The best way for me to describe the wonderful time our family had during the past week up at mom's new house is simply GREAT!!! With everyone under the same roof, all 12 of us experienced a full-on family gathering like never before. We impatiently ripped opened presents on Christmas Eve and reserved the morning to walking six dogs, stuffing the kids with waffles, and preparing the Christmas turkey. My brother and I held an Iron Chef gravy face-off that ended with the combination of both our attempts. His was thicker while mine was richer, so together it was perfect. For dessert, Rich was assisted by all the little hands molding the walnut crust for his famous cranberry tarts. Who ever said anything about having too many chefs in the kitchen?
The following days were full of fun activities for adults and kids alike. My brother and his wife quickly took advantage of a dedicated aunt to their two children and left us to spend the day skiing the nearby slopes. I didnt have any trouble entertaining those demanding-little-lovable-monsters though. With accomplished artists in the house, the budding artists were mesmerized and entertained by Rich's cartooning. Under the imaginative guidance of the little ones, he managed to create scenes of a giant frog catching a fly while a man sat next to a campfire watching fish jumping out of the pond below while a helicopter, jet plane, and a rocket ship passed overhead. Another scene included a dancing penguin in a giant tutu , a snowman, and an artic butterfly, stranded on an iceberg. A slightly more sophisticated water color piece was created by my artistic mother who copied a Wolf Kahn piece from the book I gave her for Christmas. My five year old niece scoured through the book to pick out just the right one for grandma to paint, and she watched every move as my mother recreated the scene in less than an hour. We're fortunate to be from the same gene pool.
The energetic little ones also ventured outdoors to snowboard on a small slippery slope in the back yard, while we managed to do a little ice skating in our shoes on the frozen lawn next to the house where the drainage had frozen over. Even the dogs loved the new open space. They ate snow and ran around until their paws froze and tip-toed back into the house to warm themselves next to the fireplace. Indeed we all cuddled up to some hot chocolate and chocolate/caramel chip cookies after the nippy outing.
There are many more memorable details, like the goofy videos we made, the exploratory trips into town, the sleepy cuddles reading, playing alphabet games, the girly chat in the bathroom...
We made my mother's new house a home, and I have a full tank of memories to take with me to Uz. Life is good.
...and yes, it is 2 Weeks 'Til Uzbekistan!!! I will have to start packing at some point, but I'm soaking in the present moments for when I do inevitably leave.
