Christmas Mania

Have I told you how much I love being a Mom?  Sometimes I wonder what the heck I ever did with my time before the wee-one.  I seemed so busy, always running.  Surely the pre-kid "me" didn't have such noble duties to accomplish daily.  Yet I am more on top of my game now than I ever was with so much more free-time on my hands.  How is that possible?

This Christmas has been one of the most festive since I moved out and had to start creating my own holiday magic.  With Ro old enough to be in the Santa conversation and the idea of giving gifts one that she can now wrap her head around, it's been awesome!  We've made ornaments, she single handedly decorated our tree and she has suggestions for what we should buy for others (Uncle Chuck almost got a 'decorate it yourself' stuffed animal kit).  My Christmas spirit is through the roof!  I've made a "Merry Christmas" banner for our window, a salt dough garland for over the t.v. and transformed the shallow shelving into a snow scene with lights, snow flakes and construction paper trees.  Also, I decided that at this year's OTP Christmas party, we'd ditch the ornament decorating of the last 2 years and make gingerbread houses.  Ethan and I constructed 11 graham cracker houses last night and tonight they are being adorned with all sorts of goodies at the party.
And what about shopping for your own kid?!  Last year we didn't buy her anything.  This year I can hardly contain myself.  I know that gifts don't equal happiness, and I can't freaking wait to see her open the things we've picked out.  She's gonna LOVE it.  I even got her one more thing (I had said I was finished, you see) at the Disney store yesterday.  I think I need to be quarantined to my house.

Merry Christmas!

They call me Bunny. Easter Bunny.

I promised a post about the Easter bunny...I forgot.  Here 'tis:
I was the Easter bunny.  Me.  There I am.

That's my kid, not afraid of me at all because she was there when I tried on the outfit.  She thought it was pretty cool.  My job as the E.B. was to wander around Old Town and hand out suckers to kids and take pictures.  Lemme just tell you, it was pretty fun!  Despite the drop of sweat that hung from the tip of my nose for an hour, despite that I could only see the top third of adult's bodies and, therefore, not the kids at all, it was fun.  Parents were eager to have their children stand near me, a freakishly gigantic rabbit, to take a photo.  Weird thing: as a person with a bunny head on, smiling is not required in photos (although this is a very tough habit to break). Here's my kid running up to me saying loudly, "Are you in there Momma?!"

Now she thinks I am in every large animal costume.  We saw a photo of the guys with the Coca Cola bear and she said, "Is that you Momma?".  Hm.  At least my greatest fear (having my kid be terrified of me) was a non-issue.  And who knows, maybe I'll step up and volunteer next year too?

Easter....eggs...oh, no

It's safe to say that I am hyper-aware of the things I want my child to remember.  As if I have a choice, ha!  I treasure and fondly reminisce on yearly traditions I had as a wee-one.  I am certain most of the memories weren't choreographed by my parents either, which takes my hovering to a new silliness-level.

So consider me: mom who wants to create smiley memories at every turn, and add into the mix Easter (a holiday traditionally marked by egg coloring)  along with new-found veganism.

My tradition-o-meter was flashing and honking and steaming and raising a ruckus that had my blood pressure rising and tears forming in my eyes as I considered that egg dying my not be in my child's future.  I spend a good few minutes freaking out about this.  Then, all hail the internet, I checked in with my vegan brethren and found my new traditions!

As my wise old Uncle Joe told me (nearly 6 years ago- so don't quote me verbatim): we are making a new family, with new traditions and new habits- you are a new unit, the old one is still there, but this one is for you to take and make your own.

My Uncle Joe married us, but before he would he wanted to meet with us and chat some.  Good move, Uncle.  I remember that ALL the time.  I cherish it.  It gives me permission to be a new family, unbounded by the old one and free to make new choices, if that is what we want to do.

Our new tradition looks like this: cover a small balloon with tissue paper painted over with a flour/water mixture, let it dry and pop the balloon to get it out.  Fill the "egg" with goodies (this year will be stickers, Annie's gummy bunnies, and something else) and then hide the eggs Saturday after the wee-one falls asleep.

OH MY GOSH I CANNOT WAIT!

I love, love, LOVE watching my kid explore new experiences.  It's like crack for me- I get so amped up to see what she'll do, how she'll problem solve, her excitement at figuring things out.  What a rush!  I guess vegan Easter won't be ruined after all.

On a related note: stay tuned for an unlikely Easter bunny story, coming soon to this blog near you.....

So faaaar away, doesn't anybody stay...

Why does family spread?  Boo for family spreading.

Our Christmas was family coming back together for a few precious days to love, cook, wander and laugh heartily with each other.  Men folk went out to shoot empty bottles and cans in the beautiful high desert and women folk gathered in sunny spots on chairs to chat about, well, anything and everything.  In the cool dark hours, after bellies were full to brimming and wine glasses were replenished we all sat around together and laughed voraciously at things that would hardly translate into re-countable words.  Cheeks ached and tears streamed.  "Good times" is all at once the perfect description and an understatement.

My father's family is the kind of people who I can count on to extrovert love upon me and to fold me into to their fabric as if I had been there the whole time.  I feel a freedom being held in such love and I get swept up in emotional upheavals when I watch my child have the same experience.

It was a special Christmas.

We're special people

We're creative

We can be pretty entertaining

We're gorgeous

We love to have fun (and force our children to take a picture mid-fun, before sending them on their merry way)

And we love each other to pieces

It's a pretty rad time to be a Joris (I still lay claim to the name don'tcha know) and now I know why my dad made up a chant about how awesome it is to bear such a name.  This one's for my peeps down south, Joris Pride!