December weekends tend to be pretty full, though usually in a good way. This one certainly was.
I took Friday off work to celebrate my birthday. I feel there should be some benefits of self-employment!
The day started quite well. When I went to wake my daughter up, she handed me a sign saying this was the first of many birthday signs. And sure enough, when I went downstairs, there were post-it notes everywhere wishing me a happy birthday. She had strategically placed them in places I look, like on the carton of eggs in the fridge, and on the cabinet where I get my coffee mug. The sign on my purse said “47 years of awesome.” So sweet!
I got a massage, then drove to the Brandywine Museum of Art to see their dollhouse and holiday train displays. I also did a little shopping of their Christmas critter ornaments for people. Then I drove about 15 minutes south (crossing the border to Delaware, apparently) to Winterthur, which is an old du Pont mansion. They had 20 themed Christmas trees in various rooms (including a MacBeth tree with a cauldron under it, I kid you not). Then I saw their gingerbread train set and their dollhouse — also decorated for Christmas. And I shopped at their gift store too. It was snowing slightly, so that made everything feel a little more festive for sure.
After getting home I collected everyone, had them bundle up, then we went to the holiday train display over at Morris Arboretum. Then we went to Coyote Crossing in Conshohocken, which is my favorite Mexican restaurant. I celebrated with a margarita and guacamole. We came home and did cake and presents. My husband and I went for a late night walk with the dog and it started snowing then too.
On Saturday I got up early to take the 16-year-old to a robotics competition. My daughter and I made dough for Christmas sugar cookies and for gingerbread cookies, then put this in the fridge to chill. Then I took an Uber downtown to sing in two “Carols by Candlelight” concerts with Choral Arts Philadelphia. As we were beginning to rehearse the director asked if I could do public readings and I said “sure.” So next thing I knew I was enlisted to do a dramatic reading of “little tree,” the poem by e.e. cummings. It’s a very whimsical poem, and hey, I got to perform it twice. We did a show at 4, then I hung out in Rittenhouse Square for an hour, then we did it again. My husband came to the second one and then we went to Talula’s Garden for a date night dinner.
Sunday featured the usual run of church, tennis lessons, etc. But in between my daughter and I rolled out our cookies, baked, and frosted them. Then I took the 5-year-old to the “live nativity” at church (there were sheep), where he made several ornaments. Then he had a brief rehearsal, and then he sang with the junior choristers in a family service. It was very cute. They sang “Prepare the way of the Lord” at the beginning (I had been enlisted to do back-up vocals for this one) and “Away in the Manger.”
I then took my daughter shopping at one of her favorite stores as payment for her babysitting the night before (she and the 16-year-old were supposed to share this, and then he got invited to a party he really wanted to go to…). We got a few things, then came home and my husband and I cooked fish tacos together — a new recipe, with breaded and fried halibut, but it turned out pretty decently. So that was a nice way to end the weekend.
I didn’t do a content post last Friday, but please do check out my Before Breakfast interview with Nicholas Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic, who is also a very serious amateur runner. He talks about fitting this into his busy life.
And here’s a sonnet, called “December issue” about a rather lovely photo spread in a magazine…
A tartan blanket on each chair, the snow
is new and spotless, rare as it must be
in this part of the world. A cozy glow
is coming from the fire, and each tree
is full of lights, a twinkling fairy scene
for Christmas. Grab a mug of cocoa, gaze
upon the pages in this magazine —
a festive backyard party for these days
of wonder. Still I know it likely rained
right afterward. I also do suspect
this photo shoot, so carefully arranged
took place in January, as I checked
and there was no white Christmas. Still I feel
that what we wish to be can still be real.
Back up vocals for the choristers is becoming my specialty. One of the joys of being a soprano who is also always there when the choristers are performing because one of my kids is a chorister too.
It sounds like you had a lovely birthday!