Kwanzaa

Last year we added Kwanzaa to our holiday celebrations.  Like with Hanukkah we only celebrate one day and just talk about the entire celebration and its traditions.  Kwanzaa is probably my favorite of the two because each day has a "principal" that is celebrated.  Last year we celebrated Kuumba (Creativity) and made crayon art on a canvas.  This year we wanted to celebrate another principal and decied on Ujamaa which means cooperative economics.  (To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together)  We decided that we would have the girls round up all the pennies from their own banks and we would use all of the money from our family bank.  We had a total of $56 to use.  We explained the importance of shopping locally and supporting small businesses.  We thought it would be great to go to eat at the Greenery in Ogden with our money.  Its not what I would call a small business but it isn't chain restaraunt and so to me it is small and local.  Here are the girls with their pennies:

 Dinner was fantastic and we really enjoyed the time sitting and chatting as a family.  We learned that Shelby loves 'Mormon Muffins' which shocked me.  They had live music which kept making David and I chuckle because it was an electric keyboard and as hard as the lady tried it just didn't sound as classy as we knew she thought it sounded.  We of course gave her a few dollars for her efforts but it wasn't something we would hope to ever hear again.  :)  We went to shop at Rainbow Gardens and Planet Rainbow (The connecting stores) with our left over money.  Considering they are small businesses too we figured it was fitting.  We settled on buying Kinder eggs from Planet Rainbow.  This is something that David has had ever since he was little.  His Uncle Brian would bring them home from his work trips in Germany and he was excited to get to buy them for the girls. 

 Here is a kinder egg:  It is milk chocolate and white chocolate that breaks open to reveal a prize:

Shelby got a little girl figure, Kadence got a plastic seal, I got a toy you throw with streamers and David got a kitty bracelet.  :)  We had an amazing night and I am looking forward to Kwanzaa next year.  I'm not sure if we will do all of the principles, but the two we've done have been amazing so we will eventually be repeating them.

 

 

I can't avoid mentioning something that totally made our night.  As we sat at dinner we were looking at all of the paintings from a local artist that were displayed around the tables.  We talked about what we liked and disliked and finally agreed on one that we would buy....if we ever had the money.  Art is something that David and I both enjoy and we want to be able to buy a few pieces of art when we are older.  While we were eating the artist was coming around taking down her paintings.  When she walked past with "our favorite"  I couldn't avoid telling her that it was our favorite and that we liked it.  She seemed taken back because everyone else just ignored her.  We thought nothing of it until we were leaving.  The girls and I ran to the car and thought daddy was right behind us.  When we got in and got buckled I realized he wasn't and figured he had stopped to help someone. When he eventually arrived at the car he came to my door instead of his own so I figured we would be waiting a while for him to finish helping.  I sure was wrong.  He opened the door and handed me the painting we agreed we would buy.  I was shocked!  I was even more shocked to know that the artist gave it to him for free.  Here is how the conversation went:

 

Artist: Wait Wait! Was it your wife who was nice enough to say she liked one of my paintings?

David: Yes

Artist: Here (handed him the painting) Merry Late Christmas!

David: I can't possibly take this without paying you

Artist: Don't be silly, its yours

David: Gratefully thanked her about a million times

 

Because I happened to be nice we are now the owners of a piece of art.  We will always be reminded of her kindness when we look at it and remember how nice it was to sit around the table a a family looking at all of the paintings.  Here is the piece of art.  It is not as vibrant in the picture but you get the point.  It is also supposed to have the blue on the left, purple on the right and hang horizontally but this is the way it hung in the restaraunt so this is how it will always hang in our home.