Honestly, this was a great Christmas. We had snow the day before, so it was a white one. In the morning I walked dogs at the shelter first thing, and while I was there church bells were ringing out all over town, up and down and across the river, and it made me happy to think about the good things about Christianity. I'm not a Christian but I do think about Jesus sometimes and how he wasn't here to mess around. Be nice to strangers, share your stuff, don't fight, etc, and actually do it, don't just talk about it.
Ella was home for a few days, which was lovely. She gave us a tree she'd designed and made from walnut and two kinds of oak, with branches that swivel. She knows we're bad at making decisions and each year we put off getting a tree until it is too late, so now we don't have to think about it and she doesn't have to hear about it. She left yesterday and is spending her break in New York City picking up odd theater jobs because she's impressively hard working.
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| The lit-up box is the very fancy chocolate advent calendar Michael got for us from Vosges. We first found Vosges at Chicago's O'Hare Airport, where they have a tiny store and a sign that says "voted world's best chocolate" and Michael said "I'll be the judge of that" and damn if it wasn't very very good. But not cheap, so we get it on special occasions only. Or if we're in O'Hare, which is the kind of place one needs a little chocolate to get through. |
I was not feeling like cooking a giant feast, or even a small one. I grew up with lamb as a Christmas tradition and I love it, but I've felt less and less like cooking industrial meat over the years, and ever since seeing the movie Killer of Sheep, lamb has been harder for me to face. (It is an excellent movie, but spoiler alert, some sheep get killed). So I made a leek and goat cheese quiche and damn, it was one of the best things I've ever made. Then I made pecan pie, so it was essentially two pies for dinner and it doesn't get much better than that.
The next morning I went for a walk and look at this beautiful sunrise in the park, warning me of the storm to come (and the storm did come - last night we got several inches of snow and sleet and freezing rain).
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| In New Zealand they say "red sky in the morning, shepherds' warning," but here in the US, the warning goes out to sailors. Or is it the other way around? Whatever, it is one of those things that's different. Like ladybirds vs ladybugs. |
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