In the morning Abe read to Clarissa between calls. This is his busiest time of the year at work but he is still such a committed and loving dad. This is the sweetest girl. After my workout on my way up the stairs I found her playing quietly with Lincoln Logs.Lydia dyed a lot of snow blue and then informed her siblings they were to dress up for Christmas pictures. And then she took this photo of Mary.For lunch I made mushroom “crab” cakes out of lion’s mane mushrooms and king trumpet mushrooms, along with a cheese souffle and steamed broccoli. Here Ammon and Clarissa are shredding the mushrooms for the mushroom crab cakes.
I also went grocery shopping and picked up some fabric at Joanne’s. In the evening we went outside to see Saturn and Jupiter, which were both visible. I had Gustav Holst’s Jupiter playing inside with the door open so we could both see and listen. I wonder if that song got played a LOT that night all over the world.
Jupiter is the visible dot in the sky.
Our old neighbors are related to our new neighbors, and they came over and set up a telescope in our yard. We went out to take a look, and that was neat. But I actually have some hard feelings towards the ex- neighbors that set up the telescope (unrelated to the telescope), so after seeing them I went inside to decompress. Abe, as usual, is the kindest and hardest-to-offend person on the planet, so he helped me through those emotions afterward. He is so emotionally generous, even when people are at their gruffest. I wish I could be more like him.
On Tuesday Abe and I started the day by doing five rounds of the five hundred workout. As painful as that workout is, I love doing it with Abe. We listen to Matisyahu, and Abe calls out all sorts of encouragement as I slowly make my way through the movements.
Afteward I played a little with Clarissa and was so tired and snappy while cleaning the kitchen that Abe gave me a foot massage and told me I needed a nap, which I gratefully took. I assume I did some laundry and tidied the house afterward, but I honestly can’t remember what I did even though I am typing this less than a day after.
Oh, at one point I did teach Mary how to sew. First I brought out my sewing machine and figured out it is broken, and then I taught her how to sew by hand. She and Lydia spent a lot of the day sewing together. Mary made the first half of a pillow as a Christmas present for Ammon, and Lydia made him a pair of elf slippers! Abe and I were totally amazed. (Ammon was slightly annoyed. Lydia kept interrupting his play to instruct him to close his eyes and kept trying the slippers on him for size. She wanted to make sure they would be perfect.)
We also took the kids on a walk around the block in the evening. It was freezing cold and Lydia kept announcing her face was going to fall off, but we made it a mile. Clarissa was exhausted but Abe carried her on his shoulders and I think she stopped protesting perhaps because she was so stunned by the cold. Then we came inside and the kids watched Inside Out while I made pumpkin chia, buckwheat, and whole wheat flax waffles and split pea soup. For dessert we had some blackberry fool that Mary made after reading A Fine Dessert.
Then Lydia and Mary put Ammon down while Abe put Clarissa down and I binge watched Dash and Lily. It was adorable!
