We had two long rest times with the television, trying to recover from the excitement of the day before, and enjoyed the Thanksgiving Day parade (bless DVR and fast forwarding through the boring bits! Though now the kids ask me to "rewind" or "pause" when we do stuff!). They liked Sesame Street, Yo Gabba Gabba, and the "Rockheads" (read Rockettes) the best. And they had several questions about Santa at the end. Sis wanted to know if that was the real Santa. Goodness, I know she's going to realize he doesn't look like the one at the mall because she's observant like that. Not that she will go have pictures taken--we have one, I think, from their first Christmas, and that's it. Anyway, do you think she'll believe there's an NYC Santa and a CT Santa?? They spent the rest of the day asking when Christmas is, not grasping the length of a month. I think we'll be picking up some advent calendars at the store this week, you know, the paper ones with little flaps that I so loved (and kept year after year) as a child. It will help them count. Besides, they love keeping things next to their beds on their shelves--they even put their individual Christmas trees there (but only after sorting out who got which ornament). I think Sis even has her wooden Tomie dePaolo-like creche by her bed (last time I looked, the wise men were riding the stable animals!). I think I've mentioned how much she loves the Baby Jesus and his mother Mary (who is important because she is THE MOM). Indeed, she's quite a Marianist these days, studying closely the statue of Mary in a grotto in a neighbor's front yard, looking for Mary all over the Met last week (she decided on her own, mostly rightly, that any woman in blue with a baby is Mary. She's reading for Art History 101: Ancient to Renaissance! Except the main Neapolitan creche at the Met has Mary in pink which, while Sis's favorite color, is just not right!), trying to spot the creches as they've gone up around town this weekend.
Then, today, they found the gingerbread house kits that I purchased on sale last year after Christmas to use this year (they don't expire, frighteningly!), and so, by 9 a.m. this morning, I was whipping up royal icing and plastering together sheets of gingerbread. The roof went on right as we all headed out the door--me to a surprise birthday party (happy 40th, Miss D!) and the kids with Mama to buy more candy for the houses! For almost two hours this afternoon, we decorated houses. I had icing in my hair, candy stuck under the radiator, sprinkles everywhere. Fun is messy. Bud favors the more-is-better approach while Sis prefers a more minimalist aesthetic--she even choose her candy based on color (pink) and shape (chocolate-covered gummi bears) and not taste (she only tasted one bear and didn't like them at all). Bud chose his favorites to eat. I'll post some pictures once we take some in the sun tomorrow so you can see all the layers upon layers of candy and icing. And they are ready to do it again tomorrow. Sis was just going to remove the candy and do it again; Bud wants another complete house. I ask you, where are we going to keep two whole gingerbread houses for the next 4 weeks??
Finally, tonight, we dressed the kids in pajamas and headed out to the Fantasy of Lights in New Haven, where an entire park is decorated with lit figures such as the little drummer boy, penguins, dinosaurs, carousel horses, bunnies, and of course Santa. We could see the park across the water as we entered New Haven and were lucky not to hit any crowds as we arrived there. We almost had the whole park to ourselves and enjoyed seeing the different displays. Sure, these days, my neighbor's front yard, with 7 or so inflatable, lit, musical features is more elaborate and high-tech than the park, but there's something charming about simple lights on wire frames. And it's all for a good cause--Easter Seals and Goodwill receive the admission proceeds. The kids liked it a lot and are excited to take Gommie and Pop, when they're here for Christmas, in a month. Yep, in a month. December isn't even quite here yet and we're already well into celebrating. Really, what's there left to do?
I'm sure we'll think of something.
No comments:
Post a Comment