White Christmas

Benjamin with Grandad's hat. On the left is the tent they rigged up for Benjamin to sleep in until he's big enough for the Mayflower bed.  Maybe next time.  

 I wish we had gotten some pictures of our white Christmas in Texas, but by the time I got the camera out, Benjamin had realized how COLD the snow is and we were done.  Getting snow down your sleeve induces a very particular kind of whining that I had not yet heard from him and probably won't again any time soon.  Not that I blame him--I whine when I get snow down my sleeve too.

So the somewhat unexpected snow kept us from our Christmas dinner with JB's extended family in Dallas, but it didn't keep us from having a nice time with the more immediate family in SS.  It was a relaxing 4 days--we didn't have too much planned, but that is sometimes the best.  We ate well, got to hear and play good music, JB got to see some old friends, and we all spent time with Midge.  Benjamin got to find eggs in the chicken house every day and play drums with granddad.

We woke up Christmas morning to a power outage, so we huddled around the gas heaters and lit candles, and were generally thankful for having a gas stove for making coffee.  When we got around to opening gifts, Benjamin opened one gift and was ready to play with that for the rest of the day.  I felt like I was going against everything I valued by encouraging Benjamin to open more, more more!  How wonderful to live with absolutely no expectations for Christmas day at all.  The tree, the egg nog, the presents--all a bonus on what was already going to be a pretty good day because you are a toddler at your grandparents house.  I think the only way to maintain this sense of wonder at Christmas over the years will be to help him have fun giving gifts.  It was great fun this year helping him understand the idea of giving a gift--he helped wrap presents and would repeat over and over again what we were sending to baby Jack in NY.    I wonder what Christmas is like next year with a three year old?

 

I made a Christmas pudding this year.  Thanks to Aunt Mary for letting me borrow her pudding mold.  Here's the pudding up in flames.  

We got to have second Christmas when we finally made it back home through the snow and ice to our own (poor dried-out) Christmas tree.  Grammy and Grandpa in NY gave Ben and Jack both these great chairs for Christmas this year.

 Aunt Mary made the sock monkey perched there by the B, and Auntie Karen made the memory game in the bottom picture from her own wood.  So creative, huh?  Right now B likes to just find the matching pictures and give them all out as cookies (or whoopie pies) to whoever he sees.

We sure missed going to NY this year.  By not going, however, we got to have an appointment with Christy the day after Christmas, and we found out that we are going to have a daughter!  We couldn't be happier.  She is becoming more real to us every day as she kicks away inside of me and Benjamin learns to talk about having a sister.

Benjamin really likes to help with the baking and cooking.  Spreading butter on the cutting board is his specialty.  Good thing we have him around.

National Pie for Breakfast Day

And now--with the newsletter at the printer, one final given, a few papers graded, and one sleepy boy upstairs saying over and over "good night, don't let bed bugs bite"--I think I have a minute to finish a post I started right after Thanksgiving.



As good a day as Thanksgiving is--and I do LOVE Thanksgiving--this year, I found myself really looking forward to the day after:  National Pie for Breakfast Day.  And then on Friday I had pie for breakfast and regretted it all day.  We were trying to leave for Sulphur Springs all morning, but I felt so awful that it took us a while to get on the road. 

Another way of telling this story would be that after what seemed like two-weeks in the clear, morning sickness reared its ugly head once again.  I still don't know which one it was--pie or morning sickness-- but I don't think I've said yet on this blog that we are expecting another baby, so there it is!  He or she is due May 23, and we (me and JB) are filled with a complex of emotions of about it that happy or excited or anxious does not seem to do justice to.  This is what we wanted, and we are looking forward to having another child, but I just remember how hard those first few months were.  Right now May seems too far away to think about it too much.

JB didn't have to work the week of Thanksgiving, so we did some traveling.  We had a great one-night camping trip to Colorado Bend State Park in the Texas Hill Country, we had a delightful Thanksgiving day at Neil and Christy's house, and we eventually made it to Sulphur Springs for a few days with JB's family. 

I think Benjamin enjoyed just about everything about camping.  The tent, his own little sleeping bag, the campfire, the freedom to play all around our campsite, the river, and even the hiking.

Benjamin pretending to sleep in our tent 

The Colorado River 

Our campsite is in the background--you can see our tent through the trees.

We did end up going on one hike that was a little harder than it looked like it would be.  Normally, it would not have been a hard hike at all, but for a pregnant mama, a daddy with a bad knee, and a 2-year old in a backpack, it was a little rough.  This is our new normal, at least for a while, and we just need to get used to it.   The hike was just 1.5 miles to a 60 foot waterfall, but we didn't account for having to climb down to the bottom of the waterfall at the end.  And then we had to go back. It was a beautiful hike, but would not have made the choice to do it if we had known. 

Thanksgiving moves right along into Christmas, and this year, Benjamin is into it.  REALLY into it.  The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we went with JB's parents to a little Christmas in the Park celebration at a heritage park near their house and I think we were all amazed at how much Benjamin loved it.  He is transfixed by Christmas lights and was of course delighted that there were cookies to eat at almost every old house that we walked into.  He still talks about and imitates the handbell choir playing Christmas Carols and the blacksmith hammering on metal.  And the real surprise to me is that he remembers the name of the woman who handed us popcorn at one of the houses.  Whenever we have popcorn now, which has been a few times, he says "Mary Lucy!  Mary Lucy gave us popcorn!"

So now we're back in Waco, trying to enjoy the beginning of advent while hurriedly finishing up final grading.  Benjamin helped set up our tree.

And we are reading a book for advent with our small group called "Silence:  And other surprising invitations to Advent" by Enuma Okoro, which focuses on the story of Elizabeth and Zechariah.  It's been a great source of discussion and inspiration so far this season.

Raking leaves and putting up Christmas trees go together in Texas.