Christmas in Boulder

What makes a good Christmas? The recipe this year looked like this: a foot of fresh powder; a sweet visiting grandmother who can shop, cook, and wrap presents like a caffeinated elf; a dad who has the patience for 704 piece lego sets; a santa who knows just what things matter on the Christmas list; a city whose traditions include Christmas carolers, outdoor ice skating parties and a calendar full of December holiday parties. In a year when Santa's authenticity was heavily in doubt in the minds of two growing boys, he pulled off a stunning comeback. Perhaps it is easier to suspend disbelief when the holiday atmosphere seems to jump from the pages of the most famous Christmas poem.

"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night."

The Boys

I have been receiving holiday cards and thinking about how much the kids we know are changing. My boys seem noticeably older to me as well. Last week, Cole was in his first play, with lines to memorize and songs to remember. He surprised us this week with a proud confession that he likes a girl at school and has been talking about her all week. He seems to have an insatiable appetite for chatting about girls and redirects many conversations back to himself and his new love interest. It's interesting how that happens. One month ago it was Alex Rodriguez, Johnny Damon and the Yankees, this month it's the 4th grade girls' starting line-up, and Cole's daily diary of gestures, smiles and he said-she said. Carson life seems very staid by comparison, his love for vinyl toys and origami and skiing completely, and thankfully, uncontroversial. He had a class holiday party at a skating rink yesterday and we were both thrilled to be skating and drinking hot chocolate outdoors in December. Though always the last in the boy order, Quinn is probably changing the most, shedding all his baby layers like a heavy winter coat in spring and standing a staggering 47 inches tall. He fought Grant yesterday for the second half of his sandwich. While he still loves his blanket, he has a man-size appetite and size 1 1/2 shoe.

First Annual Wine and Cheese

We hosted our first annual holiday wine & cheese party Saturday night. Cheers to Phil & Kris & Michael, Paige & Michael, Genny & Andy, Brad & Emily, Kita & Toby, Jason & Kelly, Chris & Larry, David & Liz, Kristin & Digger, Pam & Jim, Jeff & Kathy, Susan & Kevin & Emerson, Kathleen & Bob, Dana & Scott, Eric & Melissa, Kristine & Tim, Kristin & Craig, Amy, Monica and Ken. Thanks for a wonderful night!

Confluence

This is a picture of me and Christine Hrenya, the host of the the Mapleton Hill Sweet Treat Exchange. We are in her living room and behind us is an image of Sesame Street's Bert by an artist named Jonathan Blum. I have known Jonathan Blum for over 15 years, a Brooklyn-based artist. He's a great artist and one of the loveliest people I know. Everyone who meets Jonathan loves him. He's just that kind of person. Jonathan's art, in Boulder, in a house seven blocks from mine. This tickles me. This warms me. This seems to happen a lot in Boulder.

By "this" I mean connections like this seem to happen a lot in Boulder. Whether it is discovering that our new Toronto friends the Sustronks know our dear Toronto friends the Bridges or new friend Kita Murdock, also freshly transplanted from Los Angeles with her family, went to the same small boarding school in Connecticut as I did, the little bubble of Boulder spawns some interesting crossing of paths. Perhaps that is one of things that makes Boulder special. There are all sorts of words for this. My favorite is confluence.

Paper chains

The boys and I have been making paper chains for the holidays. I got a great idea from a craft website (craftstylish.com) to make a chain with 25 links to count down the days before Christmas. Each day the boys will cut a link and watch Christmas draw nearer. I thought that this might be a great activity especially for Quinn, my 5-year-old who still thinks 2 + 2 is any number between 1-10. So we cut our strips, got out the glue and started linking our paper, red, green, red, green, until we reached 25. The results are hanging....everywhere.

Less than Zero

There are times when you would be better off not knowing the temperature.

Hitting the Slopes

The Besser gang went skiing yesterday. We layered ourselves with smartwool, northface, lululemon, underarmor, craft, helly hansen, hot chillys and rei; we packed lip balm, two sets of keys, snacks, water, wallets, sun block, cds for the car, an iphone for pictures, and a ski harness for Quinn; we loaded up 5 sets of skis, poles, boots, hats, helmets, goggles, mittens, neck warmers, and jackets. The older boys and I skied a handful of fabulous runs; Quinn got his first taste of skiing with Grant behind him holding the reigns. The physical effort of gearing up and skiing with kids is like nothing else. The exhilaration of flying down the mountain on skis is like nothing else!

Boulder math

13: The temperature outside right now
6.9: The number of inches of new snow in Boulder
9: The number of holiday catalogs I received today
0: The number of reported absences on Cole, Carson and Quinn's first report cards
9: The number of kids at the Thanksgiving table
3: The number of cocktails Grant poured us before Thanksgiving dinner
2: The number of December caroling parties in our Boulder neighborhood
72: The number of cookies due on the day of the Mapleton Hill Sweet Exchange

I Give Thanks

I love Thanksgiving. It's my favorite holiday, or close to it, because it involves two of my favorite things: food and community. Unlike the frenzy of Christmas with gifts to buy and deliver, parties to organize and attend, meals to plan and execute, Thanksgiving is much more straightforward. I have memories of eating so much turkey as an eight-year old girl that I had to lie down on our living room couch, my velvet jumper suddenly two sizes t00 small. I recall the house being filled with delicious smells, sweet and savory, rich and clinging, and I love recreating these memories for myself and my family. I want my children to appreciate a meal that is conceived and labored over; I want them to experience rituals and traditions; I want them to see their parents gather friends and family together; I want them to witness their mother holding her breath when she makes her annual toast. There is so much in life to be thankful for. My father always made a Thanksgiving toast that talked about the importance of good health. When he was stricken with Parkinson's at 54, the memories of these toasts stung with new meaning. What am I thankful for? The ability to watch my kids grow up; my husband who continues to fascinate me; my small but loving family too far away but always in my thoughts; my friends who make me laugh and think; the beautiful natural world around me that gives me hope for everything. Everything....I give thanks for the whole big mess of it all, and the ability to enjoy these full days with my health and the ones I love.

Shiloh

Do you recognize these folks?

After it snowed more than 8 inches Saturday night, we headed to a local sledding hill, Scott Carpenter Park, on Sunday morning. Two dozen kids and their folks packed down the snow until the ride down was just right, fast and slick. This was the picture in the paper on Monday. It read: "Grant Besser and his sons, Cole, left, and Carson, hidden, appear to be losing control on the run Sunday down the hill at Scott Carpenter Park. The snowstorm Saturday night into Sunday dumped 8.6 inches on Boulder by Sunday afternoon, setting a record for snowfall for the date...."

Snow falls on Mapleton Ave. (again)

Swings at Whittier

November sets in

It's almost the middle of November and everything looks different, faded and washed out, brown and gray, nearly pewter. The trees have lost almost all their leaves and we are left with the skeletal architecture of the landscape. The houses look bigger, the vegetation around them shriveled and a bit wild. It can be stark and beautiful, cold and unwelcoming, spare and clean. I remember feeling lonely when I looked out my girlhood window in New York at the spiny branches devoid of leaves. I see beyond that now and find beauty in the starkness of the landscape.

We all took advantage of the balmy weekend. Cole and Carson joined friends in the field at Mapleton Elementary for a birthday party; Quinn and Grant cheered on the Buffs to their razor thin win Saturday against Texas A & M; I had time for some nice runs on the trails with Shiloh; Grant put some new miles on his road bike. Our schedules are so full, but in a different way. The kids have homework and sports, but spend a lot of time joining friends for spontaneous play dates and the weekends are less programed. It's been refreshing to be off our go-go schedules, leaving behind (if temporary) a life of watching the world whiz by through a car window for a slower paced lifestyle. As we reset our schedules, I am finding more time to be in the moment with the boys. As parents we all find ourselves grasping for our children's ephemeral youth, but holding on always feels about as solid as holding on to a soapy wine glass. Some things will never change.

Halloween 2009

Two cheerleaders, a good guy, a witch, a dog with an aftro and enough candy until 2010. Happy Halloween!

Snow Day: Day 2

Doesn't it seem a bit odd that Boulder has never had two snow days in a row (that's the word around Whittier Elementary at least) and we get this epic snow and two days off from school barely two months after arriving from Southern California. It felt like it was sent especially for us, 5 snow-hungry souls who needed a big winter weather fix (total inches: 23). Whomever sent the snow, thank you. We loved every minute of it.

Besser boys' first Snow Day: Day 1

Shiloh's attempt at a snow angel!

It started snowing Tuesday night and snowed through the day Wednesday. School was cancelled at 6 am and the boys spent the day sledding and eating snow and getting so cold their ears and noses turned purple. I took a lot of pictures of snow-- on branches, on wrought iron details, on children and dogs, on bicycles. I watched branches break off 100-year-old trees from the weight of the snow. I counted and measured the inches...3, 4, 5...10, 11, 12. I was very amused and totally enchanted, but also a bit perplexed. It's October 28th after all. I don't have any snow associations with late October. None. My snow memories begin in December and end in April. Nothing in the October files. About an hour ago we checked the Boulder Valley School District website: school is cancelled for tomorrow...again. The boys are headed next door for a sleep over (who needs to go to bed on time or do homework!). No school, no rules, no bed time....

And it's still snowing.

October 28th: SNOW DAY!!!

Snow, snow and more snow...

Winter Storm Warning in effect from midnight tonight to 6 PM MDT Thursday...
	Today Cloudy. A 10 percent chance of rain showers late in the after- noon. Highs 44 to 50.
	Tonight Chance of rain and snow in the evening...then snow after midnight. Snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches. Lows in the upper 20s. North winds 10to 15 mph after midnight.
	Wednesday Snow heavy at times and areas of blowing snow. Snow accumulation 3 to 6 inches. Highs in the lower 30s. North winds 10 to 20 mph.
	Wednesday Night Snow and areas of blowing snow. New snow accumulation 2 to 4 inches. Lows in thelower 20s. North winds10 to 20 mph.
	Thursday Snow likely. Areas of blowing snow in the morning. Additional snow accumulation possible. Highs in the lower 30s. Chance of snow 60 percent.
	Thursday Night Mostly cloudy with a 10 percent chance of snow. Lows around 18.

350.org Boulder event

The boys and Grant participated in the 350.org event in Boulder on Saturday. The event was organized to raise awareness of the need to reduce carbon emissions. They biked to a local coal plant, where they held a rally, chanting "Hey, Hey, Ho Ho, Your dirty Coal has got to go". It was their first peaceful demonstration and first hands-on lesson in environmental activism. Stay tuned for when Quinn starts his hunger strike in protest of the gluten- free menu at school.