Friday, January 02, 2009

Peaceful Rest at the Beginning of 2009

We had a lovely start to the new year yesterday when we finally did our family Christmas present opening. Then we spent the rest of the day visiting with friends, shopping for the new kitchen calendar (it's tradition that the sweet girl picks that each year: this year we've got 12 months of baby dachshunds!) and coming home to work on a big family jigsaw puzzle. That last has been wonderful fun and just may turn out to be a new annual new year's tradition.

I guess 2008 wore the sweet girl out: a little while ago I went into her room to get her up from her usual afternoon rest. Typically that means sitting quietly with books or small dolls on the bed while she listens to music or a book on CD. She hardly ever actually sleeps any kind of nap. But I found her curled in a swirled up nest of fleece blankets, fast asleep, her pigtails peeking out from beneath the blankets, her breathing deep and even. And in the background, the soothing British voice of Jim Broadbent, cheerily announcing that he was a bear of little brain.

Off to see if I can truly get her awake this time. Ratatouille is simmering in the crockpot, filling the house with good smells. I'm working my way through my final set of fall papers (grades due Monday!) and prepping homeschool lesson plans for January.

Happy New Year!

4 comments:

Erin said...

Mmm, Jim Broadbent and Winnie the Pooh. What a winning combination! And suddenly I'm longing for HP6 all over again...

Nathan is partial to Dachshunds as well. They certainly are cuties! We always are working on a puzzle or two at my aunt's house. I'm wishing I could track down the fourth of the LOST puzzles so I could put that together after the tree comes down, but I've never seen that one in stores. I'm starting to think it's a myth! What puzzle did you guys put together? They're so much more fun as a group activity...

Beth said...

We're still working on the puzzle. It's a big one (for us) -- 550 pieces. At first Sarah was totally freaked out, thinking she was supposed to do it on her own. But she calmed down once we explained it was a family present. It's a nice one too -- a menagerie of animals in a sort of jungle setting, though most of the animals aren't terribly jungle-ish (dogs, cats, rabbits, birds, a chipmunk).

We love dachshunds! My parents have one, and she is the sweetest dog in the world. She's also ancient (eighteen!) and probably not long for this world, though we've been saying that now for two years and she keeps surprising us. Anyway, it's fun to have pictures of the puppies up in the kitchen.

Janet said...

Our kids pick the kitchen calendar every year as well (they switch off), and it's fun to watch them change.... Last year Sabrina picked Hannah Montana (and within two months, she was embarrassed because she was now "too old" for her). The year before Cory picked "Peanuts." The year before Sabrina picked a calendar of cats wearing funny hats....

I'm a bit concerned about this year (we haven't gotten it yet because I've been so sick) -- I'm afraid if there's a Metallica calendar out there, Cory will find it! (They grow up way too fast!)

Beth said...

Oh my. A year of Metallica would be a thing to dread indeed! ;-)

I hope you'll be feeling much better soon, Janet!