A Very Twirley Christmas

Every family has their own Christmas tradition. For example, there’s the Festivus celebration, in which George Costanza’s family initiates “the airing of grievances.” But since the “airing of grievances” is a daily, if not hourly ritual at the Twirley household, we decided to start a few Holiday traditions of our own.


Matching red shirts

There’s no color more festive than red and nothing cornier than the entire family wearing the same colored shirts. Festive and corny, that’s how we roll in the Twirley household. Next year we’ll have to bring the corny meter up a few notches by wearing matching red reindeer sweaters.

Gingerbread assembly kit

I’ve been buying the gingerbread assembly kits since EB’s third Christmas, and it has become quite the fun experience for both of us. In fact we had so much fun with it last year that I bought a gingerbread train kit right after the holidays (read: big post-Christmas discount), with the intention of putting it together on New Year’s Day. If you recall though, that was the day that EB gave us a big scare with her concussion, so it stayed in the back of the cupboard until this year. Let me tell you, gingerbread kits do not have a long shelf life. This thing smelled terrible – like a cross between Play Doh and….well, a year-old ginger bread. EB took a whiff of it and immediately declared it too yucky for consumption. This suited me just fine since I’ve always had a problem with the idea of consuming something that’s been kneaded and handled by sweaty, dirty hands. To me, these kits are for show, not for eating. So if you ever get an already-assembled gingerbread house from us for Christmas, it probably means that we don’t like you very much.

Hiking

This is the time of the year when I really love living in Arkansas. Just a few short months ago, I was dying from the heat of a thousand suns. But what a weather we had today -- sunny and in the high 50s. One would’ve never guessed that it was Christmas, which would’ve turn off some white Christmas fanatics but suited me just fine. We went out to the Pinnacle Mountain for a family hike and enjoyed the fresh air and some physical activity. B-Boy was strapped into Baby Bjorn and was asleep for most of the hike. He woke up every now and then and looked around all confused, his little brows arched and furrowed. He would look up at me, as if thinking: “Where the hell am I? And who the heck are you? And when are you crazy people going to return me to my cozy little capsule?”

A big ol' Merry Christmas, y'all!

Five!

EB turned five years old today! She woke up this morning, looked in the mirror, and said to me in a slightly disappointed voice: “I don’t look older, Mommy. Maybe I’m dreaming that I’m five.”

This girl just cannot wait to grow up. As for me, I just want to preserve her childhood forever. I get choked up just thinking about EB as a five-year old; something happens when you cross the boundary from four to five. For one, five years old is when you attend Kindergarten, or what I perceive as real school. As in I would need to worry about dropping her off on time, whereas now, I have no qualms about dropping her off 15-20 minutes late. Mathematically speaking, five is closer to ten than it is to one. Meaning, she’s just that much closer to entering the bratty tween years.

But for now, I won’t think too much about how quickly my baby has grown up. Rather, I want to take this moment to capture what she is like now, what makes her tick and what makes her the unique little girl that she is today.

• EB loves all things superhero. Unlike most other girls her age, she considers princesses “boring.” She wants to be where the action is and save the world , and her favorite superheros are Spiderman and Spidergirl.

• She loves treats—nothing lights up her face more than the prospect of eating candies, cupcakes and ice cream.

• Despite the fact that she loves her sweets, she has iron willpower. She will not eat any treats without consulting with me first, and if I allow her only three jellybeans, she sticks to those three.

• Along the same lines, she is obsessed about the idea of eating healthy food. She never tires of asking me which foods are healthy, which ones are not. In fact, She is so interested in this topic that she has proudly declared to me that she is an “expert of being healthy.”

• EB is insanely competitive, which drives me bonkers at times. She's even tried to be competitive with me, claiming that she is a better "drawer" than I am.  I was, however, very quick to point out that she is not a better artist. In fact, since I don't believe she should have an inflated self-esteem, I told her that there's probably not a lot of things that she can do better than I can at this point. The Tiger Mom's got nothing on me. 

• She is a good egg. Above everything else, she wants to please me and K. We feel lucky, although sometimes we wonder if and when pleasing her parents will drop off her priority list.

• She's had her first crush. Of course, she does not yet understand the meaning of a crush. But by the way she talks about this guy in her class, I recognize the signs of an early crush from a mile away.

• EB loves her little brother, and has surprisingly shown almost no jealousy.

• She also has an imaginary brother – her big bear Ian, whom she takes great pleasure in bossing around.

• EB knows how to work me and K. Separately, she will coyly tell each of us that she has a secret to tell us, dramatically motion for us to come close and then whisper in our ears: “I love you more than anybody.”