Joyeux Noel

 Tim left this morning for Iowa. 

Charlie and I will leave in the morning - after a 7am breakfast at the library.  Charlie has had his bath, the last load of laundry is in the washer, things are packed and ready to go, so this is it for me until next week.  We're looking forward to a couple days with Jacob, Naphtali, et al, and trust they will have good weather for their travels.

Special greetings to the girls in Merida - hope you have a great time together. 

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

merry christmas

tim plans to be home this evening.
the packages are wrapped, trees atwinkle. carols inside, howling winds without - the day is mine to use or waste as i see fit.



i hope you're warm and safe enjoying family, friends, comfort & joy this christmas.
merry, merry christmas!!

a common refrain

at the library is that none of us cook anymore. so why did i run 10 pages through the copier last night bringing home more recipes that will never be used?? what is it with cookbooks?? is there some mysterious (primal?) motivation for thumbing through cookbooks??
and of course our favorites are the christmas books that have begun to books to trickle in combining recipes with gift and decorating ideas. i took a few ideas from this one and it actually prompted plans (the whole idea really) for my mother-in-law's gift.

these books are so fun to browse. it's free. it's harmless and we do take and adapt some of the ideas presented in glossy perfection on their pages. i have to admit that a certain amount of eye rolling accompanies our perusals. yes, my breakfast table looks like that christmas morning. ( what fun it would be and with a few minor tweaks well within my range of time, talent and attention span !!) the bucket of party favors for the friends and neighbors at our holiday open house?? lets go with the mini scrapbook featuring vignettes from past parties. another reminder that some do seem to inhabit a parallell universe where chalk boards are hung from bedroom doors announcing the menu options for aunt susan's breakfast. so we look and make the appropriate oohs and aahs and have our fun and make our plans and look forward to the family visits and general hustlebustle of the holidays.