If nine people gather for winter festivities (and of those, three are children), what are the chances that at least one will have sniffles? Overwhelming. All you can do is watch and wait and place bets -- who will be the one to find the unlucky jellybean in her pudding? (Or however else you mark good or bad fortune.)
Last year, Snowdrop was a bit under the weather just at Christmas. This year, the person who gets fewest colds of all of us (Ed) fell pray to one. Or at least so it seemed yesterday. (He of course picked it up from one of us who cycled through all this stuff earlier.) But, Ed has a remarkable capacity to deny sniffles or anything else right out of his system and so today we're all coasting on only the light remains of whatever passed through our households this month. May we all stay healthy in the days ahead! This is my wish for you too -- have a happy, healthy holiday!
For us, each year, Christmas has much of the same and a little bit of the different. Planning who will be where, in what town and in whose home, and for what meal requires strategy! You take into account geography, kid tolerance for being shuttled to and fro, kid bedtime, meal traditions -- it's all very complicated! But when it falls into place, it is exquisite.
This year, the young family is coming up from Chicago and we will celebrate Christmas with them a little today and a lot tomorrow and a tiny bit on Monday.
But first, a farmette morning of "the usuals."
With breakfast of... the usual.
And now I am just waiting for the arrival of the youngest family. Over coffee and gingerbread, because it's a lot funner that way.
Here they are, in Wisconsin at last! At the forefront, my grandgirl, Primrose!
You know, the daughter of these two!
And now it all gets rather confusing: who is whose child and happy as a clam to be under whose embrace?
And the cousins! Oh, the cousins! The dance of love....
It's time to get something to eat. We go to Lucille's, on the Capitol Square.
Here we all are, in holiday mode!
Lights and grins everywhere!
Food and drink for all...
Beloved grandkids!
Beautiful and full of sweet gestures. Yours too, right? I understand. Holidays bring us together, but the love and joy are there, always and forever.
Last year, Snowdrop was a bit under the weather just at Christmas. This year, the person who gets fewest colds of all of us (Ed) fell pray to one. Or at least so it seemed yesterday. (He of course picked it up from one of us who cycled through all this stuff earlier.) But, Ed has a remarkable capacity to deny sniffles or anything else right out of his system and so today we're all coasting on only the light remains of whatever passed through our households this month. May we all stay healthy in the days ahead! This is my wish for you too -- have a happy, healthy holiday!
For us, each year, Christmas has much of the same and a little bit of the different. Planning who will be where, in what town and in whose home, and for what meal requires strategy! You take into account geography, kid tolerance for being shuttled to and fro, kid bedtime, meal traditions -- it's all very complicated! But when it falls into place, it is exquisite.
This year, the young family is coming up from Chicago and we will celebrate Christmas with them a little today and a lot tomorrow and a tiny bit on Monday.
But first, a farmette morning of "the usuals."
With breakfast of... the usual.
And now I am just waiting for the arrival of the youngest family. Over coffee and gingerbread, because it's a lot funner that way.
Here they are, in Wisconsin at last! At the forefront, my grandgirl, Primrose!
You know, the daughter of these two!
And now it all gets rather confusing: who is whose child and happy as a clam to be under whose embrace?
And the cousins! Oh, the cousins! The dance of love....
It's time to get something to eat. We go to Lucille's, on the Capitol Square.
Here we all are, in holiday mode!
Lights and grins everywhere!
Food and drink for all...
Beloved grandkids!
Beautiful and full of sweet gestures. Yours too, right? I understand. Holidays bring us together, but the love and joy are there, always and forever.
