Be careful what you start with your kids/grandkids. Seriously, if someone had told me that years ago my holidays would be so much more peaceful and laid back! But nooooooo, no one said a word! Not once did anyone tell me that going on an innocent Sasquatch hunt at night with my 3 year old grandson for fun would lead to countless night-time jaunts through the "woods" when they came to visit, year after year. I would be dead tired and little Max would say, "Grandma is it time for the hunt?" His eyes would be bright and shining with such hope...so I would drag my sorry arse up and out we would go...thereby cementing the sasquatch hunt into family tradition. I suppose the day will come when I will have to tell the grandkids I can't hunt squatch with them any more...sasquatch trails are really not handicap accessible...but until that time, the hunt goes on, along with the annual yule log and all of the other nonsense I started so my grandkids would have fun and a bit of magic when they came to grandma's house!
The yule log is something that the kids look forward to and I can't remember how many years we've been doing it, seems like at least 500! We started this tradition by going outside in the dark of night to pick the perfect log from the stack under the deck...then we wised up and made sure the perfect log was placed strategically just outside the door to the deck so we wouldn't have to brave the elements. This year, however, someone not only forgot to put the log on the deck, she forgot the colored papers, the magic pens, the whole dang thing! We had just finished our Christmas Eve feast and I was headed to a soft spot in front of the fire when Elsa sweetly asked, "Grandma, when are we going to do the yule log?"
Max and Elsa take the yule log very seriously and I couldn't believe I had dropped the ball! Quickly a couple of fire-starter logs were grabbed and declared perfect...paper and pens were located, and the kids set about writing down their wishes for Christmas and the new year...even the mister and the boy, girl and SIL were involved - I always try to peek at what they write down but it's usually some smart-aleck comment that makes me regret snooping! This can take some time, like I said, the kids take this part very seriously and they don't like being rushed - they want to make sure they get everything down in writing! Then the strips of paper were taped to the logs and with great fanfare and flourish, they were carried to the fireplace where the mister was waiting, fire poker in hand!
And then we waited...waited for the fire to light the log...waited to see the strips of paper actually burn...waited to see the smoke go up the chimney...and then we rushed outside to the deck and waited to see the smoke come out of the chimney! This is the most important part!!! The smoke goes out of the chimney and the wind grabs it and carries it straight to the North Pole!! Santa's Elves snag the smoke with their Smoke Grabber and send it to the Smoke-Deciphering-Machine where the words the kids wrote down on the paper reappear!!! It's magic! Christmas magic! The Elves read the wishes, make the appropriate notes and alert Santa! So you can see just how very important this tradition is...without the last minute smoke-fax to the North Pole, Santa might miss a few things!
It was a tense 30 second wait in bitter cold before we saw the smoke! The kids were worried a bird had built a nest in the chimney...that thought had also crossed my mind...but finally, just as we were about to chastise the fire master, we saw smoke!
And not only did we see smoke, we saw the wind grab it, swirl it around and watched it head North...much joy and celebration followed, including a few high fives and some jumping up and down!
The yule log tradition lives on...note to self: Make sure you burn something in the fireplace ahead of time to make sure the chimney isn't blocked...and snooping or not, do try to get an actual picture of what is written on those papers before they are taped to the log because you don't have a smoke deciphering machine!
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