Things that don't work

As most of you probably know, Georgia is in the midst of a serious drought. That being said, the steady rains of the past few days are, by and large, a welcome thing. However. It's raining in my kitchen. I mean REALLY raining. We have had a leak over the peninsula for some time but we're about to begin construction on a small addition and kitchen remodel that involves tearing the roof off the sucka so we've ignored it. Plus, it hasn't rained in months. But now it's not just raining there. It's raining in the entire back left portion of the room. That started today. I'm pleased it waited until today so I was able to enjoy my birthday yesterday (always my favorite day of the year) without worrying that the back portion of the roof is about to collapse on us. The weather sensed my birthday has ended. The place is soaked. We're thinking - tarp. Hopefully we can get that applied before we have to start thinking - hotel.

It's not just that, though. After the kicthenaid died, so did the garbage disposal. We paid a guy from Sears $65 to come out, take a look at it and inform us it's ancient and the motor did, indeed, die of old age. The water from the filter on the fridge won't come out. The cabinet that used to contain the slide-out trash can has been utterly destroyed courtesy of Lola. Not that this is all that important at the moment, but the brand new lawn mower we bought last summer worked exactly twice and now refuses to start. No, it's not the spark plugs. The top strand of lights on the Christmas tree died. And now that we've plugged in our fabulous new iMac (which, to my delighted surprise, works!) my wireless is no longer working. My iPod is not working. I am weary of things not working.

Perhaps it is a message that I should throw up my hands in surrender, and go sit in the living room by the partially lit Christmas tree and read, enjoying the gentle pitter patter of the raindrops on my...crap, grocery list. OK, maybe I won't be reading just yet. Tomorrow, when we've figured out how to navigate our fancy new machine, and assuming it's still working, I'll attempt to get some more Christmas photos loaded on this here blog.

On the third day of Christmas...

I have a lot of photos from Christmas so I'm parsing them out over the extended holiday. I wish the governor would stop by my home because if he did, I'm sure he'd declare it a disaster area and I could really use some state funding to hire a maid. Here is the living room after Santa came. I know it's a bit dark and you can't really see the ridiculousness that occurs when there's not only Santa but Mommy & Daddy, 3 sets of grandparents, 5 sets of aunts and uncles and 3 rogue aunts in the mix, but you get the idea.

And here is the living room upon discovery the next morning (Note: When Kate woke up she said "It's Christmas!" and Jeremiah concurred. She then said "I should wear my Christmas dress!" and Jeremiah tried to convince her she should remain in her PJs, but she refused. We did not subject the children to such formal attire. We're PJs people as you can detect from the partial view of my Yummy Sushis in the background here.):

It took all day, because Sarah got tired and needed a 2-hour nap during present opening and because Kate wanted to play with each item she opened and because I got hungry and wanted to pause to make bagels. But after all was said and done, this is what we ended up with:

Cookies for Santa

Jeremiah told me he was certain that Santa would really want the mocha double chocolate cookies I'm fond of making from Baking With Julia this Christmas Eve. Jeremiah and Santa are pretty tight so who am I to question? I had to work half a day on Christmas Eve, though, so I told Jeremiah that since the cookie dough needs to chill for several hours he was going to have to make this Christmas wish come true. I left him the cookbook and the stand mixer. When I got home that afternoon, he and the elves were hard at work.



















When bedtime arrived, the girls were ushered upstairs to get in their PJs and then we came back down to put their carefully crafted baked goods out for the right jolly old elf. Kate carried the cookies to the living room and placed them on the coffee table with a surprising amount of pomp, while Sarah let us know what she thought of us for putting those cookies at her level but disallowing her to eat them. It was all very sweet and touching.














The next morning, we came out to the gift-PACKED living room (good grief) to find that Santa had enjoyed all the milk and all but a few crumbs of the cookies! Sarah ate those.

Anatomy of a Christmas card

We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

Poor little gingerbread people never saw it coming

Joe and Bucky of the Upper Third Avenue Joe & Bucky establishment left a basket of goodies on Steve & Joy's front porch addressed to Kate & Sarah. In the parcel, among other items, one adorable gingerbread house. Even though the gingerbread house resembled a real house in most ways (in fact it looked a lot like Greg's house across the street from Joe & Bucky's...hmmm...) the girls knew instantly it would taste good. Being funk-loving children, they tore the roof off the sucker right away.

Happy Winter Solstice!

It's the first day of winter and our family's second official year of celebrating it. Back before new management took over and made Jesus the reason for the season, celebrations of the solstice were chiefly about light and renewal. Pagans decorated evergreens in celebration that, even though the earth seems dead and barren in winter (except, what ho! These trees remain green!), spring will return with the sun and with it, sustenance from the earth. It is a celebration encased in faith that where there is death, there will also be resurrection. I guess you could also go with It's Not Dead, It's Only Resting. At any rate, Sound familiar?


I read up on the traditions of old. Sorry, Olde. We chose a few that felt like us. The mistletoe, it just happens, was meant to hang in the doorway year round as a way to promote fertility. Not that we need help with that, indeed we make efforts to prevent it, but we like the broader sense of the term. That all of life will be fertile. So we keep ours up. It's meant to be changed at Halloween. We couldn't find any then but Joy brought us some from the entire yard waste bag of it her parents gave her from their yard. Next, we like the idea of keeping the fire burning all day, an ode to the sun and the fact that our days will now begin getting longer. We can't have a real fire in our fireplace because it will smoke us out. So we burn the candles in there all day. And, one of our own choosing, we select a dinner comprised entirely of comfort food. Tonight, a hefty risotto involving a bolognese. I think I'll have some tea to chase it. I like to keep the day low key and close to home. The girls and I spent some time in front of our fireplace on the sofa, looking at my and Jeremiah's wedding photo album. It was fun, two tiny, warm bodies on either side of me, pointing at the pictures. Kate named everyone she could. Sarah just made comical, disparaging comments about her gene pool.


We give the girls one earth-related gift for the solstice. This year it's a funky bird feeder of Kate's choosing. To my dismay, I realized I don't have a hook for it. Back to the hardware store with me! But tomorrow. Because tonight is all about hanging out in my jammies. Hope your day is cozy!

Lights in the attic

People keep asking me if Kate is now old enough to "get it" in reference to Christmas. Yes, I know exactly what they mean, but every time someone asks my mind whirls with all the potential definitions of "getting it" to which one might refer regarding the season. Oh, it's heavy alright. Has she embraced the spirit of giving? Does she understand the symbolism between light, the renewal of life (seasons cycle) and the idea of the birth of a savior who would subsequently die and be reborn? What Santa Claus has to do with it? The point of dragging a tree indoors?

The other night when we went to Steve & Joy's for the girls' sleepover, I let Kate bring their gift inside. I handed it to her when she emerged from the car and I said "I see Uncle Steve through the window, give him this and say 'Merry Christmas, I made this for you!'" I tell her stuff like that all the time and she never gets anywhere close to remembering her lines. Steve opened the door, Kate stepped inside, proffered the gift bag and very sweetly said "Merry Christmas! I made this for you!" I was surprised to note that it was nearly 20 minutes before Kate suggested that perhaps she should get a gift...

Last night Rusty and Jennifer stopped by with gifts for Kate & Sarah. Kate was watching them get out of their car and ran to greet them at the door. She opened the door and they said hello and she said "Do you have a gift for me?", like the troll at the bridge.

When people ask me that question, "Does Kate get it now?" I sigh and say "Oh yeah. She gets it".