45

Three cheers for G, the leader of our band,

the peach in our pie,

the ink in my pen,

the twinkle in my eye,

the beat of my heart.

45 today.

{p.s. All of my sentiments on other birthdays still apply, too: 43, 42, 41}

. . .

1. yes, he's a studly scout and always prepared. I love that he apparently forgot to take off his shoes before his pants.

2. this is how I first knew him, as a big-brother-type protector and friend in high school, laughing from the back of the bus

3. Woo-woo! Rocking the short shorts on a 50 mile hike.

4. I love it when people remark how much Sam looks like G. As templates go, G is a pretty marvelous one.

Playing Charade

Sometimes at our house it's hard to find a movie that will please everyone, that is romantic and visually pleasing enough (and not too scary, please) for Maddy and exciting and funny and suspenseful enough for Sam. (Yes, that was quite gender stereotypical but what can you do. That's really what they each like in a movie.) This was a hit for both last weekend:

Maddy, a fan of all things Audrey Hepburn and retro, got the dvd for Christmas. I couldn't remember enough about it to know for sure if Sam would like it but it's funny and reminiscent of Hitchcock with lots of plot twists. It's probably still a little much for younger kids (murders and all, you know) but if you've got kids 11-18, try it. And then I challenge you not to hum the theme song for several days afterwards. (Look! Hulu shows it for free.) 

. . .

Many moons ago, I had this idea to suggest off-the-beaten-path movies for children and families. I did a few (okay, three) and it seems like a good time to start back up since it's come up in several conversations and emails lately.

Tiny books, lots of happy

Right after New Year's I saw a little write-up about a company called Printstagram that made tiny books from your instagram photos. It was $10 so I thought why not? It took just a few clicks to choose which photos I wanted to upload and then I forgot all about it until they arrived today (from Taiwan?) and they're just about the cutest things you ever did see. They actually came in not one but three little volumes representing our 2011 year in instagram photos. They are even magnetic so they've taken up happy residence on our fridge. So fun! Now my mind is buzzing with possibilities...valentines, birthdays, little books of favorite things, future stocking stuffers...

$3.33 for each little book of photos. What's your favorite low-cost, high-happiness thing lately?

Love note

I enjoyed this letter that was featured yesterday on Letters of Note. Since I have a daughter with a bit of a sad heart this week, I thought I'd post it here. I like to think of it as John Steinbeck's version of liner notes, writing about love to his son Thom who was away at school.

. . .

New York
November 10, 1958

Dear Thom:

We had your letter this morning. I will answer it from my point of view and of course Elaine will from hers.

First—if you are in love—that’s a good thing—that’s about the best thing that can happen to anyone. Don’t let anyone make it small or light to you.

Second—There are several kinds of love. One is a selfish, mean, grasping, egotistical thing which uses love for self-importance. This is the ugly and crippling kind. The other is an outpouring of everything good in you—of kindness and consideration and respect—not only the social respect of manners but the greater respect which is recognition of another person as unique and valuable. The first kind can make you sick and small and weak but the second can release in you strength, and courage and goodness and even wisdom you didn’t know you had.

You say this is not puppy love. If you feel so deeply—of course it isn’t puppy love.

But I don’t think you were asking me what you feel. You know better than anyone. What you wanted me to help you with is what to do about it—and that I can tell you.

Glory in it for one thing and be very glad and grateful for it.

The object of love is the best and most beautiful. Try to live up to it.

If you love someone—there is no possible harm in saying so—only you must remember that some people are very shy and sometimes the saying must take that shyness into consideration.

Girls have a way of knowing or feeling what you feel, but they usually like to hear it also.

It sometimes happens that what you feel is not returned for one reason or another—but that does not make your feeling less valuable and good.

Lastly, I know your feeling because I have it and I’m glad you have it.

We will be glad to meet Susan. She will be very welcome. But Elaine will make all such arrangements because that is her province and she will be very glad to. She knows about love too and maybe she can give you more help than I can.

And don’t worry about losing. If it is right, it happens—The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away.

Love,

Fa

. . .

Speaking of love, I am pretty giddy to hear that Once (remember how much I loved the movie?) is opening as a musical on Broadway next month. I predict an adventure to the big city in the next few months. Anyone want to join me? Though as my friend Jen noted, we will miss Glen Hansard and his lovely Irish voice.

Texting transcript of the week

Today, 11:53 a.m.

. . .

Nothing like going to bio and spilling termites all over your lab partner and yourself../.

Oy. It'll make a good story someday...

He was cute though...he asked for my number, the termites were a good bonding experience...

Haha. Now that's a "meet cute."

>< He's an rm* though...hahaha. It was so embarrassing!!!!

Don't bring any of those termites home now!

:D I'll send them in a box specifically for you :)

Is he your lab partner for the rest of the semester?
If so, maybe he should wear protective clothing :)

:P if he sits by me. haha

. . .

*rm = returned missionary,  meaning he's over 21 years old having served a two-year mission for our church. We are gently encouraging our gal to avoid this variety of gentlemen at this stage in her life as they seem to be a bit more in a marrying frame of mind.

You are Home

I made a little sign for Lauren when she came home for Christmas.
In my head it read like this:  you are HOME!!

but when I noticed that sometimes she slipped and said "when I get back home..." (meaning college)
I mentally read it like this: you ARE home!!

. . .

Her second semester of school starts today.
Good luck, Lulu! Here's to an invigorating and studious term :)

Embracing braces

Miss Maddy recently added elastic bands to her mouth gear (well, technically the orthodontist added them). You know the ones? Where an elastic on each side attaches to a top bracket and a bottom bracket so that when you open your mouth you have little bouncy mouth bungees spanning the gap?

Well, for the record, she's been a great sport about wearing them around the clock as prescribed (and the good news is that this step is winding up the whole braces process). As a bonus, they have given the kids around her no end of fascination. A couple of weeks ago we had a cute girl come sit by us at church while her mom went out with the baby. She was fascinated by Maddy's elastic bands and seemed convinced they were there solely to make her giggle, like finger puppets or a funny hat. So giggle she did, unendingly, pointing at Maddy's mouth with delight.

On Sunday Maddy sat with a different family since I was sick and G and Sam had to sit elsewhere. Later, at home, their three-year-old daughter was cutting up little pieces of string. When her mom asked what she was doing, the girl asked her to glue them to her teeth so she could have braces, too, a la Maddy.

Who knew braces could be so fun and captivating? Like a puppet show in your mouth!

. . .

G and Sam went on an overnight campout last week so we had some quality time around here, the girls and I. One of the things they wanted to do was go to a makeup counter and get a makeover and lesson. So we did. (Lauren was excited that she got the Asian guy makeup artist because she contends her eyeshape is very nigh unto Asian. So she got some good tips.)

It was good, free fun. Which is just the kind we like around here after Christmas.

p.s. That's why Maddy is all made up in the top photo.

Chicagoing

After opening presents and attending church on Christmas Day, we hopped on a plane and landed in Chicago to spend a few days with my parents and siblings. My aunt and uncle had offered their home to us while they were away for Christmas and it was a wonderful site to gather, smack in the middle of the country.

Joy! It's the first time we've all been together for 5+ years.  It was time.

So that's where I've been:

spending hours around the table

reading on the sofas

going to the Chicago Art Institute

and Berghoffs (remember when I went there with Sam a couple of summers ago? they fixed their sign)

singing around the piano

and doing Muppet impersonations (Chris's Animal ftw)

My people. I love them.

I miss them already.

Hallelujah

Hope your weekend is filled with both joyful noise

and peace

Sending love and best wishes to you all!

. . .

p.s. I must admit I posted the Nativity Carol last year but it's still my favorite.
And something about that wintry Alaskan Hallelujah video gets me every time.

Nesting and pruning

Today I realized that I'm having kind of a rebellious, who says holiday:

Who says you have to decorate your tree before December 23rd? 
Who says you have to have Christmas cards all made and sent by now*?
Who says you have to stress over every little detail?
Who says you have to say yes to every invitation or event that comes along?

Certainly not me, not this year anyway.

It feels good to have all my chicks under my wing. Some Decembers I love darting around, bringing home little bits and treats to the nest, thriving on the bustle and the go, go, go. This year I just want to nest right here, thankyouverymuch (with a special thanks to Amazon, my gal Friday). We've jettisoned the parts that were stressful and tried to keep the meaningful bits for this precious stretch of days when we're all together. Someday we'll have a more high energy holiday again but this year, we needed hygge.

Tonight we put a few ornaments on the tree (we wanted to wait for Lauren to be home) and pulled out a gingerbread house kit we still had in the basement left over from last year:

It was great. Epiphany: The holiday season can be whatever you need it to be.

And who says your gingerbread walls have to meet exactly at the corners? 

. . .

*We'll still plan on doing cards eventually; we just had to wait for the college girl to get home to do photos [Note to self: take photos in the summer from now on].