In school Luke is being asked to talk about his family's traditions for the holidays. I sort of like to think we have traditions, but in a way we're still trying to figure it all out. What kind of gifts do we exchange; with whom, and when? When do we do Luke's birthday? Nothing is really set in stone; and in fact, we're winging it a lot of the time. But the good thing is, if it turns out we need to do things a little differently some years, we'll all be just fine.
Thanksgiving was a non-traditional case in point. It was nearly 80 degrees and we passed some time in the afternoon by going swimming (wait - that's actually a long-standing tradition) and Suzi had to pull off a last-minute dinner switcheroonie over to her house instead of Grandma Bobbie and Granddad's house when Dick was sick. I'm thinking about bringing the whole operation over to our house next year, and Dave and I going to be tempted to start all kinds of new traditions (turducken, anyone?). In this picture you can see the smashingly elegant turkey place cards that Luke and I made for this year's dinner -- hey, it's a step up from hand-print turkeys, right?.
Also I have to admit that yes, we had our tree up on November 24, and yes, we had our gingerbread house (well, a train, really) done by November 27. I don't like to rush the season, but I do love to give the boys a chance to enjoy these things before we leave for back East, and secretly I love reading or working on the computer by the glow of the tree lights after the boys have gone to bed.
The day after Thanksgiving when we could "officially" start celebrating the holiday season, we went down to the usual parade route at the mall to see Santa, a marching band, some firetrucks, and a guy on stilts. Zach, who has always been somewhat of a costume guy, embraced the whole parade concept and wore the complimentary t-shirt with pride, while Luke pouted and grimaced and announced that the whole thing was completely boring. It's interesting, then, that the most exciting thing Luke did all week (in his mind) was to sit outside for hours, waiting for people to walk by our house, and try to sell them water and oranges. I tried to talk him out of it, given that business would be extremely slow, but he insisted and somehow managed to bring in around $15.
Saturday Dave closed out the holiday week (and gave me some free time) by taking the boys over to the Santa Monica pier for some games and rides. Do they look bigger? Because every time I see them in a picture I think I've blinked and they've gotten another year older.Zach has been cooperating more at bedtime so we haven't had any visits out to the balcony to look at the stars lately. But these days when we're outside and we happen to see the moon, he's started calling it the "Snuggle Mommy Cookie Moon." And if that doesn't drown your morning pancakes in syrup, I don't know what will.
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