Tree in the house

Part of our weekend plans had been to find this year's Christmas tree, but a full day of rain made us push the plans back until this afternoon, so after a morning of good books, Christmas carols on the piano, and some journal writing, we headed out to hunt our tree.

Cutting a fresh Christmas tree has been a part of my Christmas traditions for as long as I can remember. In recent years we've gotten our tree from the same local, family owned tree farm just twenty minutes away. It was a little warmer this year, and a little quieter, since we went on a weekday. We picked a tree quickly and enjoyed some giggles with the young lads of the family while they shook and wrapped the tree. Apparently in their family if they didn't know the difference between a pine and a fir by the age of six they were in trouble. And they love Rudolph (which is apparently on TV tomorrow night) and A Claymation Christmas (which is our all-time favorite).

So the tree is up, and that means we'll have a chance to get the last of the decorations off the floor and up where they belong—a crucial step in getting the house neatened up. Hopefully we'll get to that tomorrow.

Giving thanks

Thanksgiving is about a lot of things for a lot of people. For us it's about family, and good food. Thankfully both of our families live right here in town so we get to share the holiday with both of them. We had a wonderful time with good company and good food, and today we slept in and lounged in our pajamas before starting to spread Christmas throughout the house, then enjoyed more family time with shopping and laughter and more good food.

The rest of the weekend promises to be equally as busy and joyous with football, tree chopping, and a train show. I hope everyone else having a great holiday as well.

 

More Halloween

Sunday, lazy day, carving pumpkins day. We were too tired Friday, and away for too much of yesterday, so pumpkin carving fell to this morning. Goopy pumpkin guts, slippery seeds, serrated safety knives. Calvin and I stopped by a local farmer's this year and came home with no fewer than five pumpkins that we fell in love with, so there was plenty of carving to do.

This is the first year we've carved pumpkins early in the day, so it's the first time we've finished carving while it was still light out and had to wait until later to see them lit up. But we had plenty to do in the meanwhile because it was practically Halloween on campus today, with events at the Natural History Museum and the School of Music's annual Halloween Concert.

The Natural History Museum was all decked out. Spider webs and pumpkins were everywhere, and what I can only assume were overworked grad students were handing out candy and running craft tables where kids could make spiders, color masks, and do a myriad of other projects.

Calvin would stop by the tables and start coloring a picture and gaze hungrily at the museum exhibits nearby. So finally I suggested that he pick up the craft projects to do at home and spend his time looking at the fossils and murals. That hit the spot.

Until we found the live animal fun room. That was enticing enough all on its own. Ball pythons, a water monitor, skinks, and newts.

Then the cherry on top—the School of Music's annual Halloween Concert. A full orchestra in costume is fun by itself, but the music of course is the real draw—lots of great classical music with dissonant sounds and strong, eerie beats. This was Calvin's first symphony orchestra concert and we had a great time. He sat on my lap and counted the bananas in the cello section, the elves in the percussion section. At one time I heard him quietly keeping time under his breath—1-2-3, 1-2-3—and then he turned to me and whispered in my ear "This is a waltz. See, 1-2-3, 1-2-3." He kept time on my arm through the whole concert, and I loved watching him take the whole thing in. The concert is a local tradition, one that I'm pretty sure we'll make our own from now on.

And finally, after dinner and a History Channel special, The Haunted History of Halloween, we lit our pumpkins and enjoyed them, in the dark, before bed.

It's beginning to look a lot like Hallowe'en

Halloween is cropping up all over our house. It has long been one of my favorite holidays so our halls are decked with pumpkin and bat lights that have journeyed with me since college, the front window is stuck with spooky clings, the bushes are decked in faux webs, the wreath is up, the box of costumes is out, the pumpkin cookies have been baked, the candy has been bought. Ahhh.

Tomorrow night will be pumpkin carving, after a day of partying in town and with our homeschooling group. We celebrate Hallowe'en via its historical and cultural roots, going all the way back to Celtic traditions and the festival of Samhain, so tomorrow night we'll read Halloween (for only the third time this week) and have Irish boiled dinner before we carve the pumpkins. This weekend we'll attend the annual Halloween Concert on campus (in costume, of course) and read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (for only the fourth time this week). Calvin has been cuddling stuffed pumpkins and ghosts and designing jack-o-lanterns like crazy. He's in love with anything bat right now, and any spooky story we can come up with (amazing what old folk tales will do for you). Yes, this is definitely a favorite holiday.

Some silly Halloween stuff (a portion of which is interesting):
Halloween printable activities
Coloring sheets
Activity suggestions (mostly arts and crafts)

Pumpkin patch

This morning it suddenly dawned on me that it is already mid-October. We have yet to get out our Halloween decorations, start making costumes, or bake anything made with pumpkin. What is going on here?? So today we got down to business. Or at least started to.

There's a farm near our house that we've visited in the fall every year for about five years now. They have pre-picked and u-pick pumpkins, plus farm animals, cider and doughnuts, fall decorations, and this year even a straw maze for the kids. They grow gigantic, misshapen pumpkin behemoths that we have no desire to set on our porch, so we never buy pumpkins from them, but we visit and enjoy their hay ride, snacks, and the general fall landscape.

But Calvin and Jon did the fall farm visit without me today because I stayed behind to watch what turned out to be a rather depressing football game. My absence may also have had something to do with the 35 mph winds in 50 degree temperatures, but I'm not letting on about that. The guys had a nice time together while I watched that oh-so-painful football game, and now the Halloween season can officially start in our house. Which means Calvin and I have two weeks to get his costume made. Here's a hint: it's going to be black and white. Guesses? It will be done in...oh, about two weeks I'd guess.