Warning: on a day of trees, there will be many photos. Many. Alright, you are forewarned, so let me proceed.
I'm up and out. I need to open the coop. I survey the landscape. For a first snowfall, I'd say it's pretty awesome!
You cannot help but admire the trees.
Yep, the trees.
Back to the farmhouse now...
...for breakfast.
The cheepers will venture out only if you clear a path for them. We cleared a path for them.
I pick up Snowdrop. I'm told that many classmates had issues with going outdoors for play time today. Not her! She struggles in her beautifully warm but bulky snowsuit, but she loves being out. I see this as I set her free once we leave the school.
I built a snowman for her at the farmette. I would have waited for her input, but the snow is wet and difficult, so I finessed it myself, just so it would stand tall when she arrived.
She is fairly indifferent to it. Why? Because she spots the sled at the side.
It becomes all about the sled.
But it's not a satisfying ride. The snow is wet and everything sticks to it. Last year, she was scared of going fast. This year, she is impatient with going slowly.
She perseveres on foot.
And after a while, she has had enough. She wants her building toys. She wants a bagel. She wants ahah.
(Ohhh.. that last picture reminds me -- parents have requested a Snowdrop bangs trim. Okay, done!)
As some of you may remember, I don't bring a tree into the farmhouse. But I do use one of my plants as a Christmas tree and I put on lights and a handful of ornaments on it and I decide rather spontaneously to do all this today. Snowdrop loves the reject I had grabbed from the stash of our family decorations -- the polar bear that no one wanted because frankly, he looks a bit like a toilet bowl cleaner.
I have just a handful of other decorations. Favorite ones. This one for example.
Snowdrop is very maternal or parental or something. Here she is, caring for the bear... feeding him a Christmas tree...
(Dancing to jingle bells while jingling bells.)
Finding a sparkly boot... I tell her that her aunt made it a long time ago. She tries to take it apart, perhaps because she wants to demonstrate that she too, like her aunt, can put it together again.
The tree project takes all of five minutes. She loves every one of those five minutes.
After her nap, Snowdrop brings some of stuffies and invites ahah to sit down with all of them.
She is one big smile. I hand her bells and she jingles them energetically. Grinning the whole while.
It's time to return to her house. I propose a lighter jacket, just for the car ride home. She's a very flexible child. Okay, gaga.
She may have been disinterested in the snowman before, but this time, she has a long (and I mean long) conversation with him.
Finally, in her own home. The tree has been up for a few days. I string on the lights, Snowdrop helps!
Her parents are home. We eat, we decorate. You may chuckle, but in fact, the little one really is brilliant at putting on ornaments!
A moment of rest...
Her mommy tops the tree with a special bow that is now nearly 40 years old...
One last glance at an ornament... (Snowdrop examines a sleigh with a Mrs. Santa on it and proclaims it to be gaga!)
There is this remarkable symmetry this season: I am there for the purchase of trees for both my daughters, Snowdrop is there for the tree trimming at ahah and gaga's and then for the big beautiful one at her own house.
You cannot have too many lights, baubles and family mementos in this holiday season. You just cannot.
I'm up and out. I need to open the coop. I survey the landscape. For a first snowfall, I'd say it's pretty awesome!
You cannot help but admire the trees.
Yep, the trees.
Back to the farmhouse now...
...for breakfast.
The cheepers will venture out only if you clear a path for them. We cleared a path for them.
I pick up Snowdrop. I'm told that many classmates had issues with going outdoors for play time today. Not her! She struggles in her beautifully warm but bulky snowsuit, but she loves being out. I see this as I set her free once we leave the school.
I built a snowman for her at the farmette. I would have waited for her input, but the snow is wet and difficult, so I finessed it myself, just so it would stand tall when she arrived.
She is fairly indifferent to it. Why? Because she spots the sled at the side.
It becomes all about the sled.
But it's not a satisfying ride. The snow is wet and everything sticks to it. Last year, she was scared of going fast. This year, she is impatient with going slowly.
She perseveres on foot.
And after a while, she has had enough. She wants her building toys. She wants a bagel. She wants ahah.
(Ohhh.. that last picture reminds me -- parents have requested a Snowdrop bangs trim. Okay, done!)
As some of you may remember, I don't bring a tree into the farmhouse. But I do use one of my plants as a Christmas tree and I put on lights and a handful of ornaments on it and I decide rather spontaneously to do all this today. Snowdrop loves the reject I had grabbed from the stash of our family decorations -- the polar bear that no one wanted because frankly, he looks a bit like a toilet bowl cleaner.
I have just a handful of other decorations. Favorite ones. This one for example.
Snowdrop is very maternal or parental or something. Here she is, caring for the bear... feeding him a Christmas tree...
(Dancing to jingle bells while jingling bells.)
Finding a sparkly boot... I tell her that her aunt made it a long time ago. She tries to take it apart, perhaps because she wants to demonstrate that she too, like her aunt, can put it together again.
The tree project takes all of five minutes. She loves every one of those five minutes.
After her nap, Snowdrop brings some of stuffies and invites ahah to sit down with all of them.
She is one big smile. I hand her bells and she jingles them energetically. Grinning the whole while.
It's time to return to her house. I propose a lighter jacket, just for the car ride home. She's a very flexible child. Okay, gaga.
She may have been disinterested in the snowman before, but this time, she has a long (and I mean long) conversation with him.
Finally, in her own home. The tree has been up for a few days. I string on the lights, Snowdrop helps!
Her parents are home. We eat, we decorate. You may chuckle, but in fact, the little one really is brilliant at putting on ornaments!
A moment of rest...
Her mommy tops the tree with a special bow that is now nearly 40 years old...
One last glance at an ornament... (Snowdrop examines a sleigh with a Mrs. Santa on it and proclaims it to be gaga!)
There is this remarkable symmetry this season: I am there for the purchase of trees for both my daughters, Snowdrop is there for the tree trimming at ahah and gaga's and then for the big beautiful one at her own house.
You cannot have too many lights, baubles and family mementos in this holiday season. You just cannot.
Your beautiful snow has come to Ohio in the form of cold, ugly rain.
ReplyDeleteI look out the window and I think, WWNS ? (What would Nina see?)
And so I see that to look up at the sky, it's like being inside a pearl. The road down below looks like a silver river. The pine trees, I think, are feeling very good. They like the refreshing cold, they retreat into their warm roots underground, while their work of the growing season is done, their unburdened branches swaying in the rain. I start feeling like a pine tree.