A weekend full of the variety of chaos I've been missing lately. The kind packed with friends and places to be and mess after mess.
On Saturday morning I dropped Sena off so she could get ready to march in the North Beach Christmas Parade with the Twin Beach Players, but while doing so discovered that the traffic across town was barely moving. When I did finally get home, it meant I only had a few minutes to pack up the other three kids to get back in time to see it all happen. We grabbed warm clothes but neglected hair brushes, and sat on the sidelines as friends and neighbors marched by. The kids happily snatched up as much candy as their sticky little hands could grab, Arlo amazed that this was even better than Halloween, which requires you to walk from house to house to collect the goods. With the parade, he could sit in one spot and have candy canes and chocolate kissed thrown directly at his blonde head.
We scooted out as soon as it ended, opting out of meeting Santa Claus, a figure none of my children have ever actually spent time with. They've never much cared, and he isn't someone I play up, in large part from laziness.
A couple of hours later, my friend Carrie showed up with Arlo's very best friend, Felix. A friend who lives too far away but remains dear to his heart despite long stretches of not seeing him. We ate and drank and watched the
Bad Lip Reading Star Wars Video more than a few times. The kids ran around and circles and never fussed or fought with each other. Gus, despite being six years older, played with them, and helped include Alamae.
After they left the next morning, I went to Annapolis to help in Joanna's shop, enjoying fig brandy punch and the carolers outside her door. The greenery and Christmas lights on Maryland Avenue are perfectly festive. before closing the shop and heading to our political action / accountability meeting, I started to get text messages and notifications that the Army Corp of Engineers is rerouting the Dakota Access Pipeline, a decision that continues to bring me joy as I start this Monday.
