of our nature

I am tying to turn over a new leaf of sorts. I know this is true because I cleaned up around my desk at work today. (That is kind of a rarity.) I want to appriciate things more. I have learned a lesson through all of this. Some things are not worth the amount of brain that I give them. There has always been this "other" life that has taunted me. My life really isn't a high stress kind of life. I am an english teacher for god sakes. I should be able to hit some sort of nirvana-like state if I try.

It's funny. This desire is maybe the central most theme in all of my entries in this blog.... a blog that is coming to a close sometime soon by the way. I want to find peace. I think I might just know how to get there now. I think it comes from perspective. I am going to make serious strides into putting my attention in the right areas. I want to slow things down a bit, maybe take less time with the TV (I don't watch a ton now... but I do spend some time there) and more with my family. I want to see my job for what it is. It's important, but sometimes I think I blow my own value out of proportions... the world of student success is not completely resting on my shoulders. I need to let silence live in our house when its possible. I need to have unscheduled time with my kids, and with Jenny. I need to focus on what is truly important, breathe it in and let it take the position in my life that it deserves: the better angels of our nature.

I am ready for this.

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autolove

I woke up this morning to a love message from my car. I guess it is thankful for being fixed ;) XOX

Friendsgiving

We had a bunch of close friends over tonight for a late thanksgiving meal. My friend Sarah called it a Friendsgiving which is about that best thing I've ever heard. Jenny worked all day long to cook some seriously great food. Chief in my book among these is a new favorite of mine, oyster stuffing. I actually stayed at work for a couple of hours to catch up on some correcting. When I came home the house smelled like magic. So good. It was an evening of great friends and good food.

The winter holidays were invented to warm up what can be a long, cold time. I am happy to prolong the Thanksgiving festivites with such great friends.

let the magic begin

Christmas season is here folks... it bloomed all over our house today. Nora has been singing Christmas carols. They have been picking out toys to put on their list. We almost went and picked out a tree this weekend.  These Christmas' have been getting better and better as the years go by. This year is already winding up to be of epic proportions. We don't do a lot of gifts... enough to fill the tree adequately, but I like quality over quantity. The epicness of this Christmas lies solely in the excitement that is already building in Henry and Nora. 

Both kids are beginning to develop these beautiful personalities and a series of likes and dislikes based on them. Picking out gifts for Nora this year is going to be a world easier than last year. Henry is a dream to buy for. The trick is buying gifts that will benefit both of them, not just entertain them. Christmas is an opportunity to guide them within their interests and kind of push them toward things that we would like to see them do. It takes a lot of thought, but things like amazon help a great deal with that. I can just sit back and think about what would fit both my kids' interests and my own goals for them... punch in the idea online, and chances are it will exist somewhere. It is the total opposite of strolling the aisles in a store and reacting to what they have on the shelves. 

I still miss the mark sometimes, but more than not, Jenny and I put together a pretty great deal for both of our kids. 

Per what ins?

My life consists of hunting down things that Henry decides he would like to try. Not that I mind really... I do, after all, have some say about things. So today I bought persimmons. We have actually bought these previously, although they were a different type. When we take the kids grocery shopping, our kids get to pick out their "one thing." It can be anything they want in the grocery store. This has always been the rule for us and amazingly, I don't think either kid has ever picked some awful cookie or twinkie type of thing. I guess we can take credit for that.... we just don't buy those type of things. Nora, nearly always picks out either Goldfish, or some type of Fruit Snackish jellied fruit thing. Henry always picks out some sort of exotic fruit or little known food item. This is in perfect keeping with the way his mind works. He is out to categorize, compartmentalize, and to the degree that he is capable, experience the entire world. He pours over books of rare animals. He collects any type of card (disregarding any sport card of course) available. And he is slowly conquering the entire culinary world. 

We are having friends over this Tuesday for a belated Thanksgiving meal, and Henry has requested Persimmon Pudding. Keep in mind, this is the old, English type of pudding... steamed. I am kind of excited for it myself, if it doesn't flop, or taste like what these persimmons look like: Tomoatoesque pudding does not peak my appetite. It is kind of fun being driven on these culinary adventures by Henry's curiosity. I know what dragon fruit tastes like, cactus pear, passion fruit, ugly fruit... my own horizons have broadened for having such a curious little guy. I guess that's the way it should be. I didn't have kids to raise little me's. God forbid. If nothing else, I have learned that having kids stretches you. If you don't have them, you can trust me on that fact. 

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At home

The three of us spent the day at home today. No Black Fridays for me. In fact, if I can get away with it, I won't venture into a single store at all this shopping season. I am so fine with buying everything online. There are so many outlets for cool gifts and not just the normal ones like walmart online, or amazon, things like Etsy have really individual and crafted gifts that are so much cooler than those typically found in the big chain stores, or malls. They arrive on my doorstep. Nothing better than that.

I had a ton of correcting to do today. I didn't finish... not even half-way done. But I did get quite a bit finished. The kids had a day of drawing and board games... some TV, but not overly much. I did go outside for a bit, and the kids played for quite a while out there. I took down the screens and refilled the bird feeders. It was a quiet, beautiful day. I need these every once in a while. Even the kids seemed to have needed it after the crazy family visits of yesterday. I love it when they are like this. I am officially a homebody.

Thanksgiving

I have a lot to be thankful for, this year especially. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays... if not for the simple magic of Christmas, it would be my favorite. I love the food and the memories that come with it. My favorites are always the standards: squash, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans... all the trimmings. These things are really more than just food, they are a connect-the-dots pathway back in time to my childhood. For this reason, I don't mess with Thanksgiving. No new recipes, no overly messed with recipes. Sure, brine the turkey, but don't completely overhaul the thing.

I love being around my family. I used to go to my grandmother's very regularly, close to every week at times. There would nearly always be aunts or uncles there as well. You know, just writing about this makes me miss those times, when I was young and would goof around endlessly with my cousins. A low hanging cloud of cigarette smoke would hover near the ceiling, the kitchen would be filled with people, Uncle Bruce in his chair by the sliding glass doors, the gold furniture in the living room, the glass bowl of candies on the counter and my grandparents would be sitting on either side of the little wooden table with fold-down sides in the kitchen. The house and surrounding hill and yard would be ours for games and exploration.

My wife's family is the total opposite of mine and the experience follows suit. It has actually mellowed out on both sides of the family schism. It used to be that I would go to my family and the alcohol would flow freely... Fun, craziness, incredibly loud and fun times would ensue. Actually, this does continue in some ways, the smoke is gone, but a couple years ago my cousin Brian did still set off fireworks in my aunt's back yard on Christmas eve (and yes the police were called).  We would then go to Jenny's family and it would be nearly silent. No craziness, no alcohol, no hype, but a serious sense of family would pervade through things. Both were great, just the opposite sides of the spectrum. Jenny's family has since gotten louder with the addition of little nieces and nephews as well as my own two noise makers. I love both of these families. Oh, and most importantly Jenny's family has a propensity for making pies. Oh, the pies... homemade crusts... pies of all types are scattered all around thanksgiving. This year's options were apple, chocolate, pecan, and a pumpkin roll with the addition of cherry (my absolute favorite that Jenny makes) pumpkin and another apple pie at my family's celebration.

I love Thanksgiving.