HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR LINNEA!
10 Octobro, 2010
Unconventional sort of Sunday…
Dad, Collette, Francis, Linnea-Irish, and Puck to church, and groceries, after Sunday School.
Mom at home with Carrie-Bri and Joe.
OLeif and Rose returning from Nashville.
An odd beginning…
Back at the house…
OLeif and Rose had returned.
Puck ran immediately to his daddy and sat on his lap, hunting for the little finger puppet and the ‘magic egg’ in the sky blue velvet bag that OLeif had used in his puppet show the previous day. Puck grinned and decided that the finger puppet raccoon/bear, would be called ‘Pup’.
“God will be with you and bring you back to me,” he said happily to his daddy.
Then half of the family napped.
Collette and Joe took Puck on a walk in the increasing heat of the afternoon. Although the day was still a beautiful one. And there was at least one tree that was turning a tolerable shade of red at the corner.
Back at the house, Puck played with Carrie’s Doctor Who doll, taking off his white chucks to compare them to his own daddy’s white chucks.
Then he lounged against his Lila for awhile, as he had done with Sun earlier in the weekend. Then he plopped himself down on Rose, right in the gut.
Then he reviewed his Sunday School lesson aloud, confusing several elements…
“God created the heavens and the earth. Two by two!”
Grandma arrived at four o’clock following her fall festival in Florissant, where Steve Davis — Elvis impersonator extraordinaire — had signed an orange scarf that smelled of his cologne, for Carrie, and a red silk rose. Grandma also had two cakes with her, homemade.
She watched Joe, Francis, and Linnea play at badminton for awhile until dinner was served: Texan-style chili (hot, and no beans) and bread and butter.
During the meal, Grandma told the story of her originally lost sunglasses that had seemed to fall out of thin air in her apartment, out of nowhere, onto a chair with a clatter, the ghostly reappearance…
“Now, I wasn’t afraid,” she said. “But I did have to wonder, just exactly where they came from out of the air, to fall in the chair. If it is a spirit, well, it’s not bothering me…”
“Well, there are spirits all around us all the time,” Dad told her.
“Well, if it’s your spirit, Snicketts,” Grandma replied, laughing, “then I’d be scared.”
Dad got his smile lines as they all laughed.
Everyone gathered together for dessert: the one cake chocolate with grape jelly and iced in pink frosting, sprinkles, a little silver tiara, and crystal bear, the other: chocolate, vanilla, and vanilla pudding, with white frosting, and little chunky pirate gadget candles, representing the two sides of Linnea.
During the song for the first cake, Puck yelled loudly above them all…
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR LINNEA! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR LINNEA! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR LINNEA!”
There was more laughter than singing.
When the second cake was lit…
“Are we going to sing for this cake too?” asked Collette.
“No, no,” Dad started.
But it was too late. And Puck immediately started in again…
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR LINNEA! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR LINNEA! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR LINNEA!”
And then the gifts: a card from Grandma Snicketts, a short novel from Collette: Sùla, and from Grandma Combs: ocean bobber salt and pepper shakers, a movie night photo album, and birthstone earrings.
Puck was also given a treat from Grandma: Darth Vadar mask and blow-up red light saber.
As OLeif, Collette, and Puck left, Grandma stayed on for a viewing of The Road to Morocco.