From a wonderful weekend away at our friends Brent and Heather’s in Issaquah, I am highly recommending three things:

Go see The Blind Side.  Best movie I’ve seen in ages.

The Bellevue Botanical Gardens Light Show was unbelievable.  The whole thing flora and fauna recreated in christmas lights.  The displays were so well done you could tell what flowers they were supposed to be.  I highly recommend taking an evening and hitting this place for $1 donation at the entrance!

No photograph of our friends this time, but I also highly recommend slowing down time a bit, and spend a relaxing evening or morning, or both, like we did with good friends you love and who love you.

Going through my family’s old slides has been fun, rewarding, educational, and thought provoking. Occassionally I come across a photo that makes me scratch my head and go,”huh?” Like this one:

First, WHO is sleeping on the cot outside? And my Grandma poking her head out the car…What the? Did my mom’s family go through a homeless period that they forgot to tell me about?

And in this one, that is my aunt Diane on the left, but that is NOT my mother, her twin on the right. So, WHO WORE MY MOTHER’S DRESS???

AND, furthermore, why don’t we wear dresses like this anymore?

On a more serious note, this is my cousin Steve. I didn’t know he golfed at age 7. But I did know he was darling, red-haired, and he and his sister Kathy were very close to my parents. Steve passed away 28 days ago. And although I remember seeing him at a couple family gatherings, I never knew him. He lived in the Puget Sound his whole life, and I have lived between Portland and Bellingham all of mine. And I didn’t know him. I think that’s tragic.

My friend Carrie asked me to come to her parents and take their family photos yesterday. Her brother and sisters were in town for Thanksgiving and birthdays, and this was Carrie’s birthday gift to her mom. What a beautiful family!

Now, back to editing my family slides!

Brett and Lindsey and Jack came to dinner this week. Cute and flirty as ever, Jack just loved Josh!

And when I wasn’t looking Abbie grabbed the camera and took a few shots of Joey. This is the only one I can publish.

A week ago at this time I was dreading the holidays. I’ve had a bad case of the blahs since summer ended. The gray dreary weather gets me down, the hail storm on Friday night, mimicking a snowstorm, sending cars in the ditches and stranding Rick for a few minutes brought dread and loathing to mind. The older I get the less I like winter. If you have followed my blog very long, you’ve probably started to take note of the patterns of my emotional life;

Sunny= happy face
Rain/snow/hail/gray= sad face.

It has occurred to me that although I know there is something to SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder, which I have self-diagnosed, there might be something deeper as well. Because not more than 36 hours ago, I was still bah-humbugging the season, grumbling at the Christmas displays in grocery stores when we’ve BARELY laid to rest Halloween, and haven’t even welcomed in Thanksgiving.

But now? Things have changed. I have a new outlook. I have become the Grinch Who Stole Christmas, at the END of the story!!! I put Christmas music on my iPod last night and listened to it all day today! I dreamily fingered the Christmas displays at Costco, and pictured how my house will look this year. I made a mental list of ingredients for fudge, almond rocha, gingerbread men, talked endlessly to Rick about Christmas weekend, and if that’s not enough…

I WANT TO PUT UP MY CHRISTMAS TREE!!!

Why? Why, you ask?

It started a few nights ago. I can’t remember which night. Maybe Tuesday. Maybe Thursday. My Dad and I were talking on the phone. He casually said, “I sure wish we could come up there for Thanksgiving or Christmas, but I just can’t drive that far alone with Mom anymore without a helper, and I can’t ask someone to leave their family for one of those holidays”. I asked if he’d thought of flying. “well, no. Hadn’t thought of that”.

Saturday morning Dad let me know he’d checked flights to Bellingham. Too expensive. I asked if they’d thought of flying to Seattle and letting us pick them up. “Well, no, hadn’t thought of that. I’ll look into it and let’s talk this evening.”

An hour later I received an email forwarded from Alaska Airlines with the flight itineray for 2 plus a wheelchair. I emailed Dad back, “So…not so much thinking about it then?”

And ever since that one little email, I’ve been floating around on a sugar plum cloud singing Christmas carols and menu planning. I’ve let each of the kids know that Grandma and Grandpa are coming. Everyone is 100% surprised and excited. No one saw this one coming! First, Mom made it to Tim’s wedding and now she’s coming to Bellingham for Christmas?? This news comes so out of the blue, when we’d all thought that LAST Christmas was our last chance to spend the holiday with them, it feels shocking, hopeful, unexpected, mysterious, a gift, and…well, it feels a little bit like….

Christmas.