First off, it was Thanksgiving and the kids were already scheduled to be out of school on Wednesday, but because of the threat of a storm that never materialized (Virginia can be annoying this way), school was cancelled on Tuesday as well. I was not prepared to have 4 people at home that day and after scheduling and taking Liam to the doctor to check on a swollen gland, I needed to run some errands. Before I left I told the boys that they were in charge of dinner that evening, and to call with what they needed me to bring home. So when the phone rang and they asked me to bring two pounds of shrimp home I laughed out loud! Leave them to their own devices, and they go for the gold. How could I refuse? I brought home the shrimp and unloaded the groceries while they put together "Garlic Shrimp in Coconut Lime Tomato Sauce" from Mel's Kitchen Cafe (www.melskitchen.com), along with roasted brussel sprouts and rice. It was divine and I was so proud of them and they were deservedly proud of themselves.
Thanksgiving was a change this year in that we planned to spend it with one of Jared's coworkers and they only requested we bring a veggie. That didn't sit well with me because I like to cook, so I offered (in addition to the veggies), that we also bring rolls, our favorite fruit salad: pomegranate, grapefruit, and blackberry, and Liam was interested in making his famous pecan bars.
That morning I went on my traditional run and Jared joined me for the first mile or so with Ruby. He ventured back home to work in the yard (something he admittedly prefers over running) and spent the next several hours cutting down dead trees and stacking wood, with some help from the boys.
Liam got to work on his pecan bars, for dessert:
In the late afternoon we made our way over to the home of E and M. They have three adult children who all have a variety of professions including a daughter who is a tattoo artist, a son who is a music producer and former bar bouncer, and a daughter who works for a public interest group in DC. We have known their family for years, and Jared was reminding the boys on the drive over that the tattoo artist once did a large pastel portrait of the boys. When Jared said, "you'll never guess what she does now," Jonah quickly guessed that she must be either a zoo keeper or a paleontologist! (Jonah wants to be one of these when he grows up.) That story was shared at dinner and brought a nice roar of laughter.
They have a music studio in their house and this is where the boys spent nearly two hours jamming on the instruments. By the end of the evening most of the adults had made their way down to see the magic in the room. Liam had discovered the bass guitar and Caleb and Gavin took turns on both the drums and keyboard. They were unbelievable and jaws were dropping as the boys played portions of Drops of Jupiter by Train, Lean on Me by Bill Withers, Don't Stop Believing by Journey, various Van Halen selections, and jazzed-up versions of many of their piano songs. A music studio has been in our plans for some time, but we realize the time is now and we better get a move on it! We had a nice night enjoying good company and the use of their magical studio!
The next morning we headed to Richmond for a long anticipated afternoon trip to play Laser Tag. Liam had gone with some friends for a birthday celebration earlier in the month and the three other boys have been jealous ever since. We also planned on getting our Christmas tree on the trip back, but we never dreamed we'd pick it out in the random lot next to the laser tag building in Richmond. But when we arrived to play we realized that we needed a reservation, which we didn't have, and we had about 45 minutes to kill and figured we might as well support the local Christian Community Church and make our purchase there.
The next morning was tree decoration time and the boys got totally into in and by the time I made my way into the project the entire fireplace mantel was converted from is fall theme to all things Christmas. We needed a smaller tree this year because of the new piano, so it did make decorating a simple and quick task. Caleb and I got the lights strung and per tradition the boys took to the decorating. They always love to pull out the variety of miscellaneous, mismatched, collected ornaments that have accumulated over the years. This year's new addition was four ornaments shaped like ski boots. Instead of the traditional ball ornaments I requested a "fruit" tree this year, so all the apples, pears, and grapes were hung and by the end, true to form, Caleb was tossing clumps of grapes that didn't need to be hung, just placed, to Gavin who was throwing them randomly onto the tree. They thought it was hilarious, and it's a good thing I'm not a perfectionist because those randomly thrown grape clusters are still there adorning the branches.
My favorite tradition of Christmas is puling out our puzzling table. It usually doesn't get put away until the early spring because we are all drawn to sit for a time place placing a few pieces here and there.
This month will fly by as it always does, but we've spent a lot of time talking about what we want to give of ourselves this year. (As Jonah describes it, "gifts of love".) Each night we sing a Chirstmas carol together and share at least one act of kindness we have done for someone that day and place a piece of straw in a little manger an old BYU roommate gave me several years ago. The first two nights both Jonah and Gavin forgot about this tradition and were devastated that they couldn't put straw in the manger, but both of them, Jonah especially, have made it a point to thank teachers, vote for their friends to get special awards in class, make someone's bed, etc. - the list goes on. Gavin even came up to me in private to tell me he'd like to use his well-saved (never spent) money to buy the three brothers new iPods, but he wouldn't have enough money to buy one for himself, but that was o.k. he figured. He was very disappointed when I told him that his generosity was remarkable, but I couldn't let him actually spend that kind of money on his brothers. I'm grateful for those moments of pure kindness because there are many days filled with selfish acts and it's during those times that I can then remind them of moments when their hearts were pure and how much better they felt. It's a process, shedding the urges of the natural man, and I'm grateful to be learning and teaching with this crew of boys and men.
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