Advent

We didn’t get around to doing everything we usually do in the lead up to Christmas. Our advent calendars never got hung, the little decorative trees we usually put out never emerged from their long hibernation in a cabinet somewhere, we never recorded a song for the annual holiday video we make in lieu of a Christmas card…

I apologized to the kids for this year’s lapses. My daughter regretfully noted that it might be her big brother’s last year to experience the traditions we failed to keep. He graciously consoled us by saying, “We’re just so busy…”

The day before we left for our annual pilgrimage to Princeton for the holidays, our Christmas tree still hadn’t been decorated. I delivered a holiday edict with a bellow that I’m sure could be heard at the North Pole: “GET PACKED UP, CLEAN UP YOUR ROOMS, AND GET THAT TREE DECORATED BY THE TIME I GET HOME FROM WORK!!!!”

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A bit rough around the edges, but it’s done.

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We may not have gotten around to everything, but we did observe a few of our favorite traditions, including the annual Christmas party at our friends’ house.

When my roommate Janel & I were in graduate school together, we decided to start a singing group. Two young tenors strolled into our apartment on Riverside Drive and auditioned with a rendition of Dona Nobis Pacem sung in a round. We let them into the group and into our hearts.

On Saturday evening, over twenty years later, we gathered together with our children and sang Dona Nobis as a prayer before dinner.

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We decorated cookies…

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…and sang Christmas carols:

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As we were leaving to head back to Arlington, my friend showed us a special ornament in the shape of a book. They’ve been inscribing Christmas memories in it for years. Craig showed us the page for 1999, a year we all met up in Princeton. Our oldest son was in utero at the time. We didn’t know if he would be a boy or a girl, but we had nicknamed him “Sh’Diamond”!

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En route to Princeton the next day, we spotted another couple who were taking a rest from their travels at the Delaware Welcome Center…IMG_2396IMG_2400IMG_2408

Tonight we’ll watch the cousins in their Christmas pageant, we’ll return to the house for Christmas eve dinner, and then my sisters and I will retreat to the office for our traditional sisters’ gift-wrapping marathon into the wee hours…

We couldn’t get around to everything this year, but here we are!

Here we are as in olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Gather near to us once more
Through the years we all will be together
If the fates allow
So hang a shining star upon the highest bough
And have yourself a merry little Christmas now.

 

New Car

Do you know what it feels like to drive a brand new car after 15 years of driving in a beloved, but dilapidated jalopy? To drive a car with nary a scratch nor even the smallest hint of a ding to blemish its pearly white exterior? To drive in a car whose interior, still redolent of “new car smell,” is unsullied by a single crumb, wrapper, or clump of mud that’s fallen from cleats? To drive with the unaccustomed luxury of heat and doors that open at will? To drive in a car that’s so smooth and so quiet, that one sometimes questions if the motor is actually running?

It feels like this:

Weekend Snapshots 52

The theme for the weekend was “things fall apart” with a soundtrack of Christmas carols in the background…

My workhorse camera and constant companion of many years finally quit without so much as two weeks notice. (Today’s photos courtesy of my phone). The 17-yr-old backup car I’ve been driving after finally giving up my old minivan (RIP) is shambling into retirement like a grumpy old man. (Heat? You want me to give you heat AND get you to where you want to go? WHAT? And the door has to open too? This generation is so damned spoiled!). Our oven has ceased to function. Even our dog, Tallis, has been causing us worry. We suspected renal failure, but after lots of expensive labs, it looks like he’s just an old man with constipation who needs to be on Metamucil and wear doggie Depends. For real.

Friday

My son had his piano recital.

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We practically yanked him offstage mid-bow to race off across town to catch the last part of the Spanish Renaissance Christmas concert my husband was singing in…

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Saturday

The forecasts were predicting snowfall from one to ten inches. We were ready to hunker down for a cozy snowbound day in pjs, but it turned out to be more like a dusting.

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IMG_3423With no excuse to laze about at home, we ran around town doing all the usual weekend things like getting our cars Jiffy-Lubed, piano lessons, and shopping for a new oven…

At the end of the day we all converged from different parts of town in three different cars for dinner at Lime Leaf. My daughter reminded me that this was the restaurant where my friends held a surprise baby shower for me before she was born. Naturally, a commemorative photo was in order:

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Back at home, my husband spent the rest of the night working on the final exam for one of his courses. Here’s an exam question for you: Were Shih Tzus bred to: a) keep the manufacturers of paper towels and Nature’s Miracle in business? b) be foot warmers for Chinese emperors and empresses? or c) both A & B

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Hard at work warming the emperor’s feet.

(Tallis was probably being a captain of industry in the next room performing duty A).

Sunday

The latest addition to our menagerie…

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Our new friend perches himself here all day and scolds us through the window for all of our many failings.

With a broken oven, our resident baker has had to explore no-bake options. This weekend’s delicious experiment was Tiramisu:

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We capped off the weekend with an evening, candlelight Lessons and Carols service…

When our 17-yr-old wasn’t making us laugh, he was making us cry by reminding us that this would be the last Lessons and Carols service he would ever sing with us.IMG_7051

Thankful

When one of your dearest friends moves far away and you don’t get to see her very often, and she tells you she’ll be in town for Thanksgiving, but you’re going to be in New Jersey, and you’re devastated, but at the last minute you figure out a way to see her for just a few hours, but you worry that it’s been so long since you’ve seen each other and things may have changed and then this happens…img_2109img_2108img_2107img_2106…and you have one more thing to be thankful for this year.

Thanksgiving Book

We just got back home after another week in Princeton, New Jersey, where our family has been congregating for many years over the holidays. We had a one day layover at Auntie Sissy’s house, where I rediscovered this immortal classic. We had given her this book my now 17-year-old son’s Kindergarten teacher asked him to write to make up for the couple extra days we took off at the beginning of the week…

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My Days Off

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Day 1: Sunday. I took a car to New Jersey. We took Route 81. We got some gas. We had dinner at Applebees. We got balloons. One floated away. We got home late. We went to bed.

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This year we stopped for lunch at Delaware Welcome Center, which didn’t even exist when the book was written. Instead of balloons, my mother got ketchup packets. Twelve of them to be exact.

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Day 2: Monday. I took the New Jersey Transit to New York and took A LOT OF SUBWAYS. We had lunch. We eated pizza. We went to my sister’s doctor appointment. We watched people ice skate.

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This Monday we took the New Jersey Transit to New York. This time we were going for my son’s college tour. We eated pizza.

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Day 3: Tuesday. I played with my little cousins. They are triplets. Julia is their big sister. We’re going to the children’s library in Princeton.

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The triplets aren’t so little anymore.

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We Skyped with Julia, who gave us a tour of her flat in Edinburgh, where she is studying.

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Day 4: Wednesday. I went to the movies with part of my family. Tonight my Auntie Sissy is coming.

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The family has expanded since then…

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Day 5: Thursday. Thanksgiving. There was some smoke and we had to fan it. The smoke comed from the oven. That was our dinner. We made a fake church! We got baptized by Julia and we did stuff in the sanctuary.

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This was our dinner. No smoke comed from the oven this year…

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Day 6: Friday. We drived home and I stopped for lunch.

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I was Hanging with the Harpies this weekend.

Friday

Harpy Sister #1 and I picked up Harpy Sister #2 at the train station and headed straight over to crash my book group, where we cackled long into the night.

Saturday

Harpy #2 signed copies of her book Tiger Pelt at the Charlottesville Book Fair. We are bursting with pride that Tiger Pelt is on the short list for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize!

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A couple of very special guests made a rare appearance to show their support…

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They are grinning so hard their faces might crack.IMG_5893

Meanwhile in Richmond, my Harpy-in-Training was tearing it up on the soccer field. The first team they played awarded her a special ball at the end of the game:

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How did you show great sportsmanship? I asked as I inspected her ball.

I was saving a ball and I collided really hard into the player who was trying to get it in, so I went over during half time to apologize and to make sure she was ok.

And what were your phenomenal saves?

Well, I tipped the ball over the crossbars once and everyone was cheering so I guess that was pretty good…Oh yeah, and I saved another ball with my face. All I can remember about that one was that it hurt.

I’m rather glad I didn’t witness that.

Sunday

We began the first part of our trip to New Jersey where we’ll be spending the week with our family. IMG_5096

We are heading out for the next leg of our journey in just a few minutes…

 

 

Weekend Snapshots 50

Friday

8 am: This was the sight I saw as I pulled out of the driveway. Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to school and work we go…IMG_5828

Later that day my college friend Lizochka drove up from Charlotte to Charlottesville for a visit. She arrived at the university towards the end of the workday, so I could take her on a quick tour of the Grounds. The leaves are at their glorious peak, so despite the rain, it was a great weekend to be in C’ville.

Saturday

Our oldest son had to be at his testing site by 7:45 am for the last SAT he’d ever take. My daughter would be heading to her last soccer game of the season. As we discussed the complicated logistics over breakfast the kids asked me how Liza and I were planning to spend our day.

“Oh, we’re going to get up to aaaaaaaall kinds of mischief.” I told them.

“But what are you going to do? Are you going to go around painting graffiti or something?” asked my 15-year-old son, who is always willing to play along.

“Well, you’re just going to have to tune into NBC 29 News tonight to find out!” I replied with my best attempt at exuding an edgy, menacing sort of vibe.

My amenable son raised his eyebrows and pretended to be suitably impressed.

My daughter shot us down in flames by deadpanning with devastating accuracy:  “Are you going shopping at Roxie Daisy?”

OK, kid. Yeah, whatever:

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Unrepentent miscreants that we are, we recorded our every move:IMG_1771IMG_1772

I want to steal this chair. It was like sitting on a cloud. A really, really expensive cloud. ($3000+).IMG_1796

We hit up all my other favorite spots on the Downtown Mall too:

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From O’Suzannah to Rock, Paper, Scissors, and an obligatory stop at Caspari to say hello to the zebra finches!

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No visit to C’ville is complete without a stop at MarieBette, where we had our lunch:

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And last but not least, we poked our heads into Patina, my favorite store in Charlottesville.

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Cute book lamp!

We had a cozy dinner at home with a table full of family and friends, and then we spent the rest of the evening tucked up on the couch, watching the charming movie The Big Sick.

Sunday

A jiu-jitsu takedown? A hug? Who can tell?

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Bidding a fond farewell to my sweet friend…

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It’s been a long time since I’ve heard this boy play his guitar…IMG_4556

At choir, we got started on Christmas music… “Hey on, Sir Ass, hey!”

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Onward.

 

 

 

 

 

My Boys

Took the boys to get their hair cut this evening. I’m so popular they literally fought to sit next to me en route: IMG_4798IMG_6206IMG_0070

Celebrating their fresh ‘dos at Al Carbon…

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Halloween Costumes 2017

Halloween is kind of a big deal in my office…

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Hey, wait a minute…this IS my circus, and those ARE my monkeys!

You know what’s amazing about this costume?

IMG_1681Cheap jowl lift!

Céleste & I went back to our old neighborhood to go to a four-house party with her friends.

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When we got back home, I just couldn’t resist putting the costumes on the dogs one last time. IMG_5805

They are so over it.

Halloween Party

Now that our youngest is 12 and in 7th grade, we deemed this to be the year that she should stop trick-or-treating. It’s become a tradition in our household to ease the pain of aging out of trick-or-treating by throwing a Halloween party for the big kid, and it was my daughter’s turn this year!

I was a witch on a flaming broomstick, and I don’t mean that I was wearing a costume…From 6 am until 6 pm when the party finally started, I snapped out orders to my cowering family as we raced around trying to get the house decorated and ready.

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Yup.

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We made sure the kids would not be deprived of candy even if they were too old to go trick-or-treating!

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No guts, no glory.

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After!

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Glow ring toss

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Tarantula Toss

My daughter pointed out my nail-studded sign to her friends and said in her snarkiest voice: “My mother is extremely proud of her little pun.”

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Nail Salon with press on stickers

But I got the last laugh when she opened up the little pumpkin to the right and jumped when she saw what was inside…

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Finger bubbles!

Dinner…

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Popcorn hands with candy corn nails

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I vant to suck your bloooooood!

Our 15 year old invited a few of his friends too. They played an epic game of Manhunt in the backyard, but probably the biggest hit of the party was playing with the dry ice.

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We transformed our breakfast room into a photo booth and stocked it with lots of props and costumes. Even our poor, long-suffering dogs (I mean panda and bee) got into the act!

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Happy Halloween!