A December and Even a November

Although one wouldn't know it from the quiet little number of blog posts in this space of late, there was in fact a full December around here -- complete with its Christmas and wedding anniversary and birthday celebrations (though one of the birthday boys was … in El Salvador). There was decorating and there were reindeer visits and presents and Christmas lights. All the things. (Mixed in with some miserable work obligations for Mike that made for some long days for both of us.) But! It makes me sad when I think of all the separate things that I might, had the time existed for it, have written full entries about. Little glimpses exist in letters to Abe (things like this after-Christmas paragraph from a letter to Abe):

We are currently at that post-Christmas stage of having everyone’s toys in designated spots on the kitchen table. The spots are slowly shrinking as toys find their way to bedrooms and the toy closet. Hansie got two fancy Schleich dinosaurs. Sadly he mostly feeds them play doh and it’s very difficult to fully remove from their teeth. And dad bought a big Lego Hogwarts set that he had just be “to” me and him. (Basically so no one claims it to themselves and we could let everyone build it. The three older girls mostly built it this year, but we are thinking we will take it apart in a week or so and pull it out for kids to build every Christmas. So ... plan on building Hogwarts on Christmas Day of ‘21!)

But there's much more we'd all like to remember but that I can't possibly find the time for now. But I guess that's kind of a lovely thing -- for one month to have contained SO MANY THINGS I want to remember forever. 

And December wasn't even the only month! There was a November before it! With a Thanksgiving and a TRIP to FLORIDA with just me and Mike (impossible, I know, and yet it did happen!). How is it that I have never written about that? Now I might never remember the little moment on the plane when I saw Mike reach up and hand the headphones he'd been using to a woman travelling with a very frail and elderly man who seemed confused about the lack of sound coming from their small movie screen. Except I suppose I'll remember it now. As I just wrote it. But there were other parts! Unwritten!

In any case, I can't go back now. Forward is our watchword (???). But, at least there are pictures. Like these ones from a little fun Goldie and I had with all the CHRISTMAS LIGHTS in our house! So many lights! (We had our biggest tree yet! 17-plus feet! I can't tell you how dark and empty our house feels now that we've taken Christmas down!

Or the rest of these from our visit to Santa's reindeer (who always comes, mid-December, to visit the park across the street from us:

And … more pictures. But I fear I shall crash blogger if I post them all in this one post. So. More in coming posts (accompanied by a sad lack of worthy commentary).