Posted tagged ‘Gingerbread’

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“The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul and a new nose; new feet, a new backbone, new ears, and new eyes.”

January 1, 2018

I woke up warm and toasty this morning. The comforter was even a bit too much last night. Yesterday at this time nothing was warm, not my nose, my feet, Maddie’s fur or Gracie all over. Both of them are sleeping now.

The freezing weather continues. This morning there was a short snow shower of flaky, light snow. It was almost a whiteout. The old snow now looks new, fitting for today, though I doubt even an inch of snow fell, and it has since stopped. It is freezing cold, only 9˚. The high today will be 15˚ though I have no idea in what world we can call 15˚ a high. The sun has broken through the clouds and brought a bit of blue with it. I think of it as a bit of a celebration to welcome the new year.

I don’t make resolutions. I used to, but I was a complete failure. I have a few hopes, but I make no promises to myself. I’d like to think this year will be better than last. The eternal optimist in me won’t let go. It holds sway. That’s just the way it is.

My life has a rhythm. Even on days I do little or nothing, I still feel alive, open to anything which comes my way. My friends and I have traditions we love and look forward to every year. On the first day of spring we welcome the new season at sunrise on the beach where the waves sometimes have whitecaps and sometimes are very still but are always dependable hitting the shore and leaving ripples in the sand. We sing the same songs year to year. Morning Has Broken is my favorite. We hold up our Day of the Dead decorated cookies expecting praise and maybe even a bit of awe at the hidden talents we all have. The summer is our deck time with movies every Saturday night. We love the breeze going across the deck and the fireflies flitting through the trees in the backyard. We laugh at the wonderfully awful B science fiction movies. We decorate gingerbread houses on Christmas Eve. We share Christmas Day dinner and swap presents. I know this new year will be different, but I know too the familiar will happen in the same loving way.

My memory drawers are so full but there is still room in the back for new memories. I welcome each new year with open arms. It’s possibility, it’s hope and it’s glorious adventures.

Happy New Year, my friends!!

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“From home to home, and heart to heart, from one place to another. The warmth and joy of Christmas, brings us closer to each other.“

December 25, 2017

Merry Christmas!

I slept in this morning until ten. When I took Gracie out, the first order of the every day, it was cold but sunny with a few peeks at a blue sky. There was also a snow shower, tiny little flakes which looked like ash blowing in the wind, and what a wind. The police sent out an emergency call last night about the storm. First would come rain then a wind up to 60 MPH. It would last until noon. I got the rain last night when I took Gracie out, and this morning I got the tail end of the storm, the windy part. The electricity went out for about five minutes, long enough for me to panic about dinner. I had visions of being bundled against the predicted Arctic cold and cooking at the barbecue. Luckily the outage was short-lived.

I’ve had my coffee and newspaper. Once I finish here I’ll prep dinner. The egg nog is already made and only needs the whipped cream. I’ll sit here at the table in the den, peel potatoes and watch TV. I’m actually watching the science fiction channel. Yeti is attacking.

Last night was wonderful. My friends and I made our gingerbread houses. The concentration was palpable, and while we did speak, it was mostly asking for a decoration. Every now and then we’d hear tap, tap, tap as a hard candy, a decoration for the houses, hit the wood floor and bounced. I think I was the worst at holding on to the the small decorations with frosting crusted fingers. Our houses were beautiful. We seem to get better every year. This year I added windows with candles, actually it was a square outline of frosting with a cut piece of a yellow gumdrop. I love this Christmas Eve tradition of ours.

After I left my friends, I went next door to my neighbors’ house. I brought champagne for mimosas. First we sang happy birthday to their oldest son, now twenty-one. Singing the Portuguese happy birthday was first. I clapped then we all sang it in English. Their custom is a huge dinner then they all open their presents at midnight. They wanted me to stay for dinner, and I hated giving up eating all those Brazilian dishes, but I was exhausted.

I went to bed early for me, by 11. Gracie woke me up once, at 5:00, so she could go out. I had no trouble getting back to sleep.

I have presents to open and food to prepare. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas. Mine has started already.

Merry Christmas to all my Coffee family!!

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“I call this season fake weather. The sun is shining but it cold like the north pole outside.”

November 20, 2017

It is 2:15, and because I’m wide-awake, I figure I can get started.

My computer is cold to the touch. My nose too is cold as the house is chilly. The setting on the thermostat automatically turns down the heat at night. I just haven’t gotten up to warm the house, but I’m getting close. Neither Maddie nor Gracie cares one whit about the chill as both are asleep. Before I go to bed, I’ll have to disturb Gracie by moving her so I can have enough room. She tends to stretch out on the couch and take far more room than is her due.

My dance card is empty until Thanksgiving. I still need to catalog the gifts I’ve gotten so far as I expect to send boxes to Colorado around the end of the first week in December which is coming closer and closer so I need to get busy cataloging. My Christmas preparations are on the move. I ordered gingerbread houses for my grandniece and grandnephews in Colorado. It is a tradition that started when my oldest nephew was 3. He is now in his thirties and is the father of two. He gets to watch them decorate. My niece’s two boys get the other house to decorate, to showcase their artistic talents, just as their mother did.

The house is warming. When my fingers started to get cold, I gave in and turned on the heat.

There is one house that at Christmas outdoes all the other houses. They have every surface, tree or bush covered with lights. There is even a TV out front which always has a Christmas movie playing. I went pass the street the other day and noticed the house is ready. I figure Thanksgiving may be the big reveal night, to use a little HGTV term.

Tonight I watched mostly Hallmark. They were actually two movies I hadn’t ever see before, and they starred two different female leads than their usual. The happy endings, however, were unchanged.

Well, I’m finally getting a bit tired. It is late, after three, or maybe it is the start of early, hard to know. I have to take the dog out one more time. I hope she’ll be quick.

 

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“Winter dawn is the color of metal, The trees stiffen into place like burnt nerves.”

January 8, 2012

Yesterday reached over 60°. It was an absolutely gorgeous day filled with warmth and sunshine. Today is no slouch either. The temperature is already 45°. I didn’t see a winter coat all morning when I went to breakfast. The nights are in the 30’s but it is, after all, winter.

The last of Christmas is disappearing as I write. The outside lights are coming down and being stored away until next year. I will miss the star most of all. It was bright and beautiful and had a tail of 5 strands of lights. It stood tall above the back gate and lit up the night. I’m thinking I might just use it this summer in the backyard.

When I was a kid, Christmas and my birthday were the two most important days of the year, even more important than the last day of school, but Christmas had the advantage as it was a season and its festivities lasted for days. We had the decorating of the house and the tree and the cookies. We had to make our lists for Santa which took hours poring over the Sears catalog before the lists could be finalized. We had favorite television programs to watch and an advent calendar for the countdown, and we had the nightly race to see who would turn on the window lights.

I don’t remember when Christmas was dismantled. I think my mother did most of it while we were in school. I know one day we left for school and the tree was there, and when we got home, it was gone. The living room was back to normal with the TV in its rightful spot.

Back then I didn’t miss Christmas after it was gone. For a kid, the anticipation is the best part and that’s before the big day. For me now, it’s the decorations and the lights and the gingerbread houses we decorate. It’s getting together with friends.

I feel a bit of melancholy, a sense of loss when everything is gone. Winter now holds sway and the nights are dark and far less friendly.

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