6 days: dreaming of a white Christmas

It's hard to believe that we are already 19 days into December and until this morning had not needed to dust off the shovel. We had just started to despair of any hopes for a white Christmas when we awoke this morning to a world blaneted in white. It wasn't a thick down comforter style blanket, more a light coverlet, and by late afternoon it had started to compact down between the blades of grass, but white it was, and enough to make me finally break out the shovel. Looking at the week's forecast we still don't carry much hope for a snowy holiday, but we'll take what we can get.

Holiday Nights

We've heard a lot of people say that Christmas is for children, but we don't think it necessarily has to be all for them. In fact, there are some parts of Christmas that ought to be kept for adults only, watching Christmas Vacation, for instance, or drinking eggnog with rum in it. Spending an evening in the dark, freezing cold at Greenfield Village's Holiday Nights festival is another tradition that is probably best left to an all adult crowd, or at least a sans toddler crowd (a truth we found out the hard way two years ago).

Last year, after our first failed attempt the year previously, we found friends who, thankfully, love the cold just as much as we do. Or maybe it's more that they enjoy good company, if we can so call ourselves, and a healthy dose of Christmas past. Either way, we had such a blast on our frigid evening last year that we decided to try again this year.

This year was possibly even better. The weather was significantly warmer, and we weren't feeling the rush to get home because our respective toddlers were spending the night with their respective grandparents. So we casually strolled the decorated streets of the village, enjoying Christmas greetings from everyone we passed while munching on roasted chestnuts pulled from the warm paper bags we bought at a nearby street vendor. We stopped in to chat with the tin smith, then the woman running the printing press. We watched them blow glass, and endured a short lesson in the school house. And you can't have a Holiday Nights evening without a hot drink and a few slices of hobo bread.

I don't know if fireworks were a part of Christmases past or not, somehow I doubt it, but they capped off the evening with a group sing in the center of town and a short display over the little lake. It was, really, a perfect and relaxing evening. The fact that we were, shortly thereafter, summoned home to retrieve our little boy, who was suffering from the nighttime discomforts of his first serious cold in his lifetime, did little to dampen the evening's spirits. It turned out to be a good thing that we headed home when we did, since the existing drizzle turned to ice when we were still 15 minutes shy of exiting the expressway, a weather anomaly that was likely to have only gotten worse had we waited the extra hour intended. It's wonderful when things just work out well.

Spring was last week. This is today.

Happy Valentine's Day 2009

How to make Valentine's night special with a two year old on the premises. That is, besides the fact that every night is special with a two year old on the premises.  Given his choice Calvin would make a every night a party (although, apparently not with cake, but I'll get to that later).  At least a couple times a week he asks to have a picnic in front of the fire place, an activity which, thanks to the difficulty of keeping a two year old sitting during a picnic, we reserve only for occasions which we deem as special.  So we made tonight just one such occasion and spread our blanket in front of a warm fire to enjoy its coziness on "the day of love".  Of course, many people celebrate hearts day with fancy meals; some go out, some order in, and still others plan and cook delightfully gourmet versions of an edible love affair, but that just wouldn't do for a picnic dinner and we opted for something way more fun than fight crowds or pay exorbitant amounts of money - we made individual heart shaped pizzas.  Perhaps that's the crowning glory of making your own pizza dough - being able to shape it however you want and in any size (and dressing it however you want, too, of course).  We had two different Valentine themed pizza options tonight - The Audrey Hepburn Classic Romance pizza (sporting clever cheesiness, olive you olives, going all to mushrooms, and slightly spicy uncured pepperoni), and The Brad Pitt Spice Things Up pizza (with it's extra cheesiness of Italian mozzarella and Mediterranean feta, and slightly spicy, yet goofy, banana pepper rings).  Strangely enough Jon and I opted for half and half pizzas and Calvin opted for everything everywhere.  I guess you just can't have one without the other.  Don't forget to pour the (cheap) champagne.  We hope you all had a happy Valentine's Day, no matter how you decided to celebrate!

It may be winter today...

but it was spring (in February) on Tuesday.  I miss the puddles already.