the squibix family blog

Actually, the contract was up in August. But it takes some time to work up to these things, you know! Wish us luck as we enter this brave new world of, um, watching tv on the computer.

In all seriousness, he has become remarkably human. He turns to look at new people coming into the room, he holds out his arms for mama (not yet for me, alas!), and he can kind of keep track of toys and play with them for extended periods of time. Even if that playing mostly involves chewing on different bits, it's a big step up from the days when, if he dropped a toy from his hands, it was out of his mind as well. He's also now become aware of Rascal as a source of amusement: he loves being in Leah's or my lap when we're playing tug with the puppy, and laughs and laughs when Rascal capers. That, plus pulling the poor dog's fur when he can reach it. Ah Rascal, just wait until he can move on his own!

So yes, there's some stress in parenting, but it's well worth it to watch the kid grow and develop. I highly recommend it!

Because we were having a home church morning, we had plenty of time to bundle up and head out for a nice long walk. Too much time to get ready, Rascal thought: he was itching to get out from the moment he woke up and saw the snow. Harvey didn't know one way or another; it's his first real snow (that October stuff didn't really count) but he doesn't really have the capacity to enjoy it yet. So we enjoyed it for him, and I think he picked up a little bit of our joy.

The theory behind the minimalist Christmas is that celebrating the birth of Christ shouldn't be a commercial extravaganza. Sure, I can agree with that. The Christmas music playing at Whole Foods before Thanksgiving got to me too. But the yearly refrain about making Christmas a quiet family time or whatever misses a very important point. From my point of view, the problem isn't that Christmas is too commercial, it's that the rest of the year is.

Me, I hearken back to an era when Christmas might be the only time you got something store-bought: a bag of oranges or a new pair of trousers or something from the Sears catalog. That was exciting! We're too jaded now, on account of the constant instant gratification of the mall, but the solution isn't to abandon celebrating Christmas by giving presents, it's to abandon going to the mall the rest of the year! Do that, and you'll be ready from some shopping come December.

And spiritual warm-fuzzies are all well and good, but there's something to be said for tangible tokens of affection for family, friends, and neighbors. You don't have to be greedy to be excited about opening presents. And if you like giving as much as getting, I don't think you have anything to worry about in the spiritual department. At least for me, exchanging gifts brings me closer to people, and being closer to people is one way to be closer to God.

On that note, here's our holiday wish list if you want to get closer to God by giving us something!

• I love biking, and I love snow. In combination they're awful hard to resist.
• My car, the one with the traction, isn't feeling so good. Leah's is bad in the snow.
• I knew everybody would be crazy with the first snowfall and driving like overcautious maniacs. I wanted to avoid that.
• It wasn't really that cold out: above freezing, in fact.
• I love biking.
• Just like with the rain: if not now, then when?
• I was afraid the bike path would freeze solid, and that it was in fact my last chance on it all winter (which remains to be seen).
• I've been reading about someone who is much, much more hardcore than I.
• I wanted to try it out and see how I would do.
• I am, in fact, crazy.

See, plenty of great reasons!

Sadly, the glossy labels won't be here in time for Hanukkah gift-giving. I imagined that Staples would have such a thing, but they did not. So the internet had to provide, with some delay. I only hope they come in before Christmas!

The year before that Leah had a great idea about featuring Rascal in a scene from Isaiah. She did the photoshopping of the lion and lamb, and I finished up with the other layout.

In 2006 I failed utterly at producing a card for the first time in at least three years, so Leah made some beautiful hand-made cards for our closest friends and relatives. Luckily we didn't know so many people back then!

2005 was the year we got Rascal, so of course he was the main feature; we didn't even feel the need to spruce him up with any photoshop work.

There were cards before that, but I can't seem to find them. There was another computer then, as I recall. If they do turn up I'll add them to this post, for the sake of the historical record. And if you want to get on our Christmas card list so you can see fabulous products like these first-hand, just let us know... or, better yet, send us a card this year! We love getting cards, and of course we always reciprocate.

What about this year's? Well, I'm afraid I can't reveal it until after everyone gets a chance to receive their paper copies: wouldn't want to spoil the surprise! The things always look better on paper anyways.

Harvey enjoyed the attention, of course, and was in return enjoyed by a variety of friends and relatives (such as Uncle Jake above). As well as some clothes, he received a stuffed The Snowman, with which he was quite pleased: it's as big as he is, but lighter and fuzzier. All and all it was good practice for Christmas!

I walked my bike over that spot on my way home.

Actually, I continue to be surprised at how warm biking makes me. Even today, when the thermometer read 10° as I was leaving the house, I needed to stop and take off layers. I started with my ski mittens on, then switched to my double-thick fleece mittens, and then down to just the thin layer of fleece. I also ditched the thin windbreaker and unzipped my fleece coat. I could have even taken the fleece coat off, I think, and finished the ride in the same clothes as I wore inside all day—which has been my practice most days so far with temperature ranges from 20° to, oh 45° or so. So in other words, I have not yet discovered the lower bound beyond which the heat generated from aerobic exercise is stripped away faster than I'm able to replenish it.

That's only as long as I'm moving, of course. I took the precaution of sticking my big LL Bean field coat on the dork rack (the coat that I've worn every day of every winter for most of my life, until I started this biking thing this year). I needed it for the traffic work, what with the standing still and all—but even there, I had to wait about five minutes before I was cool enough to put it on. I also wanted it just in case I got a flat or wrecked or something. I didn't want to end up hypothermic by the side of the road; if that happened, I'd never be able to make fun of folks for complaining about the cold again!

(I do wish I had a picture of cold from the commute. I do not, because I'm afraid to take my camera along: it is large and fragile. Someday I'll work up the courage, though.)

And as it turns out, riding on smooth ice went remarkably well. As long as I didn't try to turn or stop, that is. Or turn too fast at least: I soon found that by avoiding sudden movements I could actually get around pretty skillfuly, and enjoyed myself for a couple minutes slaloming around the frozen-in trees. As delightful as that was, though, it was topped a few minutes later when the path led down to a whole frozen lake, or at least a pond—a vast expanse of clean ice, in any case, with a smooth clear shoreline that let me ride right down onto it. Which I did! This time, the lack of obstacles let me build up some pretty fair straight-ahead speed, and let me tell you, it's something for improving your mood to be skimming across shining white ice at twilight on a crisp 15° F December evening. There was even an island to circumnavigate. It was only three or four falls until I managed to get all the way around on one try.

Much happier, I resumed my homeward course. I was so excited by my new-found ice-biking skills that I even hazarded riding the frozen bridge that felled me the other day. I fell again, of course. Still, the most fun commute I've had in some time, and just what I needed to get the weekend off to a good start.

First, our neighbors—Mark, Mary, and their three kids—came over to make gingerbread houses. We had houses ready-made for the two bigger childrens, which they decorated under the supervision of Mary and Leah. Mark and I designed a luxurious gingerbread manse and began construction. The babies played.

There was then a brief period of down time, which I used to bake crackers for the first time ever: I was committed to bringing a dip to the next neighborhood event, but I had nothing for folks to dip in it. So, necessity is etc. Only this case the offspring was not invention, but just getting off my butt and making something I've wanted to try for quite some time. Leah says the things are tasty, so it looks like our long cracker fast may be over.

Then of course we had to bring the dip and crackers and our beautiful selves to the party, where we ate and visited to our heart's content and where Harvey got to sit on Santa's lap for a present and photo op. Santa looked very familiar, for some reason, like we had seen him somewhere else earlier today... Unfortunately, Daddy did not bring his camera due to trying to get out the door too fast, so we will have to rely on the kindness of others to send us some of the many photographs that did get taken of our little bundle of joy.

So a delightful day by all accounts. If only the vacation had already started, life would be perfect.

Also, for those of you who feel like creeping secularism is robbing the holiday of all meaning, take heart: newly set up around the corner is an inflatable creche scene, complete with a glowing, internally-lit baby Jesus. Admittedly his swaddling clothes and light level make him look a little bit like mutant radioactive mummy, but it's the thought that counts!

The bike path in Lexington is plowed, and it is wonderful. In fact, it being plowed is the best Christmas present ever, and I would like to express those sentiments to the Lexington DPW. Do you think they get email or should I, like, send them a letter? The bike path in Bedford is not plowed, and it is terrible. Having not rode yesterday (not wimped out, I had to do errands!) I assumed that I could push through what was probably only light snow, and it's only about a mile, right? I could not push through. I tried, but in fact only made it about 8 feet. Really. I like ice, but so far I have to say that I need some more practice with the snow biking. So I had to detour some distance out of my way on the roads.

And biking on the roads isn't nearly as fun, because of the cars. I even almost got run off the road by a school bus! I can tell you, when I was doing traffic duty later I didn't hold up the line of cars when he wanted to pull out, like I usually do! Because of all the people almost killing me, I was in a foul mood by the time I got to work. I was thus ready to about bite the head off of anyone who made a comment about how I must be so cold, or don't I notice it's cold, or I'm crazy for riding when it's so cold. You know. "I'm not talking about that anymore" was the politest of my planned responses.

In the event, however, no one said anything beyond asking if I was able to take the bike path. Really, they were all very polite and pleasant. Don't you just hate that when you're grumpy! But you know, I can never stay grumpy for long.

So after that it was nice to have a relaxing day. We got over there at around 10:30, ate some breakfast, opened some presents, took a walk, opened more presents, sat around... things like that. We may have gotten a little cranky towards the end, but that was just due to lack of sleep. Leah is remedying that right now for herself, and I will do likewise in just a moment.

Now if only he had the same sort of awareness for pants. Though it could be that he does, but he just hates wearing them...