Advent Days 9, 10, 11, and 12: Glory, Revealed, Voice, Might

Glory:

magnificence or great beauty

We love going to the movie theatre and for obvious reasons have not been in many, many months.  So on Wednesday night we used gift cards from last Christmas and rented our own AMC theatre for a viewing of ELF. It was glorious and for an hour and a half things felt pretty ordinary in the very best way possible!

Revealed :

 

I love snowmen so when I received an email about a snowman pretzel deal I couldn't pass it up.  I have entirely fallen off my clean eating dairy and gluten free lifestyle and gah can my gut and head tell.  I'll deal with that soon enough but for now I"m finding bits of joy revealed in silly little things like snowman shaped carbs.

                                                                                Voice:

Lucy is writing like crazy!  Stories, poems, non-fiction books.  She's using her voice!

Might:

From the New York Times 

 "I have long thought that when it comes to being a parent in the pandemic, it might be the hardest for parents of teenagers. Parents of little ones can meet most of our children’s social needs, and our kids still kind of want to be around us. Not so for parents of teens. I recall with poignant shame what a complete nightmare I was at 16 when I was told, for various sensible reasons, that I could not hang out with my idiot friends. I can only imagine the epic battles that would have ensued had there been a pandemic raging, keeping me from hotboxed station wagons.

So in fairness to teens in 2020, this is a particularly difficult time to be young. “Pandemic conditions are at cross currents with normal adolescent development,” said Lisa Damour, Ph.D, a clinical psychologist and the author of The New York Times’ Adolescence column. The most powerful forces driving development for middle and high schoolers are increased independence over time, along with being with one’s peers, Dr. Damour said, and the virus curtails both of those things." 

Yep, it's hard.  All of it.  Being a teenager is its own kind of tricky but in the middle of a pandemic.  OH!  It's really, really hard.  Nobody wants to work on a hobby or keep exercising or log into school.  We don't even feel like getting dressed.  But we do.  It takes might and faith and belief that we will all be ok.  And sometimes we make fruit Christmas trees on a gloomy afternoon and that is enough to make us smile.

Advent Days 6, 7, 8: Remember, Tenderly, Prepare

 Remember:

On Saturday, we had family photos taken even though it seems like we just had them taken.  Except that was actually 4 years ago.

Tenderly:

Yesterday on my run I heard such a racket that I stopped.  I looked up and spotted that guy perched on the wires.  I watched him for a bit and a couple of other people stopped as well, all of us trying to capture a photo.  I ran on my lunch hour, you know in the middle of the day.  These other people were presumably also in the middle of their day at work.  Before Covid would we have all stopped to watch and listen?  My heart feels happy with the thought that maybe we're all a bit more tender, a bit slower, a bit quieter now.    

Prepare

Emma and Eleanor snuck out of the house early this morning and went to Dunkin Donuts for coffee and donuts to start our day.  I was so delighted with my oat milk gingerbread latte!  It was the best way to prepare for day of online school!

Advent Days 4 and 5: Awesome and Perceived

 Awesome:

Yesterday afternoon Emma and I went visited the Central West End and walked through A Walking Christmas Carol.  It was a beautiful afternoon and our time was so well spent.  This is a great example of the kind of thing that pre pandemic we would have said we wanted to do but we would never have actually done.  Some things about our life right now are just so awesome.  Praise be to God that we still have an abundance of blessings!

Perceived:

This tiny room was created in our renovation last fall.  We call it the nook and the girls watch tv and hang out here.  Except Teddy thinks we created it for him.  And when I find him all snuggled in like this I don't have the heart to boot him out. Sometimes what we perceive becomes our reality.  For Teddy, in this case, that is a good thing!  

Advent Photo Challenge Days 2 and 3: Kindles and Known

  Kindles:

We always visit the St. Louis Zoo Lights at Christmas.   Pandemic plus super early in December made it a ghost town last night.  We didn't mind and had a great time.  The zoo holds a lot of good memories for all of us and being there always feels good.

                                                                  I love those eyes!

Known:

My school is currently online so I'm teaching from the living room and this guy is my office mate.  He is so comfortable with himself.  He snores and groans and makes me laugh all day.   He's sweet to keep me company but sometimes he's a bit much.

Advent Photo A Day: Presence

We've been listening to Christmas music for a couple of weeks (ok, maybe a little longer) so I've heard "O Holy Night" a few times this season but today when I heard it, the words "the weary world rejoices" hit me.  How very weary the world is. 

O Holy night! The stars are brightly shining
It is the night of our dear Savior's birth
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
'Til He appears and the soul felt its worth
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn
Fall on your knees; O hear the Angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born
O night, O Holy night, O night divine!

Today I started the Advent Photo a Day challenge.  I'm only a day behind plus it's December 1st and since I like to start new things on Mondays or on the first of the month I  feel like I'm in good shape. Today's word is presence.  

We are weary.

We miss our old lives.  

Nothing feels "normal".

But tonight, all is right.  

We're all in the same room watching Rudolph.  

This is our norm.  We eat dinner together.  We spend the evening together.  We're almost always together. 

2020 is hard.  But there is a lot to be grateful for, starting with a norm that includes being together.  

Presence.  

Trout Lodge- Year 5

 What started as a whim of an idea to take the girls on a nature retreat has officially become a tradition.  I think 5 years seals these sorts of things!  Every October we drive to Trout Lodge and do one overnight that is packed with way more laughs than nature but honestly, time together away from our norm was my original hope so there's no complaining on my end.

 Some things have become standard parts of our trip.  We always plan our trip for the end of first quarter long weekend.  We leave on Thursday after the girls get out of school for an early release day. We stop at the Blue Owl for lunch, and then at the Wal-Mart in De Soto, making what should be an hour and a half drive from St. Louis at least a three hour drive.  Why Wal-Mart, you ask.  Who knows why, other than the fact that it's become a tradition that we all love.  We always watch Halloweentown, and some of us even stay up to watch Halloweentown High.  The lodge always serves roast turkey for dinner. 

And some things change year to year.  

One year Lucy's lips were so chapped she could barely smile in any of the photos!  Another year Emma was in 7th grade, and then another Eleanor was a 7th grader ....and we all survived!  One year we drove through the lodge grounds at night looking for a nature presentation in one of the cabins.  I got a little off track and we went off roading in the mini-van.  Finally we found a little cabin with the lights on  and a group of people sitting around.  In my excitement I jumped out of the van and ran up to the cabin full of people who were there on a vacation, that did not include me or a nature presentation.  The girls still howl about that one.  There was the year that I forgot to put my bag in the car before we left home.  I had nothing.  No pajamas, toothbrush, clean clothes.  In a stroke of good luck I purchased a pair of pajamas at the DeSoto Wal-Mart before even realizing my bag was at home.  They were a nice cozy pair that I wore to bed and then the next day to breakfast at the lodge and on our drive home. We've taken a pontoon boat ride, played pickle ball, cards, putt putt, tennis and volleyball.    

This year had some differences, too.  

Trout Lodge isn't open during the week right now so our trip was on a Friday night, not Thursday.   So no turkey for dinner.  Dinner was actually better than we remembered though!  We ate outside in the freezing cold all by ourselves, because everyone else was packed into the dining room.  We were as happy as could be!  We tried to stop at The Blue Owl but the town that The Blue Owl is in was hosting a Halloween extravaganza of some sort.  The streets were full of people, shoulder to shoulder without masks.  We could not get out of town fast enough.  However, the DeSoto Wal-Mart was a haven for the masked!  And the best difference ever was our little political study.  In 2016 we were sucker punched by the campaign signs for Trump.  It was hard, we were surprised (not exactly sure why we were so surprised) by the enthusiasm!   This year we saw Trump signs for sure.  But we also saw signs for Biden!  We only counted signs once we left St. Louis County.  20 Trump signs.  10 Biden.  Hope!!!

                                                                2020- Outdoor dining!  

                                                            2020- Masked beauties!

2016- Year 1

2017- Year 2

2018- Year 3

2019- Year 4

September

Many parts of September feel ordinary.  

 We picked apples and made applesauce and are waiting for a crisp fall day to make an apple pie.  It's coming, we can feel it!

We celebrated Emma's 17th birthday!  And even with the pandemic she said it was one of her favorites.  And I believe her!  We ate great food all day long, and spent the day doing whatever Emma pleased.  Which included lots of time to talk and walk and just hang out.  

The balloons showed up in Forest Park just like they always do.

But there are lots of other reminders that this September is not at all like any of the others.

The balloons showed up but the people did not.  

Our 17 year old attended her first college fair in our dining room on Zoom.

And apple picking with masks on makes apple eating pretty tricky.

We've had some pretty hard days. Being a child during a pandemic hurts.  Being a parent during a pandemic hurts.  It's just a whole lot of saying no, not right now, we'll have to wait and see, and let's keep praying.  Praying that people will put the whole before the individual.  Praying that we will care about one another.  Praying that we'll keep seeing this as an opportunity to be the people we really want to be.  And remember,  it is still September!