Friday Feast for Sunday Brunch

Appetizer
Name 2 things you would like to accomplish in 2008.

1. Make plans. Really, I don't make many plans. With friends, with family, for my life. So, make plans.
2. Be bold.
   

Soup
With which cartoon character do you share personality traits?

Having always preferred CNN to cartoons, this is a hard one for me. Maybe Peppermint Patty from Peanuts.

Salad
What time of day (or night) were you born?

Morning. Early riser, always.

Main Course
Tell us something special about your hometown.

I had a bridal shower there and wrote 427 thank you notes. 1,000 people live there, so 427 is pretty much the ladies.

Dessert
If you could receive a letter from anyone in the world, who would you want to get one from?

God. It might help me make those plans. But if the person must be a mortal, I'd choose Pete.

Get the scoop on Friday's Feast here.

Nothing makes me stop in my tracks like Barber's Adagio for Strings. I've been playing on P's new MacBook for a while this morning listening to the CBS Sunday Morning Show. (One of my favorite lazy Sunday Morning activities.) I'm skipping my usual church singing today in favor of a little serious relaxation and alone time, which I seem to be needing after the close of the Holiday extravaganza at work. Anyway, back to Adagio for Strings.

Those year-in-review-who-has-died montages are some of my favorite things of the time between Christmas and New Year's. They honor people like Max Roach, Oscar Peterson, Lady Bird Johnson, Beverly Sills, Kurt Vonnegut and others. Some will be missed; others like Jerry Falwell won't be missed by me, but it's a free country after all. I was really only half paying attention until Adagio for Strings came on with a story about WWII vets. I'm glad I looked up from my blog-reading to watch the tribute, hail and farewell to all.

Merry Christmas. And may your New Year's dreams come true.

Well, it's Christmas Eve. One of my favorite days of the year. I love it when Nat King Cole sings about finding it hard to sleep tonight and having it actually be tonight. I love it when the newspaper prints the letter to Virginia. (Ignore those naysayers in the comments, I say.) I love singing in the church choir, like I will two times today, and prepping the prime rib for the big dinner tomorrow.

I love the colored lights on my Christmas tree, and driving by all the other homes with Christmas trees burning brightly in the windows. I love the treats, the macaroons and the peppermint bark and the butter brickle. Oh, and the marshmallows dipped in caramel and rolled in rice crisp cereal. Plus peanut butter blossoms, and ice cream. And candy canes, and chocolate. I think you get the idea.

And the music, the good and beautiful music, sacred at church, secular in the car and sometimes at home, my dad playing with the phone on the piano while I listen rapt on the other end. I love that on Christmas Eve I'll turn on the radio to the station with the Christmas music, and let it play all night long, unlike any other night of the year.

We'll wake up, make some coffee and enjoy the quiet and solitude. There are some presents to open, and stockings. Mmm, stockings. Arguably my favorite part of the presents ritual. They'll be some surprises, I'm betting. I'm looking forward to that part, too. There's just so much to enjoy. Dinner with the neighbors, apple cider, champagne, wine, cocktails, egg nog. Plus FUN!

If you're celebrating the birth of the Savior, or enjoying the magic of Christmas, or renewing your faith in the spirit of Santa and Christmas, or whether you're doing nothing at all, I hope you enjoy it. Peace on Earth, goodwill towards men, and all that stuff.

Merry Christmas!

Written while exhausted. On the way to bed.

Earlier tonight a friend who is moving abroad gave me a gift for taking care of a few things while she visited London this month. It's a beautiful double-walled ceramic cup, with no handle and perfect for coffee or tea. She said she thought long and hard about what to bring, and she finally settled on this modern treat because it somehow seemed right. She said she hoped I didn't mind the sentiment.

And I don't. In fact, I'm kind of relishing in it.

There have been some transitions in my life recently, most specifically at work. Things are no better or worse, only different. And that a colleague and friend finds a gift for me that conveys comfort and warmth is a good feeling for me. Good luck, my friend. You'll be great.

Now that things are settling down a bit, I'm hoping to get my house in shape for Christmas! I'm making it a goal to post a few photos of our Christmas digs once I complete a few decorating tasks, and complete four or five less pleasant loads of laundry. Oooh, and holiday treat making. I have a few days off work this week, Monday and Tuesday... So if you're lucky I'll have some things to share. In the even that you're unlucky, you'll just have to hold out for an update later. Either way it'll be fun.

10 days til Christmas. y'all! Let the fun begin.

Doggone famous.

Etta was featured a couple of weeks back on the Daily Grownup Puppy. Ain't she sweet?

Three things.

I've not been blogging much lately. I feel like I haven't done much of anything at all, aside from work. And I don't talk about work on my blog. So, sorry I'm out of touch. That's thing #1.

Thing #2: Celebrations. This Saturday night Pete and I went out for dinner at a fave place. This place has two meeting rooms, and both were full of men in suits and women in sparkly tops. They were laughing and cheering and celebrating and singing Christmas carols. That's one of the things I like best about this time of year: the celebrating. We had done some celebrating of our own the night before, with a superfun birthday party for two friends (who are brothers, whose birthdays are Dec. 7 and 8 respectively). Plus the usual end-of-the-semester happiness and a few propers from my workplace. But we don't talk about that here, remember?

As for the third thing, I was reading a friend's MySpace survey today and it asked the question "have you ever seen the Northern Lights?". I have seen the Northern Lights, and when I think of it I have a warm, happy feeling. It was more than six years ago, when I was a senior in college. Just weeks after 9/11 happened and the other four women I was living with in a rental house had gathered friends who had nowhere else to go when our little campus was evacuated from a bomb threat. Well, anyway, later that fall we saw the Northern Lights. A few of us gathered in the frosty cold, outside this house, outside Decorah, and saw the beautiful colors in the sky. It makes me glad for being alive, just thinking of the Northern Lights, and the place where I saw them, and all that happened in my life before and after that moment. So that's the third thing.

Happy Monday.