Thank Heavens For "Dear Time"

"Dear Time" or "Drop Everything and Read" is a wonderful concept that both of my children have learned this year in Grade 2. I insisted on Dear Time before Screen Time (the great name that my dear friend Adrian has given to t.v., computer and video game distractions) this morning. They each grabbed books that they received for Hannukah last night and headed under the piano with a cushion to read and relax. Emily was reading Happy Go Lucky and Zach read The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark. It may have only been for half an hour but it was heaven.


Photographic evidence that they really are fraternal twins, as if I need it. After getting them settled with their books I went back to the kitchen to clean up. I was struck by the sight of their almost (but not quite) identical breakfasts. They both had bagels, and even though neither one wants to finish a whole bagel I have to offer two of them because Emily likes poppy seed and Zachary will only eat plain. They both like hazelnut spreads but I have to have both Nutella and Brunette available because Emily likes hers with chocolate, Zachary likes his without. The same thing goes for their milk - one with chocolate, one without. You can probably guess by now who the chocoholic in the family is! But what really struck me as I looked at their plates, a detail that may not be visible in the photograph, is that they both left one bite of their half bagel in the lower right hand quadrant of their plate. Twins!

As for me, my breakfast was sheer Ambrosia. Another heavenly reference! My darling sister Judy makes my mother's (or is it from The Joy of Cooking?) liver pate recipe every year to share with her guests at her epic latke flipping party. I am always the lucky recipient of a special ramekin of my mother's that she fills with a portion just for me to take home! Unfortunately I have to return the ramekin when I've finished my pate, but I always know that I will get it back for a few days the next year. As I ate my exquisite breakfast I asked the kids to think about how they were going to remind each other of their family's love for each other when they grew up. I suggested that maybe they would each always have the other one's favorite hazelnut spread on hand, and maybe the right kind of bagel.