Hartley Festivus

Happy Holidays

It's not too late for a holiday post, right? Well, here's one.

This is our 5th married Christmas, and our 2nd Christmas sans our holiday stuff. Our first married Christmas shouldn't count as "having stuff" though because we didn't even own a snowglobe (we did however have a Charlie Brown-fabulous tree). This Christmas felt oddly like the one we spent in Rwanda without our stuff, very transient and transitional. We remind ourselves often that our container is coming soon - Like whenever I need to cook in something larger than a sauce pot.

Some friends on campus loaned us a small tree with lights and ornaments. It made our tiny apartment feel so warm and full of holiday spirit. Eli helped me decorate it. Afterwards, he completely ignored it until the week before Christmas when the jingle bells just became too tempting.



After doing ALL of our Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve, we attended the Christmas Eve service at an Episcopal Church downtown. The sights, smells, Eucharist, and liturgy reminded me of our Anglican days in Rwanda. I really do love high church and especially the feeling of 'specialness' it lends to the Christmas season. This church was really cool - the kids had a mini Christmas Pageant and there were boxes of shepherd and angel costumes at the door for any visiting kids who wanted to join in. What a great way to be welcoming and think of children spending Christmas with grandparents and extended family! We spent Christmas morning by ourselves as a small family and then left Sunday afternoon for Grandma's in South GA. It was fun and very low key. How is an 11 month old supposed to react to a couple gifts under a 2 ft table top tree? Just like any other day.


Rob attempted to make us some hot cocoa. I was busy finishing dinner and didn't realize what he was doing until it was almost too late. When he asked me for a cereal bowl I knew something had gone horribly wrong. Yes, this is a cereal bowl full of cocoa powder...for 2 servings of hot cocoa. Apparently, Rob did not believe the recipe would satisfy 2 people and he needed to quadruple it. That is obviously what the calculator was for.



We had a great time visiting Rob's parents and hanging out with family and playing games. Eli really got into unwrapping presents and all the hoopla after his practice round with us. And, spoiler alert, he will soon be reading - or so says the box of dvds. His cousin Taylor was amazing with him and showed him how to unwrap. He was also quite the party animal at the dinner table and tried to convince his Grandma that bibs half on - half off were how all the babies were doing it these days.


On the 7+ hour trip down south, we discovered a new baby past time. Whatever stop we made, it was out of the car seat and into the drivers seat he came. He cackled he loved it so much, doubling over in laughter he would often times loose his footing on the seat. Honk! Honk! get outta my way. 11 months going on 16...years.


A friend of ours recently asked..So, when does it go from organic mashed green peas to hamburgers and french fries. I now have an answer - on a 7 hour car trip. Witness the first fry.