Christmas in Vermont

2013 was a Vermont year for Christmas.  We delayed traveling by a day to avoid a big ice storm, but ended up getting a half inch ice coating on the forward facing surfaces of the car during our drive out on route 2 anyway.  Then the Route 2 Diner was closed!  We nearly perished!

Later in the week Katie and Tim did some running when it was below zero.  One side benefit was the frozen beard:

Christmas itself was perfect and time in Glover passed like air through the screen door.  Relaxing a little, exercising a little, cooking and eating, socializing a bit.  Tracking turkeys.  Building trains and helicopters, reading, sleeping, laughing.

We also got to visit our old friends the Walsh Dalozes in Montpelier.  Maeve is so big and Hazel so irresistible!  They are all in great form, and doing very well.

We experimented mightily with sledding with the WDs.

See what I mean about Hazel and Maeve?  Wow and wow.  We like Susie too.

Grandma Marie and Grandpa Topher trudged along with us on our annual ski trip to Craftsbury.  They were the bad guys, naturally.

Four successful skiers.

Grandma Marie and Grandpa Topher taking turns reading books at night.

We realize in retrospect that we have been taking a huge quantity of pictures of little Reid as he dances between being a big boy and the last remnants of a babe.  And, so, here they are, because this won't last forever:

A Brownington sleighride!

Christmas decor

My appreciation for Christmas decorations (even the kitschy variety) has gone way up with kids. We love unpacking the box of Christmas decorations every year. Some of my favorites are those made by people we know and love. Here's a random selection:

Liam's nutcracker painting from this year:

Grandma Marie's advent calendar:

Great grandma Betty's Santa and angel advent calendar:

Grandma Sal's felt ornaments from Mom and Dad's New York graduate school days:

The stockings I made for Liam and Reid in California out of old Christmas dresses from the free box in our community laundry room:

This mother and child painting from Tanzania:

The clay birdhouse I made in high school, which has now become part of our wild and crazy, multicultural, multi-species nativity Christmas scene:

All sorts of ornaments gifted from grandparents and Aunt Marcia in years past:

The beleaguered Santa I made in kindergarten (foreground) and the striped stocking made for me when I was a kid by my Aunt Kristen:

Ornaments from our Christmases in India (this one is a Rajasthani keychain):

Ornaments passed down to us from Granny Dody:

The salt cookie ornaments we made last year (this one is a Concorde airplane, naturally):

Reid's Christmas tree from last year – the dude likes bling:

Our depictions of "Bumble Man" and company – last year's obsession:

And this year's "stained glass votives":

Phew, pardon the extensive list! Thanks to all those who have helped us create our family tradition of Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

Solstice Giving

This year as our holiday gift for neighbors, we made homemade stained glass votives.

We started with old glasses from the thrift shop. Then we glued on tissue paper and outlined it in permanent pen.

The kids were vaguely involved, and Liam soon started making more practical gifts: creature power disks with drawings of animals that give the wearers the powers of those animals when they put them on their shirts.

Yesterday evening we toured the neighborhood delivering our gifts:

Happy winter solstice!

The amazing puzzle machine!

Our dear friends, the Hansons have done it again. They are not only generous but also unbelievably creative. This gift was one of two. The other was a set of handmade gorgeous artistic postcards. This was a build-it-yourself contraption from the UK. And it's awesome! 

Thanks Chris and Christine!

Thanksgiving and winter