The moon is so bright and beautiful these days. I don’t even need a flashlight to walk between the houses. It’s nights like these that make me want a big sky light!
Steve strung white lights through the furring strips on our unfinished ceiling tonight. The effect is very pleasant and bright enough so that I don’t really need to turn on any other lights. The boys love it and asked to read their bedtime stories downstairs instead of up in bed.
We got a jump start on the holiday season this weekend. On Friday the children came down to find an advent calendar displayed in the window. Beneath it was a chair covered in colored silks with several small packages. They were allowed to open the first advent door, but the presents were to wait until Daddy came home. There was a Christmas songbook with a CD, a lovely book for each of the boys and tickets to see The Nutcracker! We’ve been listening to our CD and learning the songs from it and the books turned out to be just the right thing for our little ones. Galen got “On Mother’s Lap” in board book form. This was a favorite of both of his brothers. It’s about a mama and her little boy rocking and cuddling in a rocking chair. The little boy keeps getting down to get something else (his blanket or a toy). When baby wakes up and wants to join too the little boy says there isn’t room, but mama makes room for everyone and everything. I can remember rocking and reading with Iain when he was a toddler and Steve bringing something to represent each thing in the book as I got to that part of the story, just to see if it would all fit!
Elijah got “Little Snow Bear”. It’s the story of a baby polar bear searching for the sun in the middle of winter, so fitting for this time of year! The water color pictures are simply stunning… It’s a sweet simple story and one that seems to suit him very well.
Iain is coming up on his 7th birthday now. “The Seven Year Wonder” book fits in to our upcoming celebration of his transition into middle childhood, which is part of why we decided to give these presents early. So far it’s been wonderful! Tonight’s story involved a dragon covered in stars who protects a child. Thanks to that story I’ve spent the night boiling a dragon in my big black canning pot like something out of some screwy fairy tale! You see Iain has a dragon. A sweet wool and cotton one made for him by a WAHM, a couple of years ago as a Solstice present. It’s the only stuffed toy, apart from the dolls, that I’ve promised to try to save from the old/mold house. It’s been a faithful friend, a protector against bad dreams, and it just happens to be covered in stars…. Unlike the dolls which I made to begin with, I have no idea how this was put together and I’d be scared to take it apart. So my only option is to try to kill any mold spores that might be in it. So I’m doing what I can and hoping for the best. I would love to be able to tuck it into bed with him tonight, but that seems highly unlikely. I’ll be satisfied with being able to save it at all.
Today was a actually a really hard day, but I’ve been feeling really peaceful tonight. Hopefully tomorrow will go better.