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.
(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.
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.
The girls spotted ponies playing in the snow on a Christmas Eve-Day drive today. Magical…
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.
My husband’s grandmother had a dear friend who crocheted angel ornaments; she gave three to us the year before she died.
Birdhouse ornament made by my babies…and a gift elf. Never look a gift elf in the…what? Shoes?
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.
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.
Darling delivery girl, sharing stollen goodies with friends.
Mission Accomplished!
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.
Home for Christmas…Michaelyn and Maurya (and Frank) at the Christmas Eve breakfast table.
So glad to have Michaelyn here with us.
I had another great pic of Ez at breakfast, but the boy wasn’t wearing his shirt! So, buddy…I’ve gotcha covered.
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, playful in the Farmington snow. Christmas Eve day
