Preparations

Thursday, December 20, 2007

“Uh oh.”

Rose was sitting on the love seat with a plate of four waffles slathered in butter and dripping in maple syrup. Some of the syrup had dribbled a line across Mom’s pillow, on which Rose had balanced her plate.

“Oh well.”

She sponged off the stickiness with the sleeve of her shirt and returned to watching the lecture on Masada and Herodion, which Collette and Carrie-Bri were also watching. For the third time that week, the third day in a row, Carrie cranked out the hair dye boxes to tame Collette’s new hair color while they prepared their minds for Israel.

“Guess what?” Rose grinned behind her only-at-home glasses. “I found all my Christmas presents last night and stacked them together in a pile?”

“Oh, come on. You didn’t really see your gifts.”

“They’re still wrapped though.”

After breakfast, Rose retired to the dining room to play games with Linnea while “Folk Dances of the World” played in the background.

“Collette?”

“Yes, Linnea.”

“Is this a dreadlock yet?”

“Almost. You didn’t really try to grow one, did you?”

Linnea’s smile was guilty.

“I haven’t brushed my hair in four days.”

That afternoon, while Puck napped, Mom and Collette braved the din and clatter of hundreds of grocery shoppers. Christmas grocery shopping. They both breathed a happy sigh of relief once the job was completed. The kids were just happy to have a load of snacks around the house for the rest of the week, what lasted longer than a few hours, anyway.

The ride home that late afternoon was mystical. Premedieval landscapes – black, snow-filled forests, low mists over the hills…