It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

And a little like Hanukkah, too, thanks to the menorah Lola Gray made with her friend Oliver!

Midweek Outing

Along with friends Oliver and Michelle, today we ventured out to the Ogeechee River Canal to view an art installation by SCAD Fibers students. Turns out we got to participate in the process as well, and the kids had a ball wrapping trees (and occasionally each other) in twine for the better part of the morning.

 

Old traditions and new

I love the holidays. I love the sparkle and glitter, the hustle and bustle, the delicious anticipation. I want so much for my children to remember their childhood holidays as happy and warm, and I have to tell you I don’t think that has anything at all to do with the presents. Looking back on my childhood I would be hard pressed to tell you a single thing I asked Santa for, much less whether or not he delivered. That is hard to remember when you are a parent trying to balance your checkbook against the constant bombardment of holiday advertising and the desperate wish to just make your children happy. I have a hard time keeping perspective. But looking back what I remember most is time with my family  – and the wonderful only-at-the-holidays food.

I remember eating Hanukkah latkes by the dozen, sitting around the table in my grandparents apartment. And I remember my Grandmother Sophie reciting in Hebrew as we lit the candles on the menorah.

I remember sneaking into my Grandmother Kathleen’s freezer to eat her Christmas Jets, so hard and cold you couldn’t bite into them until they softened in your mouth, the bitter chocolate blending with the creamy inside and the crunch of frozen pecan. I remember my Grandfather Fletcher standing at the stove on Christmas morning frying salty country ham, a treat for that day only.

I remember baking Christmas cookies with my mother and sisters, the smell of cookies crisping in the oven, watching food coloring swirl into the white home-made frosting, how we would start out with such elaborately frosted creations but end by dripping gobs of frosting onto each cookie in a colorful mess.

I remember going downtown to visit Santa in Fantasyland, remember driving through town in the dark, cold night searching for the best Christmas lights. I remember Christmas Eve fondue dinner and how I always stabbed myself on the fondue fork, Christmas crackers with silly paper hats, new pjs and cookies for Santa.

I don’t know what Fletcher and Lola Gray will remember, but I am doing my best to continue some old traditions and create some new ones of our very own.

Though Hanukkah had not yet started, I peeled and grated 10 pounds of potatoes for latkes last week, enough to share with both the kindergarten and 2nd grade classes, and the kids are still begging for more.

We bake Christmas cookies every year just like I always did with my mother and sisters. I make Christmas Jets every year just like my grandmother did, and when the kids get wise to the fact that they can sneak them out of the freezer I will pretend that I don’t notice.

And I’m adding some new flavors to our holidays, like cheese wafers made from my sister’s mother-in-law’s special recipe.

Christmas Eve dinner is still a struggle for me. I can’t figure out a special just-for-the-holidays meal that pleases everyone (last year’s shrimp and grits were not well received by the kiddos) but it will happen eventually. Or maybe it won’t. Maybe we will eat something different every year. But the kids are in the Christmas Eve nativity play at church each year, and the candlelight church service is so beautiful I can’t imagine it not becoming a powerful part of our family tradition. The thing about traditions I guess, is that the best of them just happen. You can’t force it. Things present themselves to you, like the Christmas Day Oyster Roast with friends I have come to look so forward to. And while I still feel like I am finding a way to make these holidays on our own our own holidays, I know my children will look back and see only a seamless stream of traditions. Some of them they will keep and bring to their own families, some they will not, some new ones will be born. Exactly as it should be.

Christmas cards at last!

The countdown is on. Christmas is less than a week away. Guess it’s about time I finally got it together for a Christmas card photo! We kicked off winter break last night with pizza at Screamin’ Mimi’s, ice cream at Leopold’s and a viewing of Home Alone on the big screen at the Lucas Theater. (I have never heard children laugh like mine did last night. Priceless.) Today was full with back-to-back birthday parties but we managed to squeeze in  a quick photo shoot before dinner. I was not really optimistic – even though I’ve done a pretty good job lately of taking other people’s photos, with my own kids it is different. I think last year I did this 3 or 4 times before I got a photo I could live with. But this time the stars were properly aligned and I was pleased with the results.

Cards will be in the mail by Wednesday! Merry Christmas everyone!

So proud I could pop

Fletcher had his holiday violin concert on Thursday and he got to play a little solo!! I can’t even begin to express how proud I am of him – not just for his ability to play an instrument that is so foreign to me, but mostly for his ability to stand up all by himself and do his thing. Go Fletcher!

Let the baking begin!

Lola Gray and I were lucky enough to be invited to a Mother Daughter Cookie Exchange on Monday evening. And you know what that means! Lucky for us, Lo had just received some wonderful baking supplies for her birthday from Auntie M. After she spent 30 minutes very carefully hand washing them, we were ready to bake!

These melting snowmen cookies were the fruit of our labors. Cute, no?

More weekend fun . . .

NayNay and Grandaddy were only here for a short visit, and with the main purpose of cheering on Lola Gray in her Nutcracker performance, but we also managed to squeeze in a visit to the gingerbread village at the Westin. The kids and I think next year we should enter the contest!!

 

 

 

My little sugarplum

Visiting Santa

I didn’t want to go. I get like that sometimes. People laugh when I tell them how anti-social I am, but trust me, it takes effort to get me out the door. But we’re talking a visit from Santa Claus here, and that is not something to be missed!

The kids wrote him letters, Lola Gray insisting that she did not care what he brought her. I think we told her one too many times not to expect him to bring her a puppy, so she gave up. I didn’t mean for that to happen. So in the days leading up to Sunday’s visit with Santa we asked over and over what she wanted him to bring, and over and over again we got the same answer. “Anything will be fine.” We asked what would happen if he brought something she didn’t like, or something she already had, and she simply said she would give it to some other child who didn’t have much. Hmmmmmm. Sweet, but I’m not really sure how to take it. Here are the letters the kids ended up writing:

“Dear Santa, I do not mind. Love, Lola”

“Dear Santa, My sister does not care what she gets for Christmas. But I would like Skylanders for Wii. I do not care if I get it or not. Sincerely, Fletcher”

Of course, when she actually sat on Santa’s knee and was pressed for details she came out with something she wanted him to bring her. I’m not sure if it was something she had given thought to before hand, or if she just saw one flying through the park at the exact right moment, but she told Santa she wants a bird. Yup, that’s right. A real, live bird in a cage. I need to have a talk with Santa, because that is not going to happen. (Especially when there is a surprise like this in store!)

After visits with Santa we boarded the trolley for caroling through the neighborhood. Fletcher and I snuggled and sang while Lola Gray giggled with her friend Camille.

That is, until they opened up the microphone to kids and Lola realized she could lead the singing. Once she was on, we couldn’t get her off! I was so proud of my girl. She was clearly nervous, but she didn’t let her nerves stop her. For the first song she was helped along by 2 other mothers whom she has known almost her entire life, so I was able to get this video. It is dark, but you can hear her sweet voice.

After that the trolley stopped to pick up a new group of carolers, and Lola asked to ride again. I joined her at the front so she could sing again, along with her friends Caroline and Sophie. Again, she was scared. But she locked eyes with me and together we sang Frosty the Snowman, me as quietly as I could so no one would know how off-key I was, she loudly and sweetly into the microphone. I could never have been as brave as she was, and I am so, so proud to be her mother.

Gingerbread birthday

I can’t really take much credit for this one. The party was all Lola Gray’s idea, and my amazing Mother-in-law pulled together the details (like hand-painted aprons.)  But by all accounts Lola Gray’s 6th birthday party was a huge success. There was gingerbread, candy, hot cocoa, candy, cake, crafts, candy, good friends, snowman milk bottles, and more candy. What’s not to love?