December 2007
I get up earlier in the winter than any other time of year. I start the coffee and pre-warm my mug on top of the brewer. This is a little precarious as the top of the machine is slightly rounded, but the kids aren't up adding their vibrations to the rhythm of the house yet, so the mug has always stayed put. While the pot is sucking and gurgling (causing the mug to jiggle just a little), I rekindle the Defiant woodstove by opening up all the air flows and dropping in a couple of small logs if there are enough coals. If the fire died down too much in the night, I retrieve kindling from the wood porch and place it on top of a few crumpled-up sheets of yesterday's Valley News, then lay the small logs on top of that. Then I go to the box at the bottom of the driveway and get the newspaper. Sometimes I put on a coat, sometimes I just hustle; that's the variety to my morning. I read headlines, weather, and letters to the editor while the coffee finishes brewing. It's a slow machine. Finally, coffee in hand, I'll start to write, or grade student work. I think best in the morning and I find that by getting up a few hours before daylight, I am less inclined to mourn its early loss.
An alarm goes off; the kids stir. I go upstairs and give an extra jostle to those who need it. I offer often ill-received advice on clothing choice based on what the paper said about the day's highs and lows. The children get started and shift gears in their own ways. Lisa comes down and makes lunches (yes, they are usually fancy). Then we decide who will drive the kids in, who's got what after school, and how they will get home. By then, the sun is up.
I'm writing this from France, but we'll be home in time for the shortest days. There will be a lot to do. In our house, we'll have a Christmas tree, and we cut our own; if you're inclined to try this, refer to our listing of local tree farms in this issue of the paper. From Karen Le Roy's article, you can glean ideas for involving the kids in decorating the house with natural objects (and a little hot glue and spray paint). There are many Christmas festivities in the Upper Valley—my family will miss them, but perhaps some of you can go and fill us in later; there are the Christmas Mystery, Strawbery Banke (see Have You Been…), and a calendar full of events, both Christmas-themed and broader. Deidre McHugh-Tichner found information on how to play dreidel: if you can snap your fingers, you can spin the dreidel.
Most of us want "the best" for ourselves, and maybe we need to lighten up a little (read Vicky Fish), but don't decide to skimp on safety. Winter safety affects us all; take the warning on shoveling snow to heart so we can't say "told you so" when the back goes out. Valley Quest offers Hurricane Hill as a great winter destination for everyone in this issue. We're all probably going to get the sniffles or worse in the coming months; Joanne Hayes explains the difference between a child's reaction to the common cold and an adult's. I'm struggling here to make the paper not seem so Christian-holiday oriented in a predominantly white, Anglo-Saxon, Christian (practicing or not…), relatively fortunate community. It's tough and it's something we're all up against. Andi Diehn writes about diversity in this issue.
Also, Beth Reynolds announces her own diverse awards for various books from 2007, and Lisa Cadow writes up recipes that ought to work very nicely in our individual homes. Karen Wahrenberger writes about the diverse considerations that ought to come into play before bringing pets into the house around the holidays. If you do get a kitten or a puppy, have a camera handy (see "Give Your Kid a Camera"); the animals grow up fast.
So do our children. After the initial jostling, my kids get themselves going in the morning. Now they cross the street by themselves, too; I'm less familiar than I once was with the day-to-day issues of little children. The other day, here in France, I opened my hand at my side to accompany whichever of my children would grab it as we crossed the Route Nationale 112, which passes through our market town of St. Chinian. I've formed this habit of hand-offering over 13 years of parenting; it's a habit I'll have to break to avoid embarrassing the children. Even keeping growth in mind, the hand that grabbed mine felt large. It was Lisa's hand and it felt pretty good. I am going to free up a hand to help my wife in a new venture, while continuing my own writing. So, this is my last issue as editor of the Parents' Paper. It's been an honor over these past several years to hear your ideas, thoughts, and feedback, and to raise my kids alongside yours here in the Upper Valley. We're sticking around, so I hope to see you.
Light some candles, keep a fire going, and enjoy it all. The winter doesn't last forever either.
Ken Cadow
© 2007 River Road Holding, LLC.