Book Club, Baking & the Bazaar

Advent :: Day 11 :: Create

The daily advent is getting a bit stale with me, but the boy enjoys his daily early morning reveal.  We started the week by sitting around the table and doing a little painting and print making.  A really inspirational book called Drawing and Painting Imaginary Animals by Carla Sonheim set the tone for our painting. I stuck to blobs of watercolor and added black Micron pen lines to add eyes, noses and definition to my make-believe animals.  Grady drew an intricate dragon battle scene and painstakingly painted it in.  I absolutely love sitting around the table and listening to him tell me about his process, his creation and his intention with the piece he's working on.  I like when he tries to encourage me, too.

12:12 pm on 12.12.12

Day 12.12.12 left me scrambling for an Advent idea.  This is the lame one I came up with.  Yes, I had already planned on making a smoothie with the last of our hand-picked summer strawberries.  So it would seem a bit of an easy out?  Yes, but I needed the creative break because I would be wrapping, tagging, writing notes, tying ribbons and adorning boxes of Xmas cheer to pop in the mail today.

Dig It! Chorus + Best Friends

The 4th - 8th grade musical production of Dig It! was a roaring success.  Grady was in the chorus and the children did such a beautiful job singing their little hearts out and nailing their lines.  As expected, I teared up at the final song and just thoroughly enjoyed the music, the message and the feeling of being part of this small school community.

Advent :: Day 13

We had our first morning frost on the 13th.  It was a cold and brisk walk to let the chickens out this morning and I did my best to stay inside, drink tea and enjoy the solitude of our home.  

Exploding Heart Stamp carved by moi

Our much anticipated book club selection was Fifty Shades of Grey this month and was hosted by Katy K.  And while the book was horrible and dubbed as housewife porn (yes, indeed) - the food, hospitality and laughter was a nice antidote to the sub-par writing and unrealistic characters from this book.

The highlight of the week was the annual Tomales Elementary School Holiday Bazaar.  This little event consists of mostly donated items from parents & local community members and is sponsored by the PTA.  The children "shop" for up to 10 items at 50 cents a piece.  The dedicated wrappers wrap over 1,000 presents in approximately five hours.  The tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary was occurring at the same time, unbeknownst to me.  In the festive bubble that we were in at the school gym, lots of good-hearted people helped over 120 kindergartners through fifth graders select previously loved items to bestow upon their loved ones.  Their spirit was pure and giving (and often funny!).  My heart ached as I slid into bed that night and read the news of the day.  

Heartbreaking.

Devastating.

Senseless.

The night belonged to the guys.  As the sun set and I hibernated in the back part of the house, my two guys spent a few hours mindlessly playing video games and enjoying each other's company.

Simple.
Sweet.
Bonding.

Advent :: Day 15

Saturday morning was a flurry of making.  The canine cookies have been a staple for the last four years and I just love gifting these to our doggie friends.  See our original packaging & recipe for 2010 here and 2011 here.  G creates the artwork and helps mix up the batter and I help keep the production line going and push us towards the finish line.

This year's packaging.  Molly is still his muse.

Isaiah, Grady (9.5 yrs), Isabella (11 yrs), Sophia (9 yrs) + Jocelyn
All dressed up in their party clothes & ready to see Santa

The Jenner Community Xmas party is a thing of beauty.  The Community Center is transformed into a winter wonderland with festive lights, two trees, xmas music, a huge buffet, mismatched china & place settings set out for approximately 90 people.  And while we don't live in Jenner, we are part of their extended community and treasure this invite every single year.

The children's table was the sweetest touch this year

This weekend found all of us a bit over-scheduled and hitting burnout mode.  Emotions were high with the boy and the floodgate of tears were opened Saturday and continued on throughout the weekend.

I had asked Grady to write his letter to Santa.  Writing is something we have to prod him to do.  I think he's a very imaginative storyteller, but he hates the actual putting pen to paper and writing it out.  As he attempted a few first drafts, he became sad and broke down sobbing.  He shared that he felt overwhelmed and climbed into my bed for a good, hard cry.

As I quietly wiped away his tears him and rubbed his back, I was reminded that he is teetering on a precipice between being a boy and a young man.  But he articulated his feelings so very well and for that I was grateful!  I feel overwhelmed, mom, and I don't know why.  Oh, I feel that way, too, and  don't often pause long enough to own it.  I push on and then it all wells up and comes out in other ways that I'm not so proud of.  I was elated & relieved that he could share these emotions and we chatted about what was important about this season and how we can give of ourselves and hope to make others happy in doing so.

After a short rest, he got out of bed and busted out the above persuasive letter to Santa.  I think he knows that the end is near with the Big Guy and this was part of his emotional outcry.  He knows that we are not getting him an iPod Touch or any more Lego sets.  I also know that this was one of the contributing factors to his emotional meltdown, but he sure did put all he had in this letter (with perfect penmanship and all!).

Mom, it feels awkward to sit on Santa's Lap.  Do I have to?

When he finally did get to see Santa, he politely declined the offer to sit on his lap.  He stood up and quietly asked for a camouflage t-shirt.  He then received a bag of goodies from the man in red and said thank you.

When I asked him why he didn't ask for the Lego set, he quietly said I don't think he gives that kind of stuff, mom.

It's hard watching him navigate this emotional roller coaster this season, but I know the growth and experience will help him as he grows a little taller and more independent and into the young man that I can't wait to get to know.