Ballerina on Picnic Table

It's not been an easy couple of months.

                                      My brother had to have his right leg amputated,

                                  Anthony's beautiful 22-year old cousin was murdered,

                                       Beatrice has been in, let's just say a "rough phase,"

 in which she's emotional, clingy, demanding, trying, and at times overcome with anxiety.

 Work has been especially stressful. Our dog is on Prozac because she apparently feels that our heating system is haunted, causing her to pant, paw at us, hide, and interrupt our sleep. And then yesterday, the events of Newtown, CT (which is nearly 2 hours away from us) unfolded.  I'm still in shock.  It's a parent's nightmare.  An educator's nightmare.  A mental health professional's nightmare.  I fit all three of those categories.  It's almost more than I can bear.

So this morning I took a few minutes in the sunshine to admire the blue sky to watch a spontaneous ballet performance on my picnic table.

It was quite an afternoon around here.....

I broke the cardinal rule of my childhood, which was no decorating, especially no putting up the tree, before my mom's birthday, was was December 10th.  It just seemed like next weekend was too late, so we went for it. It took about three minutes to pick out a tree, and it was the cheapest in town at $25, and I think it might be the most beautiful tree we've ever had.  

And, there wasn't a swear word or a moment's frustration getting it into the stand!

Oh the memories that flood back to me when we unpack my Memere's creche.  I'm tickled that my daughter enjoys it as much as I did/do:

Voila!  Up and ready!

Every ornament got touched, reminisced about, and admired:

And our house clearly has a 4-year old in it, because we have colored lights framing the front of it.  We let Bea pick, colored or white, and the choice for her was easy.  Anthony said our theme this year is "a redneck Christmas." Yet to come is the Filipino blinking star, which we need another extension cord for.  That should really put it over the top!  Call it what you will, Beatrice was so intensely joyful these hours of decorating, talking nonstop loudly and rapidly, so so, so excited.....and when I backed her up into the road at dusk and she looked at the house, her eyes doubled and she literally gasped in wonder.  It was like one of those commercials where they say "lights at Lowe's? $40....time spent on a ladder and in frustration untangling made in China electrical products?1 hour.....number of trips into the house to get hammer/nail/bigger nail/nail with bigger head? 17.....number of years it will take for this mother to forget the happiness in her daughter's eyes? LIFETIME!

Earlier this morning,  and hour or so after seeing Charlie Brown Christmas for the 3rd or 4th time of the season, she said "Linus is white Mama."  I was totally confused and thought we were starting a race discussion when I figured out she mean he was "Right" when she clarified "Linus was white 'bout the real meanin' of Christmas bein' 'bout Jesus." .....and a couple hundred colored lights of course.....

St. Joseph's School annual Christmas Show

Pre-show antics:

                   The cuteness index when preK processed into the church was over the top!

                                                     My little match girl.....

 

I think here she's trying to blow her battery-operated candle out! And Graham is fading fast....

After the show, we headed downtown where the last First Friday was in full swing!  She and Ben (aka "The Little Drummer Boy") had a blast picking at the hors d'oeuvres, and racing around the gallery and this incredible homemade gingerbread house:

                                                    

Here's about the only movie clip of the night where we can actually see Bea.  It really was a wonderful program, very classy, innocent, and focused on the true meaning of the season:

Mailing a Letter to Santa

Cousins

I love this shot Marianne just sent me, taken the day after Thanksgiving.  Shown are my cousin Marianne's two children Kristin and Erik, and two (of six) of my cousin Joe's children, Muhammad and Maryam.  How Bea adores "the dog and cat" as well as the two closer to her age! We're so glad we got a chance to spend the day with them!