Crudites

For as long as I can remember, my mom always served a vegetable tray at our holiday dinners. The tray included carrots, celery, cherry tomatoes, pickles and olives. Sometimes mom would even give me the opportunity to arrange the tray. We would usually snack on the 'relish tray' as we waited for the main meal to be served. It was not until I was planning my annual Bastille Day meal that I learned this quaint relish try had a much more impressive name- Crudites. (Pronounced- croodeetay) Doesn't everything sound more refined, expensive and exciting when in French?

Several days ago we were driving to the grocery store for a normal, ho-hum trip. As we were getting into the car, my imaginative Jackson said, "Let's 'tend that your car is a spaceship and we're going to the sky!" Suddenly the ho-hum trip became a much more exciting adventure. This trip was complete with shooting stars, friendly aliens and colorful planets surrounding us. Imaginative 3 year olds sure can make the mundane much more fun! What a great lesson for me. Why do everyday tasks have to be ho-hum? It's sort of like those raw carrots; if you call it a crudite that raw carrot suddenly seems much more exciting than merely a raw carrot.

Everyday has the potential to be extraordinary, even if it is filled with just regular tasks. If you know me, you know that I do not live in a fantasy world nor do I advocate living outside the realm of reality. However, as I have discovered of late, it becomes very easy to fall into a rut of routine. I'll admit, it is awfully tricky to make folding clothes a whole lot of fun, but as Mary Poppins said, "In every job that must be done there is an element of fun, you find the fun and....snap!...the job's a game." It's all in what you make of it. Raw carrots or crudites?