“He saw clearly how plain and simple – how narrow, even – it all was; but clearly, too, how much it all meant to him, and the special value of some such anchorage in one’s existence. He did not at all want to abandon the new life and its splendid spaces, to turn his back on sun and air and all they offered him and creep home and stay there; the upper world was all too strong, it called to him still, even down there, and he knew he must return to the larger stage. But it was good to think he had this to come back to, this place which was all his own, these things which were so glad to see him again and could always be counted upon for the same simple welcome.” (Kenneth Graham, The Wind in the Willows)
Hope you are enjoying your countdown to Christmas! Try to slow it down and enjoy the simple things.
Phew! The weekend was crammed full of holiday fun. Haven’t had time to distill it all yet. But in case you didn’t know, DIY photo props are the newest thing. More on that tomorrow.
Today is the birthday of my dear dual personality! I wish her peace on earth, good health and tickets to the Star Wars movie!
Ha ha.
They say the movie is worth seeing, but I say ho hum.
I can wait. A long time.
Anyway, to get back to my sister’s birthday, we are having a little party tonight for some of daughter #2’s friends who are in town for a wedding. But I will be thinking of my dual personality and wishing she were here laughing it up with me.
Dual personalities festively attired in red and green circa 1983
I’ll be toasting her and sending my love.
In other news: daughter #1 arrives on Saturday! Hope she bundles up for the trip home!
Tree’s up! The boy came over Tuesday night and we put up the tree. Doesn’t it look nice?
The OM got creative and put a collage of his favorite bears and scouts on his Facebook page. I couldn’t figure out how to recreate the snazzy moving images here, but here are the photos.
Well, I am very glad to have this major holiday feat accomplished.
And daughter #2 made it home! Shortly after arriving, she rearranged some of the ornaments on the tree. Can’t wait for daughter #1 to add the finishing touch on Saturday!
I did a very brave thing this weekend. I took an eighth grader out to lunch. Yes, as a confirmation mentor, it was time to go to a confirmation class again on Sunday before church. So I asked my mentee to go to lunch after church.
Being in the class threw me into a time warp. I remembered so vividly what it was like to be in eighth grade again. The awkwardness. The resistance to participating in the proceedings. OMG, what fresh hell is this?
Not that we had mentors back in the day. It is a good idea and a bad idea at the same time, you know? All that awkwardness made public. Ugh. Daughter #2 assures me that, although it is awkward now, it is a good thing in the long run. The kids will learn something about talking to people other than their peers and will probably look back on it fondly in the future. I think she’s just being nice.
We had a guest in the class–a man with MS, a surgeon who can no longer practice, who talked about his life. Afterwards when we were discussing his visit, I told the class that Rudy had just explained one of the secrets of life to them and I hoped they were paying attention. Live in the day. He also reminded us that the Plan is His and not ours. Be grateful for what you have, because it can change. Be grateful for the change too.
We also watched this video:
I had to give credit to the teacher–it’s a good song, even if the kids had no idea who Steve Earle is. Anyway, I said the revolution starts in your own backyard. Just be nice to the fat girl on the school bus. Be nice. As old Fred Buechner said, if you want to be holy, be kind.
I have a feeling that everyone involved in this Sunday morning activity was uncomfortable, and I guess that’s the point. For me anyway. It is a good thing to push oneself out of what we used to call “our comfort zone.”
Even if it is just having lunch with an eighth grader.
Well, as they say, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
Lots of old friends are showing up.
I’m sure it’s the same at your house, right?
I watched A Charlie Brown Christmas the other night, but not the 50th Anniversary Special which was un-watchable. I mean I tried, but woof. As always, I enjoyed A Charlie Brown Christmas which I was no doubt watching for the 50th time!
Indeed, I remember watching it for the first time 50 years ago and loving it so much. All my friends watched it. I became a huge Peanuts fan after that. I had a lot of Peanuts stuff.
I insisted on reading the book aloud at our family Christmas Eve celebration the next year (everyone read something) and annoyed my older brother by trying to read in the voices of the kids on the television special. He was extremely intolerant of me in this respect. I felt his judgement keenly. (I was in the fifth grade and he was a cool tenth grader.)
Siblings. How do we survive the judgement of our older siblings? (Well, I guess my dual personality can tell you.) That was the last year we had our family reading and sing-along on Christmas Eve. Our older brother went to a party at his girlfriend’s house the following year, and was always busy elsewhere after that.
C’est la vie. Funnily enough, I think our brother resurrected this tradition for his own family. I’m sure they never read A Charlie Brown Christmas.
The boy in overalls and camo boots with his uncle and sister
The boy wearing badges
The boy’s the one on the right.
It may be true that “Most young men are such bores. They haven’t lived long enough to learn that they are not the wonders to the world they are to their mothers.” (L.M. Montgomery)
As you know, we are a family that loves our traditions. For the last twenty-five or so years, we have watched Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) every Thanksgiving.
We will happily watch it this year.
We will watch (some of) the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade and probably Miracle on 34th Street (1947) at some point over the weekend.
We might watch The Wizard of Oz (1939) which, when I was growing up, was always shown on television the night of Thanksgiving.
We are not a family that brings out the musical instruments when everyone is gathered. (Sadly, we can’t do that.) And we don’t play games. We tend to open up the DVD cabinet. À chacun son goût.
We will also celebrate the boy’s birthday this weekend and marvel at how that little tyke grew up into a fine young man.
It almost being Halloween, I thought I’d share a picture of the costume that epitomized the zenith of our mother’s costume-making endeavors.
In 1956 she made a Donald Duck costume for our older brother without a pattern and without all the add-ons that are readily available today. I think she even made the hat/mask. She poured all of her not negligible creative powers and seamstress-y talent into it. It was not easy to do and she was very proud of it.
I hope our brother was proud to wear it. Does he look proud? Somehow I think he would have preferred to have been armed and dangerous and Davey Crockett.
I hope our mother received lots of high-fives. Doubtful. This was mid-century California after all where I’m sure those newfangled rayon-taffeta store-bought costumes were all the rage.
A few years later she made a pretty awesome black cat costume for my brother and a clown costume for me.
But after that, she was done (except for a witch costume which we used for-ever after.)
Well, Sic transit gloria mundi…
On another note–happy birthday and a toast to Dan Castellaneta, who has voiced the character of Homer Simpson on The Simpsons for 28 seasons. Zut alors. Or should I say:
“Everyone knows rock n’ roll attained perfection in 1974; It’s a scientific fact.”
Yesterday daughter #1 rode in from NYC for a little flyover R&R.
This time she will not be running in a half marathon but recovering from one she ran two weeks ago on Staten Island. ‘Taking it easy’ will be the byword for the weekend.
(Aren’t those white Keds the cutest things ever?)
I must also note that today is the birthday of my distant cousin, Dwight Yoakam!
Old Dwight (who is my age) has had quite a career. Fifteen-time Grammy nominee and three-time winner, his music career has been stellar indeed. But he must be congratulated for doing a great job of transitioning from country music heart-throb to “character actor.”
Would that we could all do it as gracefully.
Happy birthday, Dwight! We’ll be toasting you big time tonight!
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