Bring on the Holidays!

On Thanksgiving, Marley and Rudy wore fancy red dresses and sparkly shoes. Marley loves to pose with a little smirk and at least one hand on her hip, clearly conveying how accustomed she is to such finery. In the picture below, Rudy's missing her glasses, and therefore wonky. But she is also as elegant as ever in the kind of soiree-ready attire that is adorable on all girls under five; this level of fancy is really only appropriate for adults who walk red carpets on a regular basis.

I do not ever walk on red carpets. I didn't even own a pair of black heels until I treated myself to some at Target in preparation for my fifteen-year high school reunion. It was on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, the day after I had planned to flutter around my home in a Christmas decorating whirlwind. On Friday morning, though, I was stymied by the four separate strands of twinkle lights that had burnt out since they were put away last year, and I spent a substantial portion of the morning pacing around the house trying to enjoy the non-urgency of my things to do, and failing.

On Saturday night, I wore the heels. I think the last time I wore heels, aside from Abe's wedding, was at my ten-year reunion. Let it be known that I planned the Class of 1995's ten-year reunion with Liz while I was pregnant with Marley, and then I reveled in the success of that party when Bean was a mere two months old. This time around, a classmate offered to plan the get-together for us, and exhausted by our fantastic efforts, we let him. Which was a huge mistake, because I don't ever remember this guy making any sort of effort at all, ever, including in high school. Even his douchebaggery came naturally, without any strain at all. It still does, because the result was a fifteen-year reunion that appears to have been mentioned casually on his Facebook page to his friends, and I truly only knew about it because of Liz, and there were maybe a third of the people there that attended five years ago. Even though Liz and I took full advantage of being out of the house at an event involving alcohol and a DJ, the night was a bust.

I learned that one of my high school friends may have spent some of the night crying because she wanted to have a family by now, which makes me think of how gross Kim Kardashian is for that recent People magazine cover. And that another friend is separating from his wife, and still other former classmates have almost split up from their spouses in the past. Which all seemed very dramatic at the time. But later, I remembered what it was like soon after Marley was born, before Todd and I moved our family to the home where we are now, when hormones and a simple lack of GD space made marriage one of the hardest things I had to do. Now, it's easy. Like Sunday morning. And I realized every married couple has had or will have some hard times like that; it's probably why most traditional wedding vows mention the good times and the bad. And anyone who says things have just, you know, always been really great are fooling themselves or trying to fool everyone else. So, these revelations weren't so exciting after all. And most of the people I saw that night I could just as easily see at the grocery store or preschool drop-off. Or Target. It's that kind of town.

On Saturday morning, I ran in a School Spirit 5K, and that afternoon, I took Marley to see Tangled with Danielle and Emma for Beanie's gymnastics pal's birthday. And I enjoy (spoiler alert!) a Disney princess with short hair. I mention these things only because it just seemed like there was a lot going on last weekend. On Sunday, Marley and I went to the Nutcracker in Worcester. And this was not the dreamy mother-and-daughter trip it could have been. Marley wore a black velvet dress that I bought for her when I got a pink one for Rudy. Which caused a screaming and wailing meltdown on Marley's part even as I reasoned with her that of course I know she wants a pink one, too, and I looked and looked and they didn't have one in your size, and in fact I thought it might upset you and so here's this sparkly pink heart ring to wear with it so that you have a special pink thing anyways. And then of course we couldn't find the ring when it was time to go and Marley was a slumping, weeping, shrieking mess who couldn't leave without it! And didn't want to go to the Nutcracker! Without! It!

We made it to the show, though, and it was delightful, and we are bringing on the holidays in this house. The Elf on the Shelf has been hanging around since Thanksgiving, and Marley absolutely loves finding him every morning and wondering about how he flies around, but is remarkably unconcerned that he hears her call me things like the "Stinkiest Mom in the World" when I won't let her have more television or chocolate, or when I ask her to apologize for shouting at Rudy to be quiet before slamming the bedroom door. And the Elf hears Marley dramatically maintain that Mommy and Daddy never let her do anything fun (this was on Monday, for example, after the movie and a sleepover and the Nutcracker), and how she's going to run away where no one tells her what to do. Brushing her teeth and her hair, especially, are tasks that can overwhelm my Bean-Beanie most mornings before school.

But. I got the replacement twinkle lights, and our house is glowing, and it feels like Christmas is coming. In a good way. I'm not frantic about how it's going to happen yet. Our home seems extra cozy, and right about now the Christmas excitement keeps growing, especially for Bean and Toot. When we get our tree up, it will be even better, I think. And it's December, so I'm ready for the snow. Just as long as it's gone by February.