Mother's Day

Jeffrey and I usually don't buy into the marketing scams and schemes of minor celebratory days like Valentines (I'd rather get flowers on a day when I knew he thought of it himself, I feel no need to collect conflict diamonds, when I want chocolate I goes and gets it, etc.) and Mother's and Father's Day (though we truly celebrated the first ones), and we're working hard to extend this attitude to Christmas as well. The older I get the more I think of More Stuff as More Stuff to Clean/Move/Store/Clean Again, and really, with the exception of good jeans, shoes that manage to be both comfortable and stylish, and one day next year a new car, it's only ever More Stuff.






How DO we like to celebrate special days, then, you ask? Perhaps you haven't been reading long...we like to EAT our way through every national and religious holiday and family occasion! It could be argued that, long-term, this isn't the best choice either, but we are usually pretty good at making sure the majority of it is actually half-way decent for our bodies as well as tasty. I wish I could say that all of our food choices are completely sane and ethical, but come on...baby steps. We ARE however, champion recyclers, have almost no chemically-based cleaning products in our home, and I put my produce directly into the cart--no plastic bags. I think if everyone changed just 2-3 bad lifestyle habits a year the world would quickly become a better place. So ideal eating is pushed back to next year...




We also like to celebrate with family, both chosen family and family of origin.







This Mother's Day was a weekend-long celebration. On Saturday morning we all went over to my mom and sister's new house for brunch. Jeffrey's parents were there too and it's always fun when Pea gets both sides of her family at once. Tiff made a tasty strata (with Pea exclaiming loudly over each piece of ham she could dig out "AM! NUMMY! Pea LIKE am!"), I brought apple-pecan-sour-cream muffins (I'm posting that recipe later--super easy and so, so good!), there was lots of fruit and fresh coffee and our childhood "special day drink", what we called Orange Juice Refreshers (equal parts frozen oj concentrate and milk, popped into the blender till frothy--yummmm!) Then gifts were passed around and my family totally spoiled me--beautiful bowls of the perfect 1950's blue, a really cute shirt and earrings, and a potted freesia that's been making our living area smell amazing ever since.



Sunday morning I woke up to Jeffrey taking Penelope downstairs to make breakfast, so I laid in bed and read and felt completely lazy and relaxed until I heard voices and footsteps and the smell of fresh coffee. I got yummy breakfast of omelets and potatoes in bed--something every Mother should get to experience at least once (even if it does skeeve Oprah out). I got a card with Pea's crayon signature and the perfect, soft and pretty nightgown and robe for the hospital. The plan is to not even have a reason to wear those god-awful gowns this time around and a have a few more pictures I actually want to show people.



Thank you, family...I felt very loved and honored. It's kind of unreal that this is already my third Mother's Day. That almost makes me feel older than my actual age.