'Twas the season, part 1

Now that we are into January and the wonderful craziness that is Thanksgiving/Christmas is past, I find myself reflecting back on what a magical time holidays are now that we have children. I am so grateful for the vision and perspective I have from the eyes of a parent. Things that were always important such a family, friends, and traditions are now somehow even more precious. And I don't throw the "p" word around casually. When I was a kid I had a paper route and was constantly harassed by a hideous little dog named "Precious" who was decidedly not. Ever since, I have avoided the word and, to a degree, the memory. I find now, however, that when used judiciously, it suits perfectly. The people in our lives are precious to us and sharing traditions with them is what we love best.

So today begins a HOLIDAY RETROSPECTIVE, starting all the way back to Thanksgiving.


At Thanksgiving, my mom, dad and grandma flew from Michigan to Seattle to experience all the glory of November in the Pacific Northwest. Grandma's visit was quite the coup as I have scores of aunts, uncles and cousins back home who had been accustomed to seeing her for the holidays. That she came to Seattle was the equivalent of winning the family lottery for me. My dad's visit was practically miraculous in that he had only recently been hospitalized for pneumonia and hopped on the plane directly after his treatment follow-up appointment; whether or not he would actually be able to make the trip was an uncertainty for awhile. Luckily, we Kelleys are nothing if not hearty.




We had a great time together. The girls loved cozying up with the grandfolks and having lots of extra people to read to them in the house. We felt fortunate that Julia's dance class (Melody Institute) had a performance at Seattle Center that week so they were around to watch her in full costumed regalia hamming it up on stage with her little friends.



We even put up our tree early so we could share a little of the coming Christmas spirit together. And while some people groused about being hit with winter storm after winter storm that weekend, we found it added some ambiance to our festivities. Though I must admit every day I found myself offering up new excuses for Mother Nature. Each day brought a new attempt to convince them that the weather here typically wasn't that bad. Comments like, "Really...we never have thunder and lightening in Seattle" were followed by, "Really...it rarely hails in Seattle." Then came my two current favorites: "Really...we hardly ever get snow in Seattle" and "Really...I can't think of the last time temperatures stayed below freezing for more than a few hours." Oh well. In exchange for arctic blasts I had my mom, grandma and daughters baking pies in the kitchen while my dad dozed by the fire and a delicious and homey Thanksgiving meal with family and friends. Nothing can take away from that, not even our buddy Bruce accidentally spraying my dad in the face with whipped cream over dessert. (Dad, Bruce really didn't mean it. Bruce, sorry for outing you but, really, how often does one get the chance to recount such an incident? And I did keep it brief so as to spare you extra embarrassment. What more can you ask?)