days

Now that Thanksgiving festivities are over, I can declare my undying *LOVE* for this time of year. The lights! The trees! Vince Guaraldi! The gift-giving (and, OK, gift-getting, too. But after my mom gave me an Epilady one teenage Christmas, I don’t hold my breath anymore)! Christmas cookies! Oh, holy Christmas cookie!

So I’ve been on the lookout for some awesome ways to celebrate this momentous (for us) holiday season. Advent calendars are so awesome, especially the ones Leslie Harpold used to post online, which were filled with fun flash games and memories and things to do. She’s gone now (and unfortunately, it appears her calendars aren’t online anymore, but you can read about them some here), but they were amazing and really rekindled my love for small daily celebrations.

Today, I found another inspiration, this time by Jean at The Artful Parent. Hers are mainly — though not only — child- and family-focused daily activities, and they got me thinking. How am I going to celebrate this year? I’ve been so wrapped up in baby preparations and work that December has completely snuck up on me. But, with a grateful thanks to Leslie and Jean, I’ve decided that I’m at least going to attempt my own advent celebrations.

I’m going to aim to document it here, too. Time to get started! Want to play along?

Holy moly! We just got back from the doctors and learned that the little bean is three weeks ahead of schedule! All 7 lbs. 11 oz. of her! I nearly fell into the floor in shock. And then I regained consciousness and nearly had a panic attack about all the stuff I have to do. For work. As if that really matters these days, but until it doesn’t matter, it does.

Also, I’m beginning to collect Things To Embarrass My Daughter With Later, which includes, today, the only ultrasound photo we walked away with.

Of her booty.

And her privates.

With an arrow pointing to the you-know-what and big capital letters proclaiming IT’S A GIRL! Ha ha!

Poor thing. Bless her heart. Let the booty jokes begin!

Today is my grandmother’s 100th birthday. My sister and I found this photo over Christmas while we were going through some of Mom’s boxes that we hadn’t been through yet. She’s sitting in what looks to me like the backyard of their house in Tipton Hill, in Mitchell County, NC, with my grandfather, Willard. This picture is undated, but I think this may have been taken in the 1940s.

I’ve thought a lot about what to say about her, but I get all choked up about it and can’t seem to put a sentence together that can really say how much I love her and how much she means to me. Her name is Ruby Byrd Whitson. She grew up in what are now empty woods behind a church that sits on a grassy knoll not far from the house she and Willard raised five kids in, including my mother, Willa, who was the oldest. She is funny and kind and tells great stories and always holds my hand for hours on end when I visit. She quilted and sewed all the time when I was a kid and would visit for weeks every summer. She filled her time crocheting and reading until last year when her eyesight started going bad. She moved several years ago to a nursing home because it’s so difficult, no, nearly impossible, to find people to care for older people in their homes in Mitchell County. She doesn’t need round-the-clock nursing care, just someone to cook food every once in a while and to be there to make sure she doesn’t fall. My Aunt Ginger and Aunt Peggy visit her all the time, even though they live in Indiana and Georgia now.

Today, we’re meeting my sister, who is driving up the mountain with her seven-year-old daughter. My sister is also nearly about to give birth to a son they plan to name Whitson after my mom and Ruby and Willard. So, this day feels so big to me and the importance isn’t lost but I haven’t yet processed it or thought about what it all means. Grandmama’s made it to 100 — and hopefully well beyond — when my grandfather, mother and father didn’t. And today I plan to tell her how thankful I am to spend this day with her, how thankful I am that she’s been in my life. Today, I’ll sit beside her and hold her hand.