A Perfect Saturday

I couldn't write yesterday, because I was still all aglow from having the most perfect Saturday.

Here's the run down...

We woke up and had a rather leisurely Saturday morning. Watched some taped Christmas shows, read books, drank coffee, etc. Andrew went to his very first basketball practice/game at 11. Michael had woken up long before sunrise, so I fed him lunch at 10:45 and put him down for a nap around 11:15. He fell asleep instantly. While he napped, I addressed half my Christmas cards and wrote little notes on the letters. Once I get my cute holiday stamps, those bad boys are in the mail. Lily sat next to me at the table and drew and begged me to play neighbor and colored and begged and chatted and begged to play neighbor with me. Very pleasant.

Jeff and Andrew got home and quickly scarfed down some lunch. I woke up Michael and we scooted out the door to my friend Alwyn's house. Alwyn has 3 kids very similar ages to ours and all our kids like each other very much. She graciously offered to take my kids for the afternoon so Jeff and I could go on our house date tour. Do you know how crazy good an offer that is. She took on 6 kids in her townhouse for 3-4 hours. At least Mikey had taken a bit of a nap.

Jeff and I left with no one really caring. Even Mikey was perfectly contented with being left behind (in a house full of new-to-him toys!). Our town was founded in 1685, but we didn't get to go through anything nearly that old. We toured 7 homes in our town, most dating from the late 1700s to mid 1800s. It was...fabulous. There are multiple tour guides from the town's historical society inside and outside the homes to tell you the history of the home, the renovations that had been done, the antiques and collectibles inside. It is so wonderful that people are willing to spend so much time and money keeping up these amazing old homes. And then to decorate them beautifully for Christmas and let us tromp through. To top off the wonderfulness, our local high school choir had stationed trios on the porches of many of the homes, so while you were waiting to go inside, you were treated to Christmas carols. And many homes had fresh baked cookies inside. Heavenly.

We finished all the houses we wanted to see and headed back to Alwyn's around 3:30. The kids were playing so nicely, that Alwyn invited us to have a cup of tea. Jeff and Justin chatted, and Alwyn and I chatted and the kids kept playing. Around 5, Alwyn offered to throw some frozen pizza and breaded chicken and broccoli things in the oven. Jeff and Justin ran out to get some wine, and we had an impromptu dinner. The kids were rounded up, they ate dinner, and then ran back to their games. The adults sat at the dining table...alone...and we sipped wine and talked peacefully and intelligently (mostly) the whole time. We had to get up and check on the kids a few times...but...it was nirvana. The four of us kept looking at each other in amazement. We will DEFINITELY be doing this again.

We left at 7:15, much to the dismay of the children. We came home and all 5 of us cuddled under one blanket on the couch and watched Shrek Christmas (our favorite tv special). The kids went to bed easily and the Jeff and I enjoyed peppermint ice cream and The Soup and then we discussed the day. We went to bed in our pre-warmed bed (electric mattress pad is the best invention ever), very tired and very happy.

A Perfect Saturday.