December 28, 2005
Belch! (Excuse me. Sorry. It's all that darned Christmas food.)
Nothing like a return to blog world to brighten up the post-Christmas, pre-New-Year’s doldrums, I say! A happy hello to all my Dear Readers!
In a bittersweet moment In the movie, “Lilo and Stitch,” Stitch, the manic and fang-toothed yet weirdly adorable alien creature, refers to himself and the two Hawaiian sisters who adopt him as a “small and broken family.” Which, the first time we heard it, made us mist up instantly (you know, the kind of “mist up” that you try to pretend is caused by something in your eye). And which we also instantly adopted as a label for ourselves. I mean, we have no illusions about what a wacky little threesome we make: Two women who are in a committed, monogamous relationship but don’t live together, and an extremely short and red-furred substitute child. But we take care of each other as best we can, forgive the small transgressions, work through the big ones, and help each other avoid the bad in life, ferret out the good, and soldier on, which, in our eyes, is what makes us a family, small, broken, or otherwise.
And all of this always comes to a head at Christmas when, every year, without fail, TMK and I are blessed with an avalanche of thoughtful and carefully chosen gifts from family, from pseudo-family, and from each other; an abundance of good food (including French Puffs for breakfast and Cranberry Pork Roast for dinner!); and a few golden days during which those daily relationship “spats” just seem to disappear for a while and you reconnect as a couple. And this year was no exception.
Gift-wise, I won’t go into detail about the absolute embarrassment of riches, but I will let this picture speak for itself.
A 6-bar pack of Toblerone and a knitting book? Chocolate and sock patterns? Double-barreled Christmas heaven! Thank you, Big Sister and “mother-in-law.”
And another gift which made me gasp with surprise, a second black-on-black Mata Ortiz pot given to me by TMK, who, through great subterfuge, ordered it from the same place in Sedona where I purchased my first one.
Here, the smallest member of the small and broken family poses for what looks suspiciously like next year’s Christmas card.
And, here, modeling gig over, Smallest Member joyfully rips the crap out of some wrapping paper.
And a photo for my sister who doesn’t believe that I still have this Christmas ornament she made for me eons ago, one of those kinds that you make out of flour and water, bake in the oven, and then lacquer.
I am all the luckier to still have this ornament since, the other, similar ones she made that year had, by the next year…um…succumbed to their flour-and-water roots and become soft, moist, moldy and odoriferous. My little guy has lost his hook for hanging on the tree but otherwise has survived unscathed, lo, these many years. (Is he not cute? And he’s a lamb! With fur. For fiber. For knitting. How appropriate—although when she made it for me, my knitting skills were nonexistent and, had I had a knitting needle in my possession, I would most likely only have succeeded in poking myself in the eye.)
Ah, but it’s good to be back! Friday, proof that I did get some knitting done between bouts of sleeping, eating, and wallowing in largesse.
'Bout time. I was about to email and say "post already, aye?"
Glad you had a nice holiday...mine was very much the same.
And girl, you know the truth, love makes a family, trite perhaps but very, very true. :)
Posted by: Lisa in Oregon on December 28, 2005 09:55 AMWelcome back! I love that little sheep ornament, and yes, that photo is perfect for a Christmas card. No question.
Posted by: Rachel H on December 28, 2005 09:59 AMGlad your back and that your Christmas was good. Love the photo, it would be perfect for a Christmas card.
Posted by: Mindy on December 28, 2005 10:26 AMWelcome back, Blog Mistress! Glad to see you and your family had a wonderful holiday.
The sheep ornament is way too adorable. Frankie's cutenees just kinda goes without saying. She know's it too. Hehe
Posted by: Stalker Angie on December 28, 2005 10:39 AMI love the little furrow of concentration on Frankie's brow as she rips the paper to shreds.
Posted by: Annie on December 28, 2005 11:22 AMAnd, Annie, note that her overly large ears are very much involved in the pulling-back process.
Posted by: Ryan on December 28, 2005 11:38 AMOh my! What a perfect Christmas card photo. If DH ever got his mitts on Frankie you'd have a h*ll of a time getting her back. She is such a doll, and he wants a corgi in the worst way. But we have five (!) cats and must wait until the oldest two cross over...
I'm glad you had a joyful Christmas, and am very happy to have you back -- I've really missed reading your blog. :)
Posted by: Denise in Kent, WA on December 28, 2005 11:39 AMWelcome back! That *is* the cutest picture I've seen lately. Such concentration!
A Happy New Year to you, TMK, & the pooch!
(or as my cousin used to say when she was little: Happy Near Yew!)
Welcome back, Dear Ryan and TMK! Glad you had bountiful holidays, as did I.
Posted by: Norma on December 28, 2005 02:31 PMI'll leave my husband and arm-wrestle you for a woman who gives you black on black Mata Ortiz pottery. Seriously. Name the place, I'll be the one flexing in between rows of knitting.
And I really think the photo for next year's Christmas card should be the one where Frankie is "unwrapping"...
Uh-oh. This blog is finally breaking up marriages. That can't be good.
Posted by: Ryan on December 28, 2005 03:45 PMHappy Holidays to all three of you. The Christmas tree picture is terrific as a card but I think your cute dog ripping open a present would really get into the spirit of gift-giving and getting. We have 2 Corgis and they really love opening their gifts, especially the edible ones!
Posted by: Lydia on December 28, 2005 09:11 PMThey come in six-packs? Arrrggggghhh. And I just gave up sugar again for the 3,986,820 time two weeks ago. BIG sigh. It's so weird because I've never been a big fan of chocolate (I'm in India alright so no one can reach me with a lobbed shoe) but for some reason it started to taste pretty good here...probably because so many other things were verboten because of possible contamination. So I became a chocoholic for two whole weeks - and had falled so far off the plate I needed a crane to climb back on.
Frankie ripping up the Xmas paper is so damn cute it gets my vote. What are families but little enclaves of weirdness where everyone is happy when it works, even if it don't work like anyone else. Show me some "normies" and I'll make sure to alert the press. Won't hold my breath tho.
Linda "K"
Posted by: Linda "K" on December 29, 2005 03:46 AMI think the problem with that line (though I understand it from the film's point of view) is the word "broken". The family is not broken if it works for its members - and anyone else's definition of broken as being or relating to something outside of the norm doesn't count - unless by "outside of the norm" they mean extraordinary.
Like your family, Ryan - and mine too :)
But I think in this case, Robbyn, the "broken" isn't so much a slam on the family unit as much as it refers to the fact that each member of the family has, er, problems. The younger sister can't seem to avoid trouble (the more she tries to fix her problems, the worse they get), the bigger sister is too harried to stop and truly listen to the little girl (or to her own heart, as we see later in the movie), and the alien, well, he's bred to be a vicious, fang-toothed lifeform, what can I say. But put all the broken pieces together....
(How embarrassing that I know this much about this goofy little movie!!!!!!!)
Posted by: Ryan on December 29, 2005 11:17 AMI agree with most of that Ryan, except the adjective "broken" doesn't refer to the individuals; it refers to the family :)
I liked some things about the movie very much but didn't really think it was ready for prime time. Unfortunate since the message it was trying to get across is important.
Definitely Fankie ripping up the paper!
Posted by: Robbyn on December 29, 2005 05:47 PMI didn't know they came in six-packs either.
I agree with the Lilo/Stitch critics above that perhaps "broken" isn't the best adjective. I spent quite a few year as a single mom and I just thought of me and DD and DS as a "little 'cracked' family." Of course then DS would occasionally say, "Whassup, Mom, you on CRACK?" and then laugh himself silly.
We are still goofy. enjoy and best in 2006
broken schmoken! If the three of you do not a sound and whole family make then I just don't know who does. I missed you over the holiday and want to thank you for gifting me with smiles and *wheeee*s as I read the post this morning. Gotta go check out those french puffs...........
Posted by: marylee on December 30, 2005 04:45 AM