Chicagoing

After opening presents and attending church on Christmas Day, we hopped on a plane and landed in Chicago to spend a few days with my parents and siblings. My aunt and uncle had offered their home to us while they were away for Christmas and it was a wonderful site to gather, smack in the middle of the country.

Joy! It's the first time we've all been together for 5+ years.  It was time.

So that's where I've been:

spending hours around the table

reading on the sofas

going to the Chicago Art Institute

and Berghoffs (remember when I went there with Sam a couple of summers ago? they fixed their sign)

singing around the piano

and doing Muppet impersonations (Chris's Animal ftw)

My people. I love them.

I miss them already.

Hallelujah

Hope your weekend is filled with both joyful noise

and peace

Sending love and best wishes to you all!

. . .

p.s. I must admit I posted the Nativity Carol last year but it's still my favorite.
And something about that wintry Alaskan Hallelujah video gets me every time.

Nesting and pruning

Today I realized that I'm having kind of a rebellious, who says holiday:

Who says you have to decorate your tree before December 23rd? 
Who says you have to have Christmas cards all made and sent by now*?
Who says you have to stress over every little detail?
Who says you have to say yes to every invitation or event that comes along?

Certainly not me, not this year anyway.

It feels good to have all my chicks under my wing. Some Decembers I love darting around, bringing home little bits and treats to the nest, thriving on the bustle and the go, go, go. This year I just want to nest right here, thankyouverymuch (with a special thanks to Amazon, my gal Friday). We've jettisoned the parts that were stressful and tried to keep the meaningful bits for this precious stretch of days when we're all together. Someday we'll have a more high energy holiday again but this year, we needed hygge.

Tonight we put a few ornaments on the tree (we wanted to wait for Lauren to be home) and pulled out a gingerbread house kit we still had in the basement left over from last year:

It was great. Epiphany: The holiday season can be whatever you need it to be.

And who says your gingerbread walls have to meet exactly at the corners? 

. . .

*We'll still plan on doing cards eventually; we just had to wait for the college girl to get home to do photos [Note to self: take photos in the summer from now on].

A very French Newsie Waldo Halloween

where's Waldo?

Oh, dear. My moustache needs help. (I mustache you a question but I'll shave it for later)

Halloween was postponed (or in some cases canceled, gasp!) in neighboring towns due to power outages from the weekend storm. Our town had power and Halloween in tact so we had record numbers of trick-or-treaters in our parts (our neighborhood is fondly known as "Mayberry" to locals). I think I gave out at least 600 pieces of candy? I lost track of how many bags we opened and I even had to break into Bishop G's special stash of candy.

Best of all, we had some friends over who have young little trick-or-treaters, making our whole evening. Nothing like Halloween through the eyes of young kids. 

1-2-3...Psych!

1-2-3...Jump!

Ringing it in

This year our first night was...just right (Goldilocks would be so proud).

Progressive dinner + revelry x 7 families = very happy evening for 32 people

1. dinner at our house (featuring aebleskivers by G) 

2. giant round of the game Celebrities

3. travel to H family house, make festive hats

4. ...like this one

5. light sparklers

6. combine festive hat and sparklers (isn't he a good sport?)

7. play more games, then toast the new year with ginger ale

Then, watch movies all night (option 1) or go home to sleep and return for breakfast and games and sledding and, later, chili for lunch (option 2). I'll leave you to guess who chose which option.