I went to the cabin to repair the stove and put up Christmas decorations. I keep the artificial tree and outdoor lights out in the shed. Here’s why I may come up with another plan:

That is a huge mice nest (three mice were in the box when I opened it), and several light strings had been gnawed down to the wire. The tree wasn’t as bad as the lights, but I reconnected the outside faucet and hosed it all down. Hmm, cats and mice cause me the most unnecessary work these days.

We woke to cold, crisp skies on what might be our favorite family holiday, National Swearing Day, the day after Thanksgiving and when we get our Christmas tree. Dwayne and Wes are Team Big Tree and Kyla and I are on the losing Team Reasonable Tree. I suspect Piper will always support her father’s team.

After a few years of having to go to multiple lots (or 50 miles) to find our tree, I stood by the first tall tree at the first farm we went to this morning and watched the others reject several trees before coming back to the first one.

Kyla and Dwayne did the hard parts of the job, while I just made sure the mistletoe worked.

A 10-11′ tree is not easy to set up or decorate, and it took all five of us a few hours to get this one ready for its 6-week visit. I’m particularly taken with the owl vibe, as no one really needs an angel with a stick up her, well, you know.

Merry Christmas, Everyone! The season begins in earnest.

This year, I wanted to kick off the holidays by going to WildLanterns at the Seattle Zoo on the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. My parents joined us and we swapped out an “I don’t do zoos” Wes for a friend of Piper’s and I got to enjoy a magical opening of the holidays. Tomorrow, Thanksgiving!

Each of my brothers has given me two more kids to love up on and one I have to drive a little further to see. But I enjoy the area much and the family more. We brought Nugs with us as the 2nd grader loves reptiles–he travels better than a cranky middle child whose life was ruined when she had to go on a family walk on a sunny day. But that’s another story. I got a few runs in, we got to explore the season finale of the local farmer’s market, Kyla joined Dwayne and me at the Portland Japanese Gardens, and Brian made us delicious breakfasts. We can’t wait to return the hosting favor!

Piper organized a strawberry-pretzel turkey food craft. Guess which one we made?

Step 1: Arrange to be born on Nov 10, so that you will always have the day off after your birthday, and often, your birthday as well.

Step 2: Go to the cabin on Thursday night with youngest child, whose best friend lives on the island. This is basically like going to the cabin by yourself.

Step 3: Wake up in cozy cabin, and write several blog posts and reply to birthday emails and texts.

Step 4: Go shopping in Whidbey by yourself, finding some fun deals at some favorite stores. Yes, one of them was definitely a thrift store.

Step 5: Stop by a little restaurant I’ve had my eye on and get take out that only you would love– smokey lentil soup and butternut squash with roasted kale salad to eat back at the cabin.

Step 6: Take a short run down to the beach, then challenge your balance and bouldering skill by making it from the beach to Sandy Point beach with high tide covering most of the way, without swimming. Bring the Audible of the final book in the Rook & Rose trilogy.

Step 7: Have a curious seal make fun of you after you’ve clamored over a particularly large stump covered with dead brambles. Grin back. Fail to sneak up on the heron that’s keeping his suspicious eye on you.

Step 8: Curl up in a bedroom chair with lit candles and holiday tea.

Step 9: Greet Dwayne and meet friends at a local farm-to-table restaurant I’ve been wanting to try since it opened. Try not to think about the girls driving over together while we are out.

Step 10: Oh, dear. Find out that Wes could not figure out how to bake the ready-to-bake pizza I left for him with strict instructions to have dinner ready for Kyla when she arrived as she doesn’t handle hangry well. Get all sorts of texts during (a phenomenal) dinner about the hurt feeling and arguments. Ignore as many as possible but have a nearly perfect day tarnished by true childish idiocy. Sigh.

…which is why I took a picture of the newly cleaned-up backyard in autumn. A day later, it didn’t look like this.