Christmas Lights and Why the Floors are Sticky

Its the Holiday Season in Seattle.  This means that parking lots are always full, websites and calendars are buzzing with listings of  Craft Fairs, Winter Festivals, theater, dance, Meaningful Moments with Santa at the mall and Family Traditions (Trademark, TM, TM).  There's the Nutcracker (which seems to be some kind of obligatory cult to which you drag your kids), Christmas train rides, a carousel, ice-skating and many opportunities to buy Christmas gifts and treat yourself along the way.

When you call your friends, people preface any attempt to make plans with "I know its the busy season but..." as if it is understood that we are all overstressed and scheduled with our Holiday Spirit (TM) and yet, my secret is that we are not that busy. 

Sure, there are many Memorable things to do which exemplify the winter season.  There are things that are fun to do.  However,  Fun and Memorable do not always coincide.  At times I feel the sheer abundance on offer tempts us to pay or participate in experiences just because they are there.  So, I try to remember to leave time to do the things I like, like running, pilates, drinking lattes, spending time with friends and ....

 baking cookies :)

Eating our way to Christmas
Today I hosted a "Cookie Exchange" in which 6 of us baked cookies and brought them to my house to swap.  We each ended up with a mixed box (or rather boxes) of cookies.

As a result, my kitchen is a wreck - the floor is sticky - the dishwasher is on its third load and I cannot eat dinner tonight because of all the sampling I have been doing all day.

The cookies await division (and sampling)

Wren digs his hand into a tub of marshmallow cream.

Anna and Meghan work out an algorithm to allocate cookies equitably.

These large frosted cookies were Wren's favorites. 
He ate TWO immediately I had my portion allocated.

But it was a lot of genuine fun and Wren had his best playdate ever (4 friends for a total of 4 hours!)

And did I mention that the cookies are Utterly Fabulously Varied and Delicious (TM).

Lighting the Path to Goodness
We also enjoy Christmas Lights and have recently decorated the house with colored strands of lights and draped other white ones over the bushes.  We have yet to install the illuminated deer which raises and lowers its head (seriously, folks abroad.  It does!).  A few weeks ago, we visited a display of Christmas Lights at the Bellevue Botanical Garden.  It was very intensely pretty.  I would be one of those outsider artists if my house looked anything like the garden but it was a fun thing to do together and an excuse for a hot chocolate [during the holiday season kids take to asking for hot chocolate instead of wearing sweaters and coats].

Wren sips cocoa by the shining lake of lights.

A glowing moon by the Japanese pavilion.

The Garden Vista

Wren looks out over the lake made of lights.

The spider lights were a favorite.
Wren was interested in the fly that was caught in the web.

Frost is enjoying the holiday season.  He says that to him it means "Fun, getting presents, celebration also family times and presents and Compassion To Others."

I notice that he has been well indoctrinated.

Wren says that birthday and Christmas mean that he will get Lego Lavatraz.

The Fight as Family Tradition
Wren is enjoying being a Warrior and spends much of the day hauling around weapons (bows, arrows, guns, wooden swords).  He likes to parry and wrestle with Frost but occasionally over-reaches and hurts Frost (and visa versa).

Wren says "Take a picture of my bad guy face."

Yesterday, Wren and Frost were on the couch.  Frost was watching Tower Prep on TV.  Wren waved his rifle at Frost and said "I am going to hit you in the eye" and then proceeded to swing at Frost and hit him across the nose.  Frost had an egg on his nose in a place that I have never seen swell - he was crying and Wren received the ultimate punishment - all the weapons went away for 24 hours. 

He kept checking if it was "the next day yet?"  Thankfully, he has been a bit more circumspect with his artillery today and didn't overexpose his 3 and 4 year old playmates with his fighting moves.  More than a few times our friends mentioned how their children (two are eldest boys) are not exposed to as many concepts as Wren because "they don't have older siblings."

I didn't choose to complete the sentence as I would usually:  "They don't have older siblings who play video games and a father who likes fantasy battles."

The Geek Tradition -  Penny Arcade Charity Auction
Speaking of Joshua's fantasy battles, his Christmas tradition is to attend the Penny Arcade Child's Play Charity Auction.  This year I went with him.

Josh and I actually do go out sometimes.

It was a lot of fun with people dressed in period costume, tattooed ladies and men in coat tails.  There was also a stray Zombie wandering around (from Plants Versus Zombies - PVZ), apparently looking for his creators at Pop Cap Games.

The Portal Gun $15K.  Apparently you do not run around
the house playing Paintball with it.

The most eye-opening part of the night was the auction of high-ticket items like a Portal Gun known to geeks and officianados as a masterful replica of a significant element of gamer lore but as a Toy Gun to the rest of us.  It sold for over $15,000, buoyed by goodwill towards Children's Hospital and a certain amount of 'Festive Cheer'.

I hope you are enjoying your Holiday Season and are just the right amount of busy to have fun.

Wren turns FOUR in a few days.  Keep and eye out for a birthday party post.

Overheard in the back seat

I feel I could start a column called "overheard in the back seat".  It would feature those odd conversations you overhear your kids having while you are driving them places.  Family dinner eat-your-heart-out!  Lets face it, with all the connected devices at home, the real quality time for a pre-texting family is when you have them strapped in the car.

This afternoon Wren asked Frost "what is Christmas?"
Then I asked him too.

Frost said "Its either a celebration of Jesus's birthday, the day he was born or the day he died.   Wait, the day he was born is his birthday.  So, its either a celebration of Jesus's birthday or the day he died."

Me:  Which one do you think?

Frost: I don't know.  I can't remember.

Me [hinting heavily]:  Which do you think is more likely with the gifts we give each other?

Frost:  Oh, I don't know. 

Me:  Really?

Frost:  Well, I guess a birthday?

Me:  Why would we celebrate Jesus being killed?

Frost:  I don't know.

Sometimes I wonder what those advanced placement tests measure.  It is surely not religious intelligence or common sense.

How do you dispose of a friend aka The Death of the Christmas Card

Who sends Christmas cards?   Anyone?  Not virtual cards that sing Jingle Bells with an animated reindeer but real paper from trees type of Christmas Cards?

Okay, the first thing you want to do is correct me.  "We don't send Christmas Cards" you say, "we send Holiday cards."  They must be non-denominational.  They need to include Kawaanza, Hannukah, Waldorf fairies and Christmas.

Still, who sends Holiday cards?

Perhaps its just me becoming unpopular.  In the old days [aka the 1980s] when I was a kid, by now the mailbox would be full of cards.  I would collect the stamps from England, from Swaziland, from Australia and open the cards from everyone who had even the most tangential relationship to my family.  We would hang up a string in the living room and hang the cards on it.  Sometimes they would have treats like bookmarks or letters in them.  After Christmas we would cut them up and make scrapbooks out of them, or collect them in old chocolate boxes.

The cards were lovely.  They had embossed angels and silver foil inlays and shiny stars.  Some had pictures of old English villages with carol singers.  They had peace doves spouting words in many languages.  They had illuminated letters and bold wishes for peace and love and joy.  They were happy and generous and just plain pretty.

So far, this year we have received ONE CARD [thankyou Corlie].   And next year I probably won't get that card either because of what I am going to write next.

The few remaining people who send cards, send pictures of their family printed into cards.  Its like a kind of photographic swap meet.   I am sitting at my desk right now doing it too.  I send out photo-cards of my family and you send me photo cards of your family and then we all hope we remember each other until next year.

These photo cards of your family are pretty but they are not something I am going to store for posterity but I can't throw them away either.   In Indonesia I was taught that it is very bad luck to throw away a photograph of someone.  Its quite dangerous.  Its like throwing away your relationship or casting them into peril.  So what do I do with the Holiday cards with all our loved friends kids on them, our family nieces and nephews?

Surely you've felt it?  You try and throw away a photo and the smiling faces stare reproachfully out from the recycling.  You wonder if its okay to recycle them - isn't that like Shredding them?   I end up stacking them someplace for long enough that I forget and later dispose of them suddenly, like the pickled plums you really didn't like but never throw out of the fridge until, finally, you are allowed because they have grown mold and are entering another phase of their lives which is obviously better performed in the yard waste.

The only people who send me real cards are our real estate agent, our financial adviser, our insurance company and the guy down the road who keeps trying to get me to make a financial plan (with him).

Anyway, if you get one of my Holiday Cards I hope you enjoy it for a little while.  I will survive if you recycle me.  I will still send you one next year.  And if you send me one I shall string it over the fireplace and appreciate it because it is one of very few.  But I will dispose of your card eventually and hope you forgive me.

Wren worries about death

You probably know that Wren is an anxious type.  As Teacher Jennifer puts it "he goes to that Worried place" when things happen.

A few nights ago Wren told me that he was worried about being dead.  He didn't want to die.   "What do they do to people when they are dead?"

Not wanting to dwell on burial versus cremation, I told him that there are many different opinions about what happens when you are dead but its not worth worrying about right now.

I was starting to panic wondering why Wren was worried about death!  He told me:

"Because you played that game with me with the pigs in the forest and the one pig was EATEN by the monster.  He was DEAD and the other pigs were sad."

So, it was all my fault playing M rated games with him.

Pigs in the Forest is Wren's favorite game.  In it
a family of Pigs face various perils in a forest full of wolves and monsters
but are usually victorious.

Today, on the way home from Fred Meyer, Wren asked me where all the babies come from when there were no grown-ups.  I told him that was a mystery.

"I did not like being inside your tummy," he announced.  "I was there a very long time."

I said that it was not such a long time and we were very happy to have him as our baby.   I said he was only there about 10 months.

Wren:  Oh, that is a short time.
Me:  Well, its not SHORT but it wasn't a long time.
Wren:  Have you run out of babies now?
Me:  [Suddenly realizing that he believed the babies were all waiting in the tummy all the years of our lives and in a kind of queue to come out]
Yes, they are all come out now.

After a moment of silence he asked me how babies get into the tummy so I explained that Daddies and Mommies have things like little tiny seeds which mix to make a baby.

Then he started to cry.

Me:  What's wrong Wren?
Wren:  I don't want to make a baby!
Me:  You don't have to!
Wren: How do you STOP making a baby?
Me:   Well... ah... there are lots of ways, you don't need to worry about that now.
Wren:  HOW!!!!
Me:  You won't make a baby now, you don't need to worry.

Advent Calendar
A more normal incident from this morning.


[Wren has just woken up early.   He is still disoriented and yawning, but driven by the desire for the Advent Calendar.]


Wren:  Where is my advent calendar?
Me:  It is under the desk.
Wren:  Oh no, but this hand is weaker and this hand is stronger so if I pick it up with two hands it will go WEEAOO to the floor.
Frost:  I will get it for him.
Wren:   Is it the Lego or the Playmobil?
Frost:  Today, you can do both of them and tomorrow I will do the Lego one.
Wren:  What is it?
Frost:  Hey, where did the tiny piece go?
Wren:  It is round and roly so maybe it fell on the floor.
Frost:  Help me look for it!
Wren:  No, I am opening the other one.  I am opening the Wrong One!
Frost:  Mum, later in the day will you look for the one cylinder lego?
Me:  I guess so.  It is a common piece.
Frost:  Wren got lots of birds!
Wren:  Lets try and find the little piece.

Its 7.30am and we are crawling around on the floor looking for a dot of Lego.

The Danger of Being Frost

It is a very dangerous business being Frost.   The world seems to throw many unexpected obstacles in his path which hurt him.  You or I might occasionally stub a toe or hit an elbow closing a car door in a hurry.  Not Frost!   He has multiple injuries in a day.

Here are a sampling of Frost injuries on Saturday.

Incident 1.
Frost is tapping his foot on the floor to pace himself as he practices xylophone in the living room.

Frost:  OW, OWWWW.  DAMMIT. 
Me:  What's wrong Frost?  You ok?
Frost:   OW.  
Me:  Frost?  [You notice that I no longer get up from the table to investigate, being long inured to these  catastrophes]
Frost:  I hit the side of my head with the mallet and now my head is throbbing!

Incident 2.
I am in the bathroom at the Memorial Stadium as we prepare for the 1 mile Children's Marathon on Saturday early.  Frost is waiting in the corridor outside the ladies.  When I come out he is bending over holding his head.  He continues to walk along holding his head.

Me: Why are you walking like that?
Frost:  My head hurts.
Me:  What happened to you?
Frost:  I was sliding along the walk.  You know,I was walking along with my head brushing against the wall and I didn't see a cable box thing and suddenly my head went WHAM and it hit the cable box heater thing!
Me:  Why were you sliding along the wall?
Frost:  I don't know.

Incident 3.
Frost is playing magic the gathering at the dining room table.  He is turning over cards while sitting on a chair with one knee.  The other leg is on the floor.  He keeps jiggling from foot to foot and mumbling thoughts or a song under his breath.  This is a very Frost moment.

Frost:  OWWWW.  DAMMIT DAMMIT. 
Me:  What did you do now?  You are just sitting there!
Frost:  Stop.  Don't .... talk..... ow........argh.

I shake my head.

Me:  Well, you poor thing?  What happened?
Frost:  I ....... hit.... my ...... funnybone ..... on the table!

The other day, Wren was upset with me for some reason and gave me the Fierce Glare (he freezes, goes "grrrrrr" under his breath and then glares at you as if he were a wolf in the forest).  On this occasion he also "flipped a bird" at me.     I couldn't keep a straight face but I told him it was rude.

Of course, Wren also says DAMMIT when he stubs his toe.

Snowstorm revisited

Its back to rain and cold in Seattle and the snowman in the back yard has started to melt - now his head is a pointed pinnacle of snow and on which his hat balances.  Its not as beautiful but temperatures above freezing are easier to dress for and get outside.

Not that the cold stopped us on the snow days. 

The first day of heavy snowfall ended with a bit of a blizzard.  Strong winds blew flurries of snow off the roofs and trees and whipped it into our faces.  Still, we went out to try and build a snowman, and failed.  It was way too cold and so the snow was light and dry.   Growing up in South Africa I never knew the gradations of snow, how it is slippery near freezing, how it makes better snowballs when a bit warmer but you can do it with dry snow if you squeeze hard.  The boys are learning these things a lot earlier and having better success with their aim ;)

Frost and Wren in the neighbors yard after a snowfight

Frost tempting me to come close so he can dump all the snow off the
canopy onto my head.

Wren in the blizzard with a large snowball and silly woolen gloves that
clump snow.  He hates mittens.

 The next day was even colder (14F overnight or -10C) but bright and sunny.  There are various streets in our neighborhood which the local kids have named as sledding runs.  During real snow, these steep hills become too slippery to drive so kids and their parents set up watches at the intersections and the kids sled down 2 or 3 blocks of steep roads - whizzing through intersections market by upturned bins and parents cupping lattes in their insulated mugs.

With news of snow, many residents of steep hills take precautions and move their cars off the steep slopes to flatter streets.  However, when cars or other obstacles remain, folks put garbage cans in front of them so that falling and out of control sledders do not crash or go under the cars.

We even saw snowboarders going down from 18th to 23rd and I did the big hill a few times :)  This big one is called Black Diamond while 73rd down to 24th is called The Bunny Hill.

Elias, Frost and Eli on the Bunny Hill.

The playing fields and parkland at Dahl Field are another favorite snow park.  On the first morning of extreme cold we all walked to Dahl field and sledded.   I haven't managed to import all the clips into iMovie but I have some great ones of Josh descending at speed from the top of a precipitous hill I can barely walk up in fair weather.

Josh after his first descent

Wren and I coming down a small hill at Dahl Field.  Wren said
"It was a bit fun and a bit scary"

Wren at Dahl Field on the first day.  He fell off the sled and got
snow down his back so I had to lend him my scarf to recover.

Frost making a snow angel.  Frost doesn't feel the cold like
a normal person.  He kept throwing off clothing at sub-freezing
temperatures and 'losing' things in the snow.

Snowman Day
On Thanksgiving, after an early flurry, the snow began to melt.  As it warmed it became snowman and snowball snow.  The boys made boxes of them and I made a snowman.  Frost rolled huge snowballs he could barely carry and tried to throw them at Alex.  Alex is far too nimble to be caught by such a colossus and has a dangerous throwing arm (perfected playing baseball) but Frost could not resist the wickedness.

Alex and Frost with a cache of snowballs (they threw at Fred)

Wren with our backyard snowman

Frost bending under the weight of the large snowball

Sledding and Staying In

Seattle has shut down for snow, again.  Schools are closed, classes are canceled, bus routes are halved and North end shops are inundated with shoppers in 4-wheel drives loading up huge carts of food for Thanksgiving.

Meanwhile, we were up at 7am and managed to stare out at the delicious sunny minus 8 degree (C or 18F) day for about 2 hours.  By 9.30am we were heading up to Dahl Field for some sledding.

I am hoping to make a little movie of some our of snow moments and photos when Blogger lets me upload them.

Otherwise, all is well.  We are enjoying the slow pace and having everyone home since Josh didn't go in to work either after his horrendous Monday evening commute which took almost 2 hours to get home.

Snow!

Snow brings a strange luminescence to the landscape, a grey and diffuse light brighter than the usual winter morning.  After being woken too early by an automated message from the Seattle Public Schools to tell me that conferences will run as usual but middle schools will start late due to snow, Wren and I sat and looked out the window.

It was already snowing hard.  Here are the pictures from the window around 7.30am and an hour and a half later.  The snow has now changed to a smaller flake but its still accumulating.

7.30am

8.55am

We have been enjoying feeding the birds on the deck by the kitchen.  They are probably finding it hard to find food elsewhere and the juncos and little wagtails have visited a few times.

Frost and Alex are out in the snow at his house at Greenlake.  As usual with the first snow,  Wren has outgrown his snowsuit, lost his snow gloves and complained he was unable to bend over or move his legs in it.  We shall have to buy a new one.

We have Frost's parent-teacher conference this morning and I am not sure whether its ok to drive the van to capital hill or whether I should do a few trips and drop Josh at work in the Subaru.

Cold come calling

This morning our breakfast was accompanied by a loud rhythmic thudding from our next-door neighbor who was splitting huge logs of timber for firewood. 

Its getting cold.   The morning paper said "Its Fall but this weekend its going to be Winter."   Temperatures, which have been around 50F ( 10 C) have suddenly fallen and today was around 40F (5C) and dropping to freezing.   According to local experts, icy air is coming down through the Fraser Valley from the arctic.  It sure feels like it.

The freezes of winter typically mark the end of mushroom season so I thought today was a last chance to explore some local forests and see what remained.   We were in luck and caught a few late chanterelles, a big bag of clitocybe nuda (Blewitts) and a large flush of chlorophyllum rachodes (Shaggy parasols).

Chris and Pascal came with me and we might still be in the woods but for the kids who were either silently resigned (their kids) or loudly anxious and WANTING TO GO HOME (Wren).

Blewitts (from last week)

Chlorophyllum Rachodes (shaggy parasols) - the red stain has faded.

My last chanterelles for 2010?

After lunch, Frost's soccer team met for the last game of the season.  It was a social between parents and kids followed by pizza at Pagliacci.  We were very luck with our soccer team this season.  It was well run and coached and supported by organized experienced parents.

They presented the coach with a gift and each player received a trophy with a photograph of themselves in action.

Here is Frost receiving his trophy.  The announcement read:  To Frost who was never gloomy and always enthusiastic.

Frost being enthusiastic about his Engraved Trophy

Wren hopes to have a trophy too one day.  He asked Frost if the trophy could be in his room but it is now on the mantlepiece.

Mushroom playground

Frost had a big group playdate at our house yesterday and its hard for Wren to join in when the friends are 10 and 11 year olds.  He is really out of his demographic but utterly misreads the situation and takes it personally.

I offered to take him for a walk in the stroller.  Before we left Wren said "We are not going looking for mushrooms today!"

I agreed.  "We are not going to look for mushrooms but I might pick one if I see one."

Wren:  BUT YOU SAID we are not looking for mushrooms.

Me:  No, we are going for a walk but if there was a mushroom...

Wren:  We are not picking mushrooms.  DAD!

Josh:  I think Mummy means that If there is a mushroom by the path she might pick it.

There was a mushroom by the path.  Wren became a bit exasperated.  He said "THIS IS BORING".   However, he liked picking the Blewitts because they were in a half circle and easy to get to.

Mushrooms being ID'ed.  They include  Suillus Albivilatus
Leratiomyces Ceres and a mystery Tricholoma which resembles
Odora.

The ones that made it to the pot.  I made a highly reduced
"Mushroom essence" a la Cafe Flora to use
on the Portabello Wellington next week.

Found another flush of Blewitts on our walk as well as a lovely
crop of young chlorrophylum rachodes near Teacher Andrea's house.

Wren enjoyed playing at the playground but was concerned that the swings had been taken away to replace the safety surface.  The swingset frame is now bare - not swings hanging there - and looks skeletal which fit the cold, dark weather.

This morning Wren asked when the sun was going to come up.  It was 10am and I told him the sun probably wouldn't come out today.