christmas in virginia

It has been pointed out that I have failed you in my duties as a blogger. Not only have I not wished you a Merry Christmas yet, but I also forgot to tell you all that we were leaving for the holiday (not, I suppose, that that is a fact one wants to advertise online, is it?). To make up for it, today's post is excruciatingly long. We flew up to Virginia for a family holiday with my mother's family--our first time with that side since last May/June and this was actually my first time to see my new niece! Who is not so new anymore. She is cute, though, and now I have documented that fact for myself. Here are some pictures.

What little boy doesn't love new trains for Christmas?

And what little girl doesn't love new shoes?

The cousins on this side of the family--my brother David, me, cousin Julie and her brother Mike.

My great uncle Don and Elanor.

We wanted a picture of all the great grandchildren with my grandfather. My father has absolutely no reason to be in the picture except that her Miminess (the aforementioned niece) refused to let him put her down. I think he encourages her.

My grandfather. Looking pretty distinguished for 88, isn't he?

My grandfather and my uncle. Who is not distinguished. And who took my family on a "three mile hike" on Friday. He neglected to mention that we would have to still hike back.

Her Miminess and her devoted slave, I mean, my dad.

More.

Isn't he cute? This is my nephew. Who looks just like my brother at the same age, but in a different shade. Actually, her Miminess looks even more like my brother at the same age and the two kids don't look much alike, so the conclusion is that Isaac actually looks more like his mama, which is totally OK. And I will point out that her Miminess is actually cuter than my brother, but most toddlers are much cuter than their parents.

We wanted a picture of the two three year olds together.

Mine didn't want to cooperate.

What is it with the tongues?

Still no cooperating. I give up.

If you are wondering if you are no longer on our Christmas card list, don't worry, you probably are. We just haven't ordered cards yet. We'll be doing New Year's cards this year. Or SuperBowl cards. Maybe Easter?

thoughts on the nativity

I received an email today which made me laugh out loud. This picture was attached.... a typical nativity set with one minor alteration, courtesy of four year old Ryan (whom you may remember from here). Do you see it?

Apparently, when the nativity was first set up, Ryan's question was, "Where's the witch?" He is a fan of the musical Wicked, which I have not seen, so can offer no commentary. Jason (my friend and Ryan's dad) explained that the witch isn't actually part of the story of Jesus' birth and left it at that. However, Ryan took matters into his own hands and Jason found the revised nativity set up like this today.

I think it's hilarious. I begged (yes, begged) Jason to let me share the picture and story with you. Although he is concerned that either I or Ryan will be blasted for blasphemy for it, he gave his consent, for which I am grateful. And I wanted to share the story because I think Ryan, little though he may know it, has a real point about what is missing from our standard nativity sets: the presence of evil.

I touched on it last year when our LA pastor preached on Herod's murder of the innocents. Evil did not stand idly by when God started his invasion. We sing songs like "Away in a Manger", which paint a painfully sweet picture of Jesus' birth. We slide right past the fact that Joseph and Mary are alone, in a barn (probably a cave), without any family nearby (probably ostracized), far from home, with no hospital, doctor, or midwife. When Herod began his massacre, Joseph and Mary fled to Egypt, even farther from family, and waited to come home until Herod's wrath was spent on the children of their friends, little boys that Jesus should have played with all his life. Revelation gives us the imagery of Satan as a red dragon, crouched at Mary's feet: "His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born." (Revelation 12:4) People, Christmas is a story fraught with tension, danger, and evil. Our nativity sets are pretty, but they miss the story.

Jason, I would leave the witch right where she is. Our nativity sets can remind us that Jesus' birth is both a joyous time--peace on earth and good will to men--and a perilous time--the beginning of the Great Invasion. It's a crazy tactic for Jesus to surrender his power, to embrace humanity completely, to enter the world as a poor and defenseless infant, in order to storm the gates and reunite us with God. Unheard of. Of course Satan was there, lurking in the shadows. I'd leave the witch in.

I don't have a Wicked Witch at my house. I wonder if I can borrow one of Michael's dragons for our Little People nativity set?

a death in the family

(alert: the title of this blog entry is strictly tongue in cheek) A valued member of our household passed on this morning, unfortunately before breakfast. We are all saddened by our loss, as this member has been faithful, loyal, and steadfast for several years. The timing was especially bad as we were trying to have a pleasant family breakfast before a long day at church.

The victim? Our much beloved, often used waffle iron. The provider of many a delightful breakfast (and some dinners, too) has given its last. I don't know what happened as it certainly ended not with a bang, but a whimper. The sad fact is that it is gone now and we are bereft. I don't know what my father will say when he gets here tomorrow and learns that waffles are not on his menu for the immediate future as he is one of my biggest fans.

Now the real question is, should the new iron be traditional or Belgian?

our first ER visit

It was actually kind of anticlimactic in a way. All the horror stories you've ever heard about ERs... the long waits, the screaming, the germs, the long waits... somehow we missed all that. Well, except for the germs. I think we were the only healthy people in the waiting room; here's hoping that we don't come down with whatever everyone else had.

The kids were goofing around after bath time tonight and Michael accidentally pulled Elanor off her feet... backwards. Onto the tile floor. On her head. The thud resounded around the house. Naturally, she cried. It was only after cuddling her for five minutes that I realized that she and I were sporting quite a bit of a bloodstain. She definitely had an impressive gash; although it wasn't bleeding much, it was still bleeding and looked like it needed some kind of intervention to close.

So, Elanor and I hit the ER. The wait was pretty short and since she wasn't showing any signs of concussion, we were shunted to the "express care" area, where she was the only patient. The doc quickly determined that she would need staples (lovely) and called in two nurses to help hold her down while he shot her up with the local.

The child barely flinched. She is awesome.

Four staples and we were on our way home. She was in bed just over two hours after the fall. Is that some kind of world record or what? Her hair is matted and pink, but she still rocks my world.

80-proof pie crust

So I love to cook for Thanksgiving. After these ten years together, Robin and I have cobbled together a menu of Cornett favorites that we just cannot wait to make. This year I added in a new one: Dutch Apple Pie (the recipe is from Cooks - a magazine that basically taught me everything I know). But there was a twist. A few days before Thanksgiving I ran across a Cook's recipe for fool-proof pie crust - and having several bad experiences with pie crust behind me, I gave it a shot. It called for using 1/4 cup cold water mixed with 1/4 cup cold vodka as a replacement for the miserly 4-6 Tbs of water used in most crust recipes. Why? Because the 40% alcohol content of vodka lets you increase the liquid but not increase the water (which bonds with the flour to make the sticky tough gluten that can curse a dough ). So you get plenty of liquid to make a really soft, stretchy, pliable dough - but one that cooks up very tender, flaky, and un-boozy (because all the alcohol cooks off in the baking). I had to try it. So after calling a friend to locate our nearest liquor store on Wednesday, I made the dough. It looked weird, felt weird, and I was sure I was wrong ... but the result was amazing. And the pie - it was so good I ate it for breakfast the next day and the next day. Now I just have a really nice bottle of vodka in the frig waiting for its next use ... can you say penne alla vodka?

this is really where we live

Honestly, sometimes I am still really boggled by where we live. I mean, it's beautiful. Wow. It looks like vacation. I remember being startled in the shower every morning because I would look out of the window and see a palm tree. Seriously, who has a palm tree in their backyard? I do! And two more out front!

And the beach is just a short drive away. As a matter of fact, I'm getting ready to go there now to shoot a family. Who also is probably coping with disbelief about living in vacation.

Andy's mom came for a great little visit this past week. We had a blast with her, as usual, and now that the kids are older, there is no breaking in period (remember those fun days, Mom?). We took her out to Fort Myers Beach one day to see the results of the sandcastle sculpture contest (sorry for no scale, but these are all bigger than I am) and then to Barefoot for a morning of play. The Barefoot pictures are actually first because Blogger and I apparently have differing notions of how to work with pictures and I actually don't have time to argue the point right now. But enjoy.

two drivers, two cars

I'd like to start this post by saying that we really enjoyed having only one vehicle out in Pasadena. We very rarely had conflicts with who needed the car on any given day. Of course, Andy was able to walk to class and spent a bit of time studying (also on campus). And we lived mere blocks away from the nearest heaven, I mean Starbucks. And Target. And good restaurants. And shopping. Noah's Bagels was too far to walk, but it was an easy bike ride on a Saturday morning. Owning one car made perfect sense (not to mention the fact that we had nowhere to park a second car).

Unfortunately, back home, it doesn't make so much sense. Andy has a totally variable schedule and even I am getting into the act with trying to schedule shoots around silly things like good light. And there aren't a lot of places within walking distance (although we anticipate riding bikes to First Watch when the new one opens!). So we decided that it was time to get a new vehicle. What kind of vehicle was the subject of much debate and contemplation. In the end, we decided to get something subtle and inconspicuous.

What do you think?