The Schlatt Family

Let me start this post by saying that I have a complicated relationship with Valentine's Day.  Growing up, there were the class parties and candy and cookies and Conversation Hearts (my favorite candy only available one time of year.) And then junior high... when I was the perpetual "single girl courier" of our friend group who got the "Hey, will you give this rose/carnation/tiny stuffed animal to so-and-so when you see her in class?" High school was pretty much the same. Still single. Still lots of attached friends. But this time, they could meet each other between classes and I didn't have to deliver quite so many things.  By college, I was determined to own my singleness so I would invite all the single girls/girls-whose-Valentine-lived-too-far-away over for dinner and a movie on Valentine's Day night. (It was Galentine's before Galentine's was a thing.)  When I lived in Tanzania, Valentine's wasn't a thing and I was free of it for a f...

As a general rule, our family decorates for Christmas before the first Sunday in Advent, and undecorates sometime after January 6th. Then, the Christmas decorations get replaced with snowflakes or hearts or "Happy Birthday, Daddy." This year, our family was doing everything we could to extend Christmas... A still wants to listen to Christmas music every time we're in the car, D is still reading the stack of Christmas books we bring out every year, and B is still working on Christmas art pieces that we didn't get to over break. (and Mike was also very sad when the last of the decorated sugar cookies were eaten... so he's requested more for Valentine's day.) We were determined NOT to undecorate... for undecorating meant deciding which Christmas decorations will go in a suitcase, which will go into storage and which will be given away. This was a reality none of us was really ready to face once the calendar flipped to January 2023, but it was, in fact, unavoidabl...

 Here today, in the northern hemisphere, it's the winter solstice.  Few of us, perhaps, have noticed this. Here in Kentucky, we are out enjoying the sunshine, squeezing in some last minute shopping errands, savoring whatever bits of outdoor playground time we can grab, for tomorrow the weather will turn and we will be forced inside. And though few of us may have noticed, the shortest day of the year is upon us. The day with the least amount of sunshine. The middle of the darkest season.  and for some of us, that feels just about right.  This Christmas time feels strange and complicated for our family. Hoping to be move to Albania sometime in the spring or fall of next year, we are keenly aware that this will be our last Christmas stateside for awhile.  Everything feels super important this year. Middle is keeping track of how many of our Christmas traditions have not yet been accomplished. (Check Firehouse lights off the list as of last night. ;) )  Firehou...