Christmas Lights
Sunday was more crisp cold.
At breakfast, Puck stirred up his oatmeal, saying, “I need go shopping for some sugars.”
At church, Puck was able to meet Ivy again, after which he called her ‘Miss Sparkling’.
After services, it was time for taco salad and a vanilla cake frosted, and with colored sprinkles.
Conversation around the dinner table provided for the usual laughs. And then Carrie lit one of the little angel candles in the center of the table.
“Don’t light that!” Mom exclaimed. “That’s a collector’s item from the ’60’s!”
Carrie quickly blew it out.
“That could pay for someone’s college education,” Mom joked.
Gifts came next — a goofy pirates card which spoke pirate-ese to her when she pulled on the pirate’s jaw. A picture dictionary of Portuguese vocabulary. And the best piece — a print of her favorite painting — Philosopher in Meditation — by Rembrandt. Gorgeous. So many generous gifts for a birthday that, as Megan Salthouse put it, was ‘the square of a prime’.
And then they passed around the squares of cake with colored flame candles, all but two of which Collette blew out with her first attempt.
Afterward, OLeif, Rose, and Francis were sitting around the living room. Rose was commenting on how Snuggles changed the pitch of his ‘squeaker’ in order for people to feel sorry for him.
“He’s a smart cat,” she said.
“I think you give him too much credit,” said OLeif.
“Hey,” said Francis, “any cat that can change the pitch of his voice to woe the hearts of its owner, is an intelligent cat.”
“You mean ‘woo’?” Rose laughed.
“Yeah… woo the hearts…”
In the gray cold of the afternoon, Collette, Carrie-Bri, and Rose did a little Christmas shopping at World Market and Yankee Candle to finish off a gift basket for Grandpa, Martha, Eriic, and Amanda — coffee crunch popcorn, a variety of Ghirardelli chocolate squares, blueberry tea, and votive candles.
When they returned, everyone was busy watching the old Andy Williams Christmas Special while Puck marched around in Joe’s flip-flops and Mom’s pink slippers. And Joe continued to build up the fire in the wood burning stove.
This was followed with a traditional Christmas lights drive for the entire family through Old St. Charles. The sparkling white lights on the cobblestone streets, and on the trees in the old Victorian houses, and the greenery. It was very beautiful. Then on the way back, Francis was dropped off at the Eight’s house for the high school youth group Christmas party, Joe at Curly’s to see Avatar (where OLeif later joined them), and then a Little Caesar’s pick-up before returning back to the house in the frigid night. And Rose left to join Magnus and Augustus to make breakfast foods and supposedly watch Kingdom of Heaven, after she picked up the orange juice.