This year we celebrated Hanukkah by lighting my parent’s menorah in my mom’s house surrounded by family and friends at her annual Christmas Eve party. Religion was not a part of my upbringing, but tradition and ritual were important to my parents and I am teary-eyed thinking about passing some of those traditions on to Luke. When we arrived back to Austin on New Year’s Eve after an epic day of travel, we got Luke to bed, unpacked our bags and willed ourselves to stay up 15 more minutes until midnight when we decided we would light the menorah. Lighting the menorah at midnight felt like just the thing to do to enter 2017, a year that needs all the light and hope and love and resistance we can throw at it.Fresh new year with some fresh new air.It got into the 20s this past weekend. As it turns out, our charming original windows and uninsulated walls are significantly less charming when it is below 40 degrees outside. But it made for so much good snuggling.Rupert the bear, lovey and the saw. Sweet dreams, Luke. (P.S.: we are really proud of our limit setting abilities. There is not a single power tool in that bed. This did not happen without a struggle.)He is starting to grow into his backpack. This wasn’t supposed to happen so fast.
At the end of the day you can find me hiding right here in the sunshine in the corner of the block area behind a tiny engineer.There’s going to be a full “wolf” moon to brighten the sky tomorrow night. And according to my gripping neighborhood newsletter, there is currently a coyote on the prowl causing quite the stir. Stay vigilant, Digby!
Brownstone to Bungalow 