Merry Christmas!
Well.
All I can say is it used to be a lot easier to get a good picture by the Christmas tree.
We wish you a Merry Christmas! May it be full of fun and family and laughter.
See you in 2013!
Author: Big Mama
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Fashion Friday: Edition Merry Christmas
Well.
It’s just days before Christmas. And I still haven’t baked sugar cookies or made toffee or cinnamon rolls or any of those things I normally do. So this is probably going to be brief because I’ve also in charge of a 4th grade Christmas party later today.
What I’m trying to say is I’m going to put up links but no pictures. I’m keeping it simple. Which is really going to pay off in case the world ends at some point today.
But there are still good fashion items to be found.
Love the color.
Piperlime has a bunch of boots on sale right now, including these Mia boots that I’ve loved all year. They’re only $54.99.
3. evening frost structured coat
I love a white coat. It’s so crisp. Until someone touches you after eating Cheetos.
Great pop of color for an outfit. I’m picturing a navy striped shirt.
5. eversoft wide-stripe skinny cardigan
I’m a fan of a striped cardigan.
I think this is cute. Perfect to throw on with jeans.
7. wimberly quilted bangle bracelet
I would like one of these in every color. I have the blue and the black and wear them all the time.
This is another great top to throw on with jeans.
See? This tee would look cute with the orange scarf above.
10. kendra scott evan earrings
I love Kendra Scott jewelry so much. And I really like these gold earrings. Also, if you sign up to receive their email you get 15% off your first purchase.
And that’s it for today.
See you Monday.
Unless the Mayans were right.
Y’all have a good Friday.
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The big apple, part deaux
Before I enthrall you with more vacation pictures, I feel like I need to give you a quick update on what’s going on here. Because I guess I think you’d want to know.
When we left for New York, the house was a wreck. The painters were still finishing up and there was dust and stuff everywhere. And when I came home, the house was painted but that was about the extent of the improvement.
So I spent all day Monday and Tuesday cleaning every surface and putting things back where they belong and trying to decorate for Christmas. And I’m happy to report that as of this writing, the tree is decorated and the stockings are hung by the chimney with care.
Not new stockings. The same old stockings. I decided that since they’d only be up about a week that this wasn’t the year to buy new ones. Plus, I couldn’t make a decision because I am indecisive that way.
Anyway, Caroline and I decorated the tree last night. And she experienced a bit of a sugar rush after her third candy cane and an afternoon spent icing sugar cookies with her Gigi.
This meant I had to rearrange a few ornaments after she went to bed because she has a tendency to get excited and clump everything in one location. Whereas I have a tendency to have OCD and need all ornaments to be spaced out at appropriate intervals. I’d tell you what those intervals are, but I’ve never been good at ornament math.
So. Part two of New York.
On Friday morning we headed out early to get to Macy’s on 34th Street to visit Santa. And let me tell you, Macy’s on 34th does it right. None of this walking up the steps of a glorified mobile home to see Santa. It’s a full-on Winter Wonderland with trees and a faux train ride and elves that greet you and escort you to meet Santa. I think this was maybe one of my favorite moments of the whole trip.
After Macy’s, we went to the very top of the Empire State Building where I renewed my fear of heights and desperately tried not to think about being ninety stories up in the air or whatever it is. Meanwhile, Caroline wanted to look out at the city from every angle and so that’s what we did while I tried to hyperventilate quietly.
We eventually made our way down and were starving. But we couldn’t find any sort of deli or anything and resorted to eating a few large pretzels from a street vendor. I figured you never hear of anyone getting e.coli from a pretzel so it seemed relatively harmless. And then we caught the Subway to head to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.
Unfortunately, Ellis Island is still closed because of Hurricane Sandy and so I just took some really bad pictures of Caroline with the Statue of Liberty way in the distance.
And then we walked down to the World Trade Center Memorial and saw Freedom Tower being built. This was the first year that we really talked to Caroline about what happened on 9/11 and I think she had at least a little bit of appreciation for what she was seeing and the weight of it all.
So we’d done all that and it was only 12:30.
In spite of the delicious, street vendor pretzels, we were all starving. Except for Bops. He said that pretzel had totally satisfied his hunger and he didn’t want to ruin his dinner. Which was all good and fine except that the rest of us needed actual nutrition in the form of something that wasn’t purchased off the street. We stopped in a little restaurant and had some delicious soup and sandwiches and even a glass of wine which kind of took the edge off the rush of the morning.
(I don’t know why I called it a little restaurant. Maybe it just seemed small. Also, Caroline didn’t have any wine. Just to clarify.)
We headed back uptown after we ate and walked around a Christmas fair at Bryant Park and then made our way to Grand Central Station and eventually the New York Public Library. Then we spent a little bit of time relaxing at the hotel before we went to eat Chinese food later on that evening. I have no pictures of the Chinese food or the restaurant, but I will tell you that our waiter had less personality than the floor.
Saturday was our last full day in New York and we decided to spend the morning at the Museum of Natural History. And that was before I knew they had dinosaurs made of Christmas trees outside. Bonus.
We made our way through the African mammal exhibit and the ocean exhibit and saw all the dinosaurs. And we also ate at the Food Court located conveniently downstairs because we were starving. Here’s what I’ll tell you, go to the museum for the dinosaurs, not the food.
After we’d seen all there was to see, we walked across the street to Central Park and just enjoyed sitting outside because the weather was gorgeous. About fifty degrees and not a cloud in the sky. Of
course Caroline took the opportunity to climb more rocks. I told her I was going to call this shot “Right before we went to the Emergency Room”.
The rest of the day we spent walking down Fifth Avenue again, but it wasn’t quite as charming as it had been earlier in the week before the weekend crowd set in. This time it was more like crowd-surfing on a sea of semi-drunk people wearing bad Santa Claus costumes. Which, sure, has its charm, but doesn’t really allow for a relaxed experience.
And so we went back to the hotel and went out later that night to eat burgers at Jackson Hole. They were absolutely delicious. I may have dreamed about mine again last night, but I won’t say for sure because that’s kind of embarrassing. However, you need to try the burgers at Jackson Hole if you’re ever in New York.
By late Saturday night, we were exhausted. I’d told Caroline we could go take an overpriced carriage ride around Central Park on Sunday morning, but she said she’d rather just stay in the hotel and relax until it was time to go to the airport. I’ve never loved her more.
And it worked out perfectly because Sunday morning dawned cold and rainy. Perfect weather for watching “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town” for the 85th time.
Later on, a car came to take us back to Newark to catch our flight home. I wish I could say good things about the flight but that would be a lie. It was long. And hot. And I sat next to a man who smelled of dirt and moth balls and onion.
We walked in our own back door around 10 p.m. and I’ve never been so grateful for a shower and my own bed. In that order.
But I wouldn’t trade the trip for anything in the world. It was a great time and something I know we’ll all remember forever.
New York at Christmas is a little piece of heaven. As long as you don’t mind sharing it with eight million people.
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The big apple
Well, all I can say is if you’re one of those people that loves to look at slideshows of other people’s vacations, then today is your lucky day.
Of course if you like to look at slideshows it may also mean you like to time travel back to 1984 when people still watched slides on those little carousel things. I can still hear the “CHA-CHOO” that my Nanny’s slide carousel made when you hit the remote control to advance to the next slide. Now that was technology.
Way back when Caroline was only about four years old, she began to talk about how much she wanted to go to New York. I have no idea why except that Bops used to fly to Newark for business trips all the time and brought her back a little Statue of Liberty. I guess at that moment a dream was born. A dream to see the big city.
So Mimi and Bops decided this was the year and told us way back in early September that they wanted to take us all to New York for Mimi’s birthday/early Christmas present. This works out since Mimi’s birthday is in December. P declined to go because he isn’t a fan of the big city and, also, it’s hunting season in South Texas. But Caroline and I jumped at the chance along with my sister, her husband and daughter, Sarah. They left Luke at home because he’s just three and would probably whine and cry and be bored and cold.
Which are really the same reasons that I was glad P decided not to go.
We decided we could always just photoshop them in to any important family photos we took while in New York. And that right there is why slide technology is almost obsolete.
On Wednesday morning we had a 6:55 a.m. flight. Which meant we had to be at the airport by 5:30. Which meant we had to wake up at 4:30. Which meant that I didn’t sleep at all the night before because that is what I do when I have to get up at an hour that I still consider to be the middle of the night.
We made it to the airport in plenty of time, got through security and made a necessary stop at Starbucks for caffeine. Except Caroline and Sarah had hot chocolate because kids don’t really need caffeine for extra energy. Even at 5:30 a.m.
When we arrived in Newark, a Good Times van picked us up to drive us to our hotel. (Not really, but how awesome would that have been? Maybe a brown one with a scene of a sunset on the side.) It was actually a very tasteful, roomy black van that wasn’t heated to the surface of the sun like the flight we’d just been on.
As we drove into the city we pointed out the Statue of Liberty and Brooklyn Bridge to the girls. And Caroline was fascinated by the Lincoln Tunnel even though she was sure she could see it leaking.
We made it to the city by mid-afternoon and immediately walked down to Rockefeller Center to see the Christmas tree.
I decided it was a good day to do my impersonation of a member of Fat Albert’s gang. Note to self: NICE HAT, LUCILLE.
And then we just walked up and down Fifth Avenue, looking at amazing store windows, until we realized we were all starving and needed to eat dinner.
It was 4:15 p.m.
We party like rock stars.
Or senior citizens. I can’t remember which.
But after some good Italian food, we had renewed energy and made our way to Times Square. That’s where the girls discovered the M&M store and I accidentally bought $20 worth of M&Ms because ALL THE COLORS. And then we saw Johnny Manziel’s billboard and discovered that New York isn’t like Disney World and if you take your picture with Mickey and Minnie Mouse they expect a tip.
And, finally, we went in the Toys ‘R Us store where a kid can be a kid or suffer some kind of sensory overload because they’ve been up since four in the morning and there is a FERRIS WHEEL IN THE STORE.
Caroline looked at me after we’d been there about thirty minutes and said, “Mom? My head kind of feels like blelrlsh shiflenth flvuen”. I felt like that was a sign it was time to head back to the hotel and get some sleep.
So that’s what we did.
At 7:30 p.m.
In our defense, it felt like midnight.
(On a side note, the Toys ‘R Us in Times Square is open twenty-four hours a day now through Christmas. I bet that’s just how the shepherds who visited the manger envisioned future generations commemorating the birth of our Savior.)
The next morning we were up and out early because that’s how Bops does vacations. Time is money. We went to the American Girl doll store so Sarah and Caroline could get their dolls ears pierced and hair styled. This was a precious time filled with running commentary by Bops about how the economy can’t be that bad if the American Girl doll salon still exists and wondering how you keep a straight face while you give a doll an exfoliating treatment.
But the girls loved it and the hairdresser who styled Caroline’s doll’s hair marveled at what good condition it was in. And it took everything in me to say it’s because that doll has spent its entire existence sitting virtually untouched in the playroom.
We made our way to St. Patrick’s Cathedral after that. With freshly coiffed dolls in tow.
And then walked until we got to Central Park. Where Caroline discovered the beauty of climbing every single rock in the park and causing me to hyperventilate.
Eventually I gave up the fight and climbed up there to join her. And I’m so glad I did because this may be one of my favorite pictures ever of the two of us.
We also ice skated, and by we, I mean my brother-in-law and the two girls. And I’m also playing fast and loose with the term “ice skate”. It was more an “awkward ice walk”.
Afterwards we visited Eloise at The Plaza.
Right after this we learned you’re not supposed to take your picture with Eloise.
And then we played the giant piano and visited Zoltar at FAO Schwarz. Caroline also ended up getting some kind of mini-facial from a salesgirl who told her that she needs to take good care of her skin because “most damage occurs before the age of seventeen”. And Caroline proved that she is her mother’s daughter because she was immediately ready to own the entire beauty set. This is a child who complains about having to brush her teeth so I didn’t feel bad about turning down the purchase of skin care regimen that would make Victoria Principal weep.
But she has reminded me a million times that “most skin damage occurs before the age of seventeen”. Yes. Let’s start with remembering to shower every day.
Later in the day (Are you exhausted yet? Because I am just reading all of this.) we rode the subway down to Chinatown and Little Italy. Caroline bought a cool bag, we ate some delicious homemade pasta, and made our way back to the hotel to crash.
And I think that has to be it for today because MY WORD at the lengthiness. Good news for all of you who love a good slide show. There’s a sequel.
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In search of the light
I’ve started this and deleted the first sentence about twenty-six times in the last thirty minutes. Because sometimes there just aren’t words. Or as Forrest Gump says, “Sometimes there aren’t enough rocks”. I don’t write about current events very much. Not because I don’t care, but because I usually want this to be a place where we can laugh and try to find the lighter side of life.
But right now that place seems hard to find.
If you had asked me on Friday morning what I was going to write about on Monday, I’d have told you it was going to be all about the last six days we’ve spent in New York with Mimi and Bops and my sister and her family. And there is so much to tell.
It was precious time spent with people I love. Getting to show Caroline the city of New York at Christmastime will go down as one of my favorite memories ever. Especially Friday morning when we went to visit Santa Claus at Macy’s on 34th Street. Watching her face light up as she told him what she wanted and Santa taking the extra time to discuss the Percy Jackson books she’s currently reading made it one of those magical moments I’ll remember always. It was one of those rare times when real life surprises you with so much joy.
And I guess that’s part of why I couldn’t stop the tears when we made it back to our hotel later that afternoon and I learned the full extent of what occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary. Because while I was watching Caroline and my niece, Sarah, experience the very best of childhood magic and wonder, there was a school of precious littles, just sixty miles away, experiencing horror beyond comprehension.
Honestly, I don’t even think I can let my mind fully go there or I may never be able to get out of bed again. It’s too much. Too much sadness, too much agony, too much hurt.
As a parent, I hear bad stories and tend to mentally list all the reasons that could never happen to Caroline. I pay attention. I don’t leave her at home alone. I don’t let her walk down the block without watching to make sure she arrives safely at her destination. I make sure I know everyone she comes in contact with in the course of a day.
But what happened Friday shatters any illusion we have of being in control. Those parents dropped their babies off for a day at school. A day that should have been filled with learning how to use verbs in a sentence or adding numbers or eating paste like every other elementary school kid. And the unfathomable happened.
And now there are Christmas presents that will sit unopened, and hearts that are forever broken, and lives that will always bear the scars of a cold Friday in December that was probably filled just hours earlier with weekend plans to look at Christmas lights and visit Santa and drink hot chocolate.
I don’t have any answers because I don’t think we’ll understand as long as we’re here on earth. But here’s what I do know.
I know that this is not our home. I know that there is a God in heaven who is good and faithful and true even when nothing makes sense. And I know that we live in a fallen world filled with sorrow and tragedy and madmen capable of terrible things.
I know that there is no better time than Christmas to remember that God sent his son into the world to save us all from darkness and sin and certain death. And that 2000 years ago, the cry of a baby was a holy roar letting evil forever know that weeping may last for a night, but joy will come in the morning.
One of the parts of the Christmas story that’s often swept under the rug is the mass murder of innocent children at the hands of a crazed King Herod that caused Joseph and Mary to flee with Jesus to Egypt. There’s no way to make that look pretty. No way to dress that up as part of the manger scene with wise men and shepherds and maybe a cow for good measure.
Yet it’s there. In all its ugliness and darkness. But it’s easier to deal with because there is time and distance. It’s part of history. There aren’t pictures of those precious faces all over Facebook, but they, too, were babies whose lives were cut tragically short and left behind parents filled with unimaginable grief.
The truth is our world is filled with darkness and always has been. Satan comes to steal and kill and destroy. And what feels more destructive and violent than innocent lives, who embody the very tenderness of God, filled with so much light and promise and possibility with freckles across their sweet faces?
I know that we are called to be a light in a dark world. And, as much as something like this makes me want to wrap my whole family in protective bubble wrap and spend the rest of our days within the walls of our home, we are called to spread the love of Christ and share that there is hope and redemption and peace and purpose beyond what we can imagine right now. Jesus came in the form of a helpless baby, but he won’t come back that way.
He’ll come as a conqueror. And evil will be vanquished forever.
On the plane ride home, I heard the lyrics from “I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day” and they fell fresh on me.
And in despair I bowed my head:
“There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.”Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men.”That’s the very heart of what Christmas is all about.
Our hearts are broken for you, Newton, Connecticut. You are in prayers. And we weep for your babies.
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Start spreading the news
So we made it to New York.
And we’ve been up since 4:00 a.m.
But the good news is someone had adapted well to big city life.
Plus we even got to see a little piece of home in Times Square.
