December joy

Heads up: the post will be about joy. The kind where stars are aligned to bring to your home people whom you love more than you could ever say, so that you can put foods on the table for them, and then sit back and listen as the grown folk exchange stories and young folk put on plays for you and it all feel so wonderful that for these hours, everything else is forgotten, put aside -- all you have is the joy of being together in this way. Nowhere special, nothing unusual on the table, but still, every minute is about as grand as life can get.

And you have to wonder -- do the young people in your midst realize that this is it -- that in this nest of comfort and love and support, the greatest pleasures lie? I know everyone likes getting together, over favorite foods and in warm and cozy spaces, with family, but I sometimes wonder -- do young ones have that same feeling of intense pleasure in just this sort of day?

Maybe. Though I dare say, basking in the joy of a family moment is really something that grows within you more as you get older. Each year, you come to love small pleasures more and more. And the family gatherings? They are your your cream, your utter delight.

Morning: I keep a todo list these days, because otherwise I may forget, say, the pears that should be part of the fruit plate. I look at it quickly, and then head out. Animals first of course.

Then a quick drive to Madison Sourdough where I am greeted by the guy who always puts together my pre-orders. I get a deep satisfaction from knowing that I am greeted by name here! A sign that I have made it in life -- to be a familiar face to the best bread bakers in town!

Back at the farmhouse, I start assembling the plates of food. The young families are all coming for brunch (except one son-in-law for reason that will be obvious later) and as you know, I love fixing brunch foods for them. It used to be that I would be ambitious with the cooked dish: special frittatas, shakshukas, quiches, baked by me cakes, or muffins. I've learned to do less of that when the kids are this age. My big warm dish is nothing more than scrambled eggs with bacon. Everything else simply needs to be arranged. The meats platter -- turkey, salami, cured salmon, and cheeses. The veggie platter -- cucumbers, tomatoes, avocado. The fruits platter -- pears, berries and luxuriously this month -- cherries. And the best -- the baked goods platter, with accumulated treats from the holidays and added fresh breads to it so that I have croissants, a baguette, poppy seed cake, a nut roll, the holiday pannetone, and an apple tarte tatin, with a few gingerbread cookies thrown in. I mean, everyone finds something to love. 

And someone wants to start in right away!

The cousins plunge into a project: lately they've taken to writing and putting on a play. We get one in the morning, then again a second one in the afternoon. There's a speaking part for everyone, no matter the age.

(the writing of it...)

(and the grand finale...)

Okay, time to eat.

(mmm, good!)

And let me end our morning brunch gathering with this -- a photo that I just have to take of the five-some.

What? Shocking news! Grandma wants to take a photo of us!

 

Fine! Happy to oblige!

Oh, my sweet, sweet partners in crime!!

They leave in the early afternoon and I have a short window in which to tidy up the house and, too, to do something for Ed. For me too: a brief walk in our local park. Call it a walk of gratitude. I take in many deep breaths, exhaling, thankful and happy. So much can go wrong in life and yet here we all are, with food on the table and joyful, healthy kids at our feet. And the forest there, waiting for our next walk and the one after...

We meet up again at my daughter's house. There is a lovely tradition in place whereby my son-in-law prepares for all of us a traditional Estonian Christmas meal. (He is in part of Estonian heritage and though none of these foods are ones he grew up with, still, it is something we now love to share with him. A roast pork, sauerkraut, potato pancakes. He cooks, the kids put on their second play...

We eat (accompanied by Finnish beer: think notes of juniper berries!)...

(the chef humbly accepts our gratitude...)

And now it's way past the kids' bedtime. One last picture. Of all of them. To bookmark this most incredibly beautiful holidays season. 

How I love each and every one of those guys! No, really, it does not get any better than this.

With ever the calm and patient Ed now, at the farmhouse, totally content, watching yet another horribly dramatic movie, because, well, it's just a little funny that we cannot find a perfect one this year! In this too there is joy.

and so much love...