Summer Sunday

Gorgeous day today... very warm, very summer-y...... my kind of "winter."

I spent most of the afternoon with young Miss C today.... she called and asked for some help with her homework, just minutes after my husband left to do his Christmas shopping. When she first asked me, I thought she needed help with geometry, which is my husband's forte, not mine. But it wasn't geometry this time, it was English and reading comprehension, which is like breathing to me, so she hopped on her bicycle and rode over here.

It didn't take long to figure out her homework assignment after I explained it to her. After she did a little research on my computer to look for some authors (I wasn't going to just give her the answers), she had the entire three pages completed in no time. I heard C's stomach growling just a little bit, so I asked her if she wanted some lunch, which of course she did.

I was going to suggest driving to one of the local gift shops after we finished lunch, but the phone rang and it was our friend K from the Italian restaurant. I had invited her and her mom over for dinner tomorrow, to celebrate Christmas, as well as K's 22nd birthday. She was calling to confirm, and to ask what time we wanted them to be here. Instead of going out to the stores, Miss C helped me get the dining room all ready for tomorrow... Christmas china, fancy glassware and flatware, and we put together a centerpiece with a brass lantern and some brass-colored Christmas angels. (C always likes to help gather things from around the house to arrange in the center of the dining room table.) She also helped me pick out the designs for the placecards, and she set out the birthday and holidays gifts for K and her mom. All I will have to do tomorrow is get the dinner going in the afternoon.

And, speaking of gifts.... my husband came home with more than I expected. One box in particular is huge.... square-shaped, about three feet in diameter, and much too heavy for me to pick up. He even managed to wrap that entire heavy box in holiday paper. I haven't a clue as to what it is..... did I ask for something that big? And will it go here? Or in the cottage? Must be something good, because my husband hasn't stopped grinning since he got home, so I know he's pleased with what he bought. (I asked for a little food-processor.... but it's way too big for that.)

C and I were surprised that my husband had been gone so long.... I thought he got caught up in holiday traffic at the local mall, but he drove all the way downtown this afternoon. While he was down there, he stopped in at the Whole Foods Market and brought home two large containers of their homemade Crab/Artichoke/Parmesean soup. We had part of one with dinner tonight, and I will use some of that soup as a first course for tomorrow's night dinner, instead of a tossed salad. It will be a nice surprise for K, having a nice dinner served to her, after all the dinners she has served to us over the past three years at Babbo Bruno's.

But.... just what is in that large box?