Baby Bird is celebrating her first Christmas in the U.S.! The three of us went to Enchanted Winds to cut our tree. Baby Bird was appropriately decked out in her red plaid woodsman coat (Thank you Sherri!), striped elf hat, and red rain boots (after all, this is Washington). Lots of lovely trees to choose […]
Christmas
Let there be lights! Luminaria light up Seattle’s Green Lake
Every city has its own unique holiday traditions. Three that I love in Seattle are: Christmas Ships, Nutcracker with its Maurice Sendak sets, and The Pathway of Lights. For the past 35 years, on the second Saturday in December, if you add up a hundred volunteers, two thousand candles plus two thousand brown paper bags, […]
So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, good night
2010 ended with a bang. Mid-day we were greeted with a rather large adoption-related snafu, made by our very own government: critical paperwork that included our misspelled last name, an incorrect case number, and a random adoption agency (e.g. not our adoption agency). “It’s not the holidays for us if there isn’t some excitement,” Big […]
Gold, Frankinscence and Myrrh
Big Papa and I decided to turn the volume down on Christmas 2010. It’s the first year since we’ve been together that we’re not putting up a Christmas tree and the second time we’ve put the kibosh on presents to each other, save a few small treats in each other’s stockings. Two years ago we […]
‘Tis the season
Christmas is more than a month away. Yet while grocery shopping, even several weeks ago, I noticed that nearly every store front is festooned with a holiday theme. I grumbled to myself a bit about the fact that the ‘Christmas’ season seems to begin a bit earlier each year. When I was a kid, stores […]
Ticktock goes the clock
Counting the days before Christmas feels like fun as a kid. Ticktock. Ticktock. Watching time ebb away. Ten days left. Now eight. Now three. Giddy anticipation builds and you imagine the mountain of glorious goodies that await your discovery. When THE day arrives and your eyes catch that first glimpse of boxes, wrapping paper and […]