December 7

There was a light dusting of snow on the housetops when I twisted open the blinds this morning. It made me smile because since I was a young child it was always my wish for snow on my birthday. Today, being my 40th birthday, it was an extra special smile from Heaven.

I nearly hijacked my own birthday by falling into a grumpy attitude when I walked downstairs and saw some things not in the estate I expected them to be in to begin our day. My ideals of 40 being an age of maturity had a humorous reality check. I am thankful to say the bad attitude was eventually conquered and the rest of the day was delightful.

I made pancakes for breakfast and opened the pot of Jinja mango jam a friend had brought me earlier this year -- a nod to the years I spent in Uganda. I also indulged in a cup of real, completely real, black tea.

Perhaps one of the nicest things of the day was not having to go anywhere but being able to stay home and focus the entire morning on our homeschool lessons. Today we landed in colonial America for Christmas in the 1600-1700's. We read about colonial Williamsburg and made spiced hot chocolate with oranges and gingerbread for our foodie treat. The kids keep busy embroidering quilt pieces to make a "story of Christmas" quilt when we finish.

Yesterday we talked about the Puritans and their banning of Christmas. We started a funny book called A Little Puritan's First Christmas. It's quite good at describing many aspects of life in the mid-1600's in Boston. You can read a copy online for free. I learned a new word today: "bacchanalian" which means "given to drunken revelry." The Puritans considered Christmas to be bacchanalian and wanted nothing to do with it.

There were lots of lovely texts and Facebook greetings throughout the day. A plate of cookies from a neighbor, and two friends who stopped by with gifts. The doorbell also rang with the delivery of flowers! Such a surprise! I still remember when I was sent flowers by my uncle when I was about 6 -- I just couldn't have imagined something more grown up or important as to receive flowers!

There was an hour and a half set aside for reading in a chair in my bedroom. Such bliss! Especially since the library just "happened" to have delivered four amazing books yesterday so I saved them for a treat today.
Pattern -- by Emma Bridgewater
View from a Sketchbook: Nature through the eyes of Marjolein Bastin
Simple Gatherings -- Melissa Michaels
Everyday Watercolor -- Jenna Rainey
Seeing Beautiful -- Timothy Chambers (this came to the door this afternoon)

Laura and I sat and painted at the table while we waited for the big kids to come home from school. We also started reading Sleigh Bells for Windy Foot, an annual favorite.

There was another small cup of real tea and some Dundee cake when the kids arrived and it seemed amazing we could all be around the tea table in the afternoon at once!

Michael and I decided that what would be meaningful for this "big" birthday would be to take the whole family out to dinner! Since we never do this it was a treat for everyone, especially me. I love eating out, and I love enjoying a meal out with people I love. We had such a lovely time. We had to wait a long time for a table so we walked around the downtown mall and picked out what we wanted to eat from the menu on the outside of the restaurant. It was PF Chang's we had decided on. The kids loved it! I loved watching them love it! It was definitely the right gift!!!

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