Food, conversation, and a dramatic haircut

My husband had to work yesterday, but the rest of us were in holiday mode.

Shaggy Hair Boy has been on a cooking streak. We get two bins of vegetables from the CSA farm each week, which means we often have piles of leftover veggies on the counter and in the refrigerator. Shaggy Hair Boy decided to tackle the squash, onion, and brussel sprouts. He went on the internet to find a recipe so that he had a general idea of what ingredients to use. Soon he was chopping every thing up, adding a glaze made of oil, vinegar, brown sugar, and spices, then putting it all in the oven to roast.

 Boy-in-Black, who finished his research paper earlier this week, decided to relax by taking apart Blonde Niece’s computer, which had crashed. He got out his set of little screwdrivers and soon her laptop was in pieces. “I hope you can save all the data,” Blonde Niece said, “because if not, I’m screwed.”

I got out my favorite jigsaw puzzle and dumped the pieces out on our large wooden table. Jigsaw puzzles are perfect for a family who likes to hang out and talk. When Beautiful Smart Wonderful Daughter and Sailor Boy arrived, they sat down at the table to help me with the puzzle. Well, Sailor Boy began working on the puzzle, while my daughter grabbed a fork and began eating from my plate of food.

Shaggy Hair Boy and Smiley Girl left to drive back to her family’s hometown: she wanted to be home for an event she calls Pie Night. It’s a tradition each year for her friends from high school to get together the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and spend the whole night making pies. Judging from the photos that get posted on facebook each year, the night includes lots of joking and silliness as well as serious baking.

My daughter baked sugar cookies, decorated with little candy pieces, which made the house smell nice. With-a-Why and Shy Smile snuggled in their usual spot on the end of the couch, playing music and watching clips on his laptop. When my husband came home, he joined them for an episode of the Walking Dead, which meant that this cosy scene was punctuated by the sound of zombies getting killed.

We ended the day with a haircutting party. Boy-in-Black and my daughter only needed trims, but With-a-Why’s hair was all the way down to his waist. I offered to take him to an actual haircut place for the dramatic haircut, but he shrugged and said, “No, you do it.” My kids all think it’s stupid to pay money for a haircut, and the fact that I don’t really know how to cut hair doesn’t stop them from asking me to do the honors.

Everyone gathered around to watch me cut With-a-Why’s hair – it was pretty much the most exciting thing that had happened all day. He decided to donate his hair, so I tied it into four ponytails, and then just snipped each one off. The crowd exclaimed as the ponytails came away. His thick, dark hair stuck out in all directions. He looked to me just like the anime character L from the show Death Note. 

“You’re so cute,” my daughter said. “It looks so good.” Shy Smile was nodding in agreement.

I measured the ponytails that now lay on the table. “Eighteen inches of hair to donate.” I loved how crazy With-a-Why’s hair looked, sticking out in all different directions, but he wanted more of a normal haircut, so I set to work snipping it off, evening it up. His hair is baby fine and straight, but there’s lots of it, and the more I cut, the more hair there seemed to be. Soon his chair was surrounded by piles of dark hair.

By the time Film Guy arrived, the floor had been swept and the jigsaw puzzle was almost done. My daughter poured glasses of milk and cider so that we could finish the cookies. I pulled the lamp at the end of the couch over to the table, and we gathered around to finish the puzzle. Then it was time to go to bed, to rest up for another day of eating and talking.