Nov. 9 marked 2 years since Matt died. I didn’t mention the date or write a post because I don’t want to commemorate that day. If we’re focused on joy, there are lots of other occasions that I can acknowledge and remember him.
I love collecting quotes. Growing up, I would write quotes in the back of my journals. This month, I finally read Little Fires Everywhere. There were a few quotes that stuck with me, but this one feels like how I think about sharing Matt with Ellie.
“She told Pearl the outline of everything, though they both knew all the details would be a long time in coming. They would trickle out in dribs and drabs, memories surfacing suddenly, prompted by the merest thread, the way memories often do… Everything, [Pearl] had come to understand was something like infinity. They might never come close, but they could approach a point where, for all intents and purposes she knew all that she needed to know.”
I struggle that Ellie will never truly know her Daddy. He is everything. He is infinite. I tell her as much as I can hoping that she will approach a point where she knows him.
Here are some other things that I’ve been reading, doing and thinking about this month.
What is a conscious closet and how do you build it?
We made salt dough Christmas ornaments, including a paw print for Ralph.
I did a major clean up on my Instagram, turned off my data regularly and left my phone behind a few times this month. Focusing less on social media–from quitting completely to taking breaks–can actually improve your communications work.
Ellie loves shrimp and this is a super simple, delicious way to cook them.
Children’s book of the month. This one surprised me. I expected it to be scary, but it was so sweet and beautiful.
One more favourite quote from LFE:
To a parent, your child wasn’t just a person: your child was a place, … a vast eternal place where the present you were living and the past you remembered and the future you longed for existed all at once.”
As November wraps up this week, we are enjoying the beauty of our second snowfall at the farm–and struggling with our second cold of the month. Heading into December I’m thinking about holiday baking and presents. Thanks to a blitz over the weekend, I’m nearly done shopping, aside from stocking stuffers. I’ve never been this far ahead this early. Now I have more time for baking. Yum. Please share any favourite holiday recipes.
Home on 129 Acres 
I love that quote from Little Fires Everywhere. I think it expresses it just right. Did you enjoy the book?
We are heading into Christmas from way behind. We moved at the beginning of November, then got covid, and our kitty was hit by a car. My son got extremely sick and I was afraid he might not recover, but thankfully, he did. It was a tough month, no doubt about that, but we have much to be thankful for, and Christmas will be what it is and I hope to appreciate every moment of it.
Enjoy your baking! I hope to bake extra this year to show our appreciation to all the people who rallied around us when we were sick. They were the brightest part of it!
Oh my goodness. What a scary, terrible time for you all. I’m glad that you had good support.
I did enjoy the book. It didn’t get to angsty or dark, which I can’t handle right now. (Spoiler alert) Love prevailed in the end.