nostalgia

The other evening, after a really, really rough day with Elliott (these seem to be more frequent and intense the longer this house selling process continues) Nate came home and I was released to walk the dog, get some fresh air and decompress from an intense day.

I decided to walk Bear past some friend's houses that I needed to drop Christmas cards to anyhow. Two are a block and a half from me, one is about 3 blocks. I walked past the first two (once of which I had just been to the night before wrapping gifts for our mom's group's adopt-a-family) and stuck the cards in their mailboxes. Then Bear and I walked another couple blocks to the off-leash area in the park. She mozied around and after a bit, I decided it was a perfect time to swing by another friend's house and pick up our milk and eggs order for the week. So Bear and I walked over there (about 5 blocks) and passed by the third friend's house on the way home, dropping the card in the mailbox.

It struck me on this walk how much I'm going to miss this community right here in Arbor Lodge. This little neighborhood has really become home to our family. It's not unusual for me to run into mamas I know at the grocery store, park or just walking around, everyone at the off-leash area knows and loves our quirky Bear, we have neighbors we can count on in a pinch. I pick up most of our family's food within blocks of our house. We can walk to Bear's daycare. It's pretty cozy.

As much as I look forward to a new house, more space and more quiet, I do mourn the loss that will come with this upcoming move. I do love the community up here in NoPo, I don't think it can really be duplicated in quite the same way.

But I have to be realistic. I know I'll make new friends, the park near the new house is amazing, we will be walkable to one of Elliott's best buddies and one of my best buddies. The location, for being in the burbs, is surprisingly bikeable and is very close to some wonderful things like the downtown Beaverton area, a trailhead for the Fanno Creek Trail System, a really big park filled with big trees and a great playground. It's walkable to both the elementary and middle school. It's not too far out, so I'll be able to get to and from NoPo for playdates and such fairly easily.

But still, I'll miss this crazy corner of the world. It's a very cozy, comfortable, fun corner and we have some dear friends up here that we'll miss being able to see on a lark. I know with some effort, the friendships will continue, but it will take more planning, coordinating and such.

Anyhow, it's just what was on my mind as I walked our dog through the neighborhood, decompressing and letting some of the quieter thoughts stew and get some actual thinking time in my overwhelmed brain.

Oh Tannenbaum!

Tis the season! Whoopie! And I mean that for reals! I love Christmas, decorating the house and all that jazz. Every year I relish in unwrapping ornaments from the layers of tissue paper they spend the whole year packed in, ready to hang from a beautiful tree to remind us of our families, our childhoods and our lives together. Love, love, love.

Our Christmas tree is no designer tree. Nope. There's no coordinating colors, themes or the like. The only rule I have: no colored lights. With the mishmash of ornaments we have, there's no need to go crazy with light colors. White lights do us just fine and I even endorse twinkle settings.

So I thought I'd give you a bit of a photo tour of what makes our tree so special every year.

Here we go!

First off is tree selection. As a kid, we used to go into the mountains in Montana as a whole family: aunts, uncles, cousins, grandma, grandpa. Every household would hike around in the woods, arguing, falling in the deep snow, complaining, throwing snowballs... until we found the right tree, cut it down and drug it back to the car (there's some funny photos out there of my brother and I dragging a tree and all of us are laying in the snow, having collapsed in the knee deep snow.)

I hope to try this out when kiddos get bigger, but for now, since we're urbanites now, we've been purchasing our trees at a lot down the street that is a charity. It's not far to haul a tree and the folks working the lot are really friendly. Above you can see Elliott running through the rows of trees. He spent quite a bit of time doing just that while we chose the tree.

The tree. (I know, I'm out of order. It's decorated here). I like Nobles. I like that their branches seem tougher, stiffer, so they can handle some of the heavier ornaments we have. I also like a tree that has a little "personality". Personality goes a long way with me. This tree I liked because it, well, kinda chubby. And I liked that.

Our tree was very "alive" this year. We found numerous ladybugs, a spider and Nate swears a bee-like insect peed on the floor when it flew out of the tree.

Ornaments! I chose a smattering of my favorites. There are more, but I decided not to bore you all to death! The one above is from Nate and I'd belated honeymoon/babymoon cruise to the Caribbean. We bought this on the ship's gift shop on our final night of the cruise. It always makes me smile that think about that special week we had together when (not to our knowledge at the time) we were just 5 weeks from the birth of our baby!

We try to get an ornament from every trip we take. Sometimes we forget, but most of the time we remember. This one we purchased at the top of the Sears (Willis) Tower in Chicago. It's a snowglobe with the Sears Tower inside.

From childhood. My parents passed down a bunch of ornaments years ago. This was always one of my favorites. It's just goofy and vintage, and I just love it. I look forward to seeing it every year.

I made this when I was in a little girl in Sunday School. I can't believe it has survived this long. I don't have many things I made as a kid since I moved between fosterhomes/family/group homes so much. Actually, this is the only childhood ornament I have, so it's pretty special, therefore, is located at the top of the tree.

Another goofy ornament I love seeing every year. I like how Santa's springy appendages bounce up and down. It has made me smile every year since I was a kid.

Nate and I's families are big on marking special occasions and every year, really, with special ornaments. This is a jingle bride and groom we received for our first married Christmas. I love them, they are so sweet!

The back of this one is difficult to see, but it is a postcard ornament Nate and I received from my aunt Gloria for our first married Christmas. It is addressed to Mr and Mrs Nathan Bucks and has our first married address on it. I love it. It was such a special gift!

Another ornament from 2005, marking our second married Christmas. We have ornaments marking every year, and ones adding Elliott's name after he was born. Super special ways to mark our years together.

I've tried to carry on the yearly ornaments for Elliott. This one I gave him last year, it's a tiny Very Hungry Caterpillar book. It was one of his favorite books. Every year I search for the ornament that somehow represents our year together. I'm still searching for this year.

Another one of Elliott's ornaments from last year. This was his first visit to Santa. Doesn't he look thrilled? LOL. I'm sure he'll LOVE this when he's older... I know his partner will for sure.

Last year Elliott and I went to Mimosa Studios and he painted ornaments for grandparents and he chose the train for himself. I love his art. I'm thinking we might go back again this year and do another one. We had a lot of fun.

And, following in the tradition of marking big occasions on our tree, this is the ornament I got for Elliott's first Christmas.

Another ornament marking Elliott's first Christmas. I'm very excited to have a whole collection of ornaments to give him when he sets up his own home someday. I hope he comes to enjoy these as much as I do.

It's hard to see, but the ornament to look at is the one with the buttons in the foreground. My mom made them from a collection of her grandmother's buttons. She made each of us three kids ornaments one year for Christmas. I love them.

More homemade ornament goodness. This is one of many handmade stuffed ornaments that my MIL made years ago and passed down to us a couple years ago. I love the cheery, down home sweetness of these ornaments. AND, they are super strong and I don't worry about Elliott breaking them, so they are much enjoyed by the three-year-old this year since they are at his height on the tree.

This is a very special ornament in memory of Nate's Grandma Vera. She was an amazing gardener/food preserver and in general awesome person. We got sweet ornaments after her death, a wonderful way to remember her every year and have her presence on our tree for the rest of our lives.

Oh, and the angels. I'm not a religious person, at all, but I LOVE angels. They are so sweet. I always have my eyes peeled for more "ethnic" angels and hope to have a United Nations of Angels on my tree someday. Here's a few:

And, we're not above a little downright goofiness around here. This is a Cartman ornament I got for Nate years ago when his love affair with South Park really started to blossom. It cracks me up every year when we put it up.

Okay, that's the end of the tour! I hope you all enjoyed!