December 29, 2009

Christmas, phase 2

Phase two has been just as cozy + snow! + flannel.



The afternoon/evening we arrived, it snowed fat, light flakes the whole time.

Hermit in the library

This tree is elevenish feet tall.

Blazer boys


Last night, we initiated what will evolve into an annual pub crawl. Stop #1: thumbs up.

"What was your 7th grade science project?"

"Whether cats are right-handed or left-handed." (Not a joke.)

Stop #2: not as favorite. But probably better in the summer.

Taking over the dive bar jukebox with Radiohead, Nickel Creek and Keane. We were not their favorites, either.

Stop #3: We added a few more participants and had fish & chips, as well as a few onion bricks. Not rings, not strings; BRICKS of greasy goodness. But I forgot to get a picture. You can see the remnants below.


(They're having more fun than their faces look.)

Next up... celebrating the END of this year and the start of a fresh one!

December 25, 2009

some highlights (part one)

Well, Christmas outside has been dismal (alternating rain and wind) but Christmas inside has been merry and cozy. We went to a Christmas Eve service together, followed by appetizers, dinner, and Beatles Rock Band hour.


Christmas Day unfolded something like this.


(that is a Bodywrap Blanket, NOT to be confused with a Snuggie. And it is amazing.)

Toby is always subjected to this.

...Mary's box-o'-Riesling gift.

And, the various costume changes of Coconut.



Merry merry and holly jolly!

December 23, 2009

(Christmas spoiler alert!)

The Christmas presents I'm making for my immediate family involve poetry, but since I'm pretty sure none of them read this blog (OR DO YOU, SNEAKIES?) I feel safe disclosing the previous detail.

I've been going through my pitifully sparse stash of poetry books, and keep finding ones that are so, so great. I really should be dog-earing all the pages or something, but I'll just leave them alone for another four years or so- enough time to forget them and rediscover them all over again.

Here's one of my new favorites:

i am a little church(no great cathedral)
far from the splendor and squalor of hurrying cities
-i do not worry if briefer days grow briefest,
i am not sorry when sun and rain make april

my life is the life of the reaper and the sower;
my prayers are prayers of earth's own clumsily striving
(finding and losing and laughing and crying)children
whose any sadness or joy is my grief or my gladness

around me surges a miracle of unceasing
birth and glory and death and resurrection:
over my sleeping self float flaming symbols
of hope,and i wake to a perfect patience of mountains

i am a little church(far from the frantic
world with its rapture and anguish)at peace with nature
-i do not worry if longer nights grow longest;
i am not sorry when silence becomes singing

winter by spring,i lift my diminutive spire to
merciful Him Whose only now is forever:
standing erect in the deathless truth of His presence
(welcoming humbly His light and proudly His darkness)

- ee cummings


p.s. Toby can fight with Coconut while laying down, and she has all four paws on his face somehow. He is the gentlest big brother/cousin I've ever seen.

December 16, 2009

some serious honesty.

Our time together as a commune/family of boomerang children is drawing to a close, and boy is that a pile of mixed emotions. It has been both weird and comfortable, but I will say this: I can't, CAN'T wait to no longer be living out of boxes, digging for spices and books of poetry in the basement, and wondering if my most comfy slouchy boots are lost forever or just lost in an unmarked box.

One unusual, unexpected angle has been living with the in-laws as the news and early stages of the first grandbaby have begun trickling in, long-distance. Everyone is excited, and maybe I'm a little relieved to not be going first, but the in-laws are definitely sad that this event is mostly taking place 1,200 miles away.

Now, my personal list of reasons/fears/hesitations when it comes to parenthood is long and multifaceted. And the worst is knowing that if and when I ever want to have a baby, I won't get to share that with my mother. I don't know how she dealt with all the tiny ups and downs of pregnancy, what kind of babies my brothers and I were, or what advice she would have given me- and chances are my dad could recall a smattering of these.

I'm so, so glad my sister-in-law is taking the plunge first, mostly because I know she'll be a fun and amazing mother. And even though her mom can only hear her through the phone instead of watching her change day to day, at least the phone connects them. For me, the joy and the grief come tightly hand in hand.

December 12, 2009

just another day

Coconut: my ears!
Toby: MY LIFE WOULD SUCK WITHOOOOUUUUT YOOOOOOOOOOUUU!


(Yes, Toby is a closet Kelly Clarkson fan.)

December 3, 2009

A little rearranging

Hey peeps, in an effort to change things up a little and not include quite so much first-and-last-name-personal-information, I'm shifting things over to a different blog: a tin can telephone. (I tried "tin can telephone" without the "a", but some dude who hasn't posted since 2006 has it, and I'm too lazy to branch out from blogger.com. Dang.) I'll keep this one open for a while so everyone can get used to the switch, but I'll either end up deleting this one or blocking it. We're moving our stuff and our dog and our lives soon (AGAIN) anyways, so why not move this too? Catch you on the other side...

the kids' table

Our Thanksgiving in a nutshell.