Monday, December 01, 2008

Making New Traditions

We broke with tradition this year and left for the cabin the day before Thanksgiving. This is the first time we have spent the holiday apart from my gigantic family and it was due in part to Tim’s work schedule.
dressed for the season
And as odd as it felt in some ways, it was also quite refreshing. A few of my brothers and sisters could not make it this year and we are planning the big gathering on Christmas, so it was a good time to get away. We did miss my lovely almost sister-in-law’s 30th Birthday (sorry, Jeanette). But in all, we found the ‘family’ time to be just what we needed, time for the four of us to bond and play and for Tim and I have to have time to reacquaint after some crazy working time.
we read
And now we are actually thinking of trying to get the California spread out family to come up here together for the next Thanksgiving .

There was some relief in not having to be responsible for feeding thirteen or so people. We came up with a ham that required an hour in the oven and I made some of the traditional sides and we spent the days hiking rather than cooking, then eating and drinking too much because somehow the cooking seemed easy when it was only for four.
light delight
And then we spent the rest of the time reveling in the magic of the Sierras and not sleeping well at all. Does travel have to be synonymous with sleep disturbances? Ack.
IMG_7728

The hiking with the boys is turning into our favorite time.
move
They actually walk with us on the trail, delight in holding our hands and alternately guiding us and being led, and they make it further than I thought those sturdy little legs could carry.
we hike
We are talking an hour of hiking here, and with only a few minutes of carrying. My favorite thing is when they ascend a hill they breathe hard on purpose (probably learned that listening to their Mama when she carried them up hills) and when they go downhill they say ‘woah!’

I have some great recipes I tried out this weekend and some new crafting and knitting in the works.
sweet potoato with garlic and cinnamon
I want to share so I might do a few posts over this week to share the new discoveries I made and a few newish craft things I tried out. Stay tuned for a tutorial on these little seasonal shirts.
Christmas ontender

And we even got a picture with Santa.
The fam and the Man
Need an opinion...check out this photo. Cuteness personified. Should we use it for our Christmas card? If not, do you see why? And nope, I do not have photoshop. Maybe someone knows an online site where I an remove the offensive strap...any recs?

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can easily remove that for you, you need to email me the larger sized file so it will print nice, send it to pixie AT pixiepurls DOT com and I'll do it tonight, it will take me about 5 minutes :)

LauraC said...

Goodness, sounds like a dreamy holiday weekend. That was what we had originally planned for our Thanksgiving (time alone with just our family) but I think our Thanksgiving turned out exactly as it was supposed to turn out.

Love the pics, your little boys are just so precious.

Liz Jimenez said...

Sounds like a lovely holiday!

And I didn't even notice the strap until you pointed it out. :-)

Claroux said...

I second what Goddess said - I totally didn't even notice the strap until I read what you wrote! But I know how you feel about wanting it out. J got me photoshop for my bday. I should see if I can copy it and mail you a disk (shhh....I think it's frowned about though). Actually - I think you can edit it out with picnik. I got rid of some of Maddie's eczema with their free software. Give that a try.

We used to go to Maine for the Thanksgiving holiday. It was me, my ex, and both my folks. It was heaven. Lots of hiking and usually lots of snow. And sometimes it's nice to be away on a holiday as our expectations are often too lofty when it's a big family shindig! I was dreaming of Thanksgiving in Maine this year. Maybe J and I can start our own tradition in a few years when we get brave enough to make the 8 hour trip with the girls and our new french fry. the photos, as always, were lovely. Thanks for sharing!

Threeundertwo said...

I didn't notice the strap either.

I love love love these pictures - just beautiful.

CelticCastOn said...

ahhhh your pictures are always so cute. I love the one of your guys looking over the water, beautiful!
Love the little shirts, once again you always have such cute crafts :)

Sarah-potterknitter said...

I say use it anyway, no one will notice!

Sereknitty said...

Oh the Christmas Tree Onesies are gorgeous! Great Job! I noticed, too, that the boys are wearing their boots from Europe -- too cute!

Anonymous said...

Yay for new family traditions. I have a feeling we'll be coming up with some of these soon, too! ;)

Use that photo-it's awesome! I didn't notice the strap either.

spajonas said...

wow, looks like a wonderful thanksgiving to me! the photos accompanying this post are gorgeous. you must be loving that new lens!

Alisa said...

How delightful! I love the picture and it would take mere seconds to photoshop out, like Pixie Purls said. Just use the clone stamp. Totally worth the time to be able to use that picture for cards.
Can't wait to see your new ideas.

cinnamongirl said...

I need to kiss these babies faces! I miss them too much. I didn't realize how much until I saw these pictures. Now that the park will be right across from me (hopefully), we can have some fun play dates! Miss you , mama! And, thanks for always being so encouraging. I truly do not know what I would do without your voice! I love you mucho!

Anonymous said...

Aw, what an excellent, mellow weekend. Your photos are gorgeous (and I didn't notice the strap, either). Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/15523865@N02/3077446739/sizes/o/

I fixed the photo for you and uploaded it to my flickr. If you already had it done let me know and I'll delete it out.

p.s. those sweet potatoes look yummy!

The Adventures of Carrie, Brook, Finn and Reid said...

What a great holiday!

Love the kids' shoes.
Love the holiday shirts.
Love the fam photo...

...although I didn't notice the strap until you pointed it out. :) I've never used Photoshop, but I am sure it is possible to do a little touchup.

Thanks for sharing the awesome photos.

Anonymous said...

The pictures are just beautiful and what a wonderful time away with just the four of you!!! So much love and so much joy!!