kiwords

I’m sitting in a darkened house, quiet save for the rustle of the cat at her food. I’ve just given a sugar-hyped Tre a sippy cup of chamomile tea to take up to his room, in the hopes he will stay in bed this time. Ribbons and toy packaging lurk in the corners of the room, promising a long day of tidying tomorrow.
The question is how to write a post that’s not drippingly sentimental?
Christmas was wonderful this year. Truly wonderful. It was a very calm Christmas. I just let some things slide. We never got lights up outside. We used the fake tree. Things that in years past I would have struggled to get done just got left behind. I meandered through the holiday preparations, picking up activities that pleased me and letting others slip through my fingers.
It was lovely.
I had planned to bake some goodies for neighbors and friends, a small token of my affection. But December 23 I stood in my kitchen, looking at all the ingredients, and decided not to. There’s too much food everywhere right now anyway. I think I may surprise them with something on a gloomy day in late January. For now I hope they know I love them, but I’m sure they’re more interested in their own families.
As it should be. I’m rather interested in mine. We had such a nice day. We didn’t go anywhere, and the boys were in their jammies almost all day. The big gift today was one for the whole family, a nice electronic keyboard. From the other room I really can’t tell when Raphael is testing it that he’s not banging on a real piano. Max spent much time noodling around, fascinated by the “pinano.” Tre is ready to start lessons, but was more interested in a gift he got at his other grandparent’s house yesterday, some spy gear. He got a wrist camera (actually takes pictures) and a spy message center thingy. I’m not sure this is a great direction for him, because he spends enough time as it is sneaking up on people. But he’s delighted, and has taken untold numbers of pictures of unsuspecting people reading, putting on their shoes, or doing the dishes. The big hit for Raphael was a dump truck filled with those large interlocking building blocks. He has spent literally hours playing with that today.
But here’s the cool thing about the gifts. We’re not done. We celebrate the full twelve days around here, so all we opened today was the large family gift and the books I bought the boys. And for the next eleven days one person will open a gift a day. The boys complained about this a bit, but they truly didn’t fight it too much. And now there’s this whole lingering celebration to come.
Just lovely.