Christmas Eve morning Mr. M and I sat down to listen, as usual, to the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from King's College, Cambridge. (I thought of all the bloggy friends across the pond who might also be listening, and sent you warm thoughts for a Happy Christmas.) Then it was back to the tasks at hand. At 11:40 pm on Christmas Eve I was still putting the last stitches into the last project ... and at 6:30 Christmas morning it was time to get up and start cooking all the things I hadn't yet had time to cook.
Some of my favourite Christmassy things....
Looking into the empty (and tidy!) living room on Christmas morning, knowing that soon it would be full of laughter and loved ones.
A tree hung with ribbons and joy...
...and glass and beads and crochet:
And more beads.
Homemade honey caramelcorn:
(You can keep your Christmas cookies and cake. Just give me a few gallons of this stuff and I'm a happy camper.)
A small niece who was suddenly old enough to play after-dinner word games with the grownups:
A busy day but a good one.
Thursday was spent in visiting friends and family, and Friday it was back to work. On Saturday things began (finally!) to slow down, and on Sunday I took a Very Cold Walk.
~ ~ ~
After some beautifully balmy days in the 20s and 30s, temps have plunged and are heading for below zero. It's about 10º F when I leave for my walk, but the bitter northwest wind is making it feel much colder.
Oak leaves still cling to a few trees at the park entrance, giving a false impression of autumn:
This is a much more accurate picture: frozen pond, snowy ground, and dried grasses under an icily bright sky:
Pine needles against the blue:
A pine cone lies in the crusted snow at my feet:
These are all the pictures I can bear to take - the wind is punishingly cold. It's time to head home and fill up with hot chocolate against the sub-zero week ahead.
I hope it's warmer where you are! :)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
0 Comments