For my birthday, I made cider donuts instead of cake. It’s taken a few years, but I’ve finally figured out that we’re not cake people. We make a cake, eat it that first night, then it sits for days until it gets crusty or ants find it, both of which are gross and a huge waste. And because we have four gallons of fresh apple cider, I thought maybe birthday donuts would be interesting. I crossed my fingers and hoped they’d turn out. Making a cake would have been easier. At least, a box cake …
holidays
Things We Carry on Mother’s Day
I wish I could say I’ve always liked Mother’s Day. I can see how, if you have a good relationship with your mother, the day pops up in the middle of May like a reminder: Remember how much you love the woman who mothered you. Tell her. I would stand in the card aisle at the grocery store pulling down cards one by one, reading them and scoffing. My relationship with my mother has never been the kind you’d put in a greeting card. No one wants to send a card that says, “I struggle with loving …
Missing the Christmas Magic
Earlier this month, I overheard my kids at the bottom of the stairs whispering about Santa. “Let’s stay up all night on Christmas Eve,” I heard Lily say. “Then we’ll see if he’s real.” Josh agreed, and the two of them concocted a plan – they’d stay up in shifts, promising that if Santa showed up they’d wake the other one. I stood in the hall upstairs and stuffed down a snort. Lily had already been no-so-subtly asking whether Adam and I are actually Santa Claus. “I know the parents really buy …
Home and Thanksgiving
The only time I ever went home for Thanksgiving was in college. I’m not sure it counted since my college was only twenty minutes from home and I stopped by almost every week. But I lived at the dorm and for Thanksgiving weekend, they kicked everyone out. So, I went home – back to my father and his old house, back to my bed. The house wasn’t all that old, but it felt it. It was built in the fifties – a four square that had never been updated. When my father first bought that house, the lady …