If you go back to the middle of December you will see Holiday pictures of our festivities. It was a much quieter, subtle time then originally intended. We had every intention of spending the Christmas holiday in the Midwest with Gramma and Grampa. We had been planning for months. The plane tickets purchased, the Christmas Dresses ready and waiting, the tree set to be decorated and we had begun reading children’s books about Christmas, winter and snow. And then along came life…both girls were sick and Zuzu was technically contagious until the day after Christmas. So we cancelled our travel plans and settled in to be merry in our own home. Our friends and family were sweet enough to expedite their  dresses and giftees for the girls and dear friends invited us to spend Christmas Day with them nearby. The girls are young enough that they weren’t too disappointed. They were excited to see their tree get decorated, to don their dresses here and open packages and wish family and friends a Happy Christmas over the phone. Zuzu asked Santa for a candy cane, Andy Williams sang Jingle Bells, there was freshly grated  nutmeg for the eggnog. Christmas Eve we had a family dinner and read Twas the Night before Christmas together before bed. Christmas Eve morning we remembered to pick up the bobka and stollen from The Village Baker. The stockings were hung and filled by Santa Claus with the likes of chocolate and musical toothbrushes. Zuzu, ever the pragmatic soul, was pretty concerned by the lack of toothpaste in her stocking to go along with the brush. Lovey noted this was the first Christmas ever that he did not receive toothpaste in his stocking as well. Santa duly noted his lapse in judgment and practical gift giving. Last year we noted the need for a new holiday movie to entertain Zuzu while we prepared breakfast. What a difference  year makes- she managed to entertain herself with her stocking pretty and what-nots and we barely heard a peep out of her all morning. After our long-winter’s naps we headed over to our friends for dinner and dessert. We whole-heartedly enjoyed their company and cooking as always. The girls were excited to play togther in their holiday dresses and we were happy to relax while they entertained themselves. The rest of the weekend was a series of cleaning up, late mornings and lots of naps. Oh and listening to repeated messages from Orbitz about the cancellation, after cancellation of each and everyone of our flights other then the initial one out of town. Apparantly, had we been on our flight as planned, we would have spent a good, long visit in Minneapolis- with no way to get to our final destination and no way to return home via planes, trains or automobiles. We are sad our health and weather didn’t provide the happy, family, white Christmas with extended family, but we are grateful for our little group being together and finally on the mend.

The photos above were the 2 centerpieces of our holiday. One group of my on-line friends whom I have had the good fortune to bask in the wisdom of since 2005 had an ornament exchange. I had the luck of the draw in getting to give to dear Marlo- whom I had the pleasure of actually meeting in person earlier this summer during a trip to Lovey’s family’s home. I had a wonderful picture of her lovely daugher and Zuzu walking together and had it turned into an ornament. I couldn’t have thought of or provided a more meaningful gift for one of these wonderful momma’s if I had rigged the draw myself! The ornaments above were only half of an extremely loving and thoughtful package provided by sweet Joanna in Canada. We had the privilage of sharing maternal time- our youngest small ones were born within weeks of each other. Her oldest- who is a little older then Zuzu was the MC for the gift giving extravaganza and chose a most excellent purple sparkely ornament for  Zuzu as it is her signature color. Upon opening the package, Zuzu informed me, ” Oh good, my friend Kitty-ara gave me my favorite color purple entament” Translation:” Chiara gve Zuz a purple ornament! The Quail recieved…yup you guessed it- a Quail ornament- so glittery, charming and lovely- much like the quail herself! For Lovey and myself there was pure Maple Syrup from a local farm- which I might add is one of Lovey’s primary food groups- and for me some vampire fiction- as Joanna knows of my obsessive reading of the Twilight Saga shortly after The Quail’s birth.  I feel so blessed to have such a thoughtful friend who knows us so well- yet bizarrely hasn’t even actually met us in person!

It was a lovely holiday and I can already feel the plans weaving in my settled brain for next year!

Come join in the festivities around the world via corner view as hosted by our lovely Jane:

jane, ladybug-zen, ian, bonnie, esti, sophie, cele, modsquad,caitlin, joyce, ani, kim, natsumi, epe, kaylovesvintage, trinsch, c.t., jeannette, outi, ritva, francesca, state of bliss, jennifer, dana, denise, cabrizette, bohemia girl, isabelle, amber, a girl in the yellow shoes, mister e, janis, kari, jgy, skymring, elizabeth, allison, lise, cate, crescent moon, erin, otli, ida, caroline, lisa, dorte, kimmie, la lune dans le ciel, nicola, malo, vanessa, britta, april, b, kyndale samantha, karen, kristina, goldensunfamily, sophie, janet, mcgillicutty, aimee, sunnymama, jenell, britta, juanita, pamela, inna, daan, myrtille, cris, ibb, jodi, gillian, travelingmama