biotin hair growth

J-M Holidays 2010: Epilogue

Posted by | January 09, 2011 | TRAVEL | 8 Comments

O.k., so I know we’ve posted a ridiculous amount re: our holidays. (I know it has been a little over the top for a blog, but please just try to keep in mind that this is our only scrapbook.) Anyway, it is over, I promise, after this. But I just have to get in this series of photos because it is just so laden with meaning and I don’t want to forget this. “Bringing in the wood” was a major part of my own childhood. MorMor and MorFar heat their house with wood, and always have (not as in a cute fire in the fireplace every once in a while on a snowy Sunday afternoon, but as in: wood heat is their primary – and really only – source of heat). They were heating with wood long before being “green” was cool and hip. This isn’t a “thing” for them, it is the real deal. And it is a huge amount of work (cutting/chopping/stacking the wood, bringing the wood into the house every day, keeping the fire going, etc., etc., etc.). Growing up, I absolutely hated the daily chore of “bringing in the wood.” As a teenager I vowed to myself that no matter what I’d never heat with wood. And to this day, while I love a nice fire in our fireplace every once in a while (as in a few times a year), and I love any camp-ish-like fire (as in s’mores), I really have no love lost for true-blue-wood-heat (and man do I love our central heating and cooling; not a day goes by that I’m not grateful for it—seriously)… I am especially glad to have the grind of “bringing in the wood” behind me. Kyle and Owen, on the other hand, love “bringing in the wood.” Whenever we go to my parents house in the winter, the boys love (love love!) helping MorFar with the wood (they love helping MorFar with anything, it just so happens that “bringing in the wood” is something that they get to do –yay for them!— every day!). This year they were actually truly helpful with it—they’re now old enough and strong enough that the two of them alone could easily get all the wood in every day. This is huge (it is huge for K & O, it is hugely helpful for my parents, and it is hugely crazy for me to watch). Also huge was that this year K & O were all about teaching Meera about “bringing in the wood” too. She was all over it (she’ll jump at any chance to follow in the footsteps of K & O… scary, scary thought). And so, I just have to post this little series of pictures – totally unedited and raw – because they really tell a story. A story that is meaningful on a lot of different levels.

1

2

3

4

5

And last, but not least, I have to just post the photo that we sent out as our holiday card this year. Just because it is so dang cute and I don’t want to ever forget the JOY (and yes, stress and frazzle and exhaustion too… but mostly just pure and unaltered JOY) that was parenting during the years that our kids were young. This is it my friends. This is as good as it gets. And it is good.

HOLIDAY CARD 2010

O.k., now I’m totally caught up. Next up, starting tomorrow, it will be back to non-holiday blogging (phew!)

8 Comments

  • Jen Ogren says:

    I love that picture of your kids! Wow! So cute.

  • Meg says:

    The Christmas card picture is ridiculously cute, all 3 look stunning!
    I made the Swedish butter horns for breakfast and they turned out great, I shared them with my Asian boyfriends parents.. Telling them that it was a taste of my heritage (after all, I eat/love all of their Chinese food!). Needless to say, they devoured them! Thanks for the recipe. I also made the cesaer salad & spinach lasagna a few weeks ago.. awesome, awesome!!

  • Kate says:

    Wonderful photos!

  • Sarah Kate says:

    I love your blog. That is all. :)

  • stevensh93 says:

    LOVE.IT.ALL.

  • It’s the “really-capturing-and-remembering-and-feeling” the very special moments, isn’t it…? So many moments are great but then there are some moments that are just simply jaw-dropping and “gasp-with-wonder” magical. You know it when you see it and when I see it (like your wood-carryng crew), I work really hard and really diligently to sear those moments into the very fabric of my “me-ness” so that I can always re-capture it. The blogs and pictures surely do help as do the deep appreciation and moment-of-pause to be sure the treasured moment is captured deep within….

    You may think I’m just rambling but I bet you don’t….I bet you totally get what I’m saying.

    Hugs,
    Cindy

  • Mary Pierznik says:

    WOW – a great Xmas card! I’m still looking through our thousands of photos last year for one of our family. Hoping to get ours out by Feb. :) You are mega- organized to not only take a Christmas-appropriate photo, but get cards out!

Leave a Reply to Meg Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published.