A light dusting of snow came down over the city today ... all day and into the evening. Slowly the season is taking hold on me as I'm setting out familiar decorative touches: a large wooden santa with his suede backpack and chickadee walking stick, an angel cloaked in red with her apple-seed-patterned skirt, an earthenware bowl overflowing with cinnamon scented pine cones, and of course our new Advent tree.
The snow was calling to us and we played outside after dinner until Marty's cheeks and hands were too cold and we found him by the side door trying the handle.
I am so happy that Paul works from home this year. With a flexible schedule he's been able to pick the kids up from school or be here when they come home. This means working into the night sometimes, but that suits us well, as I find things of my own that call for my attention in the evenings. I always feel that he's better off somehow; safer in this arrangement, close within the fold of our family. Earlier tonight I was thinking that without him I might have been like the spinster version of Mary in It's a wonderful Life (minus George Bailey), never settling on that right person [as in] "... she's just closing up the library!"
Christmas shopping is not even started. Strangely, however, I'm not stressed out about it at all. I just haven't figured out the right thing to do for the kids this year. But I have found these fun things online while scanning around:
If I were a 4" bendy peg person I would want to live here. Or if I were a 3' tall person I would want to play here. It's by a company called Momoll, that makes these very cool flat pak flexible playthings.
The orange panels remind me of the prefab Loblolly house that I visited last summer. It too had warm orange Plexiglas panels, though I'm not sure that was evident from my photos. Kids get all the good stuff. Even their clothes are cuter than ours. Except for maybe these lovely grown-up mary janes.
If I had someplace to go for the Christmas holiday besides a northbound interstate drive with a destination requiring rugged boots, these would make my feet (and the rest of me) quite comfortably happy.
Also, I've landed on Julia Rothman's latest project, called book by it's cover, showcasing some really cool, unique books, particularly the variety of children's books that she covers. Good stuff. You should also check out her animated promotional piece for Etsy.
Today there is a camera en-route to me from New Jersey. Not the one that broke on Thanksgiving, but another earlier repair coming back. We're just rotating them back and forth, it seems. I'll be so glad to have it back in hand, especially for our picking out the Christmas tree this coming weekend.
I've decided to start a special album to document the growth of our new family business and I designed a pocket page last night in which to keep some things. Not sure I love it, but I was going for a clean, brochure looking piece and in that sense it works.
I'm hopeful for a school closing tomorrow and need to go check the news now. Maybe I am just a big kid.
