Every year during February vacation (and sometimes other vacations) Lillia makes pretzels with Mémé (my mother-in-law). Here are some photos from this year’s bretzel-making day.
valentine’s day
From a letter by Mark Twain to Clara Spaulding, August 20, 1880:
There isn’t time, so brief is life, for bickerings, apologies, heartburnings, callings to account; there is only time for loving, and but an instant, so to speak, for that.
He gave me a yummy sandwich from the Walpole Grocery and these beautiful tulips that are sure to bloom and brighten our home over the coming days.
I gave him brownies, and these cute little brownie bites that I discovered on Pinterest.
Despite its commercial nature, it isn’t an entirely bad thing to have a whole day devoted to love. If there’s something we need more of in this world, I can’t think of anything we need more of than love.
epiphany
From Rainer Maria Rilke’s “The Birth of Christ”:
Each golden artifact and perfumed spice
That roams distraught among the senses –
All these were of such sudden brevity
And, in the end, brought only sorrow.
happy new year
Like most people we enjoy celebrating the New Year, but we are introverts and big parties aren’t really our thing (especially not since we had kids…no hangovers for mama!). So, our New Year’s Eve was pretty quiet — I didn’t even make it to midnight. My husband and I drank a little champagne and talked about Viking sagas and manual camera settings.
On New Year’s Day we always get together with my in-laws for a lucky meal and a few fun traditions. We light twelve candles in honor of the 12 months of the year.
And, we write down the things from the last year that we want to leave behind, and then burn the scrap of paper in the fire. This year, my list was pretty short. All in all, 2012 was a good year. I’m looking forward to discovering what 2013 will bring.
nine!
I cannot believe that my little girl is nine. Inconceivable.
“I would have given anything to keep her little. They outgrow us so much faster than we outgrow them.”
– Jodi Picoult, My Sister’s Keeper