Produce, Advent, And Bewilderment

My partner Nick and I love a 30 challenge. We once did a 30 day vegan challenge and stayed vegan for years – until cheese got the better of us. This month we are trying a 50/50 produce challenge. Every plate of food – every meal, every snack – is 50% produce. I would say we are succeeding in making it happen about fifty percent of the time! I would love to say we are crushing it but it’s harder than we expected. Fruit in the mountains of Western North Carolina is not amazing right now – and it’s bonkers expensive – and vegetables take energy and time because this picky mama doesn’t like them raw. Thus, fifty percent – or so. It has increased our awareness and our produce consumption so I say it’s already a win.

The Countdown to Christmas is a big deal at our house. The kids call December 1 the first day of Christmas because they get to celebrate everyday. We have a little tree with envelopes on it and each day they open one to discover the holiday activity we will do that day – making ornaments, holiday themed dance party, gingerbread houses, movie night etc. I am trying to document it on instagram this year and the kids have been loving the process of helping make the reels.

Here is Day 5 – when we ate the Kings Cake

I have been listening to Bewilderment by Richard Powers and it has utterly touched my heart. It is the story of an astrobiologist searching for life in the cosmos while raising a neurodivergent son alone, after the unexpected death of his beloved wife. Based on that one sentence I never, ever would have picked this book. But it’s endearing and painful and moving all at once.

“There I was, still getting paid to prepare how to discover whether we were alone, or surrounded by crazy neighbors. Ali and I had more projects than we had hours. Then our lives changed thanks to the 1.5% failure rate of our favorite birth control. The unlikely roll stunned us both. It seemed a break in our long streak, the worst possible timing for an event we might never have chosen for ourselves. Our careers already stretched us to the limits. Neither of us had the knowledge or wherewithal to raise child. A decade later, I see the truth. Every morning I wake up, if Ali and I had been in charge, the luckiest thing in my life, the thing that kept me going when all the luck in the world went cold, would never have existed. Not even in my wildest models.”