Still, Still, Still

We’ve been picking favorites at my house this last week…favorite meals, favorite desserts, favorite moments, favorite people. I think I’ll go for “Still, Still, Still” as my favorite Christmas song.

still still still---handmade sheep Christmas ornaments

(Made these sheep ornaments with cardboard, paint, and yarn when my big girls were little. Memories…)

“Still, Still, Still” was my favorite Christmas song 22 years ago, when Frank and I shared our second Christmas. I was pregnant with Michaelyn (just barely past the extreme morning sickness stage). We had a tiny studio apartment, with a stereo system we bought for ourselves as an early Christmas present that year. With towering speakers and a cute little cabinet to house the cumbersome stack of components (it was the early 90’s; stereo systems then were comparable in their monstrous bulk to primeval computers). One of the first CD’s we bought as a couple was a Mannheim Steamroller Christmas CD; I remember feeling positively transported (to tears) each time I heard their rendition of “Still, Still, Still”.  I love the spareness and simplicity of the melody.  It could be ancient; it feels immediate. It embodies the stillness, the quiet instructive peace, that I feel sometimes when I pray.  It reminds me of the beauty of the mountains in sunlight or the sweetness in the curve of my child’s face.

meisha christmas eve still, still, still...mountain Ben Lomond in sunlight

It’s Christmas Eve; in keeping with our usual (insane) tradition, Frank and I will be up wrapping presents late after the kids are in bed.  My mom does this too.  So I come by it naturally.  We just concluded a few passes of a Monopoly game (put on hold due to expired attention spans) and we’re stalling bedtime.  It looks like we’ll have a White Christmas; it got a little blizzardy around here earlier today.

In honor of the beauty and stillness of Christmas, here is my Christmas card to you.  Little glimpses of some of our favorite things this season; I hope you’re enjoying favorite things this season too.  My heart goes out to those who grieve.  I hope comfort and solace can be found in the still, quiet moments in days to come.

still still still...pony in the snow in Farmington

The girls spotted ponies playing in the snow on a Christmas Eve-Day drive today. Magical…

handmade barn Christmas ornament; still still still

The kidlets and I used to make ornaments together every year; this birdhouse symbolizes that history. Nora and I made one all by ourselves this year.

still still still...angel ornament

My husband’s grandmother had a dear friend who crocheted angel ornaments; she gave three to us the year before she died.

homemade birdhouse ornament---still, still, still homemade birdhouse ornament...still still still

Birdhouse ornament made by my babies…and a gift elf. Never look a gift elf in the…what? Shoes?

Christmas Stollen (still, still, still)--sugar powdered, and not

I experimented with stollen this weekend, discovering the lively fragrance of whole cardamom (the scent filled the kitchen) and another layer to the intrinsic value of homemade dried fruit…apricots, plums…Oh my.

whole cardamom for stollen...still still still dried fruit for stollen...still still still Christmas stollen

Rustically ugly… but beautiful. Delicate, but heavy…nutty, fruity (sometimes you feel like a nut…sometimes you don’t). My very first stollen moment. (= It could be improved upon…next year.

delivery girl with stollen goodies

Darling delivery girl, sharing stollen goodies with friends.

Christmas delivery girl, mission accomplished

Mission Accomplished!

a stollen moment; Christmas treat exchange friends with stollen Christmas goodies

Ah the glory of a zoom lens…I am so happy I captured Patty and Scott’s smiles. I have no idea whether they’ll like the stollen, but there’s no doubt they like us. They are good friends and they show it. We love them.

Christmas Eve breakfast

Home for Christmas…Michaelyn and Maurya (and Frank) at the Christmas Eve breakfast table.

Christmas Eve Breakfast, Michaelyn Christmas Eve Breakfast, Michaelyn

So glad to have Michaelyn here with us.

ez at dinnertime...still, still, still Christmas

I had another great pic of Ez at breakfast, but the boy wasn’t wearing his shirt! So, buddy…I’ve gotcha covered.

considering homemade pizza Christmas Eve ah, perhaps she likes it? homemade pizza, christmas eve

Meisha considering our Christmas Eve homemade pizza. The kids are always skeptical, but this time I made a tame pizza. Pepperoni, sauce, cheese. Well, I did make another one too, for Frank and my more grownup taste…including mushrooms, zucchini, and serrano peppers.

pony friends in farmington, snow...still, still, still

Pony Friends, playful in the Farmington snow. Christmas Eve day

Still, Still, Still by Mannheim Steamroller on Grooveshark