- December 30, 2009
- YULE TIDE
Well, another Christmas has come and gone. Since it’s been so many days, I’ve actually had some time to process the event in my own head as well as with others. It was a wonderful holiday this year, and save for a few snags went off very well.
Everyone came up to our place here in Castine this year. Emma’s aunt showed up with a handmade (by her) 8-foot long dining room table. She picked up the pine boards from a local sawyer and said she had so much fun putting it together she may have a new career as a furniture maker. Cool.
Emma’s parents were also here, with their foster charges, who seem to be doing very well in school this year. Both a often a bit hard to manage, with things getting better each time, but often being not quite in sync. One example is Christmas itself, with the holiday in their house clearly being the more conventional, time for kids to get everything they wanted occasion. I can’t be too bitter, because that was my childhood too, yet the life I lead now, and try to encourage, suggests that Christmas should be so much more than a time to get new toys made in China.
Still, not much to be done about that now. The latest update on their front is that the case is going very well for one of their parents and they very likely may be back home in the first few months of 2010. Of course, this has been bandied about before, so we’ll just have to wait and see.
We also played host to two Chinese students from the high school this break. Like Thanksgiving, their vacation is very much a time of hibernation and high speed internet. We rarely see them except for meals (including one they cooked for us, delicious!). But that’s cool. Like the foster kids, you just have to roll with the punches. I am always happy to see that Emma is able to roll with it when it would futile to do otherwise, and set firm boundaries on other things, such as family meals. Very heartening as our own child proceeds on course.
Just in case those of you haven’t been paying attention, Emma and I are pregnant again. Sorry to those of you that Emma was hoping to surprise, but better to find out now than when we have a six-month old. We are 14 weeks in now, and we are tracking the progress diligently. Things are going much more smoothly than last time, and we continue to believe that our last attempt has, at it’s core, made us stronger, both emotionally and spiritually.
The animals in the barn are cold, but hopefully they’ll pull through and winter will disappear as quickly as it came. In the meantime, it’s back to work for all of us. Hope everyone reading this had a Merry Christmas, and our best wishes for a Happy New Year. Dream big, act small.
- This post is in the Banalities of Life chapter and has 6 comment(s).