Today (sunday) felt like a day out of time, outside of the calendar, not accounted for. Free. I went to bed last night dreading this day, actually, because it was supposed to be so busy for me, straight from 9:30 am to 9:30 pm. But I woke up to a blanket of snow and the squeals of kids jumping on the trampoline. Church was canceled. I stayed in my pajamas the entire day. Mike made beef vegetable stew and bread. I spent the day playing the piano and preparing little gifts to deliver. I snacked, I read. I didn't accomplish much, but everything I did was
bonus. I could not have planned a more perfect day, because days like today cannot be planned.
Sydney and Maia dance around like giggle-heads
every day, but today was especially gleeful. I said "I'm so glad you two get along so well....when I was your age my sister and I hated each other." Maia smiled at me with pity and stage-whispered, "your brothers hated you, too." She had that look on her face like,
I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you. It was hilarious. (p.s. my siblings and I get along great--now.)
Back to the snow: My main function today was to let these two in and out of the house all day. Neither Maia nor Milo know how they feel about snow. I finally told Maia that every time she came in she needed to stay in for at least 15 minutes (which is not long enough for mittens to dry).
For "church" I read a story from the Friend magazine about building a tradition of helping others at Christmas time, and Mike shared some scriptures about service. Then we made these ornaments with canning rings for our old spare fake tree. We wrote gifts we could give to the Lord this season. Maia wrote "dance," and "sing," and "make cookies." It was a fun activity and the picture doesn't really do the cute tree justice.
Monday's continuation: The only sad thing about the bonus day yesterday was realizing how much we needed the break. Why do we let ourselves run on empty? Why do I commit to so many things? I was sad to have the Messiah performance postponed, but otherwise I was celebrating the day off! Now I'm trying not to feel guilty for that--hurray for snow!
So my bonus day of the previous post turned into a bonus week. No school, lots of play. My parents came up to go to the temple Friday and decided to stay through to Christmas. We're thrilled to be snowed in with them. My dad and Sam heroically shoveled the driveway and sidewalk (while I was still sleeping).
Milo is still confused about the snow.
Mike made caramel corn, then heroically cleaned
Sam's ice castle.
