three events of note during the past 24 hours….

the bake exchange. i was admittedly concerned about the bake exchange going into it. i had calls from ladies the day before, asking

what is the money going towards?

i’m sorry?

(they speak up like i am deaf) YOUR BAKE SALE, what is the MONEY going towards?

my invite could not have been clearer. exchange. not sale. what about a bake exchange is so difficult to understand?

at the appointed hour…with about 14 women present and at least 14 varieties of squares, bars or biscuits on the table, those in attendance started getting excited.

"i can’t possibly take 48 home!"

me thinketh the lady protesteth too much. they certainly could.

i explained the rules, and the 14 laid down their mulled wine and flew into action, selecting and filling their plates, hiding full plates where no one could find them. quickly their quotas were achieved, and they sat back, wondering which ones they would eat first, and asking each other about recipes and life in general.

then richard arrived (you know richard, he is aloo gobi richard, one of my VBF’s). and he was carrying 20 dozen squares. lemon bars, toffee squares, massive oatmeal and raisin, and chocolate chip cookies.

oops! i miscalculated! he screamed.

and the ladies, who THOUGHT they had finished selecting their goods, went into a frenzy again. then another friend arrived late, bearing butter tarts (think canadian!) and those who had used up their quota begged richard if he could "lend" them a few of his.

"sure!" he exclaimed, suddenly the guest of honour. "i brought 20 dozen and i don’t even think i’ve eaten five dozen! help yourselves!"

and they did.

it was a great afternoon, magnificent charles made some wonderful mulled wine that went down a treat, and nearly everyone who attended asked if they could come again next year.

excellent! another tradition.

we went out to a party last night. magnificent left today for curry country, and we had a list of items we needed to discuss before his departure. we wouldn’t stay late, we promised ourselves.

but the food was so good, and there was a great group of people there, talk talk talk, eat, drink, chat, giggle, exclaim, look at magnificent’s watch.

ahhh!

we have to go, i explained to the hostess, and the couple we were chatting with. charles is leaving tomorrow, we really, really have to go. a list of things my arm long to talk about…..

and then we had to say goodbye to everyone, but they were all so cool, and there were little anecdotes to exchange…

15 minutes later the hostess said, "why don’t you try the mince pie?"

"we’re leaving, really, thank you. we need to talk. nothing urgent, just housekeeping items.lots of them"

"you were leaving 15 minutes ago! stay!"

to our credit, we didn’t. we made our second round of quick goodbyes and exited.

the lift was taking a VERY long time to arrive, and there didn’t seem much point in starting our talk there, so to pass the time, magnificent and i started snogging.

clothes on, hands above the waist, everything you’d expect from a married couple with four kids and a few glasses of Christmas cheer inside them.

but then the front door opened and the host and a the couple we had been chatting with RIGHT BEFORE we left walked into the hallway.

busted!

she smiled at us and said, "yes, it is good to get the talking done before he leaves."

today was sebastian’s christmas pageant. his age group, the 3-4’s had two songs to sing.

sebastian was pretty good during the practise run. he sang one of the songs, and for him, that is impressive. wearing a white shirt, tan pants and deck shoes, he looked angelic.

my friend sandi, who declined to attend the bake sale ("too stepford") and her friend gorgeous barbara, showed up to support sebastian. so did our helper lita and her husband.

sebastian was fine walking in to the church. he was sitting next to the pastor’s wife, who i might add was a huge hit at the bake sale yesterday.

sebastian in true style, refused to wear the tinsel halos the other 3-4’s were wearing. linda, the pastor’s wife who is a smart cookie (or biscuit, depending on your country of origin) didn’t press the matter.

the singing started, and he was okay.

then, according to sebastian and backed up by the mark on his arm, he got accidently pushed, or something. and that was enough. through the semi quiet, and from behind the 7-8 year olds, who infront of the other kids singing, i heard,

"where’s my mummy?"

and there was my wide eyed little man, pushing through the 7-8’s. i knew he would be terrified when he got to the front of the church, looking out at the packed pews filled with chuckling folks all smiling benevolently at him, so i rushed past the parents with their videocams and grabbed him.

"mummy" he said (or at least i think he did, he buried his head in my shoulder.) "oh mummy."

"oh sebastian."

i cuddled him through the next few numbers and when he lifted his head and started to fiddle with the screen next to him, i knew he was recovered.

"do you want to go back and sing twinkle twinkle little star?"

"yes, wif mummy."

i led him back to the choir, and i sat down and he plopped down beside me. he didn’t sing a word of twinkle twinkle, but he didn’t get overwhelmed and cry either. i was so proud of him.

after twinkle twinkle, i figured it was time to go, and so we exited. sandi and barbara were there, and we laughed and left.

i told sebastian how proud i was that he had gone back, and he smiled. then as a special treat, i told him we would take the bus home. he was very excited. he prefers buses to taxi’s.

we came home, and he was given a huge chocolate "puptet" (cupcake) after he finished his pasta and broccoli.

the youth director only asked that sebastian be cute for the pageant.

i can tell you, not only was he cute, he was heartbreaking. those huge eyes, his body hurtling towards my open arms. it is so amazing to experience the protectiveness, love and awareness of your power as a parent, when your arms around your child stops their tears, pushes away their fears. normally sebastian would have run towards his father, he so loves his dad. but magnificent wasn’t there today, and so sebbie chose me to make everything better. by simply holding him, i did.

wow.

it has been a great 24 hours.