2010 | some final memories and family portraits

if only we could read her mind...

a white Christmas

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas yesterday. We got up early with the kids who were patiently sitting at the top of the stairs next to a home-made sign that read,  "STOP! Go Get Mom & Dad! Merry Christmas!" We didn't want to miss the looks on their faces when they discovered their gifts (new bikes for all this year).  I love that moment. 

Kate was especially fun to watch as it was her first Christmas with daddy and her first year to understand the whole wrapping paper-new toys thing. When she opened her very first gift, she went so slowly, looking up at us every few seconds to see if she was going to be in trouble over the destruction of such a pretty package! She exclaimed "See?! See?!" over each new gift as she hugged them and held them out to us.

As we sat there, around the tree in our piles of paper and new toys, it began to snow. There is something so perfect about snow for Christmas -a gift from heaven in every way.

It's snowing again today, much harder this time, but still not sticking very well. I'm watching it swirl outside the window as I sit here unloading pictures from my camera.  I'll share those with you later. Right now I have a new book, a cozy spot on the couch and a wintry view calling my name.

Here are some pictures from the snowfall last week.  We're really hoping the neighborhood will look like this again soon...

12.25.2010

Lo, in the silent night

A child to God is born

And all is brought again

That ere was lost or lorn

Could but thy soul, O man,

Become a silent night!

God would be born in thee

And set all things aright.

15th century

(reading from Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas)

a date in the city

It felt like we had D.C. all to ourselves. Destination, National Art Gallery.

Poinsettias and white orchids among sparkling trees welcome Christmas visitors.

A gardener's dream, this place.

I fell in love with Dietrich's wildflowers bathed in window light,

suddenly missing my garden all over again.

Pieces such as these, preserved for so many hundreds of years
...it leaves one speechless.

No wonder these halls are nearly silent.

I could spend a whole day in this place...I nearly did.

Since I had the perfect date to share it with.

a solstice eclipse

it happened as Autumn gave way to Winter

in the middle of a cold, cold night

we drug ourselves out of dreams and warm beds
(with cookies and milk to open sleepy eyes)

oh it was cold. the icy porch abandoned in favor of 

cuddling under a window in a pile of blankets and pillows

we watched it going, going...gone in our own red shadow

a once-in-a-lifetime winter's night

stripes

it's beginning to look a lot like...

good morning, snow.

I awoke early to a world dusted in snow and the sight of a dad in cammies, quietly carrying his sleeping son to the window.  They shared this morning's gift, with awed whispers and sleepy smiles before one was tucked back into his warm bed and the other left for work. What a sweet beginning to a day.

oh Christmas tree

We made our traditional holiday trek to the Christmas tree farm over the weekend with a bunch of friends. I love Christmas tree farms.  If I ever had a farm, it would be for Christmas trees. Or flowers.

Tristan was easy to please, declaring "this one looks good!" over just about every tree (I think he was just really eager to use the saw).

Meanwhile, Kate found a nice patch of weeds that she would have been happy to take home and decorate.

Kenna, after falling asleep in the car and being woken up to hike through the fields, wasn't really sure she wanted to be there at all.

She eventually got over it.  Mostly.

Once we had chosen and cut our tree, Kate very proudly carried it all the way to the tractor, all by herself.  So she thought.

Then we all climbed onto the flatbed with her for a short ride to the tree shaker thing station.  (Well, what do you call it?)

While the tree was being tied to the car and my phone (that I didn't know I had lost) was being returned to me from the fields by some nice stranger; the kids clambered all over the three tractors that someone had conveniently parked there just for them. So they thought.  Kenna asked me "if we could make them move." I said no.

Once we had our tree home, the kids began scattering ornaments and laying a minefield of tiny hooks in the carpet while Shawn strung lights and I took pictures.

For some reason, Kate, who is usually the instigator of all things wild and crazy, chose to sit peacefully on the couch, turning page after page of my Bible as the other kids hung ornaments. (Or maybe that was just her cover, as she waited for someone to fall into her tiny hook minefield trap...)

In the end, nothing was lost and no one was injured in the finding and decorating of our Christmas tree.  It was a really fun day, the tree is perfect and the house smells amazing.

I love Christmas traditions.