It's cold outside

2015, Week 1, in pictures

The first week of 2015. The second half at least was bitterly cold, but brilliantly beautiful. Sun glinted off newly fallen snow in single digit temperatures. For all that beauty, though, we spent most of the new year's first week inside. Can you blame us? The birds that visted our feeder with fluffed against the cold, and that pretty layer of snow covered a slick layer of ice that even kept me in on the treadmill for running. Mother nature's winter beauty can be deadly.

Though for the first few days of our new year we were still partying like it was 2014, on Monday we hit the ground running and haven't looked back. I think that after two weeks of people and activity filled days we were ready to jump back into our quiet routine. Atomic motion, solving for unknowns, and Robin Hood and King Richard were waiting for us where we'd left off, and there were plenty of thank you notes and journal entries to write after such a fun festive break.

As promised, we added a new art to our daily routine by taking on the photo-a-day challenge. Last year Calvin had started some photography using my old DSLR, but it was on its last leg when he got it, and it didn't last much longer. So for Christmas this year we got him a point and shoot. And like all kids in our new age, he already knows more about it than I probably ever will. To keep us on track, we are following the Capture Your 365 daily challenge prompts, which I have listed here, but we are mainly using them for suggestions.

Jan 1: Good morning 2015!
by Calvin

Jan 2: Think over
by Cortney

Jan 3: Open Possibilities
by Cortney

Jan 4: A reflection of me
by Calvin

by Cortney


Jan 5: Ensemble
by Cortney

Jan 6: Where I stand
by Calvin

by Cortney

Jan 7: Solitude
by Calvin

by Cortney

Christmas in photos

There is so much to say about Christmas—about the family, extended and beyond, that we shared it with, and all the wonderful fun we had—that it will just be easier to say it with pictures. Otherwise, I'm likely to remain so tongue-tied over trying to say exactly the right thing, that I'll never get around to saying it at all.

It was a beautiful Christmas, one of my favorite times of the year.

Sinterklaasavond 2014

Sinterklaasavond, also known as Pakjesavond, the evening of Gouda family, food, and presents. It's a Dutch thing, and if you put your wooden shoes by the front door, and happen to live on a canal, the pakjesboot might glide right up and leave you a chocolate coin, or coal, if you've earned it.

We don't do it quite right in our house. For one thing, the tradition in Europe includes celebrating on the night of December 5, the eve of Saint Nicholas Day, but we celebrate it whenever we find room in our calendars nearest to that date. This year that was today, December 7, but being a few days late didn't hurt our party any. Every year our local family has humored us, joining us for Flemish stew and bringing fun things like Gouda cheese, and Flemish beer and appetizers. It makes this a kind of kick-off party for our season of holiday festivities, and we look forward to it every year.

Another thing that we do wrong is the present giving. We often forget to put out or shoes, or to fill them even if we do, and there are never chocolate coins involved. We do exchange packages that have become a tradition for us, though: every year there are Christmas pajamas, new Christmas music, and a new Christmas book. These are traditions we started when Calvin was born, along with our Sinterklaasavond tradition, and have kept up since. Of course that means we have an embarrassing number of Christmas songs in our collection, and we are running out of room in our Christmas book box, but we love this tradition and have discovered some great art in the process. Who knewthat L. Frank Baum was responsible for much of the literary tradition surrrounding Santa Claus, or that Lou Rawls had released such a great Christmas album that has been buried for decades beneath the plethera of modern pop remakes.

We love our traditions, and how the season most full of them has truly begun.

Holiday card photo shoot 2014