Catching up... with gratitude

It was a lovely November for sure, from the looks of my Thirty Days entries.  It is becoming one of my favorite traditions, the daily gratitude blog in the days leading up to Thanksgiving.  Something about a reflective daily practice helps time to spread out a bit, with all the noticing. 

I am grateful for a long November.

Then-- suddenly-- it was Thanksgiving!  And birthdays!  And December!  So soon!

The holidays are upon us and we are about 80% ready to launch.  I am loving our decorations this year and the Christmas music on the radio and my giddy-excited little ones bounding to their Advent calendars each morning, and I am grateful for all of it.

I'd just like it to slow down a bit.  At least enough for me to write about it all!

So here goes.  In a few moments stolen between CircleFest and our holiday photo shoot this morning, and my WSC concert tonight, I'd love to tell you about our Thanksgiving.

A quick Facebook conversation between a few cousins led to a table in the breezeway at Aunt Pat's house that looked like this:

 ... and the back-in-time view of my aunts working in the kitchen, here at Grandma Gertie's house.

 

In my mind's eye was the overall of green appliances and the little round-ended breakfast bar, old wood cabinets and my tiny grandmother, eyes sparkling, pulling out the swiss cheese and crackers and hugs for us all.

I love that Aunt Pat has kept so many things the same in this house, this place of soft and gentle memories from my childhood..

This Thanksgiving Grandma Gertie was in all of our hearts as we gathered 23 relatives for lots of conversation and enough food to feed several small nations.  The only people missing were my Dad and Ana-- and thanks to the magic of Skype they joined us for part of the meal, passed around on the screen of my phone for boisterous greetings as we passed food and clattered serving dishes.  We only dropped them in the mashed potatoes once.

I love my family.  They are loud and honest and loving, irreverent and loyal and welcoming to all.  I am so happy to have these opportunities to become friends with my cousins now that we're all adults and age differences aren't that noticeable any more.

My favorite moments of the day?  Watching Jack and Ivy becoming fast friends with the newest generation of Strasburg cousins:  Kyler, Emma, John-John, Lauren and Sarah.  Especially when they gathered on the carpet outside the magical light-up coat closet of all toys.  Another back-in-time moment-- watching them I was 8 years old again, eagerly opening that same door to step into the world of little people and vintage dolls that awaited inside, a secret just for me.  

I am so grateful for this opportunity to give them these memories, too.  

Fall Leaves, redux

 I'm really going to miss fall this year.

It's been good to us.

On a treat of a two-and-a-half day weekend (a perk of late-night conferences last Thursday), we got in one more perfect fall afternoon, with a hike to the stream in Bedford.

  The kids both hiked down and back on their own power, with enthusiasm and many side trips to investigate moss and stones, and to search again and again for the perfect walking stick.  I

By Sunday the weather had turned back to November on us.  But we made the best of it by painting several basement walls in fresh, bright blue and yellow "oops" paint, and rearranging our dining and living room configurations.  Why not undertake several major projects in one day?  We're currently getting used to the new rooms (not sure if I love it but I DO love the cleaned and organized sideboard we got out of the deal), slowly carrying on with the basement project, and marveling at just how incredibly fast a month can go.  Holidays are coming soon, winter prowling around the corner ...
but I will hold on to fall for just a little longer, I think.

Fall leaves

Yesterday graced us with a perfect fall day, chilly and breezy and crisp.  The leaves are tumbling down now with a vengeance.  So what else to do but rake?

 

 It's easy to forget what fun it is to jump into a pile of leaves.   It was a perfect way to spend the afternoon.

 

Saving the daylight...

Facebook has been abuzz with invectives on the evils of daylight savings time.  The unfairness of it all, the havoc it wreaks upon the sleep schedules of the young and unsuspecting.

Usually, I am inclined to agree.  I don't even get to enjoy that extra hour of light in the morning.  It will still be dark at 5am tomorrow.

But today, just for today, I am a DST fan.  I am so grateful that we got an extra hour of today.

It was not a newsworthy day, not at all.  Just an ordinary Sunday.  We stayed close to home, we did mundane tasks, and there were no earthshattering changes to our lives.

There was, however, magnificent fall sunshine to be had in abundance.  Fifty-degree temperatures with a slight crisp breeze.  And that fall foliage that I thought couldn't get any better?  It did.  The leaves were breathtaking, laying themselves brazenly against the autumn-thinned blue of the sky.

New England's got nothing on Cleveland Heights when it comes to leaves.

Driving home through Lakeview after our perfect jaunt to Wade Oval, the Art Museum, and the sculpture garden and pond, we were hit all over again by just how lucky we are to have all of this right in our backyard.  That we can have a close-to-home day that just happens to include world-class art, a fall foliage tour, and a serene walk around a small, glittering lake.

How amazing that our children get to grow up taking this for granted.

Other highlights of this weekend include:  resale shopping with Jack and lunch with Gram, a fun birthday party at the Little Gym, the Cleveland Heights rec center chili cook-off (and an unexpected chance to visit with some friends), a great Skype session with Grandpa and Vovo (the kids are finally getting the hang of talking on the video-phone, I think) as well as deep-cleaning the playroom, making a lot of meatloaf, and doing yoga as a family after dinner.

Not to mention the fact that both kids are in bed at 8:00 tonight.

I'll take an extra hour, anytime.