(Away from) Home for the Holidays

I like the weather here.  Except for a few days, the weather for the past three months we've lived here has been sunny and warm (low to mid 70s) during the day, sun up around 6am, sun down about 6pm, cooler in the evening and early morning hours.  That's nice. 

But....for a Midwestern girl, heading into fall without any cold weather, leaves changing, or frost is just plain weird. (Yes, technically it's spring here, since we're on the other side of the equator.  But I'm sticking with the seasons I know since there isn't much change here except that summer (Jan/Feb) is rainy season and apparently yukky.)

I tried to help by putting up a few fall decorations.  I made two of these felt leaf garlands. And while I was making them, it helped.  But putting up pumpkins and fall leaves when it's 70 degrees out just doesn't do a whole lot.  It seems like you're just pretending. 

I do love the hand sewn acorns and I look forward to putting this up in MN.

It didn't feel like Halloween, it doesn't feel like Thanksgiving is just around the corner, that it is less than one month to my birthday, or that Christmas is just over one month away.  In some ways, I feel like Groundhog Day...we wake up, we do the same stuff, and the weather never changes. I even pass the same people on the way to and from school....  :)

I am curious...what do other people who grew up with four defined seasons and now live somewhere with more temperate weather do to get into the holiday spirit?  I need some tips, people!  I love the holidays but this weird weather is throwing off my groove. 

We did get a couple of packages over the past couple of weeks that included pictures of our extended family.  I hung up a little picture gallery in our stairwell and I LOVE, love, LOVE seeing the family every day as I go up and down.  It's a little piece of home. 

My happy place.  Sometimes A sits on the stairs and talks to the pictures.

I miss being home for the holidays.  I'm sad I can't go shopping the day after Thanksgiving with my BFF.  I'm glad that we have some families to celebrate Thanksgiving with here and that I get to make the pies.  I'm glad that the holidays have a bigger meaning.  But I'm sad to be away from our norms (even the snow). 

Eat an extra piece of pie or whatever food makes the holiday special for you and give your loved ones an extra squeeze!

St. Nicholas Day

Happy Saint Nicholas Day! We celebrate by opening stockings in our house. (We open family gifts on Epiphany- Jan 6- so we get both early and late gifts.) We exchange gifts with Dave's family on Christmas, but this lets us focus on different parts of the experience throughout the entire Christmas season and especially on Jesus rather than all about gifts.

Mirabel was most excited about the treats! treats! treats! that were in the stocking (and the Advent calendar). Her job is snuffing the candles on our advent wreath and opening one of the advent calendars.

Another funny Mirabel tale....we came in from the cold and she started dancing around but knew she needed to get her boots off before racing for the toilet. As she jumped, she said "Not go potty in my pants, not go potty in my pants...no way, Jose!" And she made it, too!

Baa

So....we've been doing Advent preparations at our home over the past month or so- Advent calendars (two of them), Advent wreath with candles, Advent devotions. We have several nativity sets that are Mirabel friendly (and several that aren't). Mirabel has been having a lot of fun with the Christmas decorations- lights, tree, ornaments, Advent, baby Jee and the whole bunch. We also have a lot of books about the nativity and of course, there are lots of animals on the scene. Mirabel loves to make animal noises, but she isn't very good at baa. So I've been making the sheep sounds and she has been focusing on the cows, horses, cats and dogs.

A couple of days ago, she transitioned from calling me maa to baa...apparently in response to the fact that I had been baaing quite a bit lately. Several days later, she's still doing it...probably in response to the immense laughter coming from her father. It's now been reinforced with my whole family as we spent our Christmas celebration with them today...she totally knows that isn't really me or my name, but she gets an impish little grin on her face and sweetly points to me and says "Baa" to get my attention. Baa- baa!