In With the New

Like the Roman god Janus who faces backward and forward, I like looking back on the year behind me. I like to think of highlights. 

That hike yesterday was one of them! It got in under the wire. 

Another highlight was a dinner last week with old friends, including one friend I had not seen in decades. So that makes two last-minute highlights.

And another late-breaking highlight: I got my first real Christmas tree in years. It is seven feet tall. That is it above!

My friend Cori helped me. We went to Home Depot and I know, we always want to go to cute little local places, however there is something to be said for simplicity. Home Depot goes and feeds your tree into a machine to bag it up and from there it goes into your car in a snap, no muss, no fuss. Well, I do not think I could have done it without Cori. But still.

Here is my tree being processed. This was on Dec. 10. My friend Cori is looking on critically making sure all the i's are dotted and t's are crossed. Cori is thorough. She is first generation German, mother from the Black Forest, father from Berlin. Nothing escapes her.

Cori also helped me to put twinkly lights up in the sunroom which are more prepossessing than the old redneck lights I had before.

Another highlight of the year has been Howard playing at the Hyatt every Friday. This continues from last year and continues this year as well. What reminded me was the Hyatt also upped its Christmas tree game this year. They have a tree that is world class. Pictures do not do it justice however this is my attempt.

Look at this. Here I was supposed to be remembering the highlights of my year and all I wind remembering are the highlights of the Christmas season. So far. 

It is not over yet!

I love Christmas. I love wine. However ...

 

It is not even June yet! So I was startled to see these holiday offerings on display at Premier Liquor.

I will put aside the issue of it being only May. I have to zero in on something else.

Advent wine calendars. I ask you. 

Do these people even know what an Advent calendar is?

These Advent Wine Calendars must be brought to you by the same people who think the Twelve Days of Christmas start 12 days before Christmas Day.

How about a Twelve Days of Christmas wine box that starts on the First Day of Christmas, Dec. 25?

Instead of Dry January we would have to have Dry February. That makes sense considering February is the shortest month.

We should have time to get this right.

It is still only May!

 

My virtual Midnight Mass

 Because of the big Buffalo blizzard I have spent Christmas snowed in.

I treated myself to Christmas midnight mass from St. John Cantius in Chicago. That is it at the top of the post! Remember when I went to St. John Cantius? Yikes, that was eight years ago!

It is long, I am not suggesting anyone watch the same thing. However being snowed in, I watched pretty much all of it. I even rewound it here and there, especially near the beginning before I quite realized how long it was.

There is a lot that is interesting about this mass. It is kind of a hybrid of Latin and English. Perhaps a Novus Ordo presented in Latin? The readings were what you would have at a modern Mass. There was a kind of responsorial psalm -- it was tasteful as responsorial psalms go however I fast forwarded through that. Hence the "pretty much" when I wrote I watched pretty much all of it.

Anyway. If you do not want to watch pretty much all of it here is what to check out.

The mass begins with a candlelight procession to "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen." You would not normally think of this Christmas carol as accompanying a solemn procession at mass however it was stunning. It gave me shivers.

There is a chorus and orchestra! I could not identify the mass they were performing. I know "performing" is not the right word. It is late and I cannot think of the right word, forgive me. The music seemed a little later than the classical era however it was not quite Romantic either, at least it did not sound like any composer I could think of.

Just now I got around to looking it up. They tell you in the notes to the video. It is by Otto Nicolai. It is his Mass in D. What a curiosity! I had the era exactly right. Not quite classical, not quite romantic. Otto Nicolai lived only from 1810-1849. 

The only Otto Nicolai I know off the top of my head is the overture to "The Merry Wives of Windsor" -- a piece I have always absolutely loved. I will have to listen again to his Mass in D because I really enjoyed it today.

The Midnight Mass ended with "Silent Night." They cut the lights and the ending procession is also by candlelight. The arrangement made me think of 1950s and 1960s Christmas records that I love. The mass has a full orchestra, did I mention that? The orchestra plays and the chorus sings this beautiful "Silent Night" in English, then in German, then in other languages. I think Polish is one. 

Just beautiful. I was gazing at it thinking: This happened last night!!

Long story short, I do feel I made it to mass on Christmas. And at times like this I am happy that  there will be other chances actually to be at Mass in person, not just in spirit.

It is only the First Day of Christmas!

Christmas in a Blizzard

We are in the middle of a blizzard. Buffalo is no stranger to blizzards however I do not remember one since the big one, in 1977, when I was a kid.

We have had storms, sure, however that is not the same thing. The snow flying around, the winds roaring, this is not something that happens every year.

Our next door neighbor, Dave, he had two huge inflatables on his front yard and both of them took off this morning. The snowman took off first. He belly-surfed across our yard and the yard next door and then took off down the street and whipped around a corner and that was the last we saw of him.

Santa was still sitting in the neighbor's yard. However when I took another look 15 minutes later, he was gone too.

They're outta here!

I was concerned for the werewolf. Last I checked, however, the werewolf was fine, menacing in the back yard. His big paws were covered in snow and he looked even more scary than usual.

With traveling out of the question I cleaned the first floor of my house. The renovations are proceeding -- the ceiling of the, ahem, solarium is in good shape after 10 years, the bathroom is repainted, the peeling wallpaper is down and the hall is repainted, the kitchen countertops are replaced. However the renovations are paused now for a couple of weeks and the house was in terrible disarray. 

Cupboards and cabinets are pushed into corners where they should not be. I had stashed all kinds of stuff into these cupboards and cabinets, and garbage was everywhere. Notice I said "was." It is not there anymore! I took two giant stuffed trash bags out to the tote. It was like the Perry expedition, taking the totes into the back yard! That was Howard's joke.

Howard texted me: "Good job, Commander Perry!"

I am telling myself: You could not have done this yesterday. You had to wait till today. The good news i is, now the house looks great.

 I vacuumed, I cleaned, I dusted, I rearranged.

Which is funny, when you think about it. It is not as if I am going to have any guests for Christmas. Heck, I might not even have Howard! Howard went to his garage earlier today not realizing there was a driving ban and he is stuck, riding out the storm in the apartment over the garage. So, it might just be me for Christmas Eve, who knows.

That's OK. I found this video.

So I am set. I will be content with my lot.

Christmas will be celebrated in this house.

Even if it is just me!

Brenda's beautiful Christmas tree

Yesterday I wrote about my struggle with my Christmas tree. Just to put things in perspective, here is a look at my friend Brenda and her Christmas tree.

That is Brenda's tree up above!

At first when I saw that picture in my photos from last week, I did not look closely and I thought it was my tree. I thought to myself, I should not be so hard on myself. Look at my tree, it looks good!

Then I realized it was Brenda's tree.

Everyone needs a Brenda in your life to give you something to strive for. Brenda has put in years as an interior designer, working for Ethan Allen and other places. Her house is perfect. Brenda and I met when she was an Etsy customer. She purchased a print to go in an AirBnB her son was running, and then she framed it beautifully and also framed my little signed notes for the picture and put them on a table by the print. I went over to see the setup. I thought I was dreaming! Anyway that was how we met.

Now I just look agog at everything Brenda does. She has beautiful candles that are fake but do not look it. They are on a timer so they go on every day at the same time. Probably the timer makes allowances for sunset and sunrise. I would not be surprised!

Brenda had a few of us over for a tree-trimming party the other day. The ornaments were impeccably laid out. There was a bowl full of hooks -- no scrabbling in the corners of the old cardboard boxes that hold normal people's ornaments. And there was this buffet. 

Here is Brenda putting the star atop the tree as Ryan watches critically to make sure it is not off in any way.

The beautiful people by the buffet. Notice the wreath in the back window.

I give you Brenda, left, and me, right, enjoying the occasion. Did I mention she had the most delicious red wine?

Whenever I see Brenda I get the urge to do what motivation guru Brian Tracy always says to do when you want to reach a goal. You map out piece by piece what it would take for you to reach that goal, which in my case is to live in an environment like Brenda's.

Every journey starts with a single step, however. And I took that step yesterday.

The tree is up. The lights are on! It was a struggle but still.

I am on my way!

The Candlemas compromise

Not to shock anyone, but I do believe I have officially the last Christmas tree up in our neighborhood. 

This year, I have to say, there were more contenders for the title. Especially along the "better" streets, like Nottingham and Middlesex, I saw trees up well into mid-January.

Some of those houses still have their lights up in the trees outside, which I love. And they have their wreaths up as well. But the trees are down. You know what, they were probably real, and real trees have to go out to the curb at some point. I sort of forget that. Good for those folks on Nottingham and Middlesex, keeping the season as it should be kept.

However. Tomorrow, Feb. 2, is the ancient feast of Candlemas which marks the end of the Christmas season.

After Mass the tree will have to come down.

OK, I will give myself till the next day. It is just that this year the tree is so pretty. I really worked on it. Just the other day I was rearranging some ornaments.

Let us look on the bright and twinkly side. I am very happy that last year I initiated my own new personal custom of leaving the lights up year-round. After they come off the tree they will go up around the windows. Like last year!

That is a nice compromise, is it not? 

I sort of miss them around the windows, anyway. I was tempted to leave the lights up around the windows and get new lights for the tree. But then I thought: no. It has to be an exchange. Otherwise when you take the tree down you are losing something.

I refuse to be a loser.

Let there be lights!

The Tops Wreath, Ageless and Evergreen

 Last year right about this time, my friend Meghan and I hand-crafted our own wreaths. Exultantly I put my wreath on my door, where it held up spectacularly, I have to say.

At some point last summer I saw my old artificial wreath from Tops marking time in the cellar. I was in the process of cleaning out the cellar and I said, I will put this wreath in the garbage because I will not need it, now that I am a hand-crafting wreath kind of person.

However.

At the last minute, on my way to the tote, I wisely made a sharp right into the garage, and I hung the Tops wreath on a nail. The nail was sitting there and nothing was on it, what the heck. 

The Tops wreath had been a good deal a couple of years ago. I bought it after Christmas and it was marked way down. You know me, I hate letting go of a bargain!

And lo, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone!

Meghan and I have not yet been able to hand-craft wreaths this year. We may yet! But there have been all these extenuating circumstances such as her becoming engaged to a gentleman in Pittsburgh, and me being busy with my art business throughout the Christmas season. When you are busy, that is when the Tops wreath is your friend. Two days before Christmas I think it was, I remembered it in the garage. Forth I went to get it. Miraculously an appropriate length of red grosgrain ribbon appeared, and in five minutes, that wreath was tied to the door.

Where it looks mighty pretty. 

Take another look!

I mean, you cannot tell, can you, that there are Styrofoam snowflakes under that snow? You cannot.

Once again, the moral of the story is: Never throw anything out.

You will regret it!

My tree is up!

Today I put up my Christmas tree!

I was waiting on purpose until late in Advent. But our church decorations are up now and so what the heck, I decided it was time. This is funny, on Facebook, there are certain friends saying they are not bothering with trees because they cannot have people over to their house to see it.

Fie on that philosophy, fie!

I want my Christmas tree no matter what!

My ancestry is German and you cannot keep a German from celebrating Christmas. Famous situations attest to that.

There is the great and true story about how in World War I, German soldiers in the trenches put up trees, and sang carols. Then they managed to call a truce with their British counterparts. All of them then partied together.

Then in the Revolutionary War there was the battle of Trenton, when American troops were able to surprise the Hessian soldiers, German mercenaries who were fighting for the British. They were able to pounce on them on Dec. 26 - the Hessians had been partying and had let their guard down.

Observe the famous painting of Washington crossing the Delaware on his way to surprise the Hessians. The painting is by a German artist, Emanuel Leutze.

That is a good painting! Obviously Leutze bore no grudge. Germans are going to celebrate Christmas. It is just how things are!

And so my tree is up and I never considered that it would not be so. This is my fake tree, the one I got, yikes, way back in 2012. No wonder it is getting yellowed. But it really does look lovely once the lights go down. And that is when you most appreciate a tree, when the lights are down.

I had to take down the lights I had put around the windows of the sun room so I could put them on the tree. I sort of regretted taking them down, because I loved the look of those lights around the windows. But Christmas has to be different from the rest of the year. That was a smart decision I made, you know, to put up those lights, after last Candlemas.  It sweetens that pill of having to take down the tree. Often after you take down the tree the weather stays bleak for some time. And I never got sick of those lights. In the summer, if it was a dark rainy day, I even used to put them on in the morning sometimes. Anyway, that is a tradition I will keep, my year-round lights in my front room.

But for now they are on the tree.

We need a little Christmas, now!

Snowbound with Ferrante and Teicher

Today to Howard's and my astonishment we sold the second record in a week from our record shop on Etsy, The Old House Downtown.

We sold a lot over Christmas but after Christmas Day you would think it would die down, the world not being privy to the fact that Christmas actually extends until Candlemas which is Feb. 2.

Perhaps the world is privy to the fact!

One record we sold had a Christmas theme, sort of. It was Ferrante and Teicher's "Snowbound."

That video is all well and good however the art is distorted. The record cover in reality is beautiful.

I will tell you one thing, listening to that YouTube recording I am bitterly regretting selling that record.

"Snowbound ... we're snowbound ...." That is amazing. Alas, the record I sold looked so perfect that I did not want to listen to it and maybe scratch it or something.

Anyway, now I am hoping.

Perhaps people are celebrating Christmas into January!

Perhaps they still have their trees lighted, as I do, and they were listening.

We have the art store on Etsy and that is the one I have been paying the most attention to. But I would like to make the record store a success too. On account of it can dovetail with the book about Leonard Pennario. If I run the world's most successful record shop that adds to my cred.

I will tell you one thing, I have learned a lot from being a record dealer. That was how I thought of it when I worked for The Buffalo News. I would leave after a long day at work and then remember my alter ego, as a record dealer. It was fun to switch gears.

And you learn a ton dealing in records. I love Capitol Records because that was Leonard's label, and face it, it was the coolest label. Founded by Johnny Mercer, need we say more?

But I also love the other labels at the time and the records they made. When I list one I will look up information about the artists involved, and the artists who designed the covers -- because of all my years at The Buffalo News, I learned to turn over rocks. You learn so much. When a big album of Leonard's came out, it is fascinating to see the world it entered. Who else was recording what. What else was going on.

Records are the greatest. I wish I had kept "Snowbound"!

Little Christmas

Today was Epiphany, affectionately known as Little Christmas, and I went this evening and heard Mass.

I not only heard it, I sang it!

Not that it was easy. There was this 10th century Credo we sing that, the whole time I am singing it, all I can think of is skiing down a tricky hill, not that I have ever skied down a tricky hill but if I did this is what it would be like.

There is always something that makes you pray, "O God, let me not blow it."

And there is likely a time when you do blow it. That is a whole other story.

This Mass I have to admit was an uphill climb starting when on the way up to the choir loft, I ran into our youngest singer who is 12. And she told me, "Your veil is upside down."

Only I could wear a veil upside down!

But it is all worth it in the end. We ended Epiphany Mass with -- what else? -- "We Three Kings."

Someone else really should write an Epiphany carol because this one really has the stage to itself. However it was beautiful as we sang it. I sang alto, a part I learned on the fly at Sunday Mass yesterday. It was me and the 12-year-old and six kids in their 20s.

One gift I have is the most important vocal gift of all, and that is the gift of watching the director. I did that and was able to make up for that I had missed whatever rehearsal it was where they had covered this hymn. It was honestly giving me shivers. It was that beautiful. The guys came in one by one and sang solo the verses the Kings sing ... "Myrrh bring I, its bitter perfume..." And we all hummed our parts.

It made me think of Christmas Eve. At Midnight Mass we sang "Silent Night" as the procession was beginning the Mass. I happened to turn and look over my shoulder from the choir loft and the scene was so transfixing, I could not look away. The altar boys, the cross, the incense.

Today we also reprised "Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming," in Latin of course. The alto part is magical in that. 

This Christmas has been unique in my life. One reason I will remember it is for the singing. How enchanting it was. The last-minute rehearsal on Dec. 23. The "O Magnum Mysterium" at 1 a.m at Midnight Mass. This beautiful Three Kings mass. The medieval chants that are like skiing down a tricky hill.


We were given holy water and blessed chalk and for the first time in my life, when I got home I did as I was directed and I sprinkled the rooms in the house with holy water, said prayers, and took the chalk and wrote over the door, "2020 + C + M + B + 2020." The letters stand for Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar. That is their portrait up above on the cover of Success Magazine -- where they belong, being kings. If the Three Kings do not deserve to be on the cover of Success, who does?

We are blessed!

The Christmas decorating begins

Today I decorated the mantel for Christmas for what I believe to be the first time in my life.


I mean, I had decorated it before with Candle-Lite candles and whatnot. But it has always been kind of slapdash, as Jeoffry, above, has clearly realized.

Today for the first time, I got some garland and mounded it on the mantel and put lights with it.

Which looks pretty good if I may say so myself.

I am playing host to our Christmas carolers this week so I need the house to be festive. We had great success last year and so this year we are feeling our oats and thinking of adding to our repertoire. We are dreaming of "In Dulci Jubilo" and the Gloucestershire Wassail.

Our surroundings must be right! Next I will go about putting up the tree. I might do it right now. I might wait till tomorrow. For tonight I might just rest on my laurels, you know?

I have a rule I am abiding by and that is to use what is in my house. That explains the colored lights. I know white lights are more tasteful. But colored lights were what I had and you know what? I like them.

I make no apologies!

Recently watching one of those corny Hallmark Christmas movies, about which more later, I saw a comment from someone in ... Denmark, I think it was. One of those countries.

He wrote: "You Americans, do you all decorate your houses like that? I think it is ugly."

It did not matter that a few minutes before, I might have agreed that the houses were overdone. All of a sudden I grew defensive.

What a rude jerk!

Butt out, plain Dane!

Go back to your hygge!

We will decorate our homes as we see fit. All of a sudden I want to overdecorate my house and I will not stop until it is done.

Wassail, wassail!
 

A Midnight Mass to remember

Today being the Octave of Christmas it was back to Mass again. Everyone is laughing about how nobody knows what day it is any more.

All we know is we are in church all the time!

But nobody minds. The music was beautiful. We got to sing "Resonet in Laudibus" and "Silent Night." Everything was very calm next to a week ago, I will tell you that.

I do not believe I have written much about our Midnight Mass. It was an adventure!

This was the first Latin Midnight Mass that Buffalo had seen in decades. So we were nervous. I was not even planning to go to it to tell you the truth. I did not grow up going to Midnight Mass. We could go when we got older and could go on our own. My parents absolutely were not up to it. Long story short, I am more a Mass of the Shepherds kind of girl. Give me a crisp Christmas morning any day.

But around 9 p.m. on Christmas Eve I decided I had to go. I did not want to miss this Mass. And for once we were not hit with a Christmas Eve snowstorm. And so after dinner with Howard I drove downtown to St. Anthony of Padua.

Good thing, too. Because it turned out the choir was overwhelmingly men and desperately needed some women's voices. And as it was it was just me and my sketching buddy Meghan and three teenagers.

My brother Tony played the organ. That is he in the picture at the top of this post, bathed in light as if he is transfigured. I snapped that picture at Midnight Mass. I took it at the end when I could finally relax.

Tony is a wonderful organist but we had not practiced or anything and his playing is complex and not easy for me to follow. In the Kyrie I was waiting to hear when I was supposed to come in. And my cue never came! Then I realized what was happening. Tony was playing something like what I was supposed to be singing, except he was way up in the high treble, making a kind of chirping, fluttering sound.

Son of a sea cook, I started to laugh! I could not sing for a moment there and everyone else on the girls' side stopped singing too in solidarity with me.

I had to get a grip and tried to make myself think of sad stuff.

"Mary," I told myself, "it's Christmas. Your mother is dead. Your father is dead. Think how much you miss them."

But I could not sober up. On top of being nervous I was punchy. I am not used to being up all night and our Midnight Mass, I should point out, actually started at midnight and not at 10 p.m. or 11 p.m. the way some churches time it.

Finally I imagined myself walking through a snowstorm, compass set on North, just walking. I just sang what I was supposed to be singing and I got through it that way.

Weak beginning, strong finish, as we sometimes say up there in the choir loft. The important thing is, we pulled off our Midnight Mass. It hit its stride at the Gloria and after that things went OK.

Next year should be pretty darned good! But for today it was just time to relax.

The Octave of Christmas.

Ahhhhhh.

Me and my Christmas cards

On the Fifth Day of Christmas I found myself making Christmas cards.

I know, I am jumping the gun just a little. In the traditional Catholic crowd I run with, it is not only acceptable, but it is encouraged, to wait until after Dec. 25 to send your cards. It is especially desirable to wait a little later because Christmastide extends till Candlemas, Feb. 2.

And after that you will find all of us at the gym doing overtime. That is because of the Tom & Jerrys which are another story for another day.

I could not believe how I took to these Christmas cards once I had found my groove. I love working with letters. I just love it.

For one card I wrote with a wide-nib dip pen and white ink. It was kind of chalky but when it was dry I drew in the letters. I striped one stroke and I added dots to another one... Too much fun, is all I can say.

For a while I was writing on the cards with a white gel pen: "Gaudete, gaudete, Christus est natus, ex Maria Virgine, gaudete." It was a mouthful but it filled the card and I had a lot of fun with it. I filled letters in with my Dr. Ph. Martin's ink that I splurged for a while ago at Michael's. If not now, when?

Then I decided to cut the words back and I did, "Gaudete, Christus est natus." That green card below, by the way, it is not finished. I add a lot of gold and silver and stuff because I believe that belongs on Christmas cards in vast quantities.

So it goes!!

It goes like it goes as the David Shire song goes.

I just hate to see the tradition of Christmas cards disappearing. I like traditional Christmas cards, too, as opposed to the ones with photos. I mean, the photo cards are better than nothing, but I like cards with artwork. Even a tacky Santa I will take, with rejoicing. I love the entire genre.

And I am proud to be contributing to it! I even wrote on Facebook that if people sent me their addresses I would send me one. I got about a half dozen responses. See, that is how popular I am.

Gaudete!

The infamous Christmas feast

That picture looks wild but it is just something I snapped out the window on our way to see my sister Katie last night for Christmas dinner.

They live in East Aurora, aka the Snow Belt. They got snow. We did not.

It was exotic to me and so I took another picture.

At my sister's house disaster hit. I could not stop eating!

I started with split pea soup my brother George brought in a Crock Pot. He set the Crock Pot down on the floor near the Christmas tree and you had to go help yourself there.

Then we sat down at table and the food just kept arriving!

My sister's husband, David, is a hunter, and there was venison. Venison like fine steak, pink in the middle and sliced really thin and enjoyed, at least in my case, with horseradish.

There were mushrooms that David foraged. And Katie made some kind of dish involving what I believed to be roasted pears and onions -- delicious.

A platter of turkey showed up. And David is also a fisherman and served the most delicious steelhead trout. Howard thought the trout was the most delicious thing there and that was saying a mouthful.

Speaking of mouthfuls we also had a huge bowl of mashed potatoes, yummy with the mushrooms. A beautiful big salad with pomegranate and blackberry vinaigrette. I cannot remember what else. The thing is, dishes just kept showing up, one after another.

After dessert, which I will not even get into, I was so stuffed I could not move!

I asked my sister if I could help wash the dishes just because I wanted to get on my feet and move. She said no and then brought some cranberry liqueur a friend had made. And we had that.

There was also a great Crock Pot full of Celestial Seasonings Bengal Spice, our favorite. That was the only thing I consumed that had no calories.

As Neil Young sang, ohhhh, the damage done!

Today all I wanted to do was be on my feet. So it being Boxing Day I boxed up tons of things I did not like any more and that were getting under foot and I took them to Amvets. I managed to get out of Amvets without buying anything to take home to replace the stuff I had delivered, which is what I usually do. I parked way across the parking lot so I would have a hike.

Later I thought: Uh, Mary, you could just go to the gym, you know?

Gym? What's a gym?

It is the Second Day of Christmas.

Fa la la la la la la la la.

Step away from the fruitcake

Piously, this year I was trying to stay away from Christmas baking. Aside from church coffee hour, I mean. I can bring things to church coffee hour and not eat them myself. OK, not eat so much of them myself.

Then disaster struck!

My niece and nephew came over yesterday to decorate my Christmas tree. Yes, it went up! I put it up on Sunday and we decorated it yesterday.

And naturally we had to bake. Well, Barbara and I baked. Her little brother just wandered in now and then to lick the beaters.

We did not mess around. We cut right to the good stuff and made fruitcake. It was called Applesauce Fruitcake and Alexa gave us the recipe.

"Alexa," I said to my tablet, "find us a Martha Stewart fruitcake recipe." Because I made these wonderful fruitcakes once and I remember the recipes were hers.

Alexa gave us this applesauce cake recipe and whether or not it was Martha Stewart it was great. Making it was a little problematic because the tablet kept blacking out on us whenever we got busy and neglected it. But a robot does not judge you. And so we could feel free to say again, every five minutes, "Alexa, find us a Martha Stewart fruitcake recipe." And this one would bounce back up. It was something like No. 20 on the list.

The cake could not miss seeing that everything we put into it was great. Butter from Aldi, maraschino cherries from Price Rite, dates from I forget where, thick homemade and home-canned applesauce made from apples from that tree going begging in the Town of Tonawanda. It baked for about an hour and a half and then it was so good that I did not do as I had piously planned, and send my assistants home with it. When my brother was ready to leave with them, I grabbed half that cake to keep for myself!

It was just so good!!

It has chopped maraschino cherries and dates and walnuts. The World War II Sunbeam Mixmaster went the distance as you can see in the picture above.

You know that mixer smell? It was in the air. I love that aroma and there is no describing it. The cake, too, has an intoxicating aroma. I felt like Eve giving the apple to Adam when I gave Howard a slice to eat. He loved it too!

Alexa!

Help us stay away from this cake!

The Christmas tree quandary

I have a terrible confession: My Christmas tree -- pictured at left when it was still bright white -- is still up.

I keep promising myself I will take it down but then I do not.
Part of the problem is, it is still snowy outside. When it goes up into the 40s or something, then you can think spring, and that is the time to take down the tree. When you get into Lent, Lent means spring, and that is the time to take down the tree.

Not now!

Last week I went past some of the better houses, on Nottingham and streets like that, and some of them still had trees lit up outside. So I am not alone.

Still I feel a little funny plugging in the tree. I know it is time to take it down. We have passed Septuagesima Sunday and Sexagesima -- hee hee -- Sunday. Candlemas is past.

What is wrong with me?

It is not even a real tree. It does not have to go out on the curb or die a terrible death like the tree in Hans Christian Andersen's "The Fir Tree."

It simply goes into its box and is put away, in preparation for coming out in again in what, a few months?

Why can't I take down my tree?

Hahaha... I am laughing over all my old Christmas tree stories.

There was one year I went without. Unbelievable but true.

There was another year when it was the Fourth Sunday of Advent and I did not have a tree and rushed out to get one and wound up in Christmas tree stand emergency mode.

There was the year I put the tree up on Christmas Eve. I could not get to it before then!

Oh, look! There was one year I did not take the tree down till Ash Wednesday. And Ash Wednesday that year was March 9!!

That is what I will do this year. I will take the tree down on Ash Wednesday.

I must be strong!

On the Third Day of Christmas

Today, the Third Day of Christmas, I mailed my Christmas cards. Well, I mailed seven of them. I took them to the North Buffalo Post Office. It was about zero degrees. There was a line, how about that? Perhaps others too are observing the 12 Days of Christmas!

Carefully I selected a variety of Christmas designs. Stamps are kind of cheesy these days but the Madonna and Child stamps are not too bad, and I kind of like the caroling stamps too. Or I did before I saw how tiny and cheap they are. Well, still cute, with the "Fa la la."

Fa la la la la la la.

I wished the clerk Merry Christmas and she said the same to me. When I mailed my cards I asked if she would take my picture and kindly she complied. That was nice of her! Now we have that nifty picture up above.

The seven envelopes I did get done looked spiffy.

Anyway. Seven down, about 107 to go. That is all right!

I am enjoying myself!

On the Second Day of Christmas...

Today I celebrated the Second Day of Christmas by writing and addressing a few Christmas cards. It is not as easy as it looks!

Now I see why all these years I never get around to sending Christmas cards. Leonard Pennario used to send Christmas cards and if he could find time to do it, I can, you know?

However.

Where do you find people's addresses these days? I have some close friends who, I do not have their addresses.

Not only that but, my slogan in life should be: "It is never time for the artist to lift her brush."

I am never done!

I am making touches on the card I am mailing. I drew and painted them myself, which does not help things along. My sister and I began drawing our own cards to send to each other and that started it. This is one design of about 20 I have --

... and now I have become obsessed with decorating envelopes. These people I am sending cards to will be so embarrassed! The whole neighborhood will notice these cards.

On the other hand ... on the other hand ....

I do not devote huge portions of my life to this. I had to work today. I had to do other writing. Doing cards is something you can do with shards of time here and there. When Howard is on the computer. When he is watching a video of some pianist lecturing you on how to play Schubert. I can listen while doodling around with this stuff.

Late at night is also a good time to do this.

You will go to bed with visions of sugarplums!

Back to the drawing board

I am doing a watercolor challenge. I love these art challenges you find on the Internet, and I have hooked onto one of them.

This is from Doodlewash, an international group of, ahem, watercolorists. I like that they are better than I am. I want to play with the big kids. I did some painting when I was a kid but I have no pretentions. I would like to learn from people who are better at it than I am.

So every day I do a watercolor. It really only takes minutes. The one I did today, Tree, I did in the morning between eating breakfast and making Howard's lunch.

But seriously, you do learn. You try this and you try that and eventually you find something you like. The picture at the top of this post is my painting of, ahem, Holly. That was the prompt the other day.

And before that was "Lights." I was kind of proud of these lights, you know?

OK, so the green one was a little bit whacked. The rest look pretty good.

There is something so relaxing about watercolors. They just know where to go. You dip your brush in water and you dip them in the paint, and then the paints take it from there. In my humble and limited experience.

Also doing something like this ever day reminds you that you can work more artistry into your everyday life. Leonard Pennario told me that when he was a kid he decided that he wanted to enjoy everything he did. This is cousin to that.

For instance last Sunday I enjoyed making my coffee hour signs.

What is next for me? That question is easy to answer.

Tomorrow is "Star."

Another day, another drawing!

We're putting the tree up ...

... or we should be, anyway!

Driving to the Philharmonic last night, I said to Howard, all the better houses have their Christmas trees up already. Up and down Nottingham Terrace, those trees were sparkling. I cannot remember a prettier Christmas. They all had their trees up.

I do not!

I love putting the tree up. The day I put my Christmas tree up is one of the happiest days of the year. If not the happiest. It depends on what happens the rest of the year.  And it is funny because almost invariably it is just me. Howard is not home yet. I have a new tradition with myself, I put on the Carmen Dragon Christmas album pictured above, and I pour a glass of wine, and I trim the tree, and I am happy.

This year little George and Barbara, my niece and nephew, have been lobbying to be part of my tree trimming. But I do not know about that! I look forward to this date with myself. Well, I could be persuaded.

But anyway...

The day I take the tree down is one of the saddest days of the year. I hate taking the tree down, I just do. I always do it under duress.

I might wind up being one of those Charlie Chaplin people who keep the tree up all year round! My friend Melissa does that. It can be done.

However then you would miss that happy day when you put it up! And that is what I am awaiting right now.

Today was the first Sunday of Advent. I love this day. It thrills me. Cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. There will be signs in the moon and in the stars. It is time for the tree. There are people at church who try to remind me that Advent historically was a time of penance, but I am sorry, that horse...

... is out of the corral and there is no putting him back in.

And so I am seeking to put up my tree. It is just that it has been hovering around 50 degrees and that is too warm. Also it was November. As a friend said, you need it to be December. Now finally it is December.

We have been having caroling practice at my house for several weeks now and so I am thinking it is time.

Perhaps tomorrow is the day!