Count down to caught up...

in 5, 4, 3...

I just couldn't keep up. It must be the loss of daylight hours. Almost every day I have lots of thoughts I want to share, but by nightfall, which now is before dinner time, I'm tired and ready to curl up with a book.

November was all about baking. Lots and lots of pumpkin baking (it's Jon's favorite) and a few other things as well, like chili, and cranberry salad, and mulled cider.

November has also been about Greece. Ancient, Dark, Classical, Athenian, you name it. We started with the Minoans on Crete, moved on to the Mycenaeans on the peninsula, and from there it was a Trojan War fest, with Rosemary Sutcliff and Michael Wood. Myths and Mus and philosophers, oh my. Only this week did we make it into the Athenian Age and start looking at the great philosophers and the emergence of Greek Tragedy. We also started learning Greek. Why not? It's hard to tell who loves the topic more, and we're having a great time as usual.

The final days of football, the final days of sunny warm weather...that's November. And Thanksgiving, of course. We're sensitive to the issue of Thanksgiving in our house. I don't think there is a simple answer to the meaning of the holiday. In addition to the parade and plenty of football, this year we also watched a couple of videos from the History Channel that traced the true history of the holiday—Converted harvest festival? Commemoration of a group of uptight religious founders? Noxious remembrance of a kindness gone wrong in the end?

But the safe thing about the holiday is its connection to the harvest home celebration, the celebration of family and the warmth of good times and good food.

We headed north this year, braving traffic and some obscene weather conditions to celebrate with extended family, some of whom is relatively new to us, and regardless of football outcomes, we had a great time. And plenty—plenty—of good food. Plus we found that Black Friday shopping in a small town is actually enjoyable.

Place card crafts

Computer programming

Mourning football

Tug-of-war

Oz Fluxx

Local eating

Local shopping

Local brewery

Wild weather

Carcassonne

Beautiful snow (plus a squirrel)

Which brings me to today, which doesn't feel like today. Not if today is after Thanksgiving, already several days into the supposed Christmas season. With Thanksgiving being early this year, and us being out of town, our usual Christmas vim and vigor has yet to arrive, so I am declaring next weekend the first weekend of Christmas in our home. In the mean time, it's back to the Greek and the Greeks, and a few other fun things on the burner.

Vacation, the final installment

The Fourth of July, our one final full day in the haven of the north. Jon and Calvin spent the morning on the public beach in Harbor Springs (our fifth beach of the trip, making us connoisseurs), while Lonnie and shopped the art fair and mingled with the over-heated crowd. The heat was creeping in, and so were the crowds, so we skipped the parade in favor of naps away from the sun, and nature watching from the comfort of a couch by a fan's breeze. You don't see frogs and kingfishers that way, but song birds, squirrels, and apparently turkeys, are abundant. Another delightful dinner on the breezy deck, then we headed into town to set ourselves up on the bluff over the football field for a breathtaking view the fireworks, and from that vantage point we could see not only Harbor's fireworks, but Petoskey's as well, and caught glimpses of the shows in Boyne City and Charlevoix as well.

We are home now. We drove home on the fifth, dodging violent storms that had entered the area, and arrived to enjoy the last few days of the heat emergency that had settled on our home lands. It had been hot up north, but not like it was at home. We are not used to heat in or near to the triple digits, especially for several days in a row, and for the first real time since we moved in four years ago (aside from the occasional test) we actually gave our air conditioner a workout. The good side to the heat, if there is one, is that it did not feel like a punishment to be trapped inside all day Friday unpacking, running loads of laundry, and completing the myriad of chores that always awaits those returning from vacation. We spent today inside, too, reading and playing games in the comfort of conditioned air, but the weather finally broke this evening, temperatures dipping well below the ninety degree mark while thunder rumbled outside, and our house is once again open to the beautiful night air and its soothing sounds.

Swimming and playing on the public beach in Harbor Springs

The colors of nature: two goldfinches and a cardinal

Even the squirrels were hot

Turkey in the front yard

On the bluff over the stadium in Harbor Springs, the bay in the background

The boys playing on the football field before the fireworks

Fireworks in Petoskey and Harbor Springs

Fireworks in Harbor Springs

Valentines...it's the new Halloween

Who knew. Being members now of our local homeschooling group we have greatly enjoyed participating in the party rites of passage. First the Halloween party, then the holiday party, and now the Valentines party. I spent about a week planning different cards we could make by hand until, with several other things going on, I was forced to admit that we are free-time challenged. So yesterday we went shopping for cards, but that just served to make me lament our lack of crafting time even more. Calvin didn't really want to give cards with message like "you've been running through my mind" or "you make my heart go crazy", so we bought the simplest of the cards, which happened to be Disney's traditional characters saying things like "you're on the the right track, valentine" or a simple "happy Valentines Day".

And then, just like birthdays with their newly overflowing favor bags, Valentines Day is no longer about class cupcakes and simple cards, it's about the favors attached to said cards. I'm blown away, and that makes me feel old. Calvin opted for cute little heart erasers in Valentines colors, which I attached to the cards with a dab of hot glue. And with the ordeal of preparation over (not so much an ordeal since he loved every minute of it), we joined our group for an afternoon of cookie decorating, bingo playing, and card exchanging. We renewed our Halloween candy offer and even after keeping two pieces Calvin made $5 selling the rest to us.

It was fun.

Up north for new years, 2012

We always head to northern lower Michigan to celebrate a late Christmas and an on-time New Years with my Godmother. It's a trip we look forward to immensely for the silliness, serenity, and snow. Weather is weird this year, and we thought we were out of luck on that last bullet point, but nature delivered just as we were looking to head home, and we got an extra day out of that timing. As for the other two wish list items—silliness is no problem, but serenity is always at an arm's length with a five-year-old. Still, two out of three isn't bad.

More Christmas? Such a lucky boy. Look at those wonderful penguins.

Blue (the dog, not the Christmas)

Sleepy-heads

A cherry-berry pie from Jesperson's in Petoskey, photo taken five—literally five—minutes after we got home with it, still warm from their heavenly ovens.

The bushes were masquerading as dog/bear/snow/burlap people so Jack Frost (and possibly the deer) wouldn't recognize them. I was thoroughly fooled.

Jon and I got some of that serenity we were looking for by heading out the store for some last-minute necessities on New Year's Eve. To extend it a bit we walked, and we also added a few things to list of "necessities" that took us not only to the grocery store, but also into our favorite quaint little town, Harbor Springs. Whose to say that we wouldn't find "necessities" at their little book store?

Bot Bie is a family food tradition. It fits the definition of comfort food to tee—warm, filling, and not so very good for you.

You'd think he'd done all the cooking...

Last nap of 2011.

And finally the snow has arrived.

This is what a chickadee looks like head-on. He makes me giggle.

The bear/dog/snow/burlap people say "Happy New Year!"

And now we're home, the blog is "caught up", Michigan has won the Sugar Bowl (in a not-so-pretty game), and 2012 can get underway.

1 day: Christmas Eve at Kerrytown

It's a tradition, something I've done with my family since I was a young girl, a tradition that we have continued together year after year after year. A brunch of seafood chowder from Monahan's, and bee-bim bop from Kosmo. Shopping and browsing and giggling and taking pictures.

No matter how cold it is, this is the warmest time of year.