Picture Day

It's been a lovely, lazy sort of a day.  I awoke with the intention to do all sorts of things: clean my house, water my plants, sort some of the piles in my office, write some posts, start some articles for the paper, and cook a soup.  The morning was too slow and lazy in the woodstove-warmed sun room, so I gave up on the office sorting.  I made blueberry pancakes for brunch, talked to one of my sisters for at least half an hour, and then settled in my favourite recliner to "rest my legs for just a few minutes."

Of course, any time I choose to settle in the living room, I light Dad's candles.  Right now, because it's Christmas, he has two.  The angels will be packed away in the New Year but the other candle in the glass holder is his permanently.  Kate brought one of her favourite angels up from her room to share the Christmas moments because that little angel, with its slogan of "Forever in Our Hearts," was a gift for her college graduation from Mom and Dad.

 While I rested I started looking through the Facebook albums of close family.  I don't "do" Facebook but family members often forget that and I miss out on some of their activities because the general assumption is that anyone who's interested will keep up with them on Facebook.  So, I really enjoyed my catching up time in my husband's account with the IPad and, before I knew it, it was already 4:00 pm.  Then I scrambled to deal with a huge pot of turkey stock and did manage to create a delicious soup for our supper and freeze enough stock to make two more soups later.

And ... that's all I did so far today.  I love being on holiday and I love knowing that I have eight more days of this, as I booked the whole first week of January off work.  And my reward for that little bit of work I accomplished today?  I get to write, starting with this post and then anything I want.  

I'll also probably spend some time reminiscing as I look over more pictures, some my cousin in Germany sent me a few days after Christmas.  He was kind enough to share some photos he found on his computer of Dad in younger years visiting family Germany, probably around the time Dad's mother passed away in the late 1960s.  Receiving them felt like an extra, unexpected Christmas present.

Here's a montage of Dad with his sister and brother-in-law, two of Dad with his sister, and one of Dad's sister and mother, my Oma Sauerborn.  I met my grandmother only a few times when I was about three years old, so I treasure this picture, one I had not seen before, as I have no clear memories of her.

All in all, it's been a lazy and reflective day, a day on which I hardly cried at all, and I'm glad to have shared some of its nicest moments with you.