Paul's feast...

The feast days began with Paul this year. (For those of you wondering what a "feast day" is, please feel free to peruse the archives from last December.) Paul is DS #4. He is still waters. He doesn't say a whole lot, but what he does say has been carefully thought out and pondered for days and days. Then it all bubbles over and it is... kinda amazing. He is brilliant- I never taught him to read. He taught himself. Just listening as I taught one of his older brothers. I never had a clue he was learning until he sat down and read me a book. Quintessential Paul. Unless you think he is flawless, let me just say that I am always in-the-know of where he has been and what he has been up to by the "Hansel and Gretel" trail he leaves behind. A trail of shoes, socks, wrappers and miscellaneous objects follow him. I apologize now to his future wife- I really have tried to train him better, but he's something of an absent-minded professor type. His mind is just too busy to pay attention to silly things like picking up after himself. But a sweeter, more conscientious young man, you'll never meet.

Paul is a huge Redwall fan. Redwall is a series of childrens' books written by an Engishman named Brian Jacques. These stories revolve around a group of mice and their woodland friends- and enemies. Paul's feast had a theme- Redwall. Think lots of nuts and fruit! Brian Jacquess spends an inordinate amount of time describing the feasts that take place at Redwall Abbey. Paul loves detail. His appetizers were tiny, little mouse-sized tarts filled with cheese or fruit. He made them himself of Pillsbury pie crusts and Black current jam mixed with blackberries and raspberries. His beverage was "black current wine" (grape juice mixed with 7-up) and "strawberry fizz" (Hawaiian punch mixed with 7-up.) He had dishes filled with dried fruit and honey-roasted peanuts. Then things got interesting, because he started getting concerned that there wouldn't be enough food. You can't appreciate how concerned he was. Paul is not a "whatever" kinda guy. Everything's deliberate and thought out. So he had creamed corn from the freezer, a fruit salad, cheese sticks, and then potpies. (Redwallians are, of course, vegetarians, but Paul was thoughtfully considerate of his brothers who are not the biggest seafood fans.) His dessert was cherry and apple turnovers with whipped cream. He made these with just pie filling and crescent rolls and we all agreed they were very tasty. I think Brian Jaques would have approved! He had the cutest gifts- he found 4 wooden spoons for a $1. So we bought two sets and cut all of the handles down to the same size. We wrapped those in a peice of homespun- for napkins- and tied them with raffia. So they had to eat their meal with a wooden spoon! So funny, as the spoon was a mite bigger than Abe's mouth. He managed. Paul needn't have worried about there being enough food- we all had to be rolled away from the table. That's all part of a feast, though!