One of the holiday perks of being a mama to gorgeous littles is the relative ease I now have with gifting. When I was young, I thought it was so crazy that my grandparents and family members were satisfied with our school pictures as gifts. I understand now.

So many of us put effort into choreographing family pictures and designing holiday cards. Sometimes we can do it on a budget, but often we end up sinking more into it than we intended: trying to make the outfits coordinate without being too matchy-matchy, then ordering prints, buying stamps, getting them mailed, and spending oodles of our emotional and organizational energy.

Sometimes I can accomplish this exercise. Sometimes I cannot. I am working on being ok with either outcome.

I wanted to share an alternative with you here, because I know that sometimes things have to be let go in the name of sanity and love and all things peaceful and joyful.

This summer, a sweet friend from Baltimore posted one of her new endeavors on Facebook. Tera is a talented graphic designer, and sister to one of my good friends/neighbors/former colleagues. She is branching out into silhouettes, created in the color of your choice. They are gorgeous and classic, able to tug the heartstrings of any Gramma but still polished enough to hang in your home. And on the effort scale, these rank a solid ZERO for a tired mama.

I snapped profile photos of my gorgeous gals while they were zombied out with Princess Sofia one afternoon, emailed them off to Tera, and received a printable file back in my email. Easy.

I’m sharing these with you for several reasons. I believe in supporting other mamas. I believe that creating thoughtful and well-loved gifts shouldn’t be difficult or wallet-emptying.

As Tera put it, “the shoemaker’s children go without shoes and the graphic designer goes without her own website.” But if you’re interested, shoot her an email. Tera works under the name of Smith Studio, and can be reached at terapike at yahoo.com.

– J and I were able to take a small overnight trip to New Hampshire last weekend to attend a wedding. It was our first overnight without children since our cruise last November. The venue was gorgeous, seated right on Lake Winnipesaukee, and the bride’s family graciously provided open bar. As such, we chose to partake of our favorite adult beverages (scotch and champagne), and consequently were on the first trolley back to the hotel at 8:30pm. Still, it was a beautiful evening, and we got some much needed sleep.

– The next day, we were on the road to Elmira, New York, to spend Thanksgiving with J’s mom and family. The girls and I collected pinecones to make a garland, which we then hung over Grandma’s kitchen sink. Thanksgiving dinner was a mess of noise and children – we were joined by J’s brother and girlfriend who have four kids between them, as well as their grandmother, giving us four generations in attendance.

– We were able to meet up with J’s best friend from middle school and her family for the Christmas parade on Black Friday. I had previously only known her through Facebook, but had the impression that we’d be fast friends in real life, and was glad to have that confirmed. I’m hopeful we can all get together again before too many years go by.

– Our sweet neighbors’ chickens have started laying, and they brought us a half dozen eggs, and almost three pounds of home-raised beef. J scrambled some for dinner the other night, half store-bought and half fresh. You can clearly see the difference in the yolks.

The leaves are all gone, and we’re lucky to break 40* these days, but it’s still so beautiful. We went and cut our Christmas tree this morning at a little farm just down the street. They also tap their maple trees so we picked up some syrup for ourselves while we were there. I’m glad to support our neighbors and keep our money here in our community.

We decorated it when we got home, and listened to Christmas music. I’m looking forward to crafting some of our gifts, and slowing down a little bit. The past few weeks have been very frantic, and I’m not sure how we managed to live like that all the time before moving here. I certainly don’t miss it.

I’ll share some of our handmade gifts with you later this week as we get into them, and I’d love to hear about what you’re crafting these days!

 

I am sitting here among the detritus of my toddlers’ lunches, waiting for my second cup of tea to cool a bit and trying to keep myself from Googling images of “Lyme disease” and “bullseye bites.” I have next to zero experience with the nasty buggers, and spent the first few weeks here completely freaked out, especially after reading this horrifying article from Outside. Seriously, consider this fair warning: my skin was crawling for days.

Beansie got the first tick last Friday. Not just her first tick, *the* first tick. Six months of playing outside, and the baby gets the first one. I found it attached just outside her right shoulder blade, almost in her armpit, and am so thankful that we’re a hands-on, tickling/snuggling/loving type of family – it couldn’t have been there more than a few hours by the time I found it. J extracted it while I commenced scratching my entire self. The bite has all but healed, and is just a tiny spot.

Today is gloomy and just so gorgeous in its true November-ness. We spent some time at the library this morning, and as we were snuggling on the couch afterward,  reading our books, I plucked a crawling tick from Beansie’s hair. Full-body searches commenced, stripping both girls down to their birthday suits. I found nothing else living, but there’s a small boo-boo at the nape of the baby’s neck. Is it a bite-sized boo-boo? Maybe, but maybe not. I can’t tell if I’m paranoid, if it’s a ring forming around it or if it’s just irritated from her little baby claws pawing at it. My fear is that I overlooked a tick yesterday, and let that disgusting thing feed on my baby all night.

We will take her to the pediatrician in the morning if it looks worse, but what’s really getting to me here is the fact that I can only keep her so safe. I have to let her wander and stumble and get dirty. She wants to slide down the hill in the yard on a cardboard box, like her sister. She wants to run and climb on rocks, like her sister. I can hover, and I do, but I can’t save her from everything. It’s an awful feeling, this tiniest hint of letting go and letting her do.

I guess it’s clear what’s weighing on my mind today.

My parents should arrive tonight with all of their worldly belongings. They’re renting a small place from the same landlord, just around the corner, and our girls are thrilled to know they’ll be so close. I baked some beer bread this afternoon to take over for snacking, and will probably also take the rest of the butternut squash soup I tucked into the freezer last month. Moving is exhausting, and we don’t have any local options for food delivery; I don’t want them to worry about what to eat right away.

We have a small garden started in the backyard. I laid down some of our moving boxes to smother what little vegetation was in my chosen plot, and we collected rocks from around the yard to build up the sides. One of my goals for next planting season is to spend as little money as possible, so we’ll be using found materials and I’ll be watching the seed exchange box at the library. Ms. Linda’s open invitation to come get horse manure is so wonderful, and laying it over the cardboard now will give it a chance to season and break down throughout the winter. I’m hoping to get another bed of similar size completed before the snow flies. We have plenty of boxes, there’s no shortage of manure, and somehow, I don’t think we’ll have any trouble collecting more rocks – they are our new state’s main crop, you know!