Happy Birthday, Neel!

A long time ago, my friend Megan told me that she and her family did "highs and lows" where at the end of the day, they each listed the highs and lows of their day. As with most of my parenting precepts, I promptly stole that idea and pawned it off as my own. For years, each night at bedtime, I would say to Callum, "Highs and lows..." and we'd race each other to say, "You go first!" Sometimes it's hard to pick. You hope you have fewer lows and many highs to choose among. Sometimes it's a fine line that we walk between joy and sorrow. Today is Neel's birthday, and quite honestly I know of no other man deserving of celebration of this one. I'd whisk him off to the most beautiful garden in the world if I could (any suggestions?) and let him wander around for hours. We're cooking out (his choice) and we're opening presents. But grown-up birthdays aren't always jubilant ones.

We did not get the news we were hoping for about our girl.

She's with us now, and she's not in pain. Next week we'll take some (non-invasive) steps to keep her with us as long as we can.

We're heartbroken. We're heartbroken.

Decorating was funny this year. I really think I've been sick since nearly Thanksgiving, so everything felt really hard. We did it in stages. Got the tree. Then got the tree up. Then got the tree decorated. Then the house. And by decorating the house, I mean, pretty much throwing stuff on surfaces and hoping it looked good. (Side note, I went to the doctor on Tuesday and scored some antibiotics. He said, "I'd been having these headaches and was really tired and then the headaches got so bad I started to seriously wonder if I had a brain tumor." When I said, "ME TOO!" He said, "I took some antibiotics and they went away," and then he gave me a prescription.) The funny thing is, this might be my favorite year for the decorations.

Last year was the best year for the tree as far as pure perfection goes, but this year's tree is so sweet and sincere. I just love it. And somehow everything just looks lovely. We focus mainly on the dining room and the living room, although there are some table top trees on either side of the tv in the family room. I'd love to have a gorgeous display of flowers (like what you've been making Miss Bird) on my kitchen island, but the truth is that island is a workhorse, and it's always covered with the detrius of our lives: bowl of veggies, homework, bills, Christmas card envelopes. Someday I'll take a picture and show you how we really roll around here!

So there you have it. Our gray house at holiday time, the 2012 edition. Another year in the books.

highs and lows, you go first

holiday house :: 2012 {life}