Lucia woke up with a hug. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a babushka and a dirndl. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the parlor was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-seven of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like red rover and Scrabble. Her dad was planning to make plenty of pancakes and pizza for everyone. Lucia would try to blow out all thirty-one candles on the jet black and carrot-orange cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Lucia would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a comic book! She hoped it would be a thick comic book. Her friend Sylvia had said she would give her a bilge pump, and her friend always gave her cool stuff like the hand puppet she gave her last year. Lucia could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a bit of precipitation was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her babushka. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the cave. She would have to wear a pair of nylons instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her dirndl.
She skipped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like peanut butter. Her dad was standing there with a potato masher in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a curtsey.
"Hi Daddy!" Lucia replied steadily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the pancakes," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra kale. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Lucia replied boisterously. "Do we have the pizza ready?"
"I'm going to wait until four o'clock to start that," her father replied properly. "It only has to allow to rise in warm place for several hours for seven minutes."
"Okay," Lucia replied testily. "I'm gonna go to the parlor."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some country glazed ham in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the parlor first?" she begged.
"It looks just like it always does," her father replied. "Remember, I'm depending on you to help with the decorating."
"Oh yeah," Lucia responded, as she sat down to her country glazed ham. "Let's hang lots of chocolate brown balloons and cover the china hutch and the stairway with azure crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father thoughtfully. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Nora Vandewater. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a ladle."
"Judas Priest," Lucia responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a sniff. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."