OUR YEAR
'This is our year' came the message from my husband early this morning whilst I was still asleep. Having spent the past three years apart, I am ready for this year to be one where we are finally together. In person, waking up next to each other instead of next to our phones waiting to talk in the early morning hours. Together as a family.
All three of us fell asleep before midnight. Somehow I woke up a few minutes before midnight and awoke the children to wish them a happy new year and to eat twelve grapes. A tradition followed in Spain for the new year in order to bring luck for the following twelve months.
We intended on doing this tradition last year but did not manage to awaken in time. This year we were all tired but followed through with our plan though eating twelve large grapes whilst tired proved to be a challenge. Then we all returned to bed until a more reasonable time in the morning.
The children finished their oatmeal from the night before. I set out to start the new year with a healthy and hearty breakfast. A breakfast which takes longer to put together than to eat but worth every moment spent preparing it.
I made kajgana which I ate with fresh vegetables and bread with cream cheese. Kajgana is simply creamy scrambled eggs made with flour, sour cream, and buttermilk. I also had coffee and hoped this would help with the lethargy I felt as a result of the allergies.
The coffee helped for a while as I was inspired to bake a cake. I found my little red journal where I wrote my recipes for the past three years and went back to the first few pages where I wrote a recipe for lemon poppy seed cake.
This was the cake I baked in my second flat in Edinburgh in November 2013. The day before I decided to return to Ireland and visit my now husband and his friends in Ennis. I remember making an orange poppy seed cake as well and giving it to the Aer Lingus ticket agent just because.
The cake was small. A five-inch cake baked in one of the many cake pans I purchased at Lakeland in Edinburgh. The children and I ate all of the cake this afternoon. They had milk. I had more coffee. My hope is that one day we will return to Scotland with the children to show them the beauty of a country I have visited a handful of times in the past three years. If not this year, then we will plan for next year.
Throughout the day the children kept busy working on the activity books I bought them yesterday at Barnes and Noble. Cinnamon cozied up on her mattress in the living room and worked on her word searches whilst Sage did page after page of the dot-to-dot book. Before they left to their father's house, I had them write a few words in their new journals.
As they busied themselves with these activities I busied myself with the task of planning our pantry organising. With our having bought the elfa hanging baskets yesterday, I had the pantry door planned but not the shelves in the pantry or the storage for the baking supplies and the refrigerator.
Organising our place will take a few months but is necessary for a happy state of mind. Ridding our home of the chaos and clutter of years past is my goal for the year which starts with the kitchen.
I look forward to these next five days of time off work so I can finish putting the furniture in its place and make our home comfortable by the time all three children return Friday evening.
This year is the year we get organised. The year we read more books. The year we start living instead of merely existing and waiting for the days to pass. This is our year.
