Thunderstorm Time Travel

This morning the weather was hot and muggy. After preschool we went to play outside in the kiddie pool and the sandbox. Big Bro and Lil Sis played happily and I did some gardening. But soon it turned into a super stormy afternoon. The kids hid under the porch while I quickly gathered up their toys and we went inside to dry off. 

I distracted them from the storms by reading books on the couch and making a fort under the dining room table. Pepper panted and stayed close to us. 

Then I remembered: one night when I was small my sisters and I woke up in the night because of a very close and very loud thunderstorm. I remember fearing the big pine tree out my window would break or fall right into my room (it didn't, and it still stands even today). We were all scared and it was pitch black night. My dad took us down into the basement, an unfinished basement lined with a coal bin and full of tools. But a central feature was the old ping-pong table. I remember playing ping-pong safely in the basement that night as the thunder rumbled and the lightning flashed. With our heads below ground level, and hanging out with my dad, I felt safe. When the storm passed he tucked us back into our beds and we went to sleep.

So, just like my dad had done decades ago, I took my own kids down into the basement. Our basement is also unfinished. Instead of tools, it's lined with random junk that I dream about clearing out, though we have some tools too. In one cleaned out corner we have an air hockey table. So that's where we went. We played air hockey until the storms passed with the whir of the table's electronic music and fans drowning out the rumbles of thunder and cracks of lightning.

It made me feel close to my dad. It felt a bit like time travel to a past lifetime or a visit to a parallel universe. A fun and meaningful tradition for stormy days.

Winter Tradition

Technically spring started a few days ago but no one told the Northeast. In our attempt to both reduce our heating bill and our contribution to greenhouse gas emissions, we keep our heat really low. Especially at night. The result is that we wake up in the morning and it is very cold. The kids come downstairs for breakfast and shiver away as we offer them sweaters and hats while we wait for the heat to catch up. This was particularly unpleasant before daylight savings time started and the mornings were dark.

Pretty quickly, our solution was to crank up the pellet stove and have a breakfast picnic directly in front of it. It has turned into a nice little tradition. Cozy, quaint, and easier than having me remember to turn up the heat well before everyone else comes downstairs. I imagine this tradition will continue and I think it will be one of those things that stand out for my kids when they think back to their child. At least I hope so.

Winter Tradition

Technically spring started a few days ago but no one told the Northeast. In our attempt to both reduce our heating bill and our contribution to greenhouse gas emissions, we keep our heat really low. Especially at night. The result is that we wake up in the morning and it is very cold. The kids come downstairs for breakfast and shiver away as we offer them sweaters and hats while we wait for the heat to catch up. This was particularly unpleasant before daylight savings time started and the mornings where dark.

Pretty quickly, our solution was to crank up the pellet stove and have a breakfast picnic directly in front of it. It has turned into a nice little tradition. Cozy, quaint, and easier than having me remember to turn up the heat well before everyone else comes downstairs. I imagine this tradition will continue and I think it will be one of those things that stand out for my kids when they think back to their child. At least I hope so.

Wooden Nutcracker Soldiers Army

When I was little I loved the Nutcracker solider ornaments on our tree. I took to organizing them like an army sometime around age 11 or 12. My mom gave me the ornaments several years ago and I still hang them together like a toy army on my tree.

During our recent Advent celebration I asked my 3 year old son if he would hang them all together like I used to do. "Won't that be fun?!" 

Sadly, he was uninterested so I did it myself. I hung them on a low branch as I always did. My daughter discovered them and took a liking to them. My husband remarked that perhaps she would carry on the tradition.

Alas, 1.5 year olds don't have a sense of how to organize a Nutcracker soldier army on a tree. Plus, her favorite thing is taking ornaments off the tree. There were a few injuries to the soldiers:

Two lost their strings and so are on leave until I manage to get out the hot glue gun. The remaining soldiers have been transferred to a higher branch.

When my son was younger we had a gate around our tree , but I would rather not do that again. I also hope there won't be too many more ornament injuries.

First Advent: (Re)Starting A Tradition

I almost forgot that yesterday was the first of the four Sundays before Christmas. It also happened to fall on December 1st this year. That meant the start of Advent!

Though there are religious meanings to Advent, for my family growing up it was done in a more secular fashion. We grew up getting chocolate Advent calendars to help us count down the days from December 1st until Christmas. It's something I wanted my kids to experience too, so this year they were both old enough to get one. They don't totally get it yet, but they liked the chocolate.

 

Later on in the day my husband suggested we get our Christmas tree. We drove to a local farm down the road that was selling pre-cut trees. My son helped us pick out which tree to get, and eagerly watched as his father tied it to the roof of the van.

 

Just like last year, my daughter spent the experience asleep in her car seat.

Back at home we set the tree in its stand and let it warm up. The kids loved sitting under the tree.

My husband cooked a fabulous black bean soup using beans we grew, and a white bean soup. He poured them side by side in bowls. Along with the Advent wreath it looked beautiful on the table. My mom joined us for for soup, bread, and a sweet bite while listening to Christmas music on Pandora..

After dinner we set to decorating the tree. My son had been clamoring to get into the ornaments all evening. He hung lots of ornaments closely together on the low branches. My daughter loved naming the ornaments "ball!", "neigh!" (for horse), "rahr" (for bear). But mostly she loved taking the ornaments back off the tree. We sang "Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer" and "Jingle Bells" as we worked. Each child got a turn being lifted up by their father to attempt to put the star on top of the tree. In the end their dad had to do it himself.

The whole day happened rather spontaneously and stress-free. It's so nice to start sharing my childhood traditions with my own children.