
Another great joy was Annie and her new roller-skates. First, I cannot help but be reminded by Annie’s hope for skates of my Granny Ruth, who many decades ago, asked Santa to bring her skates, and also to help the poor children (recorded as a letter to Santa published in her local paper, and sweet because she herself was a very poor child of the Depression). Annie rolled all across our floors for literally 13 hours and it was a very, very adorable sight.
After holding out for 7 months on a coffee maker (we’ve used a French press all this time), I got Ron a real coffee maker. It even makes foam. I have been in a “wait and see” stage for all this time, and finally determined what my favorite kind is (Lavazza), assumed/hoped Ron would love it too, and took the plunge. Boy, is it nice!
Sebastian was UNUSUALLY pleasant today–not the typical “child who has little sleep and too much sugar and so even though he has a manic high in the morning, he crashes and burns and we force him to take a nap.” No, he was steady and happy all day. He got all these toys that required that someone help him set them up. But no one was really dying to do that. We did help him with the Play-Doh barber shop, with the guy and gal who’s hair grows when you turn the crank, and then you cut and style it (I had it when I was a girl living in Dallas in 1977). But other than that, I was cooking TONS of food, putting on a birthday party for Leigh in the afternoon. I made Florentine steaks (like t-bone), a roasted chicken, braised radicchio, sautéed endive with sweet balsamic sauce, roasted yellow cauliflower with parmesan, and mashed potatoes. Ron topped it off with Socher torte, white chocolate croissants, and lots of treats. Plus Prosecco and Brunello red wine.
Instead of fussing, Sebastian played the thing he could–police–ALL DAY LONG. It was really adorable. I love that kid. He’s going to be all grown up very soon. I cherished him saying prayers tonight, and thanking God for the presents Santa had brought him. Be still my heart.