christmas recipe

our tree in a sea of gifts thanks to our generous families

Like all good dishes, our recipe for Christmas is a work in progress. Some of the ingredients that we had this year are, in my book, essential.

#1 Children. Tim, especially, has made this Christmas the best I've had since I was a child. This is his first year to know Santa Claus, to learn and sing Christmas songs, and to take part in decorating the house. It's been a season of smiles and laughter thanks to him. And Luke has added his own bit of magic to the mix. He is becoming aware of his greater surroundings instead of fixating on toys and people, and this discovery has turned him into an explorer. Nothing is safe from his curiosity.

#2 House guest or guests. Nick came to stay with us for Christmas and added just the perfect amount of strange and new for both Tim and Luke. He's great with kids, comfortable in the kitchen, and a fantastic conversationalist, so Paul and I felt like he was one of our Christmas presents.

#3 Mild weather. Last year was a winter of snow, which was beautiful and exciting. This year has been mild. We haven't had snow on the ground in weeks. Even though I love snow and I love a white Christmas, the mild weather has made everything easy, especially dealing with the children who have been able to play outside several times this December. This ingredient is entirely dependent on the next ingredient. Without #4, I would want weather more in keeping with the season.

#4 Night at the condo in Breckenridge. Our friends who own the condo in Breckenridge are having the bathrooms remodeled. It was supposed to be done in November. Their frustration with the workers and delays meant that we got to spend Christmas Eve at the condo, and Paul and Nick got to spend Christmas day on the slopes. I can't ski until I get new ski boots. I thoroughly enjoyed being away from home where the mess of Christmas (we opened our gifts Christmas Eve morning before we left, something we probably won't be able to do next year when Tim's awareness of dates may be in place) would have had me spending the day cleaning. This trip gave us a gloriously white Christmas. As I said, ingredients 3 and 4 must go together.

it's a good thing we captured this on camera because they don't share toys


this is as close to sharing as they get.

tim opens a gift with brother watching


nick on horsetooth rock

nick up front with dad on a sightseeing flight over fort collins


nick, paul and tim before their flight


sledding at breckenridge


nick skiing at breck

There are ingredients missing from our recipe this year such as having our family in South Africa with us and our friends who are now scattered to places like England, New Foundland, Australia, and such. As I said, it's a work in progress.

siblings

Paul's company party was last Saturday afternoon, a family affair centered around children. Tim knows all about Santa Claus this year, but was still a little shy about sitting on his lap. Once there, he managed a smile. Luke screamed as soon as I put him down, but we expected that. We didn't even attempt to visit Santa when Tim was that little. I guess that's part of being a sibling: experiencing things before or after our time for the sake of the other sibling.