Our house is beautiful and intelligently designed, except for this one plaguing flaw. The stairs that lead from the living room to our bedroom are open, leaving a seven or eight foot drop to hardwood (and one small ten foot drop). We had a couch there for a while, but I still found the vertical design never-wracking, especially because Sebastian wakes up first every morning and climbs up to our room while we're sleeping. I think every single morning for the last year, I've been heard half-asleep, "Close to wall! Close to the wall!!" There was also the dramatic fall I had in the winter, which luckily involved slipping down the flight of stairs instead of falling off the edge. There was a lot of blood and I went into shock, and am still waiting for little pieces of glass to grow out of my hand. Of course I've imagined similar fates for Sebastian. Our landlords are hands-off and don't seem to think there's an issue with an illegal staircase with renters, not to mention a toddler, so we had to figure something out for ourselves. We had a couch there for a while, then sold it. For a few months it's been left open. Finally, a friend of ours hand-milled us some red cedar and Alex went to work building a barricade bookcase. We were half-expecting it to look awful there, but I'm happy to report it's beautiful and might just save us all from broken necks, or at the very least mom-stress. 

Getting into the Holiday Spirit

We're walking the fine line of Christmas and the ambiguous yet-to-be-properly-defined holiday that we'd rather celebrate. We're not Christians and as parents we're crusading against over-consumption and abundant materialism, so Christmas is a frustrating time and a delicate one. We try not to be too overbearing with the Christmas lovers in our life, as long as their enthusiasm doesn't cross too heavily into our minimalistic values, as long as they don't muddle our more important parenting tactics.

But we have a homemade tree, we have lights, we have an advent calendar which a dear friend made and leant us this year. We have candles, cards, ornaments, stockings. These are nice things. Almost all the things we  have we've made, or a friend has made, or a relative has given us. Everything has a story and Sebastian always wants to hear it. 

Somehow Sebastian knows all about Santa Clause. He doesn't know what he does exactly but he knows a lot considering we haven't gone there. This year I think we're procrastinating making some holiday decisions, just enjoying the season. But we can all agree that Christmas time is going to be a constant and relentless attempt to avoid consumerism and materialism. This year I don't want to get hung up on fighting anyone. I just want to enjoy the season. December is my most important month. It's my birthday month, and it's a time when I feel the most connected to the earth, and it's a time when I absolutely cherish living here. I've travelled home to be on the Coast every single year, no matter where I am because I have my own private traditions with this place in December. This year, family-wise, there will be lots of winter walks, hopefully some snowshoeing, lots of lights, and lots of crafts.