Made It Through December!

Part 1: Michael's Birthday Party

What's it like when the school bus drops off twelve boys at your house? What races through your mind as you see them walk, then run up your driveway?

After Michael's birthday party on December 18th, I know exactly what it's like.

The scene at left was one of several challenging situations that Susan saw unfold during her month-long stay with us. She was able to see for herself the sort of shenanigans I sign us up for (all in pursuit of being a Good Mom).

Why twelve boys, you ask? Well, for one thing, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. That was obvious as soon as I started serving food.
(The moustaches, at right, were a party favor and a big hit).

Before they came, I fried up two pounds of taco meat and chopped the fixings for 24 tacos. I'd also baked cookies, a birthday cake, and caramel corn. I thought we were set.

Grandma Jane will immediately spot the flaw in my reasoning: Only TWO tacos for each boy? Just two??

My next mistake was to set things up buffet style... without putting meat in the tacos first. By the time the meat dish was emptied, the aggressive boys had nice fat juicy tacos-- while the more polite boys had sadly empty tacos.

Those who claimed their tacos gobbled them up quickly-- as quickly as a school of piranhas might skeletonize a skinny cow (I didn't just think of that... the analogy came to me immediately, while serving the boys). Before long Jon and I were scrambling to slice up oranges, banannas, sausages... anything we could find that they might be of possible food interest to our guests.

Eventually they'd had enough to eat for their interest to drift back to... MAYHEM. Still, I didn't panic... I mean, who's the grown-up here, anyway? I can handle a group of fifth graders, right?

I led the boys through a series of highly amusing party games. That done, Jon had each boy line up and get blind-folded for their chance to swat down our pinata.

Sounds like lots to do, right? In theory it should have occupied them for hours. Let me tell you... it was a grim moment when we realized that the planned activities were done-- even the birthday cake lay spent in crumbs and ruin-- and it was only 4:30.

4:30. To understand the full horror of that, you must realize that Michael's party was scheduled to end at 7. That left 2 1/2 full hours of what would essentially be free,

unstructured play. In my house. With 12 boys. Plus the other kids.

The other kids.

My one year-old, who till then had remained oddly quiet in the midst of all the craziness, revealed that she'd been feeling more than just shy... she was nauseus.

She "revealed" her nausea by projectile-vomiting across our kitchen floor. And onto the feet of a bemused Susan.

What to do?

Grit our teeth and go into endurance mode. (This part is best imagined with heroic music). Susan changed her puked-on socks (she may as well have been Rambo, applying grease-paint). I rolled up my sleeves and did triage: 1) Wash Leila up. 2) Change Leila's clothes. 3) Wash floor. etc.

Even Jon's child-controlling skills were mobilized. As our guests ran amok in glorious chaos he took the initiative to take the more wild ones outside for sledding. The quieter ones stayed inside and actually conversed a little with me and Susan.


Michael did a great job alternating back and forth, between the indoor and outdoor groups. He's come a long way in his ability to handle disorder and boisterous friends... I was proud. A younger Michael might have had a meltdown and refused to participate in any of it. But 11 year-old Michael was calm and unphased.

Our parental confidence was starting to return.

7:00 pm finally arrived. Despite the things that COULD have happened, all ended well. No one was (severely) hurt or (permanently) lost in the woods. Each boy was picked up by a similar-looking parent whom the boy seemed to recognize. Shoes and backpacks were located and sent along with their apparent owners.

Even the basement bedrooms, which had been the scene of much unsupervised wrestling, didn't look half-bad. It was rather amazing.

Several boys thought things went well enough to actually suggest the party turn into an overnight slumber party. To my credit, I didn't laugh out loud at this. However I did stick to the original plan... bye bye, kids.

Part 2: An Early "Christmas" in Rhinelander

The following week was short and crazy. The kids had two days of school, then were off for Christmas break.

On that last day of school, Susan and I snuck away from the house. We left Leila in Jon's care (he had a nice chunk of time off for the holidays, too) and made our escape to Eau Claire-- for lunch at the Olive Garden.

Once there we met up with the rest of the "Hurlburt ladies" for the big Secret Santa reveal.

This is something we've done every year for five or six years now. But it was the first time that Susan was able to come along too, so it felt special. We had a nice lunch and conversation, and found out who our secret pals from the previous year were (by opening presents-- how fun!).

Susan and I had to leave earlier than we would have liked. We'd told the kids we would pick them up from school, so Susan could meet Emma's teacher.

Later that evening Susan packed up and left our house for a few days. She went to Cornell to stay with her mom's family through Christmas Eve, with the plan to rejoin us on Christmas Day (along with David and Jonathan).

While she was gone, we went to Rhinelander.

My family was gathering for Christmas, though this year it wasn't the "full crew". Still, it was a houseful. My brother Bob does snow removal, and as Madison was expecting some of that big snowfall hitting the eastern US, we knew we'd not be seeing him. Also, my other brother in the Madison area, John, helps Bob do snow so we weren't expecting to see him either.

But Laurie, Mark, Don, Hope, Stephen, Kenny, Beth, and Bill were all going to be there. Plus Mom and Dad and a slew of pets (4 dogs and 4 cats, if you can believe that!).

It's always fun seeing "Bragg Family South" (my brother Don's family-- that's also the name of Don's blog). We'd just seen them in November, so it didn't take long to get reacquainted. Don's kids are active and affectionate. They are somewhat matched to my own kids in age, so it's fun watching the cousins play. But also they are surprisingly willing to let aunts, uncles, and grandparents give them hugs and kisses and make a big deal out of them, though they only see us a few times a year. A lot of kids would have none of that! I'm glad these kids do :).

As it happened, the big surprise of the visit was that John and Jim were able to make it over, afterall. Their car pulled up at night, and we couldn't see who was in the driveway. When we saw the two of them, it was like... a Christmas miracle!! (okay, maybe that's a little over the top). However, it was nice to see them.

Madison got its snow, but apparently Bob had enough other helpers to let John join us for Christmas.

There was snow in Rhinelander, too. Here you can see Leila and Stephen watch in fascination as Grandpa Bragg blows the snow 30 feet up in the air with his Kubota tractor.

The tractor has attachments so that Dad can plow snow in winter and mow grass in summer with it. He can use it to haul wood and do all sorts of other work required to maintain their country house (the house property includes a 3-story garage, 2-story shed, and an extensive system of wooded trails that Dad keeps mowed). So that tractor gets used!

Don's youngest, Stephen, is about six months older than my Leila. At first there was a bit of a power struggle between the two (there's only one little shopping cart for all the Bragg grandchildren to share, after all), but eventually they sorted things out.

One highlight of the visit was a snowy walk in the woods with the dogs.

A year or so ago, Jon and Mark had set a tree stand up on Dad's property. They wanted to see how it was doing, so once we reached the pines we left the trail-- something I haven't done since childhood, believe it or not.

The woods were very still. It was snowing, and the snow we walked through was knee-deep... I don't know if all that snow absorbs some of the extra sound, or if it was just so quiet because things in the forest are hibernating. But once we left the trail... it was silent.

We weaved around small pine and fir trees, their branches heavy with snow. We walked single-file, following Mark's footprints. After talking about it afterwards, (brother) John and I realized we'd both had the same thought: it was like that scene in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, when the children walk through the deep closet. They push past coats on hangers until the coats become tree branches. And they realize that the wardrobe has turned into a forest.

We left Rhinelander the next day. It was Christmas Eve, and my time "off the trail" was done. I was already thinking of everything I had to do to get ready for our big meal the next day.

Part 3: Christmas With "The Kids"

Christmas morning Jonathan drove Susan and David back to our house in Colfax. It had been a full year since we'd had 19 year-old David over, so his arrival was pretty exciting.

We opened presents and snacked until it was time for dinner. After years of trial and error, I've finally figured out how to properly roast a turkey. We also had mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, candied carrots, green beans, and Laurie and Mark's cranberry chutney. I even made home-made biscuits for us; it was quite the feast.

After dinner we cleaned up the wrapping paper and miscellaneous Christmas waste, to make enough room in the living room for conversation and naps (in that order).

Later that day we headed outside.

It was warm and the snow was good and packy. Jon helped the kids build a snowman.

Next order of business was the construction of snow forts. Before the forts were finished and without warning, Jon and Emma started a snowball fight with Susan and Michael. Leila, David, and I stayed out of it.

Meanwhile Jonathan napped inside.

As twilight set in we made our way through the snowy woods. I pulled Leila on a sled (she mostly stayed on the sled, but took a few tumbles along the way).

We met Jon on snowmobile, at the edge of our woods. Susan and David took turns giving their younger siblings snowmobile rides in a neighbor's open field. It was warm enough for a light mist to be in the air. It felt good to be outdoors.

At left: Susan with Bijou and Coco. Coco's our little dog; Bijou came from West Virginia along with David, and stayed for the week. During the time Bijou was with us, both dogs had the run of the house. Coco LOVED it.

David stayed with us almost a week. A highlight was going to see the 3-D movie "Avatar", but I won't go into that here... some of you probably haven't seen it yet and I don't want to be a movie spoiler.

I will say one thing on the subject. It fit in perfectly with a book Susan had me read a few days before, called "A Language Older Than Words". The parallels between the two were remarkable, though they had nothing to do with one another. So we were able to have some neat (and nerdy) discussions about the book and movie during Susan's stay.

Actually, Susan

read three books during her stay with us. (That in no way implies that our house is boring... or does it?).

I think Susan found her stay relaxing and rejuvenative. Sure, there was a little venom in that "Risk" game she played with Jonathan. And yes, Michael's birthday party was a bit of a circus.

But she had plenty of time to be "lazy" and play with kids (rather than be a responsible college student, as she usually is).

While Susan and David were with us, we watched some old home movies. Everyone thought Leila (especially her hair!) looked very much like Susan, at a similar age.


Part 4: Grandpa Bud's Birthday Party

A few days after Christmas, we got together with Jon's family. The occasion was his father's birthday party, and Jon's sister Ann and her family hosted.

This is another annual event we all enjoy. It was potluck, and (as always) there was plenty to eat.




For many years the Hurlburt family was mostly male, but now the girls are starting to catch up. At left are Emma, Leila, and Malia. New little cousin Brooke Sime is hovering nearby. The girls had fun watching a cartoon on a little portable TV in the bedroom, but I'm told Leila bit several of them.

Not very hard, hopefully.




At right are some of the "older" cousins-- David, Adam and Jacob. Adam and Jacob are Phil's sons.

Interesting aside: Adam is part of a Minneapolis-area band called Solid Gold. They've been gaining momentum lately and are doing things like touring overseas, making CDs and videos, and become increasingly popular in the local music scene. They've had some big write-ups in various music publications.

One video they're shooting, I'm told, is actually set at a couple of places we've been to frequently-- Phil and Jill's cottage on the lake and the Hurlburt hunting shack in Ruby.

Now how about that??

It's starting to occur to me that this must be my longest blog EVER, and that it's probably too long to be readable, at this point. So I'll start winding down.

Can you blame me, though? So many pictures, so much good blog material.

Happy Holidays, everyone!!