Holiday Nights

We've heard a lot of people say that Christmas is for children, but we don't think it necessarily has to be all for them. In fact, there are some parts of Christmas that ought to be kept for adults only, watching Christmas Vacation, for instance, or drinking eggnog with rum in it. Spending an evening in the dark, freezing cold at Greenfield Village's Holiday Nights festival is another tradition that is probably best left to an all adult crowd, or at least a sans toddler crowd (a truth we found out the hard way two years ago).

Last year, after our first failed attempt the year previously, we found friends who, thankfully, love the cold just as much as we do. Or maybe it's more that they enjoy good company, if we can so call ourselves, and a healthy dose of Christmas past. Either way, we had such a blast on our frigid evening last year that we decided to try again this year.

This year was possibly even better. The weather was significantly warmer, and we weren't feeling the rush to get home because our respective toddlers were spending the night with their respective grandparents. So we casually strolled the decorated streets of the village, enjoying Christmas greetings from everyone we passed while munching on roasted chestnuts pulled from the warm paper bags we bought at a nearby street vendor. We stopped in to chat with the tin smith, then the woman running the printing press. We watched them blow glass, and endured a short lesson in the school house. And you can't have a Holiday Nights evening without a hot drink and a few slices of hobo bread.

I don't know if fireworks were a part of Christmases past or not, somehow I doubt it, but they capped off the evening with a group sing in the center of town and a short display over the little lake. It was, really, a perfect and relaxing evening. The fact that we were, shortly thereafter, summoned home to retrieve our little boy, who was suffering from the nighttime discomforts of his first serious cold in his lifetime, did little to dampen the evening's spirits. It turned out to be a good thing that we headed home when we did, since the existing drizzle turned to ice when we were still 15 minutes shy of exiting the expressway, a weather anomaly that was likely to have only gotten worse had we waited the extra hour intended. It's wonderful when things just work out well.

Spring was last week. This is today.

Happy Valentine's Day 2009

How to make Valentine's night special with a two year old on the premises. That is, besides the fact that every night is special with a two year old on the premises.  Given his choice Calvin would make a every night a party (although, apparently not with cake, but I'll get to that later).  At least a couple times a week he asks to have a picnic in front of the fire place, an activity which, thanks to the difficulty of keeping a two year old sitting during a picnic, we reserve only for occasions which we deem as special.  So we made tonight just one such occasion and spread our blanket in front of a warm fire to enjoy its coziness on "the day of love".  Of course, many people celebrate hearts day with fancy meals; some go out, some order in, and still others plan and cook delightfully gourmet versions of an edible love affair, but that just wouldn't do for a picnic dinner and we opted for something way more fun than fight crowds or pay exorbitant amounts of money - we made individual heart shaped pizzas.  Perhaps that's the crowning glory of making your own pizza dough - being able to shape it however you want and in any size (and dressing it however you want, too, of course).  We had two different Valentine themed pizza options tonight - The Audrey Hepburn Classic Romance pizza (sporting clever cheesiness, olive you olives, going all to mushrooms, and slightly spicy uncured pepperoni), and The Brad Pitt Spice Things Up pizza (with it's extra cheesiness of Italian mozzarella and Mediterranean feta, and slightly spicy, yet goofy, banana pepper rings).  Strangely enough Jon and I opted for half and half pizzas and Calvin opted for everything everywhere.  I guess you just can't have one without the other.  Don't forget to pour the (cheap) champagne.  We hope you all had a happy Valentine's Day, no matter how you decided to celebrate!

It may be winter today...

but it was spring (in February) on Tuesday.  I miss the puddles already.

Praising Monday

Weekends are all fine and good, but there's something to be said for the return to routine on Mondays. Weekends often find us running from one fun activity to another, even if just within the confines of our own home, and by the time Monday rolls around Jon is probably happy to be headed off to work, and Calvin and I are happy to return to our quiet weekday routines, such as a good, long afternoon nap. And today was a relatively pretty day. Keep in mind, of course, that we're talking Michigan in February, so when I say relatively pretty I mean it was almost 40 degrees and there was just little enough grayness to allow for very faint shadows on the sidewalk.  So we took advantage of this and took our first walk since last November (shameful, yes, but what are you going to do in sub zero weather???) to get our mail from the box. Getting out of the house without dressing in suits NASA would envy was a wonderful treat this time of year.  Exciting stuff, especially since it's been a long time since it has been warm enough to handle the camera for a good outdoor photo shoot (ah I miss those). Of course the other part of it being nearly 40 degrees? The puddles. Last year I had to encourage him to play in the puddles so I could get some pictures (only a scrapbooker would consider this), but not so this year. This year I had to encourage him to slow down so as not to soak the camera (thankfully I had the longer lens). I am ever so thankful to my mom for getting him those really nice boots last fall; his pants were soaked up to the knees, but his socks and feet were bone dry. Needless to say, he did take that really goooood nap, which allowed me to clean the bathrooms and then make chicken, biscuits, and gravy, healthy style, for dinner (after thoroughly washing my hands, of course).

If you're wondering about the black and white... none of his winter clothes are color matched, and Photoshop is a wonderful thing.  There are more pictures in the Februrary 2009 album, plus I'll be sharing a few more later this week (just to keep you in suspense, or maybe it's because so little is going on and I need to spread out the excitement).