“New Year’s Day. A fresh start. A new chapter in life waiting to be written. New questions to be asked, embraced and loved. Answers to be discovered and then lived in this transformative year of delight and self-discovery. Today, carve out a quiet interlude for yourself in which to dream, pen in hand. Only dreams give birth to change.”
~Sarah Ban Breathnach~
Happy New Year!
It’s taking me a bit of time to get rolling this year. Our holiday celebrations took a toll on me. I thought I was doing amazing. The house was sparkling, (and decluttered!!!) the tree and Christmas decorations were up, most of my baking was done, and all the presents were wrapped and hidden safely away from curious little ones asking questions like, “is Santa real?” and “how does he get through the glass that covers our gas fireplace?”
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| I was pretty proud of myself. We got this Grand Fir and the huge poinsettia that’s in the living room with points from the Super Store. Little things like that really helped so we could stretch our dollars at Christmas time. |
Then on the Thursday before Christmas, during our twin daughter’s violin recital, I started to feel hot and dizzy. That was the beginning. Even though I pushed through the few next days, buying a horde of groceries on Friday and then on Saturday doing all the final things to ready our house for our returning, out of town children, I knew some kind of virus was taken me hostage.
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| Victoria before the December recital |
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| Kathryn a bit before the recital…the recital when I started to feel ill…..but the concert was GREAT! |
And sure enough, as Christmas loomed, a roaring headache took hold, my body was feverish and I started to cough. I had contracted a respiratory flu virus. I think I could even trace the moment it flew into my mouth. The weeks before Christmas, our three youngest took turns being sick and one evening, as I was reading with Victoria, she turned to me and coughed right in my face. In slow motion, I could feel the invisible virus laughing and jeering at me. I think I may have staved off the illness too as my immune system has been really strong but in December I was burning the candle pretty low, and it pushed myself beyond even my limits.
And those limits are far.
I have built a strong endurance muscle over the years. I think a lot of women with large families have this muscle. It’s called, “if you don’t do it, it won’t get done.”
Since I have three Christmas babies, (Clark born on Dec 20th, Harrison born on the 19th, and Grace was born on Dec 5th. She was actually due on the 18th. Can you imagine having children’s birthday’s on the 18th, 19th, and 20th and then doing Christmas!!! Thankfully she arrived a few weeks early. Suffice it to say, I have had a few holiday seasons were I was nursing a newborn, throwing birthday parties, caring for older children, buying and wrapping presents and then stuffing and cooking the turkey; WITHOUT ANY HELP..
Yeah so my limits and ability to get through difficult times are tremendous.
But this year, that virus really took the edge off things.
Being sick while trying to push through teaches valuable lessons. That there are times in life when you have to really listen to your body, slow down and do just what needs doing.And sometimes you have to ask for help.
Hmmmm, imagine that….asking for help.
There is a certain sense of strength that comes after pushing through a tough time and finding yourself on the other side. But being able to ask for help teaches us to be humble enough to realize that we can’t always do it all.
And it’s okay.
Somehow I made it through the holidays. On Dec 23rd, I had to ask my oldest son to cook the rib roast and pull together dinner and he did an amazing job. On Dec 24th, Alyssa and Grace iced the dozens of gingerbread and sugar cookies I had made. Even Will trudged through the deep snow and fed the chickens a few times.
As Alyssa was combing through her books and belongings and deciding what to take back to her new home, she tossed me a book that she had already read.
Guess what it’s called?
“The Art of Asking.” by Amanda Palmer
And while I have not read this book…yet…. I thought it was pretty remarkable that our oldest daughter, who is just in her 20’s, has already contemplated something that I have taken a lifetime to learn. Maybe we do build our own endurance muscles when we do it ourselves. I know Alyssa certainly has since she picked herself up and flew off to London to teach for two years without hardly knowing a soul. She had to move several times, schlepping her suitcases onto buses and trains and got herself all over London on various teaching assignments.
There are times in our life when we push our limits and build our muscles and there are times when we hit a wall and have to ask for help. She learned that when she was over on the other side of the world she could rely on herself but she also knew that having a support system of friends in place was crucial if she needed to ask for her. I remember in one instance, her apartment flooded and she needed to find a place to stay and her friends were there for her.
Anyway, aren’t our children sometimes our BEST teachers?
The holidays glittered in so many ways.
We made wonderful memories. We had a lot of laughs. We had some delicious food and drinks. With our children growing older, I realize that they can help and have strong muscles too. If you never ask, you will never receive and so part of the joy of this holiday was receiving. Our older ones were more than happy to help me and even our younger ones, built a bit of muscle too. We realized that being a family means helping each other, especially when times are tough.
When mom is sick.
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| William is learning to play chess at school and got a chess set for Christmas….not this one….his new one is in a lovely wooden box and actually has other games included with it. |
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| On Christmas night the kid’s put on a Christmas concert for us. William literally lights our family up with joy….I’m so glad that we pursued having our last four children. It wasn’t easy, and we certainly didn’t have support of our family and friends. Our society also doesn’t value large families and certainly having them later in life is frowned upon. But when you are writing your own story, you need to listen from within and follow your heart. JOY COMES…and in our case, it came in the form of a beautiful boy named Will. And before him we were given a piece of Grace when our daughter Grace Eliabeth arrived in time for Christmas 2002. Then in 2011 we were given a miracle and a reminder that hope is the key when Kathryn Mira and Victoria Hope were born. So Grace, Joy, Miracle and Hope are present each holiday now. |
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| This is our son Harrison’s 1st plate of food on Christmas…..hey, where’s the ambrosia? Each one of the kids were in charge of a certain part of dinner….it was a family affair. |
That was the real magic in the air this year….along with my barking cough.
Alyssa took some wonderful pictures with the old Canon camera we gave her many Christmases ago…….and here are just a few of our Christmas memories.
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| Kathryn and Victoria are 6 this holiday and always have each other’s back. They are the BEST of friends |
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| Grace just turned 15 and has been one busy girl this year. She is working on her grade 9 RCM piano level, working on her grade 7 in voice, sings in the school choir, andt completed her bronze cross in swimming. For some reason she didn’t think she was busy enough so she signed up for Junior girls basketball team. As I type this she is leaving for a tournament out of town.She laughs when she hears about what most teenagers are flipping out about….boys, or social stuff. The typical teenage drama doesn’t faze her. She recently told me that she thinks focusing on her extra curricular activities and getting straight A’s in school is keeping it real. |
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| Alyssa and Grace are almost 13 years apart, like my oldest sister and I, and like B and I, they too are the best of friends. They share many of the same interests. Piano, swimming, and over Christmas they enjoyed just hanging out, baking, icing cookies, and they even spent a bit of time in our Hobbit’s hollow crawl space where they caught up on a few of their fav Netflix shows….”Stranger Things,” being one of them. |
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| Harrison was happy to be home and eat food this Christmas. He says the food at the University is not always the greatest….and he really missed his friends as well and spent a lot of time catching up and, ahem….partying…but hey, he just turned 19 he’s legal to drink now. One of the gifts he got for his birthday before Christmas was a small bar fridge for his residence room. Hopefully now he can get a few healthy snacks to supplement those cafeteria meals. |
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| Mitchell is going to be finishing his Science (Psychology major) degree in a few months. I found it rather funny that considering he works part time at the downtown Victoria, “Serious Coffee,” that he wasn’t sick of the stuff….but over Christmas he could often be found with a mug in his hand. He’s such a cool guy and so fun to be with. He tells the greatest stories too and has a very interesting perspective on life….an old soul for sure! |
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| Our oldest son Clark just turned 25 before Christmas and really enjoyed hanging out with the family and seeing friends over the holidays.He can always be counted on to shovel the drive=way, help out with the little ones and amazingly….he learned to make a wicked rib roast dinner…the BEST I’ve ever tasted and I’m not much of a beef eater. |
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| The little kids love hanging out with their big brother. Clark helps the little girls with their violin, and he sometimes reads in animated voices to William…..I loved hearing him read Harry Potter to him before Christmas. The BEST is when he comes home with treats after a day that he has worked at the Science Centre. The one sad thing about having a large family is often the older kids are out of the door while the little ones are growing up but it’s been nice that Clark could attend University in the Okanagan and continue to share in his little siblings daily life. What a great bond and many memories they have shared together. After Clark’s personal pictures were taken, I asked the kids if they wanted a picture with their big bro and they flew to be at his side with big smiles on their faces. |
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| Alyssa told me that when she returned to Victoria after Christmas, a remarkable thing happened. It felt like she was going home. After years of traveling back and forth to University, and then her two years teaching and adventuring in the U.K. she is happy to settle down and find a cool groove where she can teach and write….and yes travel. Sometimes you have to leave home and experience elsewhere to realize REAL home feels like to you. We are so glad you found your place by the sea Alyse….and now we can visit!!! |
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| Honestly, I felt like death warmed over in this picture but somehow David and I pulled off another Christmas with our family |
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| And I give you the Reynolds family Christmas 2017….thanks for pulling the pictures together Alyssa! |
My husband David was his usual super dad self. He drove to the coast and back on the 23rd, picking up the kids from the Vancouver Island ferry terminal. He swung by Ikea to pick up a new mattress for the attic we have been renovating. Then to top things off, over the Christmas holiday, he made our oldest daughter a few furniture pieces for her new digs by the ocean in Victoria. And finally, he took the kids back on New Year’s day. Driving them home all the way to Vancouver Island in one day. Getting them food at Costco the next day and returning back to the Okanagan in time to return to work on Jan 3rd!
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| Alyssa was given an espresso machine and coffee maker for Christmas but of course now David had to make her a beverage table for her new appliances. He used this cool grey barn wood for the top and the lower shelf and painted the legs etc all black….it was so amazing! I WANT ONE! (what a trooper ’cause the garage was FREEZING!!!) |
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| Alyssa took a ton of books back with her and of course, if you give a mouse a cookie…she needs a bookcase to go with all those books…here is her new bookcase in calla lilly white with a beadboard backing…very old school and perfect for her blue, white and grey decor at her oceanside place in Victoria |
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| Okay and if the beverage table and the bookcase weren’t enough, our birch tree is dying so David used some of the old wood to make her a lamp for her bedroom. This birch tree was planted when Alyssa was just a little girl so there is some history there and a nice piece to take back to Victoria…..I’m going to get David to make more of these lamps for the other kids….I think it’s neat for them to have something off the our property….and a memory from Lakelin Reach, our homestead |
AMAZING Man!
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| And woodwork talent must run in the family since William, Kathryn and Victoria, made these cute barn board snow men for their Christmas gifts for us….these are keepers!!! Thank you to their wonderful school teachers. They are so blessed to have the BEST teachers in the world. |
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| And just so we don’t forget, Christmas 2017 was very snowy. Thanks to our three strong sons, they kept the driveway clear |
So Alyssa, our oldest is back to her high school English gig in Victoria, our son’s Mitchell and Harrison are back to the University of Victoria, and all the younger ones are back to school. Clark our oldest son did his second LSAT before Christmas and he just found out that he did extremely well. He received a 166, which is in the 93rd percentile, so Whoo hoo! a little celebration happy dance happening here. I know he would tell me to knock on wood, but hopefully he will be accepted to law school next fall, and as his best friend who is already in his 2nd year of law said, he would be absolutely shocked if he didn’t get in with that kind of score. Time will tell but that is exciting news for the new year. Maybe all those debates we had will finally pay off! Great work Clark!
So life is humming along here to a degree. Although if I’m being truly honest, I’m a bit bummed. Today my writing group started a new workshop session and I will not be attending.
BUMMER!
I knew it might me iffy, since despite being really careful and choosing the best, most useful gifts for our children at Christmas, we did go a bit overboard. Then there was the expense of bringing them all home and getting them back with food in their cupboards.
And to top it off, during the trip to he Island, even though David was driving extremely carefully in the snowy, winter conditions, a car flew by them and a large rock flew up and shattered our sun roof on our van. Have you ever heard of such a thing? Well, thank heavens no one was hurt and the impact didn’t startle David to lose control of the van and crash, but well, in the end that was an expense we hadn’t counted on. Interestingly enough the deductible we have to pay is exactly the same amount as my writing workshop fee.
Isn’t it interesting how that works out!
How life gives you choices and you have to pick a path.
Hence, I’m at home writing, instead of sequestered with my writing mentor and buds this morning.
BUMMER!
I was really looking forward to digging deeper with my group and getting some meaningful writing accomplished in the next three months. As I was straightening up the house after the kids went to school this morning, I was kind of depressed that I wasn’t getting ready to head off to join the group. How in the heck am I going to get my book finished if I don’t have the guidance and support of my group of cohorts.
And then I gave myself a kick in the butt.
“No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit.” ~Helen Keller~
Or wrote a book!
And with that quote in mind, I realized that as marvelous as my writing group is, as inspiring as my mentor L is, nothing can prevent me from writing what is often bursting from my soul. Unless I allow depression and pessimism to take hold.
This is a new year, a new chapter in my life and I can write whatever I want in my book. And damn, by the rich smell of my life’s compost, this will be a fertile year. Not just for my writing, but for us finishing up the attic renovation, the second wall above the pool, and more garden space built in the back forty.
“When you lay the seeds of your dreams in the rich hummus of optimism, abundance grows.” ~Lee Reynolds~
We are due to have another dump of snow in the next day or so and while we are still hibernating indoors to a large degree. This is a good time to get some words written, some borscht soup made, and print out the goals I want to accomplish this year.
How about you? Have you written the first few lines of your new chapter?
This is my latest mantra. A mantra that my Traditional Chinese Medical doctor used to say to me before my acupuncture sessions years ago, when I was trying to till the fertile soil of my body so we could conceive another baby…..as it turns out….our William….. And that mantra is:
“This is a new day!”
How do you want to live it?
Maybe reading a book, or making my Pumpkin Roll cake below. If you are spending a lot of time tucked under a quilt like me this winter, I’d love to share a whimsical novel I read over the holidays. If you enjoy a bit of fantasy, you are a homesteading fan, and love children or yearn for them, (and if you are a reader of my blog, I imagine some of that interests you) then you probably will enjoy this beautifully, lyrical book.
My winter, must read recommendation is: “Snow Child,” by Eowyn Ivey.
I hope you love it as much as I did.
And now for my sister B’s recipe for:
Auntie Bonnie’s Pumpkin Roll Cake
She gave this to me years ago and my kids love it. It’s super easy too so I don’t know why we don’t make it more often. Okay
without further ado, here it is.
Ingredients
3 eggs
1 cup of granulated sugar
2/3 of a cup of canned pumpkin
1 tsp lemon juice
3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
Filling Ingredients
6 ounces of cream cheese
1 cup powdered icing sugar
4 tbsp of butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
Instructions
Beat 3 eggs on high speed of mixer for 5 minutes; gradually beat in 1 cup of granulated sugar. Stir 2/3 cup canned pumpkin and 1 tsp lemon juice. Stir together 3/4 cup of flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp ginger, 1 tsp nutmeg, and 1/2 tsp salt. Fold into pumpkin mixture
Spread on greased and floured 15x10x1 inch pan. Top with 1 cup of finely chopped walnuts
Bake at 375 F degrees for 15 minutes. Turn onto a towel that is sprinkled with powdered sugar. Starting at the narrow end, roll the towel and cake together; Cool
Unroll. for filling combine 1 cup of powdered sugar, 6 ounces of creamed cheese, 4 tbsp of butter, or margarine, and 1/2 tsp vanilla; beat until smooth. Spread evenly over the cake; Roll; chill; slice and serve…..makes enough for a large family of 10….US! Perfect!
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| I whipped this up while I was still feeling very under the weather but boy was it good! |
This is a lovely, light dessert, absolutely perfect after a winter dinner….or even after a light soup, salad and bun dinner. The spices are yummy and so warming. Absolutely perfect to take and share during a winter potluck.
Enjoy!!!
As the new year unfolds, I hope you open to the idea of writing the first pages of your 2018 book with optimism and joy. Let it be one that you can look back, turn the pages and smile.
Write it well.
And remember, today is a new day and anything is possible.
If you can’t see the link above, check out the Celine Dion song, “A New Day.” I remember hearing that this song meant a lot to her as she went through a lot of pain and struggle to have her first son. When he finally born, it felt like a new day had come. I can relate as you know, that was a mantra that I used when we were trying to conceive and it gave me hope daily that each day holds new possibilities in our life.
Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.
Blessings from Hope