Letter #7

December 2022

Notes from Me

+A Prayer/Song: When The Porter’s Gate released their 2017 album, Worship Project: Work Songs, I was the weary and often-anxious mother of a toddler and a newborn. The song “Every Mother, Every Father” became a sort of lullaby and lifeline to me. I sang it to myself and prayed it for others who were caring for babies whose needs seemed endless. I remember humming it softly as I cradled my one-month-old son, gently bouncing him on our blue balance ball as snow floated outside our window. Five years have passed since then. A couple of weeks ago, I started singing the song again—maybe as an antidote to the internal frenzy that ramps up around this time of year. I recorded myself singing the first verse, and you can listen to it above.

With the Boys

+Watching/Listening: This performance by London-based jazz fusion group, The Ezra Collective. We have listened to the instrumental tracks several times over the last couple of weeks. We’ve since heard “The Philosopher” and it is my (almost) seven-year-old son’s favorite song right now.

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✓

In the Kitchen

+Dressing: Here is a recipe for Southern Cornbread Dressing a friend told me about a few years ago. It is delicious. Pictured above: Thanksgiving leftovers. I make COOKS Illustrated’s Great Northern Cornbread, then follow the rest of the recipe from there. I wonder why I don’t slip it into my dinner repertoire on months other than November (making a mental note to correct that).

+Tea: This Hot Cinnamon Tea is my favorite evening drink. It is strong and spicy and has the right mount of zing to help me through our boys’ bedtime routine (which I used to think would be a short, seamless affair — now nearly seven years into parenting, I feel humbled and humored by my ignorance).

(Christmas) Joy

I’m inserting some preemptive Christmas content here at the end. You can read a blog post from a couple years back with some kids’ Advent and Christmas music recommendations. And here is a list of some of our loved Advent and Christmas picture books.

Until next month (and year!),

Susie

P.S. Consider putting on this background music for a gathering: Ahmad Jamal Trio’s “Snowfall” and the whole Cross Country Tour 1958-1961 album.