A White Christmas

We had a magical, idyllic Christmas. On Christmas Eve we had 120 people at our church service, at the end we turned down the lights and everyone lit a candle to "Silent Night" and it was beautiful. We went out for dinner afterward, then when we got home Myles and Seth put out cookies for Santa. Myles went to the fridge, grabbed a full bag of celery (I forgot to get big carrots at the grocery) and plopped it onto our front porch for the reindeer. We gently suggested that we open the bag, take out a few stalks and cut them up.

On Christmas day, Myles tip-toed up the steps at 5:40am and reported "Santa came!" He proceeded to fall back asleep in our bed until 7:30; truly a Christmas miracle. We opened gifts from Santa, from his God-family, and from Nana and Grandpa. Just as soon as the gifts were open, cue the snow. And it snowed and snowed; bringing the world to a holy pause. We went sledding, Seth schooled me in Scrabble (more than once), and had some fancy ravioli for dinner. It was such a good Christmas!

Mylestones: Myles has learned to print "M." Hooray!

Myles Says: After hearing me repeat to Seth how my mom said that she likes Sooki (my brother's new dog) "100 times more" than Juniper, Myles said: "That's not nice to say to Juniper. Look at her mouth, she's sad." Yesterday, after hearing me tell Seth about the NPR report on hundreds of red-winged black birds (which always make me think of Michigan) that dropped dead in Arkansas, Myles looked out the window and saw a bird. "Look!" he said, "The birds came back from heaven!"

Myles' Christmas break from preschool also included going sledding with his cousins on Wolf ski slope, visiting his cousins at their house (and sharing in a piece of Brenna's birthday cheese cake from Wild Flour Cafe...yum!), having two play dates with friends, and a New Year's Eve party at the Burnets' house. It was such a wonderful break! He began asking last week to go back to preschool, and this week he's really enjoyed it (though the morning routine is still a bit tough to adjust to).

Seth is busy building a privacy fence and arbor. We've also heard that there will be a community garden down the street this year...including chickens!

I'm trying this year not to wish away winter...a really hard one. Seth's trying to eat less sugar. We're both experimenting with radical acceptance of the things that drive us nuts. Blessed be 2011!