Let there be light

 

I hung more cheerful lights than usual this dark December. Those new battery operated fairy lights are great because you can put them anywhere. Old houses don't have many convenient outlets. John set the timer so this one blinks on at "wine time" each evening. Not that we need a visual reminder!

Speak of the devil-- a 20 inch blue bottle impulsive purchase from Trader Joes -- Italian blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio. Hopefully it tastes half as good as it looks with ham.

Other than the food, I'm done with shopping. Sorry to support the Evil Empire, but Amazon can bring anything else.

I was at Marshall's yesterday buying little things like holiday napkins. The store was jammed and that awful uneasy feeling being in a crowd came back again. Is it worth it?

Unfortunately, it looks even fully vaccinated people easily catch Omicron variant. And spread it to others. The illness might be mild, but we don't know yet how it affects our demographic, which has bore the brunt of the pandemic from the beginning. 

That bad cold I just got over was a wake up call on just how unpleasant being sick is. Not just for you, but for everyone who has to listen to your coughing and sneezing. Take care out there.

Yule

 Late lies the wintry sun a-bed,
A frosty, fiery sleepy-head;
Blinks but an hour or two; and then,
A blood-red orange, sets again.

From "Winter-Time" by Robert Lewis Stevenson

Day of Reckoning

 

What a good person I once was, making all those cookies for John's coworkers to gobble up in a single day. Seriously, I'm not that nice anymore. No wonder he was popular at work. 

That's a 1950's Betty Crocker "helpful" calendar for the busy housewife. Good grief.

Anyway, what's December without cookies? I've made powdered sugar nut balls, peanut butter chocolate chip, and a really delicious new shortbread recipe (pound of butter) from Martha Stewart's ridiculous magazine. 

All these cookies types freeze well until it's time to organize the cookie trays. Only a superhuman Martha (or Betty) could knock out 10 varieties at once. 

John takes his responsibility seriously as official taster, and the first words out of his mouth in the morning are "what are you making today?" I'm starting in on what he calls "real" Christmas cookies-- the fancy cutouts, etc. 

 Here's a poem I wrote in 2012. In an uncertain world, nice to know some things never change.

 Day of Reckoning

It's a holiday.
So I'll have another
Taste of cheesecake.
(John says the best I ever made.)
Some Christmas cookies with my tea
And a fried oyster sandwich the next day.
Drop of brandy while watching a movie.
Tasty bits of crispy ham
Sneaked off the fork
While piling the dinner platter.
And a second dab of scalloped potatoes
And another glass of wine
Followed by sausage and pancake
Breakfast the next morning
(Just for company, of course) 
And then a tiny glass of eggnog before bed.
And don't forget the candy,
Boxes of yummy sweets,
Especially those dark truffles.
The scale tucked away
In the downstairs bathroom
Until today.
 

Letter Writing Day

December 7th is Letter Writing Day. I remember writing several letters a week to family and friends. Long distance phone calls were a big expensive deal, only for special holidays and serious news.

Fewer people send Christmas cards these days and it's totally understandable-- the time and bother, plus cost of postage. A first class letter now is almost 60 cents-- kind of a shock when you buy a few of those little packets at once. I remember Mom picking out sheets of 4 cent Christmas stamps in the 1960's. She kept up an amazingly detailed address book. We mailed stacks of cards and we received just as many.

Mediocre writing comes easy for me (I do it daily!) but writing a good annual Christmas letter is hard. Those braggy old mimeographed letters (remember that smelly blue ink?) were fodder for jokes, and rightly so. But in fairness, it's hard to strike the balance between enough family news and overkill. Some people have it down to an art. Anyway, I enjoy reading all of them, and appreciate the time it took to write.

December 7 is Letter Writing Day. A good day to get the Christmas card mess moving off the dining table. Although it's a pretty mess. All those hand-addressed envelopes stacked up and ready to send makes me feel quite businesslike and efficient. Ha ha.

Tracks in the snow

 

We found a fresh Douglas Fir at the hardware store and just the right size. We've crammed trees twice as big into this corner and I wonder why? So much work and mess. Although, it was a fun challenge finding space for all the ornaments.

Yes, a saver and a keeper can collect quite a bit of Christmas stuff over 50+ years. A few of the family heirlooms are much older than that. Their only value now being in the personal memories, so why not enjoy while we still can. Last year was such a subdued holiday, I didn't even bother to put everything up. 

And these are still such uncertain times, we don't have firm plans yet for Christmas, but hope to get to the house for a short stay in December, weather permitting. 

Well. After a record warm and wet November, winter arrived overnight. It's suddenly very cold in the Methow Valley, and the snow will soon start to pile up. Amanda took some pictures of the place looking very Christmassy. 

The yard is covered in deer tracks and signs of the 3-legged kitty who visits from next door. Down on the beach, these more mysterious tracks belong to "our" river otter who lives in the rocky bank across the way. A delightful, endangered and harmless creature (unless you're a fat fish) it's always fun catching a quick glimpse of him.

Oh, Christmas tree

 Queen Victoria's tree at Windsor, 1848

We enjoyed the PBS "Victoria" series, and looked forward to Season 4 after the cliffhanger end to Season 3, when poor Albert collapsed on the palace floor.  

Unfortunately, there are "no plans" for "Victoria" to return, at least for the time being. Jenna Coleman, the pretty 34 year old actress who plays the queen, said “effectively I could play this part until I am well into my sixties." Hopefully they bring it back. 

 

Speaking of trees, it's a rare dry day, so we're headed out to find ours. Have a good weekend.