It seems like every time we head out of town & visit family Stella makes great gains in physical & developmental ways. When we were in Florida for Thanksgiving she really started getting the hang of holding her breath under water & also that’s where she really started sitting up on her own.
This visit to my folk’s house for Christmas, Stella has really found her voice. She’s saying bbllllllppppsssstttthhh & babababa & aaaaahhhhh & heheheaaaaa & I think she even said mama, but I could be prejudiced. She’s definitely blah bla blahh ing all the time & especially when an overzealous auntie or uncle bounces her spastically. She likes to blaahaha & bbssstthhhh to the beat of the bouncing. We also discovered she loves old classic country music, you know, the greats like Marty Robbins, Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard & the like. Oh & she LOVES limes. Yeah. My mom discovered this when letting her taste an already used lime someone squirted on his or her taco. We put it in her mouth & she made the funniest downturned face & then immediately opened her mouth wide like she wanted more & she wanted it NOW. It was really funny.
Mostly our visit to my folks’ house was much like it always is. We eat a lot, laze about while my mom cooks, generally relax, laugh at corny jokes & at the dysfunctional way we all communicate, play some challenging semantic board games, argue over stupid things like who let the dogs in without wiping their feet or who left Inigo in the garage & woops he ate the rest of the pumpkin pie & Fortune got into the truffles. One thing was different though; we succeeded in not watching ANY TV!!!! That is a first. Usually we watch movie after movie after movie & talk over while my dad watches terrible show after terrible show. Not so this time. There was an unwritten, unspoken edict that the TV would not come on except for specific movie viewing at night after the babe was down. Stella doesn’t watch TV at home, & so we just kept it off. SO MUCH BETTER!!!
We arrived on the 23rd in the late afternoon & then had a simple taco dinner with fresh avocados. That was when we discovered Stella’s passion for limes. Stella had slept most of the day in the car on the way down….a blessing in disguise because she didn’t really sleep at all that night.; to the doom of her parents. I was so tired the next day going around with my mom finishing up my last bit of Christmas shopping that I thought my eyeballs were going to fall out of my head. On top of that, I had to wrap all of the presents that night. We got the little monster to bed & then we stayed up until the wee hours of the morning wrapping gifts & watching A Christmas Story. You’ll poke your eye out!
She rules. She was super good at dinner & then she got a little fussy & I just nursed her & she went to sleep while we ate. She was the hit of the restaurant though, everyone wanted to see her & smile at her & pinch her cheeks. Cute!
Christmas morning Dad cooked up the standard eggs & bacon & rolls & when Erene & Chris arrived from Asha’s we delved into the first round of presents.
Davey & Xtina wouldn’t be arriving in Portland until Boxing Day, so we saved most of the presents for when they arrived. I thought it would have been a good idea to have two days of Christmases’, but boy was I wrong. The never ending stream of presents coming Stella’s way just kept coming & coming….Good thing we brought the big rig from Topher’s work or we would never have fit it all in to bring it home! An unbelievable amount of things were given to that little girl. All while she was breastfeeding and sleeping. Now that is efficiency for you. Someone else opens them, transports them and introduces them to your curriculum at the appropriate moment. Ah to be 7 months old. Its all downhill from there.
Davey & Xtina wouldn’t be arriving in Portland until Boxing Day, so we saved most of the presents for when they arrived. I thought it would have been a good idea to have two days of Christmases’, but boy was I wrong. The never ending stream of presents coming Stella’s way just kept coming & coming….Good thing we brought the big rig from Topher’s work or we would never have fit it all in to bring it home! An unbelievable amount of things were given to that little girl. All while she was breastfeeding and sleeping. Now that is efficiency for you. Someone else opens them, transports them and introduces them to your curriculum at the appropriate moment. Ah to be 7 months old. Its all downhill from there.
Xtina & Davey arrived late that night after driving our truck over the very icy & treacherous Sexton Mtn Pass. They finally figured out how our gas cap worked & were able to make it in about Midnight or so. We built a fort bed for Erene & Chris in the living room & Davey & Auntie X took the futon & had a sweet slumber party with warm fire roaring in the fireplace. All the while it was still very cold & frosty everywhere.
The next morning, Boxing Day, we did it all again! This time there were even more presents because Mom had been holding out & had more that she hadn’t even wrapped. The highlights were definitely the helicopter Topher got from Secret Santa Chris which he spent all day trying to fly out in the yard. Also of note was the Elton John Tixx all us kids got for the parents. The concert was supposed to be back in November. The parents even came up & we had the surprise all planned out. But, Elton John got the swine flu, so they cancelled the concert & postponed it until Feb something. FINALLY, they got the tixx & were very excited. Also Davey got my dad a trike with a big box/trailer in the back for the dogs to ride in. He hasn’t been able to ride bikes so much since his balance has been off so the trike should help out a lot. He was pretty psyched I think & I hope he uses it or Topher is going to steal it! Its pretty cute! Topher gave out lots of coupons, as per usual. Davey also put together a website of the whole family. Really cute, made up pretty much of all fictitious & useless information. Really funny. We laughed & laughed as Davey walked us all through it. Erene gave out impeccably wrapped gifts with international origins & Dad gave out things mom bought & wrapped. I got the best certificate gift ever from secret santa Xtina: pedicure at the spa, sushi dinner, tickets to Muse & 8 hours of babysitting!!!!! WOOT WOOT! I also got a coupon from Topher for a sewing machine, but if that ever materializes, we shall see….Topher’s coupons turn into actual gifts about 60 % of the time. They more often than not wind up being absorbed into some house project or trip or other item we need more. Someday he might actually get me a gift that I want, but I’m not going to hold my breath. Oh wait, he did give me the gift I really wanted....a beautiful, healthy, loving, precious child....
We spent the day playing with our toys & loot & drinking sipping cocoa & laughing with Stella as she found her voice more & more throughout the day. Topher stubbornly tried to master the helicopter which is a more advanced machine than ones he’s had in the past, so it was pleasant & entertaining to see him struggle to figure something out immediately for once. We went out to a movie, “Sherlock Holmes” while Mom stayed home & “worked on stuff” & watched Stella…which she loves to do. We ate lamb & potatoes & green beens & gravy for dinner. YUM. All in all, a perfect day.
The next day mom & I took Christmas over to a Hispanic family who she’s been helping out, along with, I’m sure lots of other families she becomes aware of through her work. These parents moved here following the American Dream they had heard of across the border like so many countless thousands of others. They have 3 other children living in a cardboard & tin shed with the grandparents back in Mexico. They have a 2 year old daughter here as well. They haven’t been home to Mexico in 4 years & with no green card, there is no hope that they will be returning any time soon. They somehow send money back to Mexico to support the 3 kids they left behind in search of the promise of America. The wife injured herself badly at work, but since she isn’t legal, can’t claim any workman’s comp. The husband works doing forest restoration, but that work has slowed and he hasn’t had any jobs since last march. They live in a small trailer, no bigger than 8 feet wide & 20 feet long, on a lot in down town Medford. There is no heat other than the plug in heater my mom bought for them a week ago when she found out they didn’t have any heat. The temps were down in the teens for a few weeks before that & apparently the whole trailer was frozen. SO, mom & I bought some warm pajamas, jackets, soaps, shampoos, lotions, shoes, and a few toys for the little girl, some food & her office got together $150 gift certificate to a grocery store so they could stock up on basics. The look of sheer gratitude & teary thanks in this woman’s face was hard to see, but worth the small effort it took to bring a little light & joy into her world, if even for a day.
I think now that I have a child of my own, I just can’t imagine living & raising a child without all the creature comforts I have come to take for granted. I was happy to be able to chip in a little for a family that is not having really any Christmas to speak of other than what we brought them. That felt pretty good being able to do that. One of my New Year’s resolutions is to become involved with a charity organization & give back. We don’t have a lot to spare, but compared to many, we have a fortune. I think I’d really like to work with families & children. I’ll look into it when we get back.
After that we went to Ashland & Topher got to bomb the Alice in Wonderland trail above Lithia Park on his mountain bike while we all took Stella to the park & played on the swings & walked & watched the ducks. Then we went down to the plaza for cocoa & hung out in quaint Ashland town.
We split up in separate cars after & Topher & I went & visited our old friends Rylan & Taisia & their twins. Our friends Andrew & Erin & their two kids were there too & everyone was super ecstatic to meet Stella. It was sweet to see them & their families doing so well & living in such a beautiful & sustainably built house that Rylan designed & built himself. Pretty nice. Also really great to see parents our age & with our values still rocking it & be reminded that there is hope for the future….and it is in the children.…our children.
I ramble on.
All in all, a great visit home, as always, sad to go, but it wouldn’t be the same if we stayed. Our home is Portland, until we find another place of equal footing & we are glad to be driving back along the familiar path north this night.
Happy Holidays Everyone!!!!
