Family

In The Week When Christmas Comes, Part One

Posted on December 27, 2008 by Debora

Sorry about the radio silence. I’ve been really enjoying the holidays this year, and loving the freedom to try new ways of celebrating.

The kids’ Christmas Vacation (excuse me, “Winter Break”) got off to an early start this year on account of being snowed in for what would have been the the last three days of school. By the official beginning of the break they were suffering from a nervewracking mix of cabin fever and Christmas anticipation, and it seemed like I was dealing with one ridiculous squabble after another. I recalled that we’d had a similar situation last year, and had solved it by letting the kids have one early gift to keep them occupied. I decided that that was worth turning into a tradition, and we busted out the jumbo tub of Tinkertoys that had originally been meant to be a Christmas gift. Brilliant! They played happily with those and the bickering ceased.

And by the end of that day they had created this:

blgntrprs

It’s the Enterprise 1701, of course. Just brings a tear to a mother’s eye.

Our traditional Christmas Eve consists of opening one gift each and then watching The Muppets’ Christmas Carol together. I LOVE that movie.

This year was a bit different: we each opened our gift and then we went to church for an evening candelight service. That was wonderful, and will definitely be a regular part of our Christmas Eves from now on. Then we came home and snuggled up and watched The Muppets’ Christmas Carol, and I cannot remember a year when I’ve felt more deeply attuned to its sweet message of love and thankfulness.

And then the kids went to bed, and I stayed up till the wee hours wrapping the last of the presents and putting them under the tree along with the various items that don’t get wrapped. We always have several toys that are arranged, unwrapped and ready to be played with, beneath the tree after the kids are asleep. These are things that are either for Luke and Elizabeth to share, or there’s no question of who they are meant for.

blgchrstmsv08

We had another new twist this year, and frankly I found a bit baffling.

I’ve never ever told my kids that Santa Claus was real. I’ve told them the stories, of course, and we read “‘Twas The Night Before Christmas” every year, but I’ve always said that it was just a fun story people like to tell.

Last year, when Elizabeth was at the age when few kids still believe anyway, both of my offspring began peppering me with questions about how I really KNEW that Santa wasn’t real. I stood my ground on his fictional status, but they seemed unconvinced.

This year they specifically stated that they wished to receive one present each from good St. Nick himself. The implication here was that my blatant unbelief had been keeping him away all these years, and that I was to Knock It Off immediately and let the jolly old elf do his bit.

Fine. Who am I to squash my children’s holiday fantasies? I bought a whole ‘nother roll of fancy wrapping paper, snuck it into the house, and on Christmas Eve I wrapped one gift for each child plus one for the family in this Special Santa Wrap. Then I faked guy handwriting as best I could for the To/From tags. If I’d been a bit more on the ball I would have taken the tags to church and had an actual guy write them out, but one can’t think of everything.

I actually slept in pretty late Christmas morning, and the kids let me because they were happily occupied with the contents of their stockings and with the unwrapped stuff. Come to think of it, that may be why we started doing it that way in the first place. Sometimes an extra couple hours’ sleep is a gift unto itself.

Speaking of which, I’m off to bed. To Be Continued…

Categories: Christianity, Christmas, Family, Friends, kids, Life, Love | Leave a comment

Snowed in

Posted on December 20, 2008 by Debora

…still. We’re on Day Four now.

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snwdin2

snwdin3

If I had a real car that weighed more than 75lbs I would be able to move about freely by now, but my little toy Saturn is rendered helpless by the few inches of snow that remain. A fellow from next door helped me drive/push/coax it as far as my back gate where Steve’s truck tracks end, so I think I should be able to make it to church tomorrow. Funny how much I’ve come to look forward to that every Sunday.

Yesterday my nice neighbor, who has actual grownup vehicles, was able to get out and into town, and she brought me some milk because we were running low. I have been constantly surprised and warmed by the kindness of people. In retrospect I cannot believe how socially isolated I let myself become during my marriage.

Snow damage toll: several trees lost branches, but there’s nothing too catastrophic. My stand of redshank took the heaviest damage and the big pine in my front yard comes a close second, but least nothing landed on the roof.

My house is very clean right now. I’ve had nothing else to do.

This seems like a good time to pull out all the bits and pieces that I’ve thought would be cool to blog about but weren’t worth having posts of their own. Like how Elizabeth was Student Of The Month in November, and how I’ve had to lock all the chickens back up because one bold coyote got hungry enough to come right onto the property and start stealing chickens out from under my dogs’ noses. He got two pullets before I realized what was going on and locked up the henhouse.

* * * * *

Things the Internet magically knows about me:

In a Past Life…

You Were: A Happy Go Lucky Monk.

Where You Lived: Alaska.

How You Died: Decapitation.

I can totally believe that I was a monk in my past life. I can see myself now, quietly tending my garden in some sunwashed courtyard, the gentle warbling of birdsong providing a peaceful soundtrack to my simple contemplations.

But ALASKA? I. think. not.

Decapitation? Absolutely, if I lived in Alaska. The other monks got fed up listening to me whine about all the damn snow. It’s just a question of which one of them snapped first, and what sharp utensil he was holding.

Who Were You In a Past Life?

* * * * *

Other things the Internet magically knows about me: I am Probably A Woman.

We guess https://dsilkotch.wordpress.com/ is written by a woman (52%), however it’s quite gender neutral.

Gender Analyzer

* * * * *

Anagrams for “Debora Silkotch:”

Horseback Dolt I. Hmph.

Cobra Hiked Lost. Okay.

Bad Shock Toiler. Heh.

Rabid Sock Hotel. Whoa there, all our socks are freshly laundered, thankyouverymuch.

Broad Chokes Lit. Everyone’s a critic.

Ethics Look Drab. Some days…they really do.

* * * * *

Here are some Google search terms that brought folks to my blog recently:

how to sleep with mice in house

Try my method: get cats

5 fosmo rules

There are rules?? Crap, I’ve probably been doing it all wrong!

“christmas” “words” “list of”

“I’ve” “included” “this one” “only” to “mock” their “unnecessary use” of “quotes.”

expecting hard what will happen to my watermelon

I feel you, my friend.

what the hell moments

This person definitely came to the right blog.

mummified baby in glasses

Um. I got nothing here.

coloring for canaries

Dude, just give him some old newspapers to read like everyone else does.

upbeat christmas snogs

I could use a few upbeat Christmas snogs myself. Where’s my mistletoe?

men in ballet flats

I…have nothing to add to that image.

* * * * *

If there were any chance of anyone seeing me naked in the foreseeable future, I would totally want to do this:

suntat

* * * * *

And I think that’s all I have today. Must go huddle in front of my woodstove now and thaw out my fingers.

Categories: Christmas, Family, Friends, Humor, kids, Life, trees, Uncategorized, Weather, Wildlife, Winter | 2 Comments

Wordless Wednesday: Christmas Past

Posted on December 17, 2008 by Debora

lukecard06

Categories: Animals, Artwork, Christmas, Family, kids, Wordless Wednesday | 4 Comments

Ranching v2.0

Posted on December 12, 2008 by Debora

Steve appears to be slowly but surely self-destructing before my very eyes. His last child-support check bounced. Despite his earnest assurances two weeks ago that he had refinanced his truck loan in his own name and it was all taken care of, when I asked someone at my credit union to confirm that for me yesterday she said that no, the loan is unchanged and mine is still the primary name on the account. Steve has also mentioned several thousand dollars in credit card debt, and I suspect that when he has maxed out his current card he will simply acquire another one and keep going. Three out of the past four days he has not gotten home early enough for the kids to go see him, and I don’t think it’s work that’s keeping him out late.

And the big one…yesterday he told me that after the first of the year he will be selling all his cows and getting out of the cattle business. If it’s true, this is mind-boggling. The whole time we were married Steve saw himself as first and foremost a cattleman; even in the dry years when it made no sense to run a large herd and we were losing thousands of dollars hay-feeding them, getting Steve to sell a single head of breeding stock was next to impossible. And the cows have always been His Thing; despite all his lip service to the contrary I never had any real say in how the business was run. It all had to be done his way, because he was The Cowboy and I was just a girl.

Well. In all honesty, this will complicate things for me, maybe a lot. Steve has the truck and the stock trailer and all the cowboy friends who know how to rope calves for branding and castrating, and he always handled finding a fresh bull every few years so the herd doesn’t become inbred, and there’s probably a dozen other crucial details that he never troubled my pretty little head with.

To remain in the cattle business without him I will have to completely restructure the way we’ve been doing it, is what I’m saying. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing, if I can pull it off; I’ve thought all along that Steve was running a mighty inefficient system based on hundred-year-old traditions that don’t make much sense in this day and age.

Right now, between the global food shortages, the skyrocketing cost of corn (that puts a heavy squeeze on big commercial feedlots), and the surging interest in organic, locally-grown food, I think this is an IDEAL time to be raising natural grassfed hormone-free beef. If I can find enough local buyers I can even bypass the (very far away) livestock auctions completely and do my part for the environment while I’m at it. And with Steve apparently in full crash-and-burn mode I will absolutely need to have a backup income and the sooner the better.

It’s kind of scary for me, but in a good way. It will require me to stretch myself in new directions and take some risks, but if I can make it fly it’ll be so worth it. I’ll not only be that much closer to supporting myself and the kids, I’ll be helping others in the local community who want organic, cruelty-free meat. I’ll need to make new, preferably non-Silkotch-related connections: people who have trucks and trailers and bulls and so on. I might even get really ambitious and form some sort of co-op, where several families can pitch in on fattening, butchering and dividing up a single steer. I totally think there’s a local market for that if I can reach it.

This is big and complicated and slightly intimidating, but if I’m up to the challenge I think it could turn out to be a real blessing in disguise.

Wish me luck!

blgrnch