the two Kiras and Grandmommy: a Christmas story

I really enjoyed having both Kiras visit me in South Carolina the week after Christmas.  Flat Kira was overjoyed when she looked down from her favorite eucalyptus wreath perch one morning to see Kira Rose eating a bowl of the Cookie Crisp cereal she had helped me buy at the grocery store!

Flat Kira really liked Kira Rose's Christmas presents too.  But Kira Rose needed a crimper, more beads, pendants, and earring wires to go with the collection of beads Aunt Michelle had given her.  And how would she fill her sketch pad with drawings if she didn't have graphite and water color pencils and something to sharpen them with?  So Flat Kira and Kira Rose went shopping with me for even more craft supplies on New Year's Eve.

 Flat Kira is safely in the hands of Kira Rose's mother now, all set for their trip home to Pennsylvania on New Year's Day.  This is the last chapter in a story that I've so enjoyed writing!  Kira Rose, may you always remember, with the help of Flat Kira's saga, the Christmas when you were eight . . .

Love you bunches, my two Kiras!

Happy 2011!!!

Grandmommy

Flat Kira's Christmas morning

at the castle at last!

I'm sittin' in "the castle's" tree!



Santa left some goodies for me!













Uncle Jamie, Cassie, and Michael are
checking out Christmas stockings!





I FINALLY got to meet Michael!





and Cassie let me play with
one of her Disney fairies too!





Cassie offered to paint my fingernails! 

Do I have fingernails, Kira Rose?



'nuff said!

 . . . and 'bout time too!

Flat Kira checks out Tiffany's

Dear Kira Rose,

Sorry I missed writing to you yesterday.  Grandmommy and I have been working hard getting her house ready for your visit.

Yesterday, after shopping again--this time at a real mall--we wrapped even more presents (Kelsey's going to love the one that showed up in the mailbox yesterday!) and then reorganized the closet where all the giftwrap goes.  With all the presents coming in, we had a bunch of big boxes to take apart too.  Grandmommy says we'll be going to the dump before you get here so you won't think her back porch is a dump!

We've vacuumed the downstairs twice today: this morning to get rid of the gift-wrapping leftovers and this afternoon to

 get rid of the styrofoam bits from yet more boxes that we opened!  Aunt Michelle and Uncle Rick stopped by to install some new ceiling lights for Grandmommy.  She says they are Tiffany (-style) lights.  I thought Tiffany's was just the name of a fancy store but I guess not!  Anyway, Grandmommy says she loves her new lights so much that she may never, ever turn them off!

After church tomorrow, we're going to Uncle Jamie's for Christmas breakfast (he's invited everyone in your South Carolina family, but Mason and Campbell are at their dad's until dinnertime so they can't come).  I heard him say something about pancakes and bacon and grits (what's grits???) . . .  Tomorrow afternoon we're going to Aunt Michelle's for Christmas dinner.  Mason and Campbell

picked out the menu: barbecued chicken and mashed potatoes and corn.  Yummy!!!!!!

The yards and driveway are still drifted with leaves (Grandmommy says that I'm learning to be a writer!!!) but we don't care.  It"s Christmas Eve and all is well with the world!

Can't wait to see you guys!!!!

Love you bunches!

Flat Kira

P. S.  Be sure to tell Grandma that those pears she sent us are heavenly!!!!!!  Aunt Michelle took four of them home with her this afternoon for her family :-)

epiphany

World English Dictionary, definition 2: epiphany-any moment of great or sudden revelation.

My baby boy--who could not carry a tune until second grade--sang the second solo of his life today . . . and what an epiphany that was for me.  Jamie, a singer--and an accomplished one at that!  Yes!

His first solo was as a second grade.  I was not there . . . but at another school that evening, greeting other parents of children not my own.  Creating a void in my lifetime memory collection.  A void filled to its brim and beyond today!

Collins English Dictionary definition: Epiphany-a Christian festival held on Jan 6, commemorating, in the Western Church, the manifestation of Christ to the Magi and, in the Eastern Church, the baptism of Christ.

How fitting that Jamie's solo today was in the words and the voice of those three wise men . . .

In my lifetime memory collection are images--in color but blurred with time--of the Christmas pageants I religiously recruited (or compelled, if need be) my three younger siblings to present each year for our parents.  We were costumed, of course.  I remember especially the colorful (silk or rayon?) robes my grandmother across the wide Atlantic sent one year, colorful like Joseph's coat, worthy of kings from the Orient.  I remember the songs we sang.  Always opening with "O Little Town of Bethlehem." Did we dare sing Martin Luther's "Away in a Manger"?  "Silent Night," I'm sure . . . and maybe "The First Noel," in honor of our mother because we thought it was French (the minister this morning had a very British explanation of the origin of "Noel"). 

For my mother, I always ended our pageant by singing her favorite" "Hark the Herald Angels Sing."  My solo in the days when I could sing. How fitting that this morning's cantata ended with choir and congregation singing the third verse of that hymn, words still engraved on my heart.

And for me, most especially for me, we always sang "We Three Kings"--every verse!

For me, most years since, those wise men had to come to Bethlehem, had to once again experience their epiphany, before the dismantling of Christmas could begin . . . 

NOTE TO SELF: the tree stays up, the Nativity scenes in their places of honor, until January 7, 2011!

Christmas 2009 in brief

things to be happy about: a Yuletide addendum

76. having seven vehicles parked in the drive and on the lawn
77. not being the only heart beating under your roof at night
78. having your granddaughter ask to borrow your clothes
79. having more mouths to feed than settings of silverware or china
80. spending all day in the kitchen and not even minding
81. spending days cleaning the house in preparation for utter chaos (and is it ever!)
82. losing everything except your mind!
83. relearning that Goo-Gone gets butter and bacon splatters out of the clothes you knew you shouldn't have worn to cook in

84. walking the dam with your granddaughter on a wintry afternoon
85. simple gifts--your daughter's PhotoStory video of shared summer memories or your no wrapping paper needed goody boxes or your mother's four pineapple upsidedown cakes--bringing simple pleasures to all

geocaching reprise

Several years ago I posted a picture of five grandbabies proudly displaying the cache they had discovered on a poison-ivy-carpeted island in the middle of a lake. Today--another summer, another lake, another state away from that moment in time--the two youngest of the now seven (and therefore "closest to the ground" :-)--were the finders of the "treasure."

Our first geocache--under a weeping hemlock tree in Fritz's garden on a community college campus--eluded us. Too many muggles perhaps?




But even the little ones were not deterred by this setback. On to the next treasure hunt. Of course, while we ladies, young and old, were making a necessary stop at the dam welcome center, the gentlemen, young and old, were in pursuit of the treasure. Just as we closed in on them we heard the cry go up. Michael, age 5, had found his first ever geocache!



Our last geocaching stop for today was at a waterfall. Unfortunately for us--or so it seemed--the treasure hidden here would also be an elusive one. Ropes, signs, and a determined lady ranger barred our way . . . or so we thought. Cassie, not quite three and therefore closest of us all to the ground, wandered away as we strained to see under the shrubs just beyond the rope barrier . . . and happened her way, much to her surprise and momentary embarassment, into the cache's new location.






A lovely way to while away a summer morning . . . making memories to keep :-)

of healing . . .

It's been 40 years since I lost my father to cancer . . . six years since my child embarked on a cancer survivor's journey . . . I've bought and displayed the showy purple ribbon, donated to cancer research, worn the t-shirt, decorated a luminary or two. What I could never bring myself to do, until this year, was to join, with others like me, others whose lives have been changed by that "C' word, to remember and to honor those who have fought the good fight for living and dying well . . .

I did not purchase or decorate a luminary this year. But, for the first time (forgive me, Daddy), I chose to celebrate my survivor child by joining a Relay for Life Team. The experience was a healing one in many ways--rediscovering old friends whose lives had also been touched in this way, walking and walking and walking and walking some more, sending prayers up to heaven on purple balloon ribbons . . . But, most of all, in the quiet dark of night, reflecting in the flickering candlelight presence of those gone before us and those still with us . . .

more party pics :-)

Kimberly's Fabulous Forty . . .

. . . and what a surprise it was :-) The memory I will treasure most is her sister and brother rearranging their too full lives to fly up with me yesterday morning to share this milestone moment in their big sister's life. And we have today together--just the four of us--while Kelsey, Garrett and Kira are in school . . .

More later, but here are some of the zillion pics we took to capture yesterday's celebration for posterity.

Jamie's tribute to Kimberly :-)

Subject:
Re: Kimberly's tribute
Date:
4/18/2009 10:36:54 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Mommy,

I logged in and looked everywhere to see where to post an entry to the blog. I see Christie is a contributor, but I do not appear in the list. I may just be too tired to figure it out. Anyway, here is the bat story, too late to include but told for posterity:

We moved to Jessamine Road when Kimberly was 8, Michelle 6, and I was 2. It was a three bedroom house, so of course Kimberly as the oldest got her own room and I shared a room with Michelle. We all lived there for 10 years (16 actually :-), so I lived there longer than I have lived anywhere, and I have fond memories of my time growing up there playing/fighting/bothering my sisters.

I have three stories from that time that for some reason really stuck with me:

1. Initially, whenever our parents went out by themselves we had a babysitter stay with us (no grandparents just minutes away). Eventually however, Kimberly was deemed old enough and responsible enough to allow her to stay home with Michelle and I without a babysitter. It was during this time that I remember coming home from school and being forced to watch General Hospital instead of cartoons because Kimberly and Michelle were bigger and stronger than I was. However, we were not supposed to watch TV at all without an adult in the house, so invariably Daddy would come home, feel the TV, and pronounce that we had broken the rules because the TV (a big picture tube) was still hot! I think Kimberly and Michelle probably shared the corners on opposite sides of the front door in the foyer for that one--I had already been punished by being forced to watch that silly stuff to begin with!

2. As siblings, we all fought each other from time to time. However, one day in particular I remember Kimberly and Michelle were fighting in Michelle's room really badly and I was upset and wanted them to stop so they would not hurt each other. I had the fabulous idea of throwing a snow globe at them to make them stop. I succeeded in taking a chunk out of the back of Michelle's head (I think it was her) and did in fact stop the fight. I know it was wrong, but I never remember them fighting like that again!

3. Finally, at some point in time I grew to the point that sharing a room with Michelle did not make a lot of sense. So Kimberly moved into a MFROG (Mostly Finished Room Over Garage). She had a white four poster bed, a linoleum floor, and lots of closets under the eaves of the house. However, since she was upstairs, one wall of her room was next to the attic door and the attic fan. Unfortunately for her, at one point bats managed to work their way into our attic through a whole in a screen in an attic vent. This led to the following inevitable story. One night we were all sleeping soundly when Kimberly woke up screaming. We all ran to her room and were informed that there was a bat flying around in her room that had woken her up. We (well not me--bats are scary for kids) went upstairs and looked all over for the bat, which was nowhere to be found. After checking everywhere and making sure the attic was closed up tight, we all headed back to bed. Kimberly went to get into bed and screamed again, as the bat flew out from under her covers where it had been stuck after she had flung her covers back to run out of her room the first time. I was still at the bottom of the stairs and probably screamed myself as the bat proceeded to swoop down the stairs toward me. Needless to say, it was difficult for all of us to go to sleep again that night!

Ultimately, I looked up to both of my sisters and saw them both aspire to do great things. This encouraged me to try things myself and not give up just because things were not easy. I now know that this aspiration is a key ingredient that separates leaders from followers, and as a manager of a team of people, I know how important it is to always try harder, always try to improve, never wait for someone else to tell you what to do next!!!

Love,
Jamie

why is it . . .

. . . that some birthdays are seasons while others are blips in time?

Our March birthdays are like that--the blips in time. We pool our moments for a communal event--some years here (Jamie, Christie, and I) and others with Garrett and Kira, the two distant first-week-of-spring grandbabies. Not that I'm complaining, not at all. The year Jamie arrived, my one New Year's resolution was that he would make his appearance before my birthday. He did--the evening before, 7:49pm I think . . . I've never been much of a birthday cake fan so sharing a cake has been a blessing in disguise. Funny, but this year, when my officemate surprised me with a cake at work, I realized that was my first "just for me" birthday cake in recent memory! I still ate only one piece and gave the rest, willingly, away :-)

In contrast, Michelle's mid-July birthday has been, almost from her arrival, a month-long event, usually combined with a family vacation week, often at the beach but sometimes in the mountains. Cassie's arrival, late July instead of early August, almost three years ago has meant sharing the summer limelight, but it hasn't shortened the celebration, not one long July day of it!

Which brings me to April . . . and my shun-the-limelight firstborn child. How could we not celebrate, even from a distance and with cyberspace tributes, her milestone birthday this year? Does she not, too, deserve to linger a while in our reflections of the joy she has brought into each of our lives? We love you, Kimberly :-)

But you've got serious competition for the April spotlight, oh girl of mine. That sweet baby boy of my baby boy will be officially old enough for "big school" tomorrow. Michael will have two parties in his honor this year--one for us adults tonight to savor the gift-opening ritual (hope FedEx has come through by the time I come home today) and one with his preschool friends and other children tomorrow. I will, of course, be there for both.

Oops, one more! Campbell will be 9 next week, with a party of his own for our family since he also shares his birthday with his half-sister. Like his mother, he has no problem with the extended birthday season :-) Mason, who has February all to himself, also celebrates twice.

I'll blog about Kelsey's May sweet sixteen another time . . .

Definitely a milestone birthday year!

when we lived in the mountains . . .

. . . and what a view! The daffodils were blooming at the foot of Parker Mountain and, at home, a quarter mile up the gravel drive, baby brother Jamie had finally arrived.

Two short years later came our time to say good-bye . . .

flower girl debut . . .

Fortunately for Kimberly (and her mother), Aunt Evelyne forgave her for delighting the congregation at her wedding as she created petal pictures on the altar steps during the ceremony.

big sister

Michelle arrived a week late, that very hot Virginia July of 1971. Kimberly and Raggedy Ann spent that week and more visiting Mama :-)

Sibling rivalry indeed?! Kimberly was born knowing how to be a big sister . . .

caught napping

velvet and curls

all dressed up
to meet
my
Daddy
home
from
the
war . . .

first flight . . .

to Atlanta, I think . . . just the two of us

letting her go . . .

It seldom snows in December in South Carolina--or in the first days of January, for that matter. But, that first Christmas home from Carnegie-Mellon, something in the skies above our home wanted to hold Kimberly here. We were snowdrifted, icebound--but she had a plane to catch and I had my new and blue Bonneville to slipslide our way to the nearby airport in and . . . Wonder if that something in the skies above our home knew that someone in Pittsburgh would steal our firstborn away from home for keeps . . .

Kimberly comes home to us--Albrecht, Kelsey, Garrett, and Kira Rose in tow--every Christmas season, even now.

If you love somebody, let them go, for if they return, they were always yours . . . ." -- Kahlil Gibran