This morning on my way in to work there were two rather interesting occurrences; one, a conversation with my daughter and two, something I saw on West Saanich Road (VERY busy street near the prison!!)
First of all - the street visual. I had dropped the kids off at their Grandma's house while I headed in for a rather short work day (thank you Anne!) when my head did a double take. On the side of the road, an extremely busy bustling street, was a house that cornered a cul-de-sac. It had no fence either on the side or front of the property. And on it, wandering around to their hearts content, were three live turkeys !!!! I'm not sure if they escaped from the farms across the road or if the owner of the home was giving them one last free walk before Christmas dinner!!!! It was quite a sight and I couldn't stop laughing. I really did feel like they may be escaping some farmer's cleaver, intent on selling them to the highest bidder!
Secondly, my talk with Brooklyn: there have been outside-movie viewings these past few weeks at the Ocean Point Hotel. Our tenant, Sherisse, said she went to one of them and it was really fun so I thought maybe we could try and catch one as a family. You know, our own little special Christmas moment. I explained this to the kids and they asked what movies were being shown on what days etc. Well we missed ELF, and a few others, and in fact tonight's is the last showing. I was told it was "It's A Wonderful Life". Let's be honest, whether or not you love the movie it is a Christmas Classic. And I have always believed that my children should be exposed to the Classics as much as possible during their short childhood.
Well the first thing that pops out of my daughter's mouth is "Is it a black and white movie?" Upon answering her affirmatively there was a sigh from both children in the back seat. "No thanks, I don't like black and white movies; they just don't make enough sense". After explaining that since the movie is still IN ENGLISH (!!!), the script would make PERFECT sense to her, Zachary chips in "Although I do agree with you Mum that it would still make sense, I do think Brooklyn is right about this one", (SHOCKER - that rarely happens.....), "black and white movies just aren't as good."
So you can imagine my slight disappointment of seeing my family moment crushed into a pile of dust, but here is where it got interesting:
Me: "Brooklyn, why do you think b & w movies aren't as good?"
B: "Because colour talks."
???? - I wasn't about to assume anything here so I probed a bit further....
Me: "Colour talks?"
B: "yeah, colour is more alive and awake and tells a story.... for example, if there are two sisters on the screen, and they are twins, you may not know it with a black and white movie. But if it is in colour then you can see that in fact they are twins as their clothes were exactly the same."
Hmmmm........
Colour does talk doesn't it?
The evergreens tell us there is still life through Winter.
The bright wrapping papers cry out to be torn open to reveal precious surprises.
The golden turkey shouts out 'Dinner time!'
The red raw skin on your husband's hands tells you he finished building that Christmas present (thanks hon!).
And the fresh pink skin of a tiny baby in a manger told us the Light of the World had come. His red blood was shed at Calvary and his white garments showed the way to Salvation.
May you experience Jesus throughout this season, and 2010.
Merry Christmas to All, and to All a Good Night!
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Thursday, December 17, 2009
The Things We Do For Our Kids
So I had a wedding cake to do for Katie Peterson from our church and her wedding was last Saturday. As I was prepping for it a few days earlier my son says to me "Oh Mum, by the way, I told my teachers that you would make a cake for our class Christmas Party!" As sighs went off quietly in my head I calmly said to him "Ok, and what day is that for Zachary?" "Next Wednesday" he says.
So really, no big deal. I'll whip up a rectangular cake, toss some icing on it and call 'er done.
No chance.
This is how the conversation went two days later, while I am in the middle of completing a 3-tiered wedding cake for 160 people:
Z: "Mum, what have you got planned for my class cake?"
Me: "Ummm..... planned?"
Z: "Yeah, is it going to be a 2 tiered or 3 tiered fondant cake ?"
WHOA! Back up the grocery truck! We are talking about a class of grade 5 students and two teachers here, who are probably so run off of their feet they would eat ANYthing as long as they didn't have to prepare it themselves !!!!
Me: "Ummm.... well Zachary, it's going to be a ONE-TIERED cake with no fondant in sight. Plus, children don't like fondant."
Z:"Seriously???? Coz I don't want it to be a lame cake."
Insert thought - so apparently, every other cake I have ever made if not for a wedding, baby shower, engagement party etc., has fallen under the 'lame' category. To my son, who has probably seen more cherry blossoms than any 10 year old boy would wish to see, it appears that any 'normal' cake (you know, the ones we ALL make.....) is 'lame'.
Me: "Oh really? And what exactly were you expecting on this NON-LAME cake of yours?"
Z: "Well not too much, just Santa in the sleigh being pulled by his reindeer."
Right. Not happening!
Me: "I'll give you a snowman and 3 trees and that's it."
Zachary: "Alright then."
Then after the fact I remembered something.... when I was young my parents were always having people over for dinner. It involved us three children having an earlier supper, and my Mum working away in the kitchen to prepare their friends a meal at which time us 3 kids would disappear to play in our rooms together and stay out of the way. Then one week my parents told us they were having friends over again (which had been happening a lot at this time) and explained that the same routine would ensue. Well, as a treat they had actually prepared the meal for US! The fondue set which was usually only brought out for the special guests, was intended for us kids - WE were the special guests! And then I thought that this cake was kind of like that; Zachary watches me do all of these special cakes for other people and I thought, you know what? He is as special as any one of them.... (More so - he's mine !) So the snowman and trees were not 'iced on' but were made with the 3-D dimensions and love that only a mother can give. And a little extra effort was taken to make sure that the snow looked just right and that the holly he requested made it into all 3 corners.
I hope I take more time in the future not to be so busy for people around me, that I don't notice the little things that make my children's eyes light up.
Footnote: the fondant trees and snowman? Apparently eaten by the entire class in little chunks.
And finally yesterday when unpacking his backpack....
"Zachary - why didn't you eat any of your lunch?" "I was too busy serving people cake....."
:)
So really, no big deal. I'll whip up a rectangular cake, toss some icing on it and call 'er done.
No chance.
This is how the conversation went two days later, while I am in the middle of completing a 3-tiered wedding cake for 160 people:
Z: "Mum, what have you got planned for my class cake?"
Me: "Ummm..... planned?"
Z: "Yeah, is it going to be a 2 tiered or 3 tiered fondant cake ?"
WHOA! Back up the grocery truck! We are talking about a class of grade 5 students and two teachers here, who are probably so run off of their feet they would eat ANYthing as long as they didn't have to prepare it themselves !!!!
Me: "Ummm.... well Zachary, it's going to be a ONE-TIERED cake with no fondant in sight. Plus, children don't like fondant."
Z:"Seriously???? Coz I don't want it to be a lame cake."
Insert thought - so apparently, every other cake I have ever made if not for a wedding, baby shower, engagement party etc., has fallen under the 'lame' category. To my son, who has probably seen more cherry blossoms than any 10 year old boy would wish to see, it appears that any 'normal' cake (you know, the ones we ALL make.....) is 'lame'.
Me: "Oh really? And what exactly were you expecting on this NON-LAME cake of yours?"
Z: "Well not too much, just Santa in the sleigh being pulled by his reindeer."
Right. Not happening!
Me: "I'll give you a snowman and 3 trees and that's it."
Zachary: "Alright then."
Then after the fact I remembered something.... when I was young my parents were always having people over for dinner. It involved us three children having an earlier supper, and my Mum working away in the kitchen to prepare their friends a meal at which time us 3 kids would disappear to play in our rooms together and stay out of the way. Then one week my parents told us they were having friends over again (which had been happening a lot at this time) and explained that the same routine would ensue. Well, as a treat they had actually prepared the meal for US! The fondue set which was usually only brought out for the special guests, was intended for us kids - WE were the special guests! And then I thought that this cake was kind of like that; Zachary watches me do all of these special cakes for other people and I thought, you know what? He is as special as any one of them.... (More so - he's mine !) So the snowman and trees were not 'iced on' but were made with the 3-D dimensions and love that only a mother can give. And a little extra effort was taken to make sure that the snow looked just right and that the holly he requested made it into all 3 corners.
I hope I take more time in the future not to be so busy for people around me, that I don't notice the little things that make my children's eyes light up.
Footnote: the fondant trees and snowman? Apparently eaten by the entire class in little chunks.
And finally yesterday when unpacking his backpack....
"Zachary - why didn't you eat any of your lunch?" "I was too busy serving people cake....."
:)
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