23

at exactly 1:30 this morning my baby girl became exactly 23 years old ... which was a huge disappointment 23 years ago on accounta she wasn't supposed to make her first appearance till christmas day ... long ago twenty-three years to be exact the local hospitals used to wrap newly-delivered christmas babies in christmas stockings when they brought them to their mothers after their first baths ... and i wanted me a stockinged baby ... or at least a santa hatted baby ... instead i got a little screamer oh my gosh could my baby girl scream fifteen days too soon ... sigh

i was organized that christmas ... i think it was the first and last time that i had everything ready to go three weeks before christmas ... the tree was up ... the house was decorated ... the cookies were baked ... the presents were bought and wrapped and paid for ... the cards were signed and pictured and sealed and stamped and delivered ... the stockings were stitched and hung - even an embroidered stocking for the new baby except for the name on accounta ultrasound wasn't used for determining gender back in the day ... the strombolis were baked and in the freezer along with enough spaghetti sauce to sink a battleship ... christmas movies were watched ... christmas carols were played and sung along with ... christmas pageants and programs were attended - except for Michael Myson's preschool event which was in the evening on december 10th - he and the rest of the family were there but Auntia and i hadn't been released from the hospital ... hurt feelings and old arguments and broken promises and ill will were placed on the back burner ... and we had ourselves a merry little christmas ... except that i didn't get my baby in a stocking - but i got over that ... no i didn't ...... anywho, Auntia has been celebrating her birthday since sunday ... she baked herself a cake on accounta she didn't want the plain old chocolate cake from a mix and chocolate frosting from a tub that i was gonna make...isn't she lovely?!? isn't she wonderful?!? and see her pretty peppermint cake stand?
Auntia and Kim are both on a quest for peppermintanalia
...and she cut a piece for me can you believe that strawberries are $8/pound?!? and a piece for herself...my baby girl knows how to cut a piece of cake! and that stuff in the background is my stack of things to do ... before tomorrow ... please sir - may i have some more hours in my day?
...and i fixed her favorite dinner - cherry chicken - which i made again for lunch today cuz it's one of Mrs. Moth's favorites, too ... and now we're waiting for homemade turkey pot pie to finish baking for her second favorite dinner ... i took a picture of the cherry chicken...we couldn't decide whether it looks more like lungs with bloody loogies or kidneys smothered in coagulated blood
...it is an ugly, ugly dish ... but it smells like heaven and tastes so very, very good ... and she's received cards and phone calls and gifts all day ... and i sang happy birthday with the nice lyrics - leaving out any mention of looking like a monkey or living in a zoo ... and now i will write it one more time...
happy, happy, happy birthday
baby girl!!!