It's Christmas Once More
Tuesday, December 08, 2009 Edit This 19 Comments »
Thank you so much for your comments. I really enjoy reading what you have to say and there are names there that I have missed seeing! Even a simple "Yeah, me too" helps me to know who's out there and what you care about. I'll admit that there have been many times that I have not posted simply because of that, "Will anyone really care" voice in my head. I suppose people read blogs for many different reasons, but the truth is that the ones that I read are in my navigation bar simply because I like the writers. They follow no real theme and have little intention besides sharing themselves. This is where I write from. I can't seem to follow a theme, or make myself stick to a schedule or point. Heh. It's just whatever is at the heart of Aimee. I'm glad you're here though.
We spent the past week in Santa Fe and had a pretty great time.
We were nervous... not yet feeling confident in managing our new family size... but it went so well. We impressed ourselves.
Though we now have five individuals with their own needs and wants we seemed to meet them all with virtually no woes.
We found a beautiful little southwestern hotel, with suites that included full kitchens, for only $59 a night. This allowed us to keep to our diet, save money and reduce our traveling and stress. Great value for us!
Our goal in going to Santa Fe was to acquire some things that we were lacking. The kids had both outgrown their winter coats and needed new ones capable of handling the sub freezing temperatures, winds and snow. Simone has, at a whopping 3 weeks old, outgrown her newborn clothes and socks already. The only 3-6 months clothing we had was Nichola's old summer stuff, so Simone needed clothes. Jeff had only two sweaters, one of which had a hole too large for me to repair. He also had only one pair of jeans... ripped as well.
Then of course there is the insult to the injury of childbirth... not fitting into your pre-pregnancy clothes. ;-p
The only place here locally to get these things is WalMart, so off to Santa Fe we went, but not before taking a few boxes of stuff to the local Free Box.
Now, we are neither fans of shopping, nor of having too much stuff, so this carried the threat of being a stressful experience. I was very proud of us all when we survived two days of hunting these things down without taxing anyone's spirits or ignoring anyone's needs. All three children were happy and Jeff and I managed to find the things we were needing at a price we were willing to pay; knowing that our shelves were empty enough to have room for them.
We made it home about an hour before the heavy snow started to fall. The weather channel was predicting a blizzard, but luckily we got only heavy snow and gusting winds. Our overnight low was around 8 below zero here in the mountains. Even nearby Taos was in sub-freezing temperatures.
This evening we decorated our Christmas tree with the ornaments that a sweet friend brought for us from Texas, sipped spiced tea, and listened to the howling winds while Bing and Dean softly crooned the Christmas classics in the background. Dinner was a simple red wine treated pot roast, and now that the tree is dripping with sparkle we're off to bed for the night. Tomorrow is a big day of wood chopping, laundry, making stock and generally taking it easy for a day.
As my To-Do Wishlist seems to be growing... articles I want to write, things I want to make, pictures I want to paint, books I want to read, classes I want to take... A world I'd like to help change... more creative schooling ventures for the kids... friends we want to spend time with...
I have been thinking more and more about the idea of simplicity and balance... wondering what exactly that looks like and how well I feel like we're striking it.
Though I sometimes feel as though there is no such thing as balance and simplicity for a family with three children... that we are so far from our ideals... I think the reality is that we are closer than we feel and that the real point is that we are always checking and working toward our ideals. These days, though they seem endlessly busy, are truly a stream of fulfilling tasks. Each month we seem closer to a life where our efforts go more directly toward our needs.
I have been absorbing more and more of the Buddhist tradition lately and am working on manifesting more time for myself to take this into practice. I have been feeling like the only place were I have been truly lacking balance is in the loss of time that I used to spend on spiritual practice. Yoga and meditation need to have a bigger place in my life, and I'm looking forward to making that happen.
Ah... simplicity... I think I'll go look that up in the dictionary ;-)
xoxo
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19 comments:
I'm so happy you have ornaments! I remember you talking about your love of the holidays!
Lovely post. So strange to think about snow and blizzards (I'm in Australia), but the Christmas spirit is the same.
such a beautiful tree. :)
I just started reading you. I live in a family of five in VT. My kids are a little older, and my experience has been that simplicity gets easier to find as they grow older. You just had a baby! While they seem so beautiful in their simplicity, there's nothing simple in all that juggling. Your time will come...
Your tree is just lovely! It's nice to read about the new adventures of your family. :)
i was searching for cage free chicken + central texas and found an article about your family -- then through that found your blog. I have enjoyed reading about your adventures. We have taken steps (none as large as yours) toward simplicity -- moving further along as it feels possible. I have to take these things in small steps, or I tend to rebel against myself.
I love reading your posts, and I appreciate your authenticity.
Merry holiday season to you and family, and congrats on the new baby. I had a home water-birth (VBAC), and it was THE spiritual experience of my life.
I haven't posted to you in ages, but I read every post. Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukah and Joyous Yuletide! Simone is very beautiful, and I'm so glad it worked out for you all. Keep posting - we're reading, honest!
Aimee! I have been meaning to come to your site and post for ages now! Congrats on Simone =) she is, of course,beautiful! So proud of you on birthing yourself. That takes quite a woman. We are in Colorado for the winter trying to save as much money as possible before heading to the Pacific Northwest in spring (hopefully,you of course understand how these things work!) I'm very excited as I've always dreamed of the emerald beauty Oregon and Washington. We miss you and the family and Taos. My hope is that by the end of summer we will be at least in the pre-planning stages of building our own earthship. I secretly crave more stability,but also have that nagging voice reminding me how much I will miss this freedom if I give it up. Merry Christmas to you and yours. I'm so glad that this "life less ordinary" on the road brought us to you and your family.
xoxo
Jenn
For some reason I thought you were in Vermont. You are in NM?? I can't wait to travel there myself.
I am also getting more deeply into Buddhism lately. I noticed your prayer flags. We have some we are going to hang on the awning of our rv. See if you can't find a nearby center to attend. It can help tremendously.
ahh...see Aimee you ARE much further along than you give yourself credit for
In today's society...to HAVE ideals that you truly strive towards daily is a HUGE step!
LOVE your tree...we're an "ol'fashioned" ornaments kinda family too...we probably won't have one this year since we're hitting the Florida caverns for our Yearly camping trip during the Christmas holiday...so I'm just gonna blow up the pic of yours and tape it to the fridge :)
love you
miss you
wish you were closer
but glad you're where you are!
Babs
you have a lovely story and to me, you are so so waaay down the path towards an unusual and value filled life. Like I probably said before, you are living a parallel universe life for me. It seems so beautifully wild and free. I do wonder how you have any money though. Does your feller work? It must be hard in America without the national health service and all with having to go to hospital and all that. I find the whole money thing such a struggle. Perhaps our housing here in the UK is the expensive thing. Or perhaps we just can't quite get away from the consumerism from living in a city. I don't know. I just wonder how you manage without an income.
I'm here too, reading whenever I see that you've posted something new. I've read your posts through 4 moves...leaving our home in VA, moving to a small 1 bedroom house with 5 children in UT, moving to rural VA to be with my dad during his last days, and back to where we started from. All the while I've enjoyed reading your adventures and could connect since I was having "simplicity" adventures of my own. I have to say that coming back to where we started was the most difficult of the moves. We came back to all our stuff, and I've spent the past 7 months trying to figure out how to manage it. This has included many trips to the thrift store to drop things off. But the funniest thing is that all of us miss the 1 bedroom house. My kids won't sleep in their rooms because they say they're too big. They prefer to sleep on the couches, and we're all (except my teenager) sleeping on the same floor just like we were when we "had" to. It's a constant fight and I think I'm gaining ground, but I so miss the freedom of time that we had when we had less to deal with.
PS Your baby's beautiful! The pic didn't download at first, but when it did, I was enthralled.
Congrats on the new soul joining your family! I am one of of your quiet readers - have been following your blog from pretty much the start without posting. We have so much in common - my third baby arrived 11/15! (two girls, one boy, eldest is a bright red head) - and I am crazy jealous that you've landed in Taos, NM. But your life is also quite different from my own in terms of simplicity and I look to you for inspiration in adding just a touch of what you do to my small town Wisconsin life. Anyhow, keep up the great writing and congrats again!
Gorgeous tree!
Hi, I just wanted to say that I love your blog and have been reading for a while. I relate to so much of what you say, trying to simplify and balance everything while taking care of my young children is also my focus...well, along with painting everyday as I am an artist. Lofty goals, but totally worth it. My husband and I are thinking of moving to Santa Fe, we live in Brooklyn, NY now so I love coming to your blog and thinking of New Mexico! Thank you for sharing all that you do here!
"the real point is that we are always checking and working toward our ideals."
:)
We've got 40's Christmas music playing here at the shop everyday and I always laugh to myself when "Baby It's Cold Outside" comes on. It's that version we listened to together a few years ago. The part about "What did you put in this drink?" still amuses me.
:)
I just got back from a week off-line, and yours is one of the few blogs I will bother to catch up with. You're an inspiration :)
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