It's a chilly January morning, nearly the Feast of the Epiphany. School started today. We just returned from visiting the in-laws in Oklahoma City during the previous week and visiting with college friends and Texas friends (who were in Michigan) over the weekend. The holidays are nearing their end, but we are still celebrating.
It's been a minute since I blogged - November closed out our college football season of hospitality, much to the dismay of the Notre Dame football fans in our household. (The team was left out of college football playoffs because of some political machinations by the board to allow in more SEC teams. Even I was angered by the slight Notre Dame received by the CFP board. Our righteous indignation was tempered only by the outpouring of sympathy the team received - although plenty of people who love to hate Notre Dame football were willing to throw salt in the wounds.)
Although our social calendar no longer revolves around the football schedule, we had a busy December with Christmas celebrations, including a black tie gala at the art museum, probably the highlight, and several other parties. Our own party had to be rescheduled when a last minute trip to Jerusalem came up for my husband. Although he only had 3 days in the Holy City, 2 of which were taken up by meetings, because of the political situation and the season, there were no crowds or lines to enter the holy sites, and he was able to visit the most notable ones - the Church of the Nativity, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the wailing wall. He has promised to take me there the next time he has to go.
The beginning of December was consumed by end of the year planning and grading, shopping, and travel planning. Every year I think I am going to be a more efficient grader and just whiz through grades, but it always takes longer than I think, even though this year I was grading speeches and much shorter final essays - which students wrote in class in blue books because AI is ubiquitous. Even if you don't want to use it, it is built into so many applications now.
I also resolved last year to be a better shopper and just buy the gifts the kids want without wasting time shopping all around. I did that for a couple of things before falling prey to the "I can find a better price elsewhere" mindset. Then I scrolled for hours before running out and buying random gifts instead of the one prized thing. The gifts were given, and many subsequently were stacked up to be returned.
But that's getting ahead of the story. The Christmas celebration began with a first birthday party - "One for the books." My daughter-in-law did such a cute job decorating for a picture book themed party - there were a very hungry caterpillar balloon arch and lots of snacks from Eric Carle's classic, a Chicka chicka boom boom tree where we wrote guest messages, a table with a station for drawing wild things and another station for looking up phases of the moon on our own birthdays. Books were stacked on the table as decor. And cookies as a take home gift were set out under a little sign with a picture of Max and an "I"ll eat you up I love you so" message. Everything was thoughtfully planned. The birthday girl may have been slightly oblivious, but she loved all of the attention after an initial moment of befuddlement when she woke up from a nap to find a houseful of family and friends waiting to give her birthday hugs. Her favorite gifts were her cute chair from her mom and dad and her little gold shoes from us. She loves shoes! But of course the highlight of the party was just watching her smile and be loved by all her adoring aunts and uncles.
From the bday party we headed to my parents' farm for an early Christmas with my siblings and most of the cousins. We had a delicious supper of Guinness beef stew, homemade bread, and plenty of laughs. My mom loves to shop at Goodwill, so she gave all of the young people bags of random things she had found over the last few months, but the real gift was a generous check. (Note to self for next year - pick up some fun stocking stuffers, write some checks, and enjoy the time together.)
My one successful gift was waiting for the kids when we all returned to our home in the north - I finally bought everyone matching pajamas, even the baby, even the dog. My husband was not thrilled about this, and I'm sorry to say I did not get a great photo of the whole lot of us. The kids all posed on the stairs, but you can't really see all the pj's. We should have set one up in front of the tree, but in the hullabaloo, that didn't ever get staged.
Those were handed out on Monday evening - a late St. Nick day gift. For two days we had all the kids home. On Tuesday we went to the farmers' market (not a crowded day), picked up dinner prep items at the Italian market and the meat and cheese shop, and made an Italian feast. The kids gave their secret Santa gifts which were really very thoughtful and generous. The next day we went ice skating and had a steak flight for dinner so the kids could taste test different types of steak. We ate really well all week.
Our oldest and his family headed home to do Christmas Eve and Christmas day at their house, but my parents came up that afternoon. We attended the Christmas Eve Mass at the basilica which was beautiful and solemn. It was so crowded we had to sit behind the altar, but we still felt like a part of the celebration.
After Mass was the traditional toast and some snacky bites, but everyone was tired so they went to bed relatively early - meaning by 1 am. Meanwhile, I was awake several more hours, sorting and wrapping a few things, and fretting over how to make sure the piles were all even. Most of the presents I put in bags. Another resolution - do that part earlier! It was a short night.
Even though the kids slept in, they were up before my parents arrived to watch them open a couple presents and to join us for brunch, which was basic breakfast food; just plenty of it. I did not step up my game this year to make any breakfast cakes, as we had lots of cookies and pies left over and the neighbor sent over homemade cinnamon rolls. What a treat!
After brunch, the weather was mild enough that we could take a stroll around the lakes, which the dog loved. We lit candles at the Grotto and prayed by the outdoor nativity. Then it was back for another big meal for dinner - beef tenderloin, the favorite of the steak flight (which was just small bites for everyone). Christmas evening we all piled up in the basement to watch Christmas movies, a chill evening after a big eating day.
Although we still need comfy chairs for the basement and a game table - ping pong, pool, or just a table for board games, which we played a lot at my in-laws, - the gathering spaces in our new house worked fairly well for our large group. The living room was crowded but not cramped. The kitchen was full but not overflowing. Everyone found a spot to lounge for the movie (although I have decided our new couch is not as comfortable as I would like - it isn't deep, so it's hard to curl up on). I wanted to light a fire, but my husband wants to get the chimney cleaned first, and a fire might have made the basement too warm.
The Boston contingent headed back east right after Christmas, while we reset to head to OKC. Our youngest son ended up getting the opportunity for a special work trip and wasn't able to go with us, but we were all happy for his opportunity to travel. In between the full first week with all the kids and then the second part of the week with the trip to see the in-laws, this seemed an especially long Christmas break -perhaps because we had the two full weeks with Christmas and New Year's near the end of the week.
Travels to OKC were nearly interrupted by a winter storm - we had snow before Christmas and snow after Christmas, but no snow on Christmas. We barely made our connection, but because we were flying through Dallas, we could have rented a car, so stress was minimal. Which is good because now that we live in the land of winter, we will have to deal with inevitable travel delays - or not travel.
The time in OKC was similarly marked by lots of laughter and good food. This year we stayed at a hotel while our oldest and his family stayed at my in-laws. Two of my husband's brothers and their families, including his brother who lives in Germany, and one of his sisters also gathered on New Year's Eve to ring in 2026. We moved the "party" back to the hotel and found a conference room where we could sit and talk until we moved to a window to watch the fireworks downtown. The conversations were long and deep and the laughter hearty. My sister and I agreed that the best part was the laughter that may have smoothed some rough edges between the brothers. Differing political views may have created some distance between members of the family, but this holiday week was a good reminder that human relationships can accommodate differences.
In between laughing together and then feasting on the traditional white meal - pork, sauerkraut, knepp and mashed potatoes (plus green beans) - we were warmed with full stomachs and full hearts. It's always a little hard to return home after a vacation with people you love, but we capped off the week with quick jaunts to Chicago and Marshall, Michigan, where we met up with friends for end of the holiday visits over lunch - more opportunities to strengthen long relationships.
Much to be thankful for this holiday season, although it seems awfully quiet this week as our youngest heads back to school and the two college kids still here are sorting their things and working on some projects they wanted to do. Classes start next week for me, so I still have a week to prep - thank goodness - and some time to reflect and reset. I've got some things to work on in the new year -intentions coming soon. But this post is a work of gratitude - a look back at the many blessings that grace this life.
lots of shoes = a full house = lots of love
