Weekend Part 1

December is OUR craziest month. We have so many things to Celebrate. One of the things I'm celebrating this week is the completion of 'One Summer's Past'. Now begins a new stage, editing. I am amazed that what sprang from a tale of my past that I wanted to share became something entirely of it's own telling.
This week begins the cramming. You know what I mean, the cherished traditions we all try to squeeze in while still working and doing our normal everyday duties.
Baking cookies. Tomorrow the kiddos and I are going to my Mother's house, (Are you surprised to hear this?) to bake cut-out cookies.
May I just back up for a moment and address this.
I have gone months (March being the last time) without hearing from or talking to Judy. It was in October that I woke one day and had the "urge" to call her. It came out of nowhere and I did not ignore it or brush it off, I OBEYED. The call was nothing more than I expected. It was another month when I got the urge again. This time it came when I was planning a last minute jaunt to the mall near where Judy lives. (We live about 30 minutes away) I felt I should call and ask if she'd like to meet us at the mall and have lunch. To my surprise she agreed. Mother is NOT a last minute kinda lady, she needs plans, dates marked on calendars. The ordeal I went through to GET there that day is a whole other story...I was extremely late. Very unlike me. And very unlike her, she showed no sign of being upset at being kept waiting. It was at lunch this day I sprang it on her: "If we did Christmas Eve, would you like to come?" (For three years now, we've hosted Christmas Eve. We invite family, family friends and let the kids open there gifts. I LOVE this, but this year I considered not doing it, because I didn't know if it would be worth the effort when I wasn't talking to half the people we invite.)
She gave me an odd look and said "I don't know, is there a Christmas Eve party to come too?"
I answered "Our Home is always open for Christmas Eve."
She then asked "What can I bring?"
Then just Friday; I decided to make "Boiled Dinner" one of the meals Mother made often, I thought maybe she'd like to come for dinner. She drove out Saturday evening to have dinner with us. She had worked an event all day and still came. Mother is a Clown and does face-painting; which means she had to "take her face off" which is very time-consuming. She hates driving at night/in the dark. But she came. She praised me for my "version" of her recipe and stayed to visit. She attended to the children and asked them many questions they were thrilled to give answers to. When it was time for her to go, again much later then I would have expected...she hugged me and told me she loved me. My Mother said "I love you Sara."
I can not tell you the last time I heard this from her. (I am sitting here bawling like a baby writing this. I did not cry when she said it, in fact it took until now for it to sink in that those words were actually spoken from her lips and not imagined by my tender heart.) I had to ask Rob if he heard what she had said, and he acknowledged that yes she really did say it and I wasn't hearing things. :)
I had planned to tell you about our weekend, but I am going to stop here. The pictures I have to share about the weekend can wait. For now, I'm just going to celebrate my Mother's words and the praise I have to the Father for this moment.