A wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!

Zero degrees and sun-kissed trees

As always, an abundance of things to be so grateful for....and a wonderful day with friends to remind us that gratitude should be acknowledged on EVERY day... I hold strong in my heart a commitment to give a moment of time each day to take inventory and offer thanks.

Over the river and through the woods that morning we drove to our friends, the T's, house for a full day of cross-country skiing, football, visiting and eating.  I LOVED that we started our day with  good, hard, most fabulous skiing up on the Powerline/Blueberry hollow trails!  It was so beautiful...gently snowing...the mountains around us were obscured, forcing us to appreciate the immediate beauty around us.  It felt SO good to get that fresh air and exercise, come back to a hot shower, relax with an adult beverage and not feel guilty about the big meal to be consumed!  Those people that I've always seen out running, skiing, biking, etc. on the morning of a big holiday?  They got it goin' on!  It made the day THAT much more sweeter....a feeling of having really earned it!

The rest of our 4 day weekend was spent with friends-testing the wine we brewed together a couple years ago, skiing, snow shoeing, watching movies, and decorating the house for the holidays.

Leaning tower of cranberry sauce

Hillside view from our friend's home

The obligatory Thanksgiving nap

Eats at the ready

Pre-dinner dress up

The innards of my apple-cranberry pie

Decanted wine awaiting our verdict.  Needs to grow for a couple more years!

Amazing alpenglow from our house

Advent so far

Willa has taken quite a leap in her reading as of late!  While in public kindergarten, she was taught to read, but neither she nor Miles and I pursued if after she was accepted into Winterberry Waldorf.  Now that she is in second grade she has taken a big interest and has leapt right over the basic "See Jane run" to more advanced stuff.  Her comprehension of these more sophisticated stories comes into question, but she just loves to quietly and diligently decipher the code of wordage in her "Guardians Of Ga'hoole" book.  We have to coax her into balancing things out by reading and talking about the easier stuff like "Frog and Toad".

This year for the First Night, I created a special book of the Advent blessings I wrote to read on each Sunday.  Willa now gets to light the candles and read the blessing aloud to us.  While the reading was slow going, I think she appreciates her new role.  And the next morning, those generous Advent faeries bestowed upon us a beautiful rose quartz mother and child duo in honor of the Mineral Kingdom!

Later today, we will adorn the Advent table with symbols of the Plant Kingdom.  However, mom here has a problem.  After the most glorious snowfalls, November was an uncharacteristically white one laden with ton's of  ski-able sled-able snow!  Just FABULOUS!!!!  It is now 40 degrees and POURING rain.  Winds up to 100MPH!  It has been like this since Friday when all after school events were cancelled-including the already once postponed Lantern Walk!!!!  Due to the VERY unsafe roads, I did not get the chance to run to the store to buy the sweet mini Christmas tree that I always get for the "faeries" to put on the Advent table!  :(  My bet is that I could rig something up with small pine branches and a pot...and I'm sure Willa would enjoy it just as much...but it won't be quite the same.  We always enjoy the challenge of trying to actually keep that little tree alive after the holidays to grow to adulthood.  Hey, my MOM can do it-she's got a bunch in her yard!  In the past, we have not been diligent enough with the watering.....  But we had talked about the fact that THIS was the year we were going to grow that tree!  .....Maybe the faeries could leave a note with the "temporary" tree stating that due to the weather, they were afraid that transporting the delicate tree in the wind and rain would hurt it.....so they will bring one by this week when the rain stops?     We'll give that a go, methinks.

Something wicked this way comes...

A kick-ass homebrewed chocolate bock is gettin' borned in the garage!
Over the summer when Miles was on a daddy/daughter trip with Willa, I helped myself to a lone bottle of Samuel Adams Chocolate Bock that I found on the food shelf in the garage.  DIVINE!!!!  Full and rich and smooth and chocolaty fuckin' chocolateness and, and...
And as far as I can see, unless SANTA wants to fill my stocking with some, the SA stuff only comes in one of those holiday variety packs which I'm not going to buy for just the 2 bocks inside. So I've brewed my own damn batch, Sam!!!   - under Miles's supervision since it's been a few years since I've brewed.   
So my 5 glorious gallons of liquid mana of the gods is happily bubbling away. This weekend we rack it to the secondary...and then more tortuous waiting. It's looking like January or February before I can crack that first one open....

Miles's Road Rash IPA.   Named after my wipe out on the road while running on ice.  Love you hunny, ya little shit!

Bottling his IPA.  His magic wand broke after 15 years of use.  Cuz he's a wise-ass and karma's a bitch.

After we bottled the IPA I started on the Chocolate Bock.  Busy beer day!

Oh, HELLS yes.  I keep waiting to see the glutinous fat kid emerge and get sucked up Willy Wonka's tube. 

Into the dark and cold

-10 to -20 the last couple of days here and the same heading into the weekend.  We've already got 2 feet of snow pack, fairly rare for November in the Anchorage area.  And while I lament not being able to run outside as often, I'm totally digging the gorgeous skiing!  The running thing....that's a whole 'nuther story...basically trying to see how far I can push the threshold of cold while still running in my Vibram 5 Finger shoes.  So far, I've gotten down to 18 degrees without socks.  I'll update the whole deal in an upcoming post.
Above is a photo of last year's Lantern Walk put on by Willa's school.  This year's was to be tomorrow night, but with a prediction of -17 they had to cancel until December.  I was bummed to get the e-mail this morning...the Lantern Walk is such a wonderful first celebration to ring in, and find warmth in, the darkening cold Holiday season.  But I freely admit I was relieved at the same time!  -17?  Fuhgedaboutit! Who can have fun in THAT?   Lot's of disappointed kiddos, though, my own in tears this morning.  They've been working so hard on their beautiful lanterns...  But it's only a couple of weeks and there is a large Thanksgiving dinner planned at our friend's house to look forward to.  I was really hoping that WE would be hosting Thanksgiving this year, but the finishing of our new addition is shlogging along slower than molasses in January.  We have a lovely, big, currently useless room that is still awaiting plumbing, heated floors, electricity, insulation and sheet rock among other things.  The rotted out beams we discovered-the previous contractor'ss faux pas-really held things up for us.  At least that part is now fixed.

Anyhoo, here's a couple more Lantern Walk photos to set the mood.  For those not familiar with the Lantern Walk, it's a lovely way to celebrate Martinmas.
Martinmas marks the burial of St Martin of Tours (316-397 AD). St. Martin may be well-known for his compassionate gesture of sharing his cloak with a beggar. This charitable gesture is at the heart of this festival for many Waldorf schools, who hold coat drives and other charitable drives around this festival.
This festival is the middle point between Michaelmas and Christmas; the light of Martinmas fortifies our souls for the dark winter and prepares us for the birth of Christ. One symbol of this is working with light from lanterns in the traditional Lantern Walk.
  I'm working very hard on getting lots of holiday preparations-gifts made and bought, events scheduled-finished by December so that we can go into it with a little less chaos and more reverence....more family time to enjoy this time of year.....internal and  beautiful in so many ways.....

The lighted path...cold yet warm at the same time with the sound of children singing...the lights of their hand held lanterns bobbing as they journey through the woods.

The circle of the bonfires.  Toasty warm, groups of kids, parents, and teachers singing rounds and enjoying hot drinks and treats.

The lanterns made by Willa's class.

Date night! A week in St. Louis

St. Louis?   Yeah, well.....  Not my first choice for a New York Life convention, but it's a bit of a get-away for us.  (Next year it will be either Vancouver or the BAHAMAS!!!)  Miles will be in meetings and seminars during the day and I'll be exploring.  It'll be fun to find places to run in the morning, shop, sight see, visit galleries....and at night my Hunny and i can dress up, hang with friends or go out on the town, etc, etc. I don't have to clean or cook SHIT!!!!  :)
Gotta go!  We're landing!