Honey and the Honeycomb: December Daybook

Outside my window... it is sunny and beautiful and now that we've had a few heavy rains, everything is starting to look green again, after a very very brown drought year.

I am wearing... maternity skinny jeans (the only maternity jeans I've ever had that actually stay up!), a white shirt with pretty details around the neckline and my favorite boat shoe crocs.

I am thankful for... Lots of things:

1) A lovely weekend of Christmas joy for our family, especially the little ones. Yesterday night was the Nativity Play we've been rehearsing for the last five weeks, and it was delightful. The children were terrific, and I think, greatly satisfied with the whole event, even despite the significant delay between getting into costume and actually performing the play.

2) A wonderful, comforting visit with my midwife this past week. Not that there were any reasons I needed the comfort, it's been a good pregnancy, just that I always feel happy and good after visiting with my sweet midwife.

3) Squeezing in a few precious minutes to chat and connect with my husband during these busy days, when it seems everyone's conversations take precedence over ours!

I am thinking about... keeping a list of books I read this year. This is an exact repeat of my daybook from last January. So I'm guessing I won't do it :-) Last year, I know that I read lots of PG Wodehouse, some Wendell Berry, Driftless (a wonderful book my sister-in-law recommended), and The Brothers Karamazov (a re-read, but from a beautiful new translation so it feels like new) - I'm just at the end of this one, but haven't quite finished yet. On my wishlist for next year is Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry, and maybe some Anthony Trollope. I'm also thinking about homeschooling plans for the New Year (not the new school year).

Learning all the time... For my own learning, I think I'll probably stick with some serious classical literature (finishing The Brothers Karamazov for starters and probably starting something new along that line after a brief break) and hopefully some good spiritual reading. There is finally a women's retreat planned by our church coming up, and I'd like to go to that, if I can figure out childcare. There is a second one later in the year, but it's an overnight retreat and I'll have a newborn by then, so that seems unlikely.

From the kitchen... planning our Christmas menu with my brother Gabe is on the to-do list for today. I know we are sticking with our traditional roast beef and yorkshire pudding (so yum!) but we need to discuss side dishes and dessert. Food is a (the?) KEY part of every holiday, on my side of the family. In the pre-Christmas fast period I've been more or less good at keeping home-cooked or partially homecooked food on the table... but fasting, nursing and pregnancy, and young people have been a bit challenging to navigate.

I am creating... not really anything at the moment. I was working on a craft for our sisterhood Christmas bazaar, which was a candy-cane with a mouse (a kit someone gave me) but Chickadee ripped one of the pieces and I haven't found time to get a replacement piece of fabric yet. Craftiness otherwise has been a batch or two of granola for our Christmas packages we recently mailed, and Christmas cookies with the kids which they decorated last night.

I am working on... not losing it. I think I had gotten in the habit of losing it lately, often because it has been extra hard to pick things up, my back has not been great this pregnancy, and I've gotten frustrated with the kids when things got crazy. But also because the huzz and I hadn't been making time to talk and connect when things got busy, and so I was holding everything in. Not a wise thing to do when the majority of your household and interactions are with the under 6 crowd.

I am going... grocery shopping one more time before Christmas. Then to Vespers for the Nativity and to Christmas liturgy on Christmas day in the morning! I can hardly wait.

I am hoping... for a peaceful, joyous Christmas.

I am reading... The Brothers Karamazov. Such an amazing book. I almost never write in my books, I have a weird thing about it, but this time, I had my pencil at the ready. I'm at the very end of the trial, so almost done, but am taking it very slowly, as I want to be able to really grasp what is happening in one of the best novels ever written.

I am praying... prayers of praise and thanksgiving, I hope.

I am hearing... Sparrow getting frustrated with his backhoe/dump truck. It is not doing what he wants it to do. Chickadee is running another game in which Bluejay is her dog Patch, and Sparrow is her donkey Poula. Sweet Mr. Bluejay just fixed Sparrow's truck problem.

One of my favorite things... When these kids play together so nicely. How little Sparrow hardly needs me except for things like food and diaper changes, and important cuddle time when it's been a while.

A few plans for the rest of the week... My aunt arrives tomorrow, so dinner with her and my dad in the evening. Aaron is taking Christmas Eve off (hurray!) and two of my brothers (Gabe and family, and Marcus and his friend) arrive that day too. Then... Christmas! and Feasting!

Some picture thought I am sharing with you...