The Christmas Lists

23 Comments

Right now Key West is home while we wait for weather to get to Mexico. This is a pretty crucial weather window that we need to get right, since in addition to the normal weather to deal with, we’ve got the Gulf Stream ripping right up in our face. If we don’t get it right we could really get walloped on this passage. So, we sit and wait, and update Passage Weather every few hours hoping to see nothing but white (calms) across the Gulf.

The Key West cemetery is kind of an interesting place to wander around, though next time I’d do it when it wasn’t scorching hot out.

Bums.

I think my favorite part of the Christmas season is when it’s time for Ouest and Lowe to write their lists to send to Santa. Without a word from us they write down 1, 2, and 3. And that’s it! Three gifts, and they have never asked for more. We have zero idea where they got three in their heads from, but it’s been stuck there for years. I can specifically remember a Berenstain Bears book when they were little, in which Sister Bear made a super long list, and Brother Bear warned her not to be greedy or Santa might not bring anything. That could be it. Regardless, I find it incredibly innocent.

But that’s not all that I love about the lists. Here they are, convinced Santa could bring them anything under the sun, and yet their lists reflect none of that. A mood ring, a mermaid tail, and a surprise. My heart swells.

Even better? Lowe’s list. A surprise. That’s it. Even prodding him with a Target Christmas advertisement couldn’t produce a two and three. So, three surprises it is. Santa, get it done.

The Garrison Bight mooring field is absolutely wide open to the north. When a front rolls through it’s a pain in the butt. Not so much because of the seas—you hardly feel it on the boat—but because it’s such a long dinghy ride in, and it would be so wet, that you just stay pinned down on the boat instead. For days.

While we adults gripe, Lowe hops in his kayak and does circles around the boat, trying to surf the waves downwind.

And then we dig around in here and try to find something to do.

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23 Comments on “The Christmas Lists”

  1. Ouest is getting sooo tall. Those long legs!! Your kids are not exposed to constant marketing. That probably helps define their lists. And no television means they know how to play. So many kids don’t. : (

    1. Yes both kids are growing like crazy right now. And our kids are good about talking themselves out of toys/junk that they don’t really want. If they ask us if they can have something, we’ve been saying you have money if you want to spend it on that, they usually don’t because when it is their money, they know they don’t really want it, but if it is our money, they would gladly take it. Either way, they are pretty good about not buying the junk – and maybe the whisper from us about how big something is and how much plastic junk there is, is helping too.

  2. The picture from the cemetery, the Lowe family is prominent in KW. They even have a street named after them. Lowe’s Lane.

  3. Your kids’ Christmas lists are an annual inspiration highlight. I love the story of Ouest asking Santa for a ball in Spanish. You’ve set the parenting bar high!!

  4. Chris’ favorite doll growing up was named Three. Like you, no idea why.
    Where’d the typewriter ome from??
    Good luck with the window! 🙂

    1. Three, that is cute. I found the typewriter in Oregon over the summer at a junk sale. 1940s, works, for $80. Always wanted one for the kids to use.

  5. There are a lot of places you could be stuck that are far worse than Key West…… I love the angel with all the beads! And, yes, Lowe and Ouest are growing so fast. What a wonderful life.

  6. Are the Bumfuzzle logo T’s available to buy, or just for crew?

    A couple of extra larges are on my list.

    1. Still trying to get a design together that we love. Needs some color or spunk. It’s on our list, just not in time for Christmas I’m afraid.

      1. Thank’s Ali. Besides the logo having a very interesting, eye-catching appeal, the story and journey behind it all is wonderful, its kept me hanging around for many years. So when people say, “that’s a cool looking T, what’s it all about?” It’s about an amazing story of thinking outside the box….. All the best.

  7. What a delight your mini-minimalists are! When we lived in the states we always found it so sad to see cheap plastic toys tossed at curbside as junk just a few short weeks after the holidays…people spending money they don’t have to buy stuff they don’t need. Children need their parents to spend time with them-bravo!

    1. I’m the same way, “having to” buy someone a gift because it is Christmas is the worst. Even the $10 Christmas-exchanges drove me crazy, because it was really just junk for sure. Pat and I stopped exchange gifts when we were still dating, and have always just bought stuff for each other when we saw it.

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