They say no news is good news...well at least that's what my ob/gyn's office always tells me as I walk out the door and I'd say the same is true when it comes to us reflecting on our past year. For the most part 2011 was an uneventful year! No major illnesses, family additions, or job changes to report. I continue to hold down the fort at home while Jack continues to hope that the majority of America will continue with their coffee addiction into 2012. haha! Really the only newsworthy things I can think of that took place were that we had to have a couple important "talks" with the boys.
So a couple months ago Connor came home from school clearly bothered by a conversation that had taken place during lunch with some girl classmates. Apparently these girls had approached Tyler, him, and a few of their friends asking them simple questions. (e.g. Do you have a garage?) Each response was accompanied by giggles from the girls. Finally one of Connor's friends approached the girls to find out what was so funny and learned that the terms being used (garage and Ferraris) actually were code for other things (male and female anatomy). I vaguely remember this analogy as a kid. I was so happy that my boys felt comfortable coming to me immediately to discuss this conversation but at the same time felt sad that my sweet innocent boys are growing up. Afraid of what could be discussed at school at a future point I decided it was time to dive right into "the talk"! Aside from Connor stating that he "never wanted to have that talk again" and asking "why does God make us do such terrible things to get kids?" I'd say the talk was a success! ;)
A couple weeks later we found ourselves having to have another talk... the talk about the Man from up North. (Looking back it sure seems funny that our boys were old enough to understand the birds and the bees while still believing in some man that travels via sleigh and has a bunch of flying reindeer...) Unfortunately Santa and Mrs. Clause haven't always been as careful as they should be. We knew it was just a matter of time as to when the boys would connect the dots and ask the big question. Well, right before Thanksgiving we returned home from dinner out with friends to a couple skeptical boys. They had clearly been discussing amongst themselves some events that had taken place over the past couple years and wanted to lay out for us some of their thoughts. I took this to mean they already knew the answer but wanted to hear it from us. At the time I told them we'd discuss it in the morning as we had company over and it wasn't the right time. The next morning I found myself anxious to have the talk but looking back I'm pretty certain I could have just forgotten about it and they wouldn't have thought another second about it, possibly buying me one more magical Christmas for them. As it turned out, I did pull them aside and had "the talk". They were absolutely blown away and completely shocked when I shared the news. Ty even shed a few tears over it. Lesson learned: Play along for as long as you can. Christmas just isn't the same after they know. Thankfully the magic of Christmas is still alive and well with Sage!
So the major headlines for 2011...Santa and Sex. Well, it only seemed appropriate to also bundle all the other holiday tales into one conversation while reiterating to the boys that never would we be coming to them discussing with them the validity of Jesus Christ, our savior. I was reminded a year ago from a friend that her main worry about confronting her children with Santa, the Easter bunny, tooth fairy, etc. was that her children would also see God as falling into the same traditional tale. Indeed there is a larger, more amazing miracle that is represented in Christmas and hopefully now the boys will pay closer attention to that miracle rather than getting caught up in the magic of Santa.
On a lighter note, we spent a portion of new year's eve up Snoqualmie pass playing in the snow. I love that less than 30 minutes from home we are greeted by ski slopes. Unfortunately we keep all our ski gear in UT and truth be told Snoqualmie isn't known for it's incredible snow but the kids never get tired of sledding and playing out in the white stuff...well at least until Sage marked her territory...
After a few hours up in the mountain we returned home and spent the evening with friends at our place, celebrating the new year! We are indeed blessed. Happy New Year!
1 comment:
That is so fun that you could go play up in the snow. We have not even had enough to do any sledding yet. Kind of crazy. That is too bad that you had to have both those talks this year. I never want the sex talk to come up but know it is only a matter of time (hopefully a long, long, long time.) That cracks me up though what Connor said about it. It is nice though to have an uneventful year. Especially if it is a good one. We sure hope we can see you guys soon. Are you planning any trips to Utah in the near future? B and P were just asking when we would get to see Tyler, Connor and Sage again.
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