Christmas, winter, snow, etc.

It's been hard for me to drum up holiday spirit, and I'm not sure why.  Maybe the economy has us all under a cloud, because not a lot of friends - whether in NJ or VT - seem up for holiday doings.  Except Jamie, across the street, who's had her inside decorations up since Thanksgiving, but she's a grade-school teacher.  In grade school you "decorate your room" for any occasion.

I am getting a tree, next weekend, from a dance partner whose family is slowly phasing out tree farming.  I enjoy putting up a tree with the old and treasured ornaments that carry a lot of family history. And I'll really get to enjoy it, because I've decided I'm staying home for Christmas.

In October I was away every single weekend, and in November I went to two closer-to-home Sunday events, and I came to NJ for a whirlwind Thanksgiving.  This is so unlike my normal life that I think it wore me out.  I can't work up any enthusiasm for Christmas visiting!  What I am surprisingly engaged with is the idea of being off from Dec 23 through Jan 2 and

• spending Christmas Day with Gene and Lucille Napoliello in Waterbury Center (it's been YEARS since I did that)
• being able to rehang the bedroom curtains (if I can figure out what I did wrong the first time) and
• paint the ceiling in the house and
• making order out of the chaos of the small bedroom (aka the Knitting Stash repository)
• exercising some every day, because I have a coupon for 5 free sessions at the local Curves, and I will actually be able to get there when they're open!!

Perhaps all that away time demonstrated how disordered my life has become, and I'm craving not only being off from work, but being at home to get something of my own accomplished. In fact, that's kind of perked me up.  Yesterday I got out the house holiday decorations (that's my favorite reindeer in the living room window). The completely-fake-but-wonderfully-sparkly wreath is on the house door, the Merry Christmas hanging is on the porch door, Grandma Texas's ceramic Santas are on the radio, and the living room and dining room are adorned with assorted Christmas cutesiness.

I'm working through the stack of Christmas music CDs, and knitting furiously.  I wish that people came up with marvelous Christmas knitting ideas in AUGUST, for heaven's sake. Some readers of this blog may get late Christmas gifts, because I don't think I can get everything done to mail in time.  Oh well, a post-December 25 package means you can have Christmas again!

And winter seems to have descended. We had a below-zero morning last week and now we are getting reminders that the huge storm in the midwest, which will not hit us, is still an influence.  The forecast is for snow showers all week, and it's just stopped snowing.  The weather guys threatened freezing rain, but now plain rain (which will freeze on frozen ground, but not on cars and porches. Snow will resume Monday or Tuesday.  Now, high winds are the real concern.  There are parts of VT that only recently recovered power from the windstorm we had the week after Thanksgiving. 

 

Ernie, as you know, enjoys people food.  The occasional cheese, the daily teaspoon of ice cream, the little puddle of salad dressing, to say nothing of tidbits of chicken, asparagus, brussels sprouts, and broccoli.  He's expanded his list of faves to leek-and-potato soup. I'd made some and was serving myself some for lunch yesterday, when the spoon, full of soup, leaped out of my hand onto the floor.  Ernie was there in a flash, cleaned the floor, and then the look he gave me said "Please, madam, may I have some more?"  It's gotten so whenever I'm in the kitchen or sit down to eat, he's there, looking hopeful.