You handsome devil, you.
A A Milne, if you don't recognize the name, is the author of Winnie the Pooh and my new hero and best friend ever. I probably saw Winnie the Pooh as a child, but I didn't grow up on it the way some kids did. Justin can recall seeing an episode or two of the TV show so he took the lead on the holiday, looking up several activities for us and planning them out. I delighted in tagging along for the day.
First we spent the better part of the morning being bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, pouncy and fun, fun, fun, fun, fun. Then we watched the new episode of Sleepy Hollow, which, while not part of the holiday, did give me a profound sense of connection with Piglet.
Pictured: me watching Sleepy Hollow
As we did our holiday research, we discovered that Milne wrote the stories about stuffed animals owned by his son. This revelation brought me absolute and immense joy as most of my childhood stories featured stuffed animals or real animals that I owned as a child. There was Super Sparky the Wonder Corgi who chased away all my bullies. There were Sluffy and Scotty, the trusty teddies who even missed me when I went away to college.
Actual picture I was actually sent by my actual and awesome parents in my freshman year of college
So while I didn't know much of Winnie the Pooh, the idea of anthropomorphic stuffed animals is deeply nostalgic and beautiful for me. More recently, many of you know that Justin and I share our house with a lovely little Piggie of our own named Oliver. He's similar to a dog or baby in that we love him an almost inappropriate amount. He's different in that he doesn't eat, sleep or breathe. We decided Oliver should join us for our Winnie the Pooh viewing though because, well, he's part of the family.
Yes that is a bowl of Lucky Charms marshmallows. He's a spoiled Piggie.
All kidding aside - we're not big into watching kid's movie as adults so we kind of expected the movie part to be an exercise in boredom. WE WERE SO WRONG IT'S EMBARRASSING. Seriously, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is amazing! I defy anyone to name a better movie. In any genre.
WRONG.
I was blown away. The puns, the meta-jokes, even the simple kid's jokes - they were all hilarious. The characters were adorable, but not in an annoying trying-too-hard-kind of way. Honestly, when we go to have kids, I'm going to spend the entire third trimester watching the movie on repeat in hopes the kid absorbs its lessons by osmosis. I KNOW THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS.
The point is - it was wonderful. Really genuinely so. We also had our fun with unusual snacks at Justin's recommendation. We shared honey hunny bread. He picked up hunny-nut cream cheese spread (for the most subtle, grown up palate) and we had Texas wildflower hunny for me... because I am five.
Om nom nom.
Lastly, Justin said we should design our own tree house, a la the creatures of Winnie the Pooh. I wasn't sold on the idea until Justin found our graph paper and then my inner German exclaimed forcefully with joy. I'm not gonna lie - I would totally live in the tree house I designed.
I might upgrade the outhouse though.
I forgot how much fun drawing and other random creative pursuits could be. Justin picked absolutely amazing activities for today. I will admit I wasn't completely looking forward to the holiday because I hadn't seen much Winnie the Pooh as a child - I'm so glad we celebrated it. Despite still being a ways out from having a little one, it is nice to know there are brilliant stories that we can show them and enjoy ourselves. So happy birthday, A A Milne, you beautiful genius!
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