Christmas

Well, I guess it's time to update the ole blog. Starting with Christmas, which was a whirlwind of activity complete with unexpected guests, a snow flurry and an embarrassment of toys. Melina really raked it in this year, what with the new dollhouse, a hobby horse that whinnies and neighs, dolls, a cool button/clasp book that my mom made, books, Playmobil toys, and even a brand new sled. It was great (she needed some new toys), but also a bit overwhelming, and I purged a bunch of her old toys soon afterward. I think this is the first year she's actually "gotten it" about Santa Claus. The eerie thing is that she said, a few days before Christmas, "Santa Claus is bringing me a dollhouse." Which he was. Prescient, huh?

This was also the year where I really began to understand the role of women in keeping the Christmas tradition alive. I was feeling a bit stressed (and that's an understatement) by all the entertaining, particularly since I had just put on a dinner party for nine the week before. (Next year I'm limiting the entertaining to one event with fewer than ten people entering the front door in any given day.) It occurred to me in the middle of it all how I was the one in charge of the entertaining now. I remembered all of the Christmases past where I sat around and played and read books and ate up all the food prepared by grandmas and aunts and moms, all without a second thought about how all this food actually came to be, how all the decorating got done, how this entire image of Christmas had to begin in someone's mind and memory. To me, this was just how Christmas was, had always been, and always would be. I remember all the men sitting around watching the game while the women cooked and bickered and laughed and cleaned in the kitchen. (At least, I *think* I remember that - my dad was probably in there doing the dishes too, but I seem to remember it mainly being a female thing.) And suddenly I felt like all this tradition was on my shoulders (I did get help, but still, the "vision" was mine). It was a strange feeling, like suddenly realizing that I'm an adult and I can't just lay around and read and watch TV while someone else does Christmas for me. Kind of a sobering thought - I can no longer be a slacker in my own life.