To My Dearest Children

Dear Alva. 

You are right. This Christmas wasn’t fair for you. I hear you loud and clear. 

When I picked out the puzzle for your advent calendar I was hopeful that the rainbow colors would outweigh the Lego brick motif. It did not. Oskar was ecstatic, you were not. 

When Grandma got you and Oskar the Lego Gears Set she truly thought it would be fun for both of you. And yet you knew Oskar would grab the best pieces before you even got a chance to look at what could be built. 

And those on their own wouldn’t have been an issue or caused any tears.  But how were we to know what would come Christmas morning…  I still have no idea why Oma thought giving Oskar 3x the number of gifts to Oskar compared to you would be a good idea. I can only hope it was an honest mistake and one we won’t let happen again. 

So yes, my love, I hear you loud and clear. I know that feeling when nothing seems fair and as a result you feel a little less loved. Know this: you are so incredibly loved. And we will make sure to not repeat this again next year. 

PS: I loved playing hairdressers with you. You were a pro at the small talk and positioning of my head to get the perfect cut each and every time. Your imagination is endless and I can’t wait to see what excites you next. 

And To Oskar. 

My apologies for getting the heebie jeevies when I wiggled your loose tooth. While I know this is totally normal. It definitely creeped me out Christmas night. 

PS I will cherish your constant, tears in the corner of your eyes, rolling around infectious laughter while watching the various holiday movies.  Home Alone and Dinner for One will forever make me smile with these memories. 

Down for the Count

Our trip to Germany started off well enough. Getting to the airport, the flight, picking up the luggage and finding Meike for a ride to the house, it was all flawless. The kids went to sleep without a huge fight that first night and while jet lag hit us at 2am we were able to work through it and get back to sleep. 

Wednesday morning is when things started to fall apart. Alva puked, then puked again and would continue to puke through the day, night and into the following morning. Sleep was nonexistent as I was on high alert for any sign that she might puke again during the night… she did, three times. 

Things started to turn around Thursday afternoon and on Friday we were able to check out the local Christmas market before heading to Martin's friend’s house for the annual mackerel smoking.  As a side note, the weather was miserable (pouring rain) however Martin and friends would never think to cancel the outdoor party. We were to dress accordingly. The rain came in fits, starting and stopping throughout the evening with us running to the small shelter for cover every time it got a little too heavy for even the Germans to bear. Despite the rain I found myself enjoying the evening and cherished the few minutes Oskar and I shared on chairs just beside the party. 

Unfortunately it was all short lived. Oskar started to complain of a stomach ache and once at home he vomited in our bedroom before I could get him to the bathroom. 

And so began our first week in Germany with the norovirus. I will spare you all the details but let’s just say we did a lot of laundry, we will not be eating smoked fish any time soon and we were thankfully back to almost good by Christmas morning. 

Above and Beyond

As we get ready to leave for Germany, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on Christmas so far. And I really must say I have not only gone above and beyond in my motherly duties but all of the events we planned to do before we left also went above and beyond my expectations. Let’s take a walk down Christmas Town memory lane

Thanksgiving: we kicked off the holiday season with a week up at Dunsmuir. My parents joined for most of the time and Cody and Brenda came down for two nights before heading over to Pillsbury for a long weekend. I love this tradition and hope it continues. I would love it even more if Dana and her family joined as well. 

Attempting to get a family photo up at Bunny Flats

The Lighted Tractor Parade: when Oskar was born I stumbled upon a story about the Lighted Tractor Parade in Calistoga that happens every year in December. I added it to the list of fun things to do with the family once the kids were old enough to stay up to see it. And this was the year we were going to do it. The parade and overall weekend did not disappoint: it was everything I had envisioned and so much better. On top of the parade (truly the highlight) the kids also loved swimming in the hotel pool before dinner (I should note it was raining and cold, but the pool was heated by thermal springs) and on the way home Martin used the opportunity to stop by a house he designed for us to see. 

Parenting Overdo #1 - The Advent Puzzle: one of Martin's friend's sister-in-law's best friend’s cousins started a tradition of giving a few pieces of legos to the friend's son everyday in an advent calendar so at the end of the 24 days, they had built a new Lego creation. Martin wanted to do this same idea but with puzzle pieces for our kids. The concept seemed easy enough and, being the puzzle lover between the two of us, I took on the task of buying the puzzle. While the concept was straightforward, execution was another story. The kids typically do 200 piece puzzles in an hour so I would need to buy one with more pieces… if it was to go in their advent calendar, 1,000 pieces seemed like the right size. But then I realized, in order for the kids to have fun putting it together, they would need to have matching pieces in each bundle. Which meant I had to put together a 1,000 piece puzzle in November before leaving for the week at Dunsmuir so I could take it apart and wrap it up.  If that isn’t going above and beyond on this idea I don’t know what is. 

Parenting Overdo #2 - Packing the Gifts: this is our first year back to Germany since Oskar was 3.5 and Alva wasn’t even walking. Christmas presents were slightly different back then, so when we started prepping for the trip I naturally assumed that we would take all of our presents with us to Germany for the kids to open there. I mean, it’s Christmas, you have to have presents under the tree right? Apparently not! Everyone I talked to thought we were crazy (and I can’t say they were wrong). One family leaves the presents under the tree for when the family comes home from their travels. Another suggested just bringing one or two and leaving the rest behind. Of course I didn’t talk to anyone until after we committed and reconfirmed with the kids that Santa would in fact deliver presents to Germany. Instead of disappointing, I did what I had to do, I bought two large extra suitcases to pack it all up to Germany and then back to San Francisco. I really hope we find a better solution next time. 

Nutcracker: this year we got to introduce the kids to the Nutcracker at the SF ballet. And we did it right. We (meaning I) bought great seats, the first row of the grand tier, so the kids could stand and look over the side for an unobstructed view of the dancers. I pre-ordered apple cider and champagne for us to enjoy during intermission.  We prepped the kids ahead of time, telling them the story and explaining what to expect and as a result, they loved it!  And even better Alva and I participated in the Nutcracker Dance Along later that weekend to learn some of the dances at the real ballet studio. 

Crab and Raviolis: as mentioned before, for my family Christmas is all about the tradition rather than the date on the calendar. This is incredibly helpful when leaving for Germany and not being in town for the main event. So Christmas for my family was planned for the weekend before we left for Germany. As always, it was a loud, fun evening filled with love and laughter and a few elbows thrown to get the last crab claws out of the bowl.  

Christmas celebrations could end now I would still be happy.