Traditions and time.

When I was growing up, Sunday dinner was a tradition. No matter what had happened during the week, by Sunday evening the table was being dressed with a table cloth. My mom had a collection which in my young mind was the definition of wealth and refinement. More often than not, the fine china was getting pulled out. There was an elegant water pitcher. There would be a roast, mashed potatoes, vegetables, rolls, fruit.

Okay, some weeks were more elegant than others, but to be sure, not a week was missed. I went through a phase around my junior year of High School where I actually couldn't stand eating the Sunday dinner, but all these many years later, it's all roses and smiles. And I'm so glad about that!

The food would be eaten and gone quickly. We were after all, a young family with six kids, but if my memory serves me right, there were times when we stayed at that table for up to an hour, laughing, talking, debating, teasing, etc. Sometimes so long that it would be time for dessert. I remember the go-to Sunday dinner dessert was a Pilsbury bundt cake mix, cooked in a bundt pan, drizzled right out of the oven with the sugary topping, served next to a ginormous scoop of any of five flavors of ice cream. We always had ice cream in five different varieties in the freezer at all times.

I haven't carried on the tradition of the roast, or the five flavors of ice cream in my freezer. But pulling out the table cloth is a must, as is sitting down all together. And often I'm still lingering at the table even after everyone else is gone, remember when I used to linger at my mom's dining room table as a kid. I hope that someday my kids will have longer attention spans, and more to say that just knock-knock jokes, and they'll linger with me. But for two Sundays in a row we've wanted to produce a Sunday dinner worthy dessert, and have had only the ingredients on hand to make magic happen. I'm happy to say that we've been able to pull out our Williams-Sonoma, bundt cake pans, most recently the "Snowy Village Cakelet Pan Set", and have a bit of Sunday dessert magic of our own. Turning it into the "snowy" village is the ladies favorite part. The batter is quite possibly my favorite part. But having a tradition, even if it is just the beginning of one, is of course better than any of it. And were I inclined to heartily endorse a product, I would indeed endorse Williams-Sonoma Bundt pans with all my heart. We have three. Each one works like a charm, every time we use it, including the first time we used it. And there isn't anything I like better in a product that faithfully producing the product it says it will produce. Know what I mean?

The Snowy Village Cakelet Pan Set, consider it as a Christmas gift this year, I'm serious.



In other news, Henry bemoans his homework every night. It gets in the way of his reading, and all he wants to do is read one good book after another. He doesn't even let a day laps between the completion of one, and the start of another. I LOVE that about him. He is MY son. I knew he was, but it's so sweet to see this trait emerge. He is ever searching for his next great read. Book series are his favorite because then you always know what to read next. But when it ends, it sometime hits him hard. George kind of teased him last night at the dinner table that he had a book. The Major suggested the book get put away, and I agree, but then I told them a story about when I had kids, one of the greatest things I dreamed of, is that they would love to read. George looked at me and said, "I love to read too." And I said, "I know you do, that's why I told the story. You have all turned into readers, and I LOVE IT."

Next, I am busily working everyday to get our Christmas gifts mailed back to the states. This is the first morning in about ten when I have felt like I could sit down mid-morning for a blogging break.

In hopes that it was my last time there, I was at the post office this morning at 9am. I didn't have the ladies with me, because I had just dropped them off at school. I ran into a young mother, a friend of mine, who's husband works with the Major. Her baby is seven months old, and she's tired. She hasn't slept an uninterrupted night of sleep in seven months now. She was appealing to me for some motherly advice. She thought she had maybe already asked me before how I ever got babies to sleep, but she'd forgotten my answer and wondered if I'd remind her.

I had to pause for a moment.

How did one get a baby to sleep?

I had almost forgotten.

I was able to remember a few anecdotes and mostly sympathize and give her encouragement that time passes faster than anything, and someday she'll be standing in a post office without any little kids around her, at all, and someone will ask her something about babies, and she'll forget that she used to know the answer to that question.

It's bittersweet I tell you. It really is.

But then she told me that she saw Darin the other night at a work function and that he had our ladies with him. She decided to ask him about his memories of how to teach babies to sleep through the night. She reported to me that his answer was something like,

"To be honest, I can't remember. Annee did it all. She just did it all. She let me sleep, every night."

I hope you'll believe me when I say that I nearly got a lump in my throat, and maybe had to wipe a tear out of my eye. The Major and I are not overly mushy or lovey-dovey. That would be unappealing to both of us. We are casual, and love to laugh with each other and don't ever say the lovey-dovey sort of things to one another, unless it make for a good joke, then we might. But somehow hearing that he had said that about me to a friend of ours had me glowing inside. What a sweet memory for him to have of me, during quite possibly the hardest time of our lives.

I'm certain I did not let him sleep through the night every night while I juggled about with two babies. But that that is his lasting impression is so unbelievably kind of him, I nearly wanted to bust into his top-secret location and give him a hug on the spot. But that most definitely would have violated our rules of non-lovey-dovey behavior.

Instead I just gave him a blog tribute. I hope he likes it :)

Those are my thoughts this morning in December. Have a great day!