ho ho ho hum

I know it’s Christmas season. I can tell, because WordPress has little spots floating around like snow falling. Do you see it? I hope so, because it’s cute and cheery. There is no other way to tell it’s Christmas time, because it’s 80 degrees and humid outside. A warm front from the South has come in and is confusing the jonquils. And me. I am confused. There is absolutely no desire to put out the Christmas stuff but I know once it’s out I will start singing Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra songs about snow and marshmallows and Baby, It’s Cold Outside even though it isn’t.

Thanksgiving was a complete miss. Not for sad and depressing reasons, but because a friend and I decided to blow it off completely and go on a cruise together. 5 days long, floating between here and the Bahamas, drinking fruity rummy things with umbrellas in them and eating, eating, eating. Pictures eventually. I had never been on a cruise before and it was the most relaxing vacation I have ever been on. I can safely say it is the first time I have come back from a long vacation and not needed to recuperate from it. I came back happy. But, the missing the Thanksgiving thing has set my holiday clock off entirely. Not to mention the 80 degree weather.

Then, my computer died. Not just the blue screen of death you need to reinstall stuff, but like, a cold hard death with tolling bells and ravens and grinding noises and kind of all Judge Dredd dystopian whatever. It was bad. So Terry found another one and ordered it but that took a few days then I had to figure it out because naturally it’s a different operating system and no. I do not like Windows 8. But that’s ok. I don’t like anything new and I am sure eventually it will grow on me. At least there are discs for the expensive programs. I lost some stuff like photographs and some embroidery designs, but hopefully the person I purchased the designs from will be understanding and let me download them again. If not, it isn’t the end of the world.

It’s not The Worst Thing Ever. That would be standing in the line at the post office….. Huh?

Ok, there’s this commercial that comes on sometimes, and it’s for this device you can use to label stuff you’re mailing. The people in the commercial say things like “I hate standing in line at the post office! It’s the worst thing ever!” That sends #4 and I off into a tizzy, and we reply with stuff like “That’s right! Even terminal cancer isn’t as bad! Neither is losing your house and family in a tsunami!” And so on.

Where was I?

oh yeah. In the interest of attempting to get into more of the Christmas Spirit, I have been baking biscotti- those crunchy twice baked not-too-sweet cookie things you dunk in coffee because they are hard as rocks.  I have been baking them for about 20 years now, every Christmas.  Since discovering the chopped nuts at the Dekalb Farmers Market, thus eliminated the most tedious part of making them, happiness has abounded. Chopped almonds, hazelnuts, pecans, mixed in not-too-sweet cookie dough along with some sort of dried fruit like cherries or apricots or currants, shaped into logs and baked, then sliced and baked again.  Yum, y’all.  And, it’s what I do at Christmas so it is how I get in the mood for a tree in the house and the cat knocking things off of it.

It is difficult, this Christmas Cheer thing…when it’s 80 degrees and the windows are open and there’s weeds growing in the yard and the 14 yr old says “Mom, I think the grass needs to be mowed.” It’s difficult when you want a glass of iced tea more than a cup of hot chocolate, and the idea of eating a rich and filling winter stew kind of makes you queasy.

But that’s ok. It will come. Eventually. Probably.