Jennifer Woodbury

merry & bright

 

(Card design by Minted. Original poetry by Matt.)

Us

Have you ever looked at a picture of yourself and thought "Is that really me?" because it just doesn't represent the way you see yourself? It happens to me all the time.

Five years ago, when Ella was Lucy's age, Tara Whitney took our family photos. I'm continually amazed at Tara's ability to truly see people and relationships with her camera. It's why her work draws so many people in, and also why she can never really be duplicated. So when she mentioned she was coming to New York City for Thanksgiving, I knew I had to have her document us again five years and two new little people later.

The weather in the days leading up to Thanksgiving was not optimal. Tara and I had to move dates around, push the time up, and even so we just barely missed a downpour that started almost exactly as our session was ending. It was chilly and windy with a smattering of raindrops here and there, and a certain one-year-old had better things to be doing (but what one-year-old doesn't?). But we just went with the flow, had fun despite the weather, and Tara managed to capture this:

Of course, there were cupcakes involved.

And a taxi cab. You may know that Ella has a thing for cars, and for taxis in particular. So towards the end of our session, we approached a taxi driver and asked if we could borrow his cab for just a minute. I was surprised at how happy he was to oblige. I love running across people like this in New York.

After we said goodbye to Tara and as we warmed ourselves with some Hale & Hearty soup in Chelsea Market, Ella casually said, "So your friend Tara... is she a photographer?" It was adorable. I love that she didn't even think of this as a photo session.

Tara says, "My purpose is to show you what your love looks like, and how the world sees you – and have fun doing it." And she did exactly that. Thank you Tara for truly capturing "us"... again (more here and here).

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

Matt and I have celebrated 13 Christmases together since we got married, and we have never once had a real Christmas tree. I have always been somewhat ashamed by this fact, like it is some dark secret akin to having a dozen cats living in my basement (which, for the record, would never happen since I am violently allergic to cats).

Matt grew up with fake trees, so it was never a big deal for him. But me? Well, just to give you an idea, the first line of my high school's alma mater was: "In the land of tall green fir trees." Oregon is the top producer of real Christmas trees. Growing up, cutting down your own tree was just what you did. I didn't really even realize fake trees were an option. Sort of like when we moved to Manhattan back in 1999 I didn't realize that living in a place with no actual bedroom was an option ("Excuse me, studio apartment? No comprendo.")

Last Christmas, our lovely fake pre-lit Costco Christmas tree was starting to show its age. The base was broken and cobbled together with packing tape. Some of the lights stopped working. And I declared then and there that this would be the last year for a fake tree. In 2011, we were going to go out and chop down our very own live Christmas tree.

And so it was.

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving we drove up to the tree farm and picked out the Woodbury family's very first real Christmas tree. It was a gloriously sunny, 65 degree day (no coats required). I'm still trying to figure out where I sign up to get that kind of weather in late November every year.

We brought our measuring tape to make sure we got a tree that was just right.

 

Lucy mostly just walked around and looked cute. She's really good at that.

At this point, let me just say that picking out a Christmas tree is stressful for somebody like me who has decision-making issues. Now, if I do say so myself I am pretty good at the big, life-changing decisions. I analyze the facts, make a choice, and very rarely regret it. But give me a small, inconsequential (in the grand scheme of things) choice to make and I absolutely fall apart. Picking a paint color? Paralyzing. Deciding whether to send Claire to Pre-K A or Pre-K B next year (the difference of just a few hours a week)? Matt is still wishing he could get back the hours I spent debating those two options. 

Deciding on a Christmas tree operated in a similar fashion. Is this one too fat? Too skinny? Too bare? Too full? Leaning 7 degrees to the right? Funny on top? There were just too many trees to choose from (funny how that happens at a tree farm).

But eventually we found just the right one.

We strapped it on top of the Volvo, brought it home, and we are now treating it like a fourth child to make sure it stays alive until Christmas.

Our Elf and 24 Christmas Books

Our Christmas elf Buddy arrived last week on December 1st. In the past he's come as soon as our tree went up, but I think he realized this year that if he comes too early, it gets hard to think of unique hiding spots by the time Christmas Eve rolls around. Smart elf.

Like Buddy, I am also really trying to enjoy this holiday season without completely burning myself out by December 24th. It helps that I've realized I can't do everything, and that's okay. I have adopted for myself this saying (from this blog): "Life is Long." Most people - myself included - are so wrapped up in thinking that life is too short. But it's good sometimes for me to step back, take a deep breath, and realize that I can do all the millions of wonderful Christmas things that I want to do with my kids. But I don't have to do them all this year.

That means that sadly, I may skip gingerbread houses this year. Just thinking about how I am going to manage a project of that magnitude with an 18-month-old who gets into everything frankly exhausts me. I'm picturing her climbing on top of the dining table, sticking her hands in the icing, and dumping the bowls of candy upside down (but not before eating a few handfuls first). And that's just in the first five minutes. So we might just stick to cookie baking and decorating this year... something we somehow didn't get around to last year.

One thing I did want to try this year was the idea of doing a holiday book advent calendar: wrapping 24 holiday books and opening one on each day of December leading up to Christmas. Our elf got the memo on this one and helped me out. When he arrived last Thursday he brought with him a basket full of wrapped books and a letter for the girls:

Dear Ella, Claire & Lucy,

I am so happy to see you once more,
This Christmas many fun things are in store!

I love to read and I know you do too,
So I wrapped up a few holiday books just for you.

You can open just one on any given day,
The numbers on the back will show you the way.

Some books are old favorites and some are brand new,
But you'll enjoy them all; I know this is true!

Remember I am watching so be good as gold,
So that only nice things to Santa will be told!

Love,
Buddy

These are the 24 books we will be reading (I was able to get an advance copy of the list), just in case you are looking for some fresh holiday-themed books. There's also still time to do something similar (a "12 Books of Christmas" countdown maybe?) if you've been wanting to do this but couldn't quite pull it together by December 1:

1. A Wish to be a Christmas Tree by Colleen Monroe & Michael G. Monroe
2. Snowmen at Christmas by Caralyn Buehner & Mark Buehner
3. Llama Llama Holiday Drama by Anna Dewdney
4. Olivia Helps with Christmas by Ian Falconer
5. The Jolly Christmas Postman by Janet & Allan Ahlberg
6. The Little Fir Tree by Margaret Wise Brown & Jim Lamarche
7. How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Suess
8. Angelina's Christmas by Katharine Holabird and Helen Craig
9. Babar and Father Christmas by Jean de Brunhoff
10. Gingerbread Friends by Jan Brett
11. Toot & Puddle I'll be Home for Christmas by Holly Hobbie
12. Olive, the Other Reindeer by Vivan Walsh
13. Christmas is Here adapted from the King James Bible & illustrated by Lauren Castillo
14. Olivia Claus by Kama Einhorn & Jared Osterhold
15. Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner & Cristopher Silas Neal
16. Santa Claus by Rod Green, Carol Wright, Simon Danaher, & Jon Lucas
17. Snow Angels: A Christmas Story by Andrew Glass & Kathy Nausley
18. The Carpenter's Gift by David Rubel & Jim LaMarche
19. It's Christmas, David! by David Shannon
20. Christmas Day in the Morning by Pearl S. Buck and Mark Buehner
21. The Nutcracker by Susan Jeffers
22. A Christmas Goodnight by Nola Buck & Sarah Jane Wright
23. The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
24. The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore & Cheryl Harness

About one third of these books are new, and the rest are ones we've collected over the past few years. If you know of any must-read Christmas books that we don't have, I'd love to hear about them so we can add them to our list to check out!