefully. 

You guys, my pictures can't even. It was so lovely. Lots of churches, schools and other local orgs had such creative floats.

Blacksburg Transit Holiday Bus

The tree-service float

This church's  float had a porch with a REAL fire, rocking chair, and all the bluegrass instruments. 

Chinese school had several dragons. 

My pics of this nativity float were lousy. But behind the angel were donkeys, sheep, etc. 

Santa was elevated to a greater height than the angel. Hmmm

DOZENS of horses. Adele was thrilled. 

Every year, our church like many other churches has a quiet Christmas service for those that find the Christmas season especially hard. There are some years that Christmas festivities are an indulgence. Some years, depending on what you've been through, they can take extraordinary courage. We don't know what it costs some people to show up to Christmas this year. For many, it's just too much, and may they be blessed if they need to lick their wounds. Life can be totally brutal.
Do you remember last December? All those schoolchildren gone? That happens to someone in this world every year. I'm volunteering to light candles, fairy lights and show up as much as possible this year on behalf of those for whom it is agony to hear one carol. I rest in the knowledge that even if some year I am not able to observe the holiday with the requisite anticipation and joy, someone else in the world will carry on lighting and singing and hoping for me.

This is a Hanukkah song, but I want to share it in fellowship with all candle-lighters, the world over.

For the love which from our birth/ Over and around us lies

So Thursday, and Friday. What a blissful peace we enjoyed on Thursday. The snow had been busy again overnight. We watched the parade (did we ever love the Kinky Boots song!!) and Miles got to watch tap dancers (a current fascination of his). While both sleepy kids took a nap, I made my culinary contributions (mashed potatoes, sweet potato fries, and apple pie) while watching the Mystery Science Theater 3000 Thanksgiving Marathon. BUH-LISS. 

While the food simmered, we enjoyed a pre-dinner snow romp.

Grandpa Jim gave Adele her 2013 snowsuit. 

And out the sliding door we went into the white.

Adele tries to process this. 

Dad's two Portuguese Water Dogs, Decker and Dorry, are also huge fans of snow romps.

Don't they look so hilariously fierce? They're really lambs, most of the time.

 It was really lousy packing snow, though there was so much of it. Miles did his best.

 Miles prepares....

And strikes! Fortunately he missed her face. We had a Talk.

Into the warm, then, for food.

Braggy picture of delicious sweet potato fries I made. 

Braggy picture of the delicious apple pie I made. 

The children quickly became restless, waiting at the table...

The dinner, by the way, was very much worth waiting for.

What a peaceful day it was!

Now, on Tuesday, as I described, I took the kids to Mendon Ponds. What I didn't mention was that my camera (or maybe the batteries??) died just before the most photographable stuff started happening. On the birdsong trail, in winter, if you bring sunflower seeds and stand very still, the chickadees will land on your hands to eat them! And on Tuesday, probably 10 birds sat on Miles' hands, to his eternal delight. And me with a dead camera. Ah well, I thought, I'll bring the camera when we return on Friday.

Friday dawned sunny and cold. To Mendon Ponds we drove. Leah and her kids met us there.

Needless to say, it was gorgeous. But yeah, fairly cold at 9:30 am. The kids were NOT so happy about the long cold walk. They did not see that their loud whining and crying was both unhelpful and counterproductive to the project of getting birds to land on us.

We went to Wild Wings, to the Nature Center Classroom, and then, when Leah had to take her bairns home, we tried again.

He waited and waited, bless him. 

We got really good at recognizing Chickadee song.

By this time, the sun had warmed things a few degrees. It was quite pleasant, actually.

And he waits. 

Adele fell asleep. The snowsuit in the sun will do that. 

The sweet chickadees were all over Miles on Tuesday, but they only wanted to sit on Jon on Friday.

He tried valiantly. 

We were at peace when we finally left. Miles decided it was okay, because Papa hadn't had any birds on Tuesday, so this made things fair.

Friday afternoon my good, old friends the Floros visted with their adorable offspring. I was stupid and took no photos. I did enjoy the visit enormously. They're practically family.

Speaking of family,

My uncle Doug and Aunt Lynda hosted a gathering at their house. Present were: Grandpa and Grandma (my mom's parents), Doug, Lynda, Leah, Matthew, Abby, Tai-Tai, Rebekah, Aaron, Dad, and my family of 4. What a long feasting table it was!

We have been gathering at Uncle Doug's house for holidays since I was a baby. He retains, and showed us while we were there, reems of home videos of my brother and me, and Leah and Joel, running in a cousin-pack together at holidays. We did that for years. So you can imagine how much this scene did my heart good:

Miles and Abby were much in each other's company all evening, though I grabbed no photos. She just grabs his hand whenever they're reunited, suggests something to pretend, and they're off, as if they had never parted. It rejoices me so, so much to watch them.

That was some game of ring-around-the-rosy!

Aaron entranced the kids with his remote controlled helicopter. 

There was such hearty good talk, laughter, viewing of home movies from the 80s. I can't thank Doug & Lynda enough for hosting. What a gift.

We really did play them to exhaustion. Smoothly we scooped them up and drove to Dad's for one more night; smoothly we drove them back to Blacksburg the next day. Jon is a road warrior, by the way.

So that was Thanksgiving in NY. Needless to say, I am so, so grateful.