Abe's Feast...

This is Abraham and he's 12.  Abe is a very good boy.  I doubt you could find a "gooder" boy. He never does anything to get in trouble.  No, really.  He's just good.  He does whatever I ask of him.  He's cheerful about it. He does hate doing the dishes and I can't hold that against him. But he does a very good job of it.  Every three weeks, he has to do the dishes for a week.  No dishwasher with 9 people.  It doesn't take a skilled mathematician to figure out that's a whole lot of dishes. He puts frowny faces on his calendar for that week, but that's the sum total of his rebellion.  Abe's very smart.  He was giving me some obscure facts the other day and I asked him how he knew that. He says, "I don't go looking for information, it finds me."  He's quiet and contained.  Grown up for his age.  He's a good companion, easy going and easy to please.  You would really like him. 

Abe's theme was a romantic candlelit dinner for... 12. He had the table dressed with a white damask tablecloth, crystal candlesticks with tall white tapers, and a small vase with white roses.  Romantic piano playing in the background. Twinkle lights all around.  It was beautiful.  He invited his guests in by saying, "Welcome to the feast.  Those nearly in labor can come in first."  (Mary is 42 weeks pregnant and is actually at the hospital, today, thinking about having a new grandbaby for Will and I.)

Unfortunately for Phil, it was a gourmet restaurant and what are they known for?  Small portions. The appetizer of a tiny scoop of jalapeno popper dip on a Ritz cracker was beautifully presented on its only little plate with an artistic flourish of pepper jelly around it.  The salads were hysterical.  They came out on their own plates- sitting on it was a 2" square of lettuce, a slice of cucumber, half a chip of carrot and a tiny sliver of bell pepper- all stacked neatly one on top of the other.  It came with a side of a single crouton topped with it's own bacon bit and a drop of salad dressing.  In spite of the size, everyone remarked on how tasty it was. The main dish was 6 spaghetti noodles, a teaspoon of sauce beside it and a tiny round of Italian bread.  He garnished it with a little baby spinach leaf, because both stores were out of parsley.  Dessert was a small spoonful of chocolate "mousse" with a Milano cookie beside it. He had 4 bottles of sparkling grape juice- both red and white- chilling in a big pot. Abe was dressed in a crisp white shirt as he waited table for his guests.

Do I need to say that our family is full of big eaters?  The fact that we have "Feast Days" kinda gives us away.  A couple of the kids said they had a weak moment when he brought out the dessert.  Was that all?  It was all very good, but rich people are crazy to eat at gourmet restaurants for a mere appetizer of a meal.  Abe wasn't gonna leave them hanging.  He marched out pots and bowls and dishes full of food and set them on the hutch so that everyone could eat buffet style.  Joe went straight for the dessert. 

I almost forgot his gifts.  He found these little favor boxes that looked like a tuxedo.  Tucked inside was a tiny bottle of bubbles.  Bubbles were floating across the table and the 14 month old thought that was great fun. As did we all.

William moved on to James 2 and focused on the verses about not showing partiality- not something we think of much, but we do that sometimes.  We can be guilty of treating some people better than others.  Oughtn't be.

P.S. I washed the dishes- there were so many!  I just couldn't do that to the boy after all the hard work he did to prepare a special feast for the family.