Wednesday, December 31, 2008

7 Quick takes

1. The girl pooped in the potty last night. Of course after being a mother for 21 years I know this means *almost* nothing. :) It could be another year ( or two?) before the job is completed.
Still, it reminds me I will soon have no one in diapers. Is that a yahoo or a sniff? Some of both, I think.

2. A new favorite delicacy tried this holiday season....haricot verts. A fancy french name for baby green beans. Oooo- are they tasty. A bit pricey, but for a holiday treat, worth it.

3. It was funny watching the Christmas frenzy from the sidelines this year. Watching and not participating as much since I was sick. Luckily I got sick *after* I had all my gifts bought, a couple cookie batches baked, the house somewhat decorated ( I didn't do as much as I usually do, but I decided on that course beforehand), so I could smugly critique all the people who were running about. Really, I found myself wondering why we DO run about so much in a panic? After reading the 100,000th blog post on how stressed out and tired my fellow blogging mothers were, I wanted to shout " what is the point?!".

I am sure the good Lord wants us to make a big deal out of the incarnation. It is, after all, a big deal. I'm also sure he doesn't mind wives and mothers and whoever else taking some extra pains to celebrate this greatest of feast days and all the others that surround it.....
yet I think there is also a simplicity we forget about. He was born in a barn or a cave or whatever you want to think about it....a very humble place. To me there is great symbolism in that that almost never seems to be thought about. There can be a point where our trying to celebrate a great reality crosses a line into another place that contradicts it.

Lest I sound too critical, I do understand, mothers especially, want to make Christmas a wonderful memory for their family. And so we have a list of *to-do's* a mile long in order to facilitate that happening. I do it too! It was just interesting *not* being able to do it, or not being able to do it as much.... and seeing that maybe, even good hearted christians with the best of intentions, get away from the true meaning of Christmas by participating in all the frenzy we *think* must accompany it. The *think-must* is where we get into trouble I believe.

4. Naomi and I found another BBC winner (thanks to Aunt Alice, I might add :)
"North and South" by Elisabeth Gaskell. The dvd is fabulous. We even watched it again the other day. Ooo, that Mr Thorton is terribly yummy. Give me a tall, lanky Englishman with a big nose and a deep voice and I will swoon any day. ;) Beats Mr D'Arcy hands down.

5. Reading more about Aaron Burr. It never ceases to amaze me that he was the grandson of Jonathan Edwards.

6. We got a new mattress last night. Tim was so excited to have one where he didn't wake up with aches and pains. I can't say I slept all that well on it, but whether it was due to the mattress or something else, I don't know. I hope when he wakes up he will be happy with his purchase. :)
It *is* nice to have a bit more space.....for the past 25 years we've been sleeping on a double mattress, and since we've both grown wider, it's been a bit tight. Now we have a queen and I could definitely notice the difference in mattress real estate. I had to give up my lovely antique bed frame, though. Boo.

7. Tim and I went out to Andiamo's last night. We had a lovely dinner THANKS to my generous parents who gave us a gift card to said restaurant for Christmas. All of what we had was off the charts ( gnocchi for me, steak for T) and I even ordered, um, er, a drink! I know the chic thing to do is to have wine with italian food, but since I just can't hang with the taste of alcohol, I couldn't go there. So I perused the martini list and thought a *peach cosmo* sounded good. Well, it was pretty good, but very strong. Tim ended up emptying it in his sprite and downing the rest. I think I took about 3 sips. We're just SO smooth. ;)

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Streams of consciousness from a mother of 10 who usually can't collect her thoughts and finds commas a nuisance.