The Run-up to the Holidays
Thanksgiving is over. Our house has moved on to Christmas.
We began our run-up to Christmas with a visit to Century Village and a tour of the Hitchcock Family century home. On a whim all 3 kids wore Santa hats for the day which worked out perfectly for some fun photos. The kids enjoyed the look into the simplicity of holidays of yore – and the table of free cookies. While in the Village we stopped into the country store to look at some local crafts for possible family gifts and some of us scouted the candy counter just in case.
After leaving Century Village we ran into Santa and Mrs. Claus at the Burton cabin and sugar house. Our 10 year old who is recently savvier and wiser about the holiday icon was nice enough to silently sacrifice his new maturity for his younger sisters and briefly (and a bit aloofly) sit with Santa too.
We are making a concerted effort this year to either make our gifts for family or buy them from local craftsman and shops so we also stopped into two more local businesses Locally Blown Glass and Farmhouse Stoneware.[1] At the latter the kids were able to watch Jim throw some clay and shape a few vessels.
Christmas is a tricky time of year for parents in my opinion because it's difficult to keep a fine balance between tempering our kids’ excitement at the promise of gifts[2] with teaching them the importance of giving and time with family. Despite that pressure and the, at times, overwhelming flood of seasonal noise, I like this time of year. The snow begins to fall more often making for beautiful hikes, sledding, snowball fights, snow forts, and warming back up indoors. Many of the seasonal movies, music, and events carry a fun nostalgia for me and our kids' enthusiasm for the holiday and school break permeates the house adding a relaxed sense of anticipation and excitement.
I hope you have an enjoyable lead into to your holidays as well.