Christmastime is Here

It’s the most wonderful time of the year… the halls are as decked as they’re going to get.

We went sparse on the Christmas decor this year, what with our house on the market and all. Having already packed up knick-knacks in an effort to make the house appear a spacious, blank canvas for prospective buyers, it seemed counter-intuitive to then drag out boxes of MORE clutter. I realize I sound like a serious Ebenezer, but we even debated about getting a Christmas tree.

This was our compromise–Oregonians, brace yourselves:

I know. It’s kind of an abomination, but we won’t even be home for Christmas this year. Still, we couldn’t deny Little Man the magic of his first Christmas with all most of the trimmings.

I actually have an ornament with my name on it for almost every year of my life. This one was my childhood favorite.

Speaking of my name, when the heck did it get so popular? This week the official list of most common baby names was published for 2014, and Mia was #6. This baffles me, as growing up I was the only Mia for miles. Too young for Mia Farrow and too old for Mia Hamm, every new acquaintance- and substitute teacher– mistakenly pronounced it ‘Maya’.

I wanted to be a Jennifer, a Rachel, or a Sarah. In fact, I regularly lied to my peers, claiming that Mia was short for Maria or Lisa. The bulk of my first grade assignments bear the moniker “Lisa S.”– I don’t suspect I fooled many. (I also claimed my hair was actually red, ala Belinda Carlisle, that my folks routinely dyed it dark brown, but I digress…)

The girls and I joined our best Bozeman friends at the Nutcracker last night– our first time since we moved to Montana. It was just lovely, every bit as magical as the Portland production.

We had wonderful seats, right next to the orchestra. We could feel the heartbeat of the bass and the girls (okay, myself, as well) were enrapt by the harpist. I decided that we need a harp at home to play every time we complete the dishes, or laundry, or math drills… It’s hard to be anything but joyful when there’s a harp playing nearby.

Speaking of cleaning, I’ve gotta bust a move– we have the 1-2 punch of getting ready for church AND an open house this morning. Mercy.