The rain started last night and continues today. The weatherman says rain most of the afternoon possibly changing to snow in the late afternoon. It is cold, only 39°. I had a late start as I took Henry to the vet. He has red all around the sockets of his eyes. He had it three years ago, but it went away. This time it hasn’t. Henry isn’t bothered by it, and he lets me clean it so it doesn’t hurt. The vet checked a swab of the redness under the microscope. He thinks it is a seasonal allergy so I have to swab the areas with an ointment twice a day. Henry also got his rabies shot, a heart worm test and his nails trimmed. I’m still taken aback by the bill.

Remember I told you I thought I had mice in the cabinet? That has been confirmed. Yesterday, two small ones were in the trap. The peanut butter was gone. Now the mice are gone, let free. This morning I checked and lo and behold I had two more small ones. They are also free. I’ll reset the trap and put it back in the cabinet. I’m keeping a rolling count.

When I was a kid, I loved going down stairs in the morning this time of year. As soon as I got to the bottom stairs, I could smell the Christmas tree, the sweet pine that always triggers memories of Christmas. I used to love to lie under the tree and look up to see the branches and lights. As soon as it got dark in the late afternoon, we raced to be the one to turn on the tree lights. I remember there were plugs all attached to each other in a row and one plug to rule them all, sorry, one to hold all the other plugs. You had to crawl under the tree to plug in the lights. Those were the days of a whole string of lights going dark when one bulb died. I can still see my father testing each bulb. I always wondered if maybe there were two or even three dead bulbs. I never said that out loud. When it happened to me in my own house, I’d have an empty strand and test the bulbs one at a time.

I have a concert this afternoon. I’ve already filled my bag with a Christmas fascinator, jingle bells, squeeze toys and a couple of metal antique noisemakers. I’m ready.

Today is cold, 35°, not so unexpected. It is also mostly cloudy and a bit windy. Even the dogs didn’t stay outside. They are into comfort. Dismal fits today so far but but I’m hoping for a little sun.

When I was a kid, Christmas started early. Uptown was decorated with lights on garlands which stretched from one side of the street to the other. The store windows had greenery and a few wrapped presents, as sort of inspirations I guess. The fire station and the police station, in the same building, were always decorated with lights. A Santa was climbing up a ladder to the chimney. That was my favorite decoration. A nativity was on the lawn of the town hall. The figures were big, and there was real straw. As we got closer to Christmas, a platform was set up in the square in front of The Children’s Corner. Every night, kids sang carols from the platform. Each night it was a different class from a different school. I remember my debut on the platform. I was in the fifth grade. We had the John Hancock book of Christmas carols. I remember how proud I was standing there singing in the middle of the square.

I loved to ice skate. I had choices as to where to skate. Sometimes my mother gave me money for the bus and for the MDC rink. I remember the rink was warm inside and had benches to sit on when putting on and taking off my skates. The rink was round and had sides, all the better to keep me from falling. The town put up a rink on Recreation Park. It too was round with sides. I hung on to those as well. A temporary shack was built with a wood stove and wooden benches. Under the benches is where we all put our shoes. Sometimes you had to hunt for one shoe or the other. I remember walking home on unsteady feet after an afternoon of skating. My favorite place to skate was the swamp. It was across the field, over the dead tree trunk in a clearing in the woods. The swamp’s open space was in the front. I’d sit on the cold ground to put on my skates. I fell sometimes on the ice, no sides, just trees.

I have a decorating project today. I have all red ornaments of different shapes and sizes and a long, thin branch from a pine tree. I’m going to hang the ornaments in different lengths from the branch then hang it in the house.

My dance card has the usual, a uke practice and lesson, and the start of our Christmas concerts, three this week.