As I anticipated, I have already not been keeping up with this blog on a weekly basis. I’m okay with that; I don’t want this blog to feel burdensome. And of course, the fact of the matter is that not a whole lot happens on a day-to-day basis that’s necessarily blog-worthy. The trick is to find the joy in the mundane, I suppose!

That said, there is at least one big exciting thing that has happened since I last wrote. My sister and I threw my mother a surprise 60th birthday tea party, and it was a great success! We knew that my mom wanted to have a party, but because her birthday is between Thanksgiving and Christmas, she was thinking about planning something for January. My sister took matters into her own hands and got my stepfather and me in on her scheme. I’m glad she did; my mother’s reaction was priceless. It’s not every day you get to really and truly surprise someone, especially someone who would never expect others to step in and do something kind for her. It was a very satisfying (and fun!) experience.

As I write this now, we’re gearing up to go back to my mom’s for the Thanksgiving holiday. I’m looking forward to time off and time with my family. In addition to the holiday itself, we’ll be celebrating my mother’s actual birthday again. Now that I have kids, living a whole state away from my immediate family can feel a little lonely, and I want to make sure Sev and Oz get enough time with their grandparents, aunt and uncle, and little cousin. 

I think Thanksgiving is often overshadowed by Christmas, but in a lot of ways I prefer it. There’s the food, of course (mostly I mean pie–I am a yankee through and through). But also, it’s a nice low-expectation holiday in that there are no gifts to plan for, and we even split up the cooking between the families attending. And the whole point is to just…sit and eat and talk. Enjoy each other’s company. We don’t really go for the whole Black Friday shopping thing, so we can just take our time. As I said, I’m looking forward to it.

Today was, in comparison to the upcoming holiday, a little chaotic. We snagged some free entry to the Bluey event at the Boston Camp toy store. The kids had a good time, and it was honestly quite fun and well-done. But as adults, James and I of course spent most of the time poking around in spaces that were too small for us as we tried to keep track of our gremlins. Still, I’m glad we did it. As kid-centric events go, it could have been way more intense. They kept it simple with lots of great play areas, providing slides, pretend play, opportunities to build and climb, and of course…a meeting with Bluey and Bingo at the end.

Since we were at the mall, we poked around a bit. But honestly, the kids were pretty overwhelmed/overstimulated…and so was I. Mall shopping is not as fun for me as it used to be. Some of that is probably the fact that malls themselves are not as inviting as they used to be (I feel so old when I say things like that). But in recent years especially, I’ve become really disenchanted with the endless churn of consumerism. I am by no means a minimalist (I love stuff), but I am more conscious than ever of how I perpetuate certain cycles of abuse (environmental, labor, etc.). I have spent a lot of effort this year trying to find ways to be more conscientious about my spending, about wasting materials, and about how I can reuse/refurbish/repair what I have. 

Maybe that’s another reason that Thanksgiving has become such an appealing experience. Since having kids I actually do appreciate Christmas more, and I enjoy giving gifts. But I am also so exhausted by Black Friday sales that start at Halloween, every company bombarding my inbox daily with sales that honestly aren’t even that good, everyone trying to get me to buy buy buy the perfect gift. Luckily, my kids remain pretty content with what they have for the time being. Sev is definitely more aware of stuff and interested in obtaining it now that she’s older, but she’s pretty level-headed about it. And her desires, overall, are simple. (The gift she most wants is a pen she saw that has a toilet on top, and when you press a button, a little poop emoji comes out of the toilet…like I said, simple desires.) Oz…when I ask him what he wants for Christmas, he responds, “What?” Oh, to be two years old and ignorant of the burden of possession! 

What else is there to say? James (and Sev) will be taking part in a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving. I’ve been making things, both for myself and as gifts. I’ve been kind of failing on large crochet projects that I’ve put together for myself. I had planned on having a granny square cardigan complete for Halloween–that was a bust. I was working on a color blocked sweater for Thanksgiving–ran out of yarn. Alas. Once I’m done with the few gifts I’m hand-making this year (I decided to take the pressure off and not make all of them), I’ll get back into the groove of making stuff for myself without a timeline. I really want to learn how to knit socks properly (I’ve made tube socks, but I really need to learn how to turn a heel…), but I don’t think I have the time or the brain capacity to store that information right now!

James has started making ~fancy~ dinner on Sundays. Today he’s making ravioli stuffed with ground lamb. We’ve made gnocchi with pesto, he’s done paprika hendl/chicken paprikash, and last week was lamb ribs with tahdig (Persian rice). The tahdig came out especially good this time, and if you’ve never had paprika hendl (and you can handle rich and creamy sauces), I seriously recommend that as well. We’ve been getting meat from a local meat share for a while now, and these recipes are giving James more options to use what we get. (And yes, the kids eat it, too. They particularly liked the gnocchi, but then it doesn’t take much to convince them to eat pasta. They helped make it, too!)

I get the feeling that I’ve talked a lot about food this time around…well, I guess feasting is in the air this week! I’m guessing that I won’t have another update for a couple of weeks at least. So until then, I hope you’re staying warm and enjoying your loved ones!