Small pleasures: respite


We lost power for a little while last night, which is a rare thing for us around here.  We live in a community where the power lines are mostly underground, so wind and ice storms and falling trees don't cause major power outages the way they do in some other parts of the area. 


But last night some sort of mechanical something happened (that was the technical expanation given by the power company), and our whole neck of the woods went dark.  And silent.


The girl in charge and I both stumbled around in the dark, bereft without our DVD players and Facebooks and and good reading lights.  Meanwhile the sunny girl calmly went around the house lighting candles.


The husband was in his Scout leader element, wearing a spelunking lamp on his head while he put fresh batteries in a tent lantern. 


I found the "read in bed while your husband is sleeping" book light that my sister gave me for Christmas -- and kept on reading.

 
 
It was kind of nice.

Snow Day!

So the urchins are skipping with glee as we sip our hot chocolate, enjoying the first snow day of the year. We should be digging out from under the nearly two feet of snow that fell on Saturday, but do you really think that's how we roll?

Check out our back deck over the course of the storm:

Midnight -- Friday into Saturday

9:00 a.m. Saturday

1:00 p.m. Saturday

4:00 p.m. Saturday

Midnight Saturday into Sunday

Our final total was nineteen inches, which of course shut the entire region down. I know that this snowfall total makes us seem like pikers to folks who live in New England, or the Great Lakes area, or the Rockies. Whatever -- don't be a hater!

We used the time to get the lights on our Christmas tree. Yes. I know that the Big Day arrives momentarily. Did I not tell you that we like to saunter into the Christmas season? -- which Catholic purists will tell you doesn't actually begin until December 25 anyway. I have friends who don't even put their tree up until Christmas Eve -- on purpose! Now that's counter-cultural!

I don't have political reasons for waiting to get my tree up and my Christmas trinkets displayed. I am just intrinsically lazy -- and I have plenty of things to stress out about without adding decorating angst to the list.

My husband and I perfected the "one person wears the lights while the other person strings the lights" technique years ago -- and this year the oldest girl learned from the master.

He believes strongly in the squint method for making sure lights are spaced properly to ensure that perfect, even glow. Try it -- squint at your tree so that your vision is a little blurry. Glasses wearers -- just take your glasses off! If your lights are placed well, your tree will glow evenly. Gaps in the lighting show up very clearly. Don't thank me -- I'm just glad to help.

The decorations might actually get put up today, but stay tuned because it's noon and I'm still in my pajamas. Because (you guessed it) that's how we roll on a snow day!

Blessings are thick on the ground around here!

I know we're supposed to be decking the halls all over the place by now, but my family has always sauntered into this process instead of rushing. So before the mad frenzy of fa-la-la-ing overtakes me, I did want to tell you now that we did have the best Thanksgiving!

We feel so fortunate this year that we are all healthy, and that we are warm and safe and well-fed.

This time last year my husband was gallivanting about the Middle East, so we are so glad that he is home with us -- and that our home is in America.

And our friends are such a gift!

There are no words to describe this wider family of loved ones who make our lives so full. This year we just had to stop counting our blessings because we ran out of fingers and toes!

Hometown homecoming parade

Every year, the Homecoming parade winds its way through our neighborhood as it heads toward the high school; this has become one of the highlights of the fall season for my urchins and me. I love this parade, which has not changed one bit since I marched in it escorting the senior class float in 1979 (Class of '80! GO, MIGHTY VIKINGS!!).

tangent: You may have noticed from an earlier post that my high school urchins go to a different high school; our county offers the opportunity to attend "specialty programs" at magnet schools, and my urchins go to a school that specializes in international studies and languages -- which is terrific for me because instead of kicking them out the door so they can ride a bus for a minute and a half (people, we can hear the neighborhood high school band practicing from our house), I get to haul their asses thirty minutes across town every morning. I'm not bitter.

The Mighty Viking Marching Band, the floats and the fire trucks all line up a block away from our house. Families gather on the curb, and kids bring their Halloween buckets and bags because e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e throws candy to the spectators!

I love seeing everyone respond as the American flag passes by at the beginning of the parade; the kids seem to be the first one to jump to their feet.

The cheerleaders ride on top of the fire trucks -- lucky!

All the local politicians show up for this parade -- their last chance for an informal, no-pressure, patriotic community event before the election next month. Woe unto the county supervisor or candidate for delegate who runs out of candy or stickers -- we voters have long memories!

The Army Jr. R.O.T.C. units do a great job singing jodies and marching to the cadence. The drill team always stops and performs about halfway through -- fabulous!

Here's the amazing marching band drum major, who does all this tricky marching/conducting/dancing -- and does it backwards! I offer this in place of what should have been a picture of the Homecoming court, but I saw my oldest girl's best friend marching with the crew team and she and I got excited and we were hugging each other, and then the homecoming court had passed us by along with the crew team, and she had to run to catch up.

It's that kind of parade.