This, the fall of 2010 has been a fabulously full time. So full that I am only now finally dragging my laptop to the "internet station" in our house (no wireless), plugging in, and uploading some goods from the past FOUR months. That's a long time, especially when the winter days start to crawl like sap dripping from a Christmas pine that has not yet lost its life to the "holiday season." I've never thought of myself as a tree-hugger, but that demise just seems so... final and anticlimactic.
So the fall was full, eh (I use that word for my Canadian friends)? A family cabin weekend with my side, a fun Halloween experience with good buddies (just tossed the remnant of that loot last week), lots of Thanksgiving crafts and Philip's family to share them with during a sweet time together.
The end-cap, the grand finale, of course, had to be the white Christmas morning that left us "stranded" for a couple days. This Christmas I was keen encourage the kids to savor the moments of advent and Christmas day, the traditions, the gifts, the hubub of it all as a celebration, a culmination of a certain Something much more than presents (which is what its all about for kids!). Something INFINITELY greater. But of course, Teya got that pervasive materialism bug that always afflicted me growing up, and she passed it to David before he should rightly be afflicted. They ripped open their presents, didn't even pause to breathe or think, and with flames in their eyes and saliva dripping from their greedy lips, demanded the next present. Okay, it wasn't that dramatic, but I was astonished at how they were transformed in a matter of mere moments from lovely, sweet children to little stuff monsters. So we are re-thinking Christmas. Is it really Jesus' birthday, or is it just an excuse to buy ourselves everything we never needed and didn't really want so that we can have some more stuff to stuff into a closet? Hmmmm... the jury's out on this one, but I do hope somewhere deep within that the Long family Christmas will look a little different next year.
Enough said, here's the recap of our fabulous fall!
Trick-or-treating with Evangeline. David refused to wear his cool homemade dog ears headband, which meant a confusing costume: poor child dressed in brown sporting a black eye.
Thumb-sucking is for sissies!
Leaves! And cousins!
"Boating" with Daddy. That's not quite what we had in mind when picturing the owner-described "canoe."
Our first (and probably last) trip on the Lookout Mountain Incline, which is the self-proclaimed "World's most amazing mile." We used up the last of our discount commuter tickets, which they don't sell anymore because people were scalping them. Crazy locals. Now we'd have to shell out $40 to once again live that dream :-)
Mission Accomplished. David fully potty-trained. Next task: decipher front from back.
Swinging HIGHER!
I was amazed at how much work these guys can do with the promise of some fun jumping time! Over the course of the fall months, Urban and Lyndon Tucker have spent quite a few mornings at our house (and David at theirs). Being the schemer that I am, we worked out games that involved collecting thousands of acorns, raking truckloads of leaves, and picking up pine cones by the gazillion. All work that needed to be done, but SO MUCH fun!
Happy to be alive! (and thankful for some sweet pearly whites)
Annual (because we did it last year, too) visit to the farm of Joan and Matt Vos, whose sheep just had babies! This was a good place to open up thoughts about where Jesus was born. Pretty stinky and cold.
Yes, Joy! But how did that lighted sign arrive in our yard one cold dark night? Aaron and Joy fessed up a few days later. Those sneaks!
Eight inches of snow on our mystery sign.
Great-grandma, the Gingerbread House forewoman looks on as David and Teya make their masterpiece.
Christmas morning. Happy Birthday, JESUS!
A few of his favorite things.
Notice, present in hand :-)
Sledding on Krupski Slope with the cousins.
What an amazing year this has been. We've all grown and changed, and we eagerly anticipate what God will do with and through us in the year ahead!
