Happy December

I woke up this morning and was greeted by a light dusting of snow on the ground... the season is here at last! Here in Michigan we usually see at least some flurries by early November, but this year we've had nuthin' so far. I wish I could be home this morning when the girls wake up and see it, but alas, I'm at work. Lin is very excited for snow. A few weeks ago she asked me what day the snow would come -- she wanted to know specifically what day it would start snowing. When I couldn't give her an exact date, she asked what day the snow started last year. The girl needs details! She also told us that once we had snow on the ground she would only come inside for meals; she would spend the rest of her time playing outdoors. Well, we'll see how she feels by about the end of January or so.

We had a nice Thanksgiving. Lots of food, lots of family, a couple of people Lin hadn't met before. She took it all in stride, helping cook the fried rice and stir-fried noodles that we added to our Thanksgiving feast this year. Then on Friday we headed out of town to spend the weekend with my side of the family. It was exhausting but very fun, too. Now we gear up for Christmas!

On Sunday afternoon we put up the Christmas tree and decorated the house. It was really fun to watch Lin. She helped string the lights and really got into putting the ornaments on the tree. She would put up a few ornaments, then step back and look and say "Beautiful!" She just glowed. I felt bad about the number of ornaments we have for Ruby -- picture ornaments, "First Christmas" ornaments, etc. If Lin were a baby it wouldn't be a big deal  because she wouldn't know the difference. But at 13 years old, I wonder how it makes Lin feel when she sees so much evidence of her 3-year-old sister's place in our family, and so little for her. All we can do is get some new ornaments this year and make some new traditions that include Lin.

I had a really nice afternoon with Lin yesterday. We came home from school and had about 45 minutes to kill before heading to our tennis lesson. Instead of turning on the TV, we just talked. It was a conversation that could never have happened if I had planned it. We were just folding laundry together and I don't even know how the conversation started, but we talked about life and death, how old were my grandparents when they died, how long do I want to live, things like that. I guess when I write it down it sounds depressing, but it wasn't at all. It was so nice just to talk with her.

Then we started talking about God and Heaven, and how we'll see each other there when we die. And I got the chance to talk to her about God and how God is always listening to us and how she can talk to God about anything. I told her that I talk to God every day. She was saying that God is the one who decides when people die, then she joked and pretended to pray "God, I don't want to die. God, I don't want to die." I laughed and said, well you can talk to God about more than just that! And I told her that God is why we go to church (we didn't talk about Jesus, but hopefully that conversation will come up here in the next few weeks).

So it was just really nice. A nice conversation while folding towels and socks and underwear, just the two of us at home. And then last night she fell asleep on the couch curled up next to me with her head on my shoulder. That's a feeling I'll put in my emotional bank, to pull out and remember when I need to.