The #greatweekend update

On Friday, Amazon and BN.com put up their links to What the Most Successful People Do on the Weekend. This ebook comes out in a little less than a month. In a strange ritual that Gutenberg probably didn’t anticipate, all books must now have their own hash tags, and the one for this will be #greatweekend. Hopefully people will use it and perhaps even post photos.

In the meantime, here’s a recap of my weekend. I had a few anchor events planned: Seeing the train display at the Morris Arboretum (Fri PM), getting and decorating our Christmas tree (Saturday), going for a run (Saturday), going to the Borrower’s Ball at the Philly library (Sat PM) and taking in a Sunday afternoon birthday party for one of my 3-year-old’s friends. While some might consider that last one a chore, I really like kids’ birthday parties, and this was a good one for reasons explained below.

The garden railway at the Morris Arboretum goes in the category of things I did for the remembering self, not the experiencing self. My kids were cranky at the end of a long week. The 3-year-old likes trains much more than the 5-year-old, who wanted to blow through the exhibit. The baby was tired, and started howling and flailing when I picked her up. So this was not exactly an enjoyable trip. However, the trains were pretty cool, and I’m glad I saw them. This is one of those things that probably would have been better if I’d only taken the child who really wanted to go. Lesson learned.

Saturday morning we went and picked out our tree at the local fire station. We went in thinking we’d get a small one and left with one that’s not small, but is festive and beautiful in its oversized splendor. We haven’t been collecting ornaments that long, but I always love pulling these little bits of memory out of their tissue paper and thinking about how much life has changed since the last Christmas.

So the morning started off well, but then the run didn’t go as planned. I wanted to run long, and I got tired in the middle and cut it to 45 minutes, and that 45 minutes involved a lot of walking. Too bad, since the day was pretty nice. I did make it to a playground later that afternoon with the kids, though, so I got a bit of outdoor active time as the thin light slanted through the gray clouds. Wintry sunsets tend to be spectacular. 

The Borrower’s Ball was a hoot. This is a big fundraiser for the Free Library of Philadelphia, and I was invited as a Philadelphia-area author. So not only did my husband and I get a swanky date night, I got to eat a great dinner while my photo was being flashed occasionally on screens around the room. A somewhat whimsical touch: the centerpieces were baby vegetables planted in edible dirt. My husband quite liked the dirt (me, not so much – I just ate the radishes). I also heartily approve of dessert bars that feature chocolate chip cookies and gummy bears.

We were up pretty early for church the next morning, redeemed by the choir singing one of my favorite spirituals: “My Lord, What a Morning” — very quiet verses, then the fortissimo bridge of “done quit all my worldly ways!” takes you by surprise even if you know it’s coming.

As for the birthday party, I knew most of the parents, it was in a contained space (a kids’ art studio with toys) so we could all relax, and the host parents brought beer and wine. So basically it was a party for the parents too. This is what I love about December. It’s all festive — a festivity that will continue this week as I celebrate my birthday. A fun get together on Sunday late in the day also helps ward off Monday morning blues. You spend Sunday looking forward to your anchor event, rather than fretting about what awaits you after the alarm clock goes off. While I like what I do, work is a bit stressful these days as I’m trying to tie up a lot of loose ends before Christmas. I like not thinking about Monday until Sunday night.

How did you celebrate the beginning of December?

Cropped photo of my tree, as it does not fit well in a thumbnail sized slot.