this weekend

I took Claire to see the Nutcracker in Asheville today with some of our favorite people, a mama and little girl right around Claire's age that we met in April of 2010 at our Mamatime group when the babes were not quite 4 months old.  Fast forward many months and there we were, watching these girls' faces as they sat on our laps staring, captivated, at the dancers below.  Of course, that didn't last the entire 2 hours.  There were many bribes in the form of snacks.  (first candy canes were had!)  There was squirming, and some shhhhhing, and Claire and I took a little walk for the last five or ten minutes.

But still.  I was quite impressed.  A couple months shy of two and these girls made it through a full length ballet.  Claire was excited talking about seeing "real ballerinas!", and I expect she'll be talking about it a lot in the days to come.

Tonight, after we got home from the performance, I made a quasi-Thanksgiving dinner, having recently (on Thanksgiving, actually- no surprise) decided that we need to eat that yummy meal more often.  I think mostly it was the cranberry sauce that did it.  I really, really love fresh cranberry sauce.  A chicken replaced the turkey, there were mashed potatoes, homemade stuffing, fresh cranberry sauce, green beans, and even a pumpkin pie to top it off.  The only thing missing was fresh bread and a sweet potato casserole of some sort.  Claire looked at the table all set and, seeing the chicken, which she declared was a turkey, ran into the kitchen where Mike and I were finishing our preparations, and shouted "Happy Thanksgiving!".  Love that little one.  Love the way I can practically see her little brain working things out and making connections all the time.

What a fun stage we are in.  Aside from some teething and defiance, of course.

Rewind back to the rest of the weekend, and aside from a nasty cold that has been lingering in my chest for over a week, we had a pretty eventful and nice couple of days.

Claire and I had another lovely mama/babe duo over for coffee and muffins on Saturday morning.  While the girls played, we grown up folk got to chat a bit and I put together a couple little fabric-wrapped wreaths as I sipped my coffee and downed yet another pumpkin muffin.  I am ready to move on from the pumpkin muffins, I tell ya.  Next stop is cookies and peppermint bark and I'm ready to go in the ingredient department.  All I have yet to acquire is the motivation.  It was not conveniently located next to the white and dark chocolate at the store.  But I'm thinking a lot about making this stuff, so it will happen soon.

Lights are hung, our tree is decorated, stockings are hung, Claire's stocking IS FINISHED!  I've collected some pretty greenery and berries from here and there and have them around the house to liven it up a bit....... with Claire having more of a sense of and interest in her surroundings now than a year ago, I'm having a good time making merry and doing my best to establish some traditions for this little family of ours.  I loved having the handful of "definites" that I could count on around each holiday as I was growing up and I aim to provide that for her as well.  And now that I'm in this role, that of mother and one who carries on traditions and creates new ones, I am clinging more tightly to those of my own from my childhood.

It's magic, I tell ya.

After our little visit with friends Saturday morning, Claire's beloved Beeba came to hang with her while I went to a nearby toy swap. (Beeba and her sewing machine helped bring the stocking making to a close)  The swap was excellent, very well organized.  I came away with less than I brought (always a good thing) and found some great things for Claire.  A wooden train set, some good books, a garbage truck..... (we have to go outside every Tuesday morning to watch the garbage truck make the rounds.... it is a very exciting and non-negotiable part of our week around here)

I love me a good swap.

Oh.  This weekend I also managed to kill our little flat of greens seedlings.  Left them out last night.  It was in the 20s.  Oops.