So Long 2015 - Welcome a Brighter 2016!

As 2015 is coming to an end, I like to reflect on the past year and write about the hope of 2016.
We've faced some big stress this year...career changes, a financial squeeze, and health challenges in our aging parents to name a few.  It's been tough.  But life is like that, up and down.  Which is why I like the photo's above of the boys jumping.  Leaping up towards the light, over and over again.  A real metaphor for my experience of 2015.   

Both of the boy's grandfather's had health issues this year - my dad had a stroke and Anna's dad had a stent put in his heart.  They were both remarkably strong and are faring well as the year closes.  I like to believe that they are even better prepared to face 2016.

To say we soared through this year would be a lie.   Anna and I hobbled and at times we crawled.  Anna's business came to a close and this was heartbreaking and difficult.  She invested so much passion, heart and soul, but in the end realized that the best thing she could possibly to do was to let go.  And she did.  She was remarkable in her ability to handle such a difficult situation and to live by her values all the way to the end.  Sometimes life is like that too, deceptive.  And you have to find your way to the light again.  This experience sharpened our priorities... living and working with integrity and surrounding ourselves with love, friends and family.  It has been a great life lesson for sure and I know that often the greatest challenges can bring unforeseen gifts.  

Which brings us to the gifts of the past year (and their were plenty):

First of all we have a new nephew, Kaj, and a new great niece, Adalyn.  They have been such delightful additions to 2015.   

Next, our niece Jamie got engaged to her boyfriend whom we love.   We are so looking forward to their wedding in 2016. 

Also, the boys had a very good year.  Eight and ten are beautiful ages and the boys have grown into these so nicely.  They both love school - remarkable!- and each invest fully in their learning.  They are bright, curious, and engaged kids.   They have been healthy, strong.  They have many friends and  possess a real loyalty to them.  They remain best of friends with one another and look out for each other in a way that makes my heart swell.  They are both amazing readers, fabulous mathematicians and imaginative artists.  Their school provides ample opportunities to create and for this I am grateful.  They are quite tall, still fabulously blonde, truly handsome and loving. Kindness is important to them.  As a family we have this at the top of our list and they echo this in their daily lives.  This is a real gift. 

This year brought some great vacations...Watch Island in the Adirondacks and Truro in Cape Cod. Both fantastic, both gorgeous, both fun, both full of connection.   We have spent a lot of time with our families this year - in New Hampshire, New York and here in Vermont. We also were lucky to spend some of our vacation time with our friends.   Families together with kids of similar ages is a great way to spend time. 

Anna opened a new business, Struktur, with her good friend Sandra and this has been a welcome change. Sandra is a phenomenal business partner and they are off to a fantastic start.   Work for me remains highly engaging and fulfilling - I continue to feel super duper lucky to play a role in transforming the way children learn in schools.

We bought tickets to Sweden in 2015 and are headed there in the summer of 2016.  This is thrilling us already.  We'll be gone for almost 5 weeks, visiting Swedish family and traveling throughout the country.   We are so looking forward to this trip. 

I started taking yoga classes in 2015, and the funniest thing of all, is that I never anticipated how much I would love it.   It's perhaps the best thing that has happened to me this year.  Gifting me with a body wisdom and peaceful knowing that soothes even the tiniest part of me. 

Without a doubt we are ready to let 2015 go and we welcome all the shininess of 2016.

To Good Health in the New Year

Kuba has had a fever for over a week now....it began last week Sunday and still hangs on.  It's been an unusual illness in that he starts the day pretty peppy with no fever, but soon enough his energy starts to wane and the fever comes back, reaching as high as 103 many nights in a row. He's been to the doctor twice now - and today got some antibiotics for an ear infection.  Let's see how this changes things.

Skipping forward two generations, we come to my dad who went to the hospital on Saturday night...ambulance style.  He got sick last week as well....stomach flu, and then continued to decline all week long.  By Saturday - the day after Christmas, he just bottomed out.  His blood sugar levels were so low I thought he would go into a coma.  He was delirious and still hasn't recovered all of his mental abilities.   He remains in the hospital and will be until they can get to the root of his blood sugar problems and his memory loss.  We are now wondering if he's had a minor stroke.  It's been very stressful and worrisome and I have to be honest, I am not looking forward to old age...everything seems extremely fragile as the body begins to decline.

This past week has shown me the value of good health.   I prefer my children and my parents vibrant and healthy, so 3 days before the New Year, I am sending a wish out into the universe for a full recovery for both of them and wishes for good health for all of my family and friends.

Grandma & the Boys

Merry Christmas 2015

It's been an unusual holiday this year in one main way - the temperature.  It's been unseasonably warm with temperatures in the fifties and sixties even on Christmas.  Weird on the outside, but inside the holiday has been reliably the same.  We started out the season by finding our christmas tree on Aunt Sandy's property.   We saw an adorable evergreen tree sitting beyond a bramble of raspberry bushes and we decided to hike through them to get it.  After some hollering and a lot of snags, we got it.  Anders cut it down and we dragged it back up a small hill to our car.  The tree is beautiful and open, leaving lots of room for nests and birds - which are my favorite part of the tree.  With the Swedish straw ornaments and a lot of white lights our tree is the centerpiece.   

    

We celebrated with our Swedish clan a little early this year, and had a traditional smorgasbord on the 23rd with Anna's family.  The highlight of this year's celebration was Kaj!!  The newest member of our family - born January 14, 2015, he celebrated his first Christmas surrounded by family.   Anders and Kuba hovered around him the whole holiday - playing and guiding him around on his toddling legs.  He started walking at 9 months - just like Kuba!  He is adorable, happy and reminds me so much of Anders when he was a baby.   We had 13 for dinner that first night, and everyone pitched in to help.  Our table was beautiful with handwoven holiday linens and china from Sweden and adorable baby potted princess evergreen trees we dug up at Sandy's.  

                

                            

The evening ended with a few gift exchanges which included matching pajamas for the cousins. Hannah picked them out for everyone and it was such a great surprise!  Even Kaj got a pair!

The gang of cousins were so darn cute!Everyone was so darn cute!!  

The next night was Christmas Eve and we celebrated again with a big dinner for both of our families, including grandma and grandpa.  Grandpa will be 92 this year so it was a big deal that he made it out. He had a bit of the flu all week so we were afraid he wouldn't feel up to it.    This night was our Polish meal ~ full of history and tradition.  Sandy, Mom and I made pierogi and ushki on Sunday...enough for fifteen folks with plenty of leftovers.  We made cheese, sauerkraut, and mushroom.  We started out the night making wishes for the new year - person to person, and the Thelemark's got a glimpse into Polish customs. 

The evening ended after a flury of gift opening, with soooo many gifts to go around.  The boys were excited with everything and eager for Christmas morning.   They awoke early to packed stockings and gifts from Santa which included new scooters and scooting around equipment for the boys.   I think Anders favorite gift was an ant farm and some Pokeman cards, and Kuba hasn't decided yet.   He's been running  a temperature all week long and is not quite his usual zippy self.