and… we are done!

Well, mostly.  There are knickknacks to go back on book shelves, and I want to think about those more.  But we are done.  We looked at everything (or so we thought - we later discovered we had forgotten an inconsequential box, weeded out a lot, packed the rest up.  

It was after 6 when we were done.  We finally showered and headed over to Mama M f

or a thoroughly satisfying dinner there.  Tofu!  

Shishito peppers!  

Sashimi!  

It was good.

But ahhhhhhh…. I love and miss Christmas, but I am so glad to be done!

this is bittersweet

Good morning, happy Saturday!  Back from Santa Ynez, which I will blog about later in the weekend, and up at a decent hour this morning.  I haven’t gone out on a walk yet.  Instead, I’ve been doing the easy parts of taking down Christmas and putting it away.  The last time seeing so many of these items that evoke such memories and emotions until the next holiday season.  I hate having to do this, but I will appreciate having the condo back to normal and tidy.  A bittersweet start to the weekend, I admit.

set for the season!

It was a nice Saturday.  Me, back in the kitchen.  Some friends over for dinner and put to work on the tree.  A torta rustica served up. 

Some drinks and conversation and Christmas music.  And all of that leading to today:  a condo cleaned up after a busy day yesterday, a tree in the living room,

holiday cheer decorating the inside and outside of the condo.

I love this time of year so darn much! 

it's beginning to... oh, you know the rest!

Twenty days until Christmas.  Fewer than three weeks.  I have so many cards left to write, wrapping to get done.  Tomorrow we'll put up and decorate the tree.  Yep, it's that time of year.  And so last night we got started on some of the holiday cheer. 

The arrival of a lovely handmade ornament from a dear friend in Australia

spurred me to get Conrad and get things out of storage.

We're taking a somewhat maximalist approach this year, pulling out all kinds of things from the boxes and putting them on display. 

Part of that is to remind ourselves of what it is that we have in the first place!  And maybe after the holidays some of these things will find new homes.  We shall see.

But hooray for the holiday season.  And yes, I am playing Christmas music as I write this.... 

another tree is up!

Saturday night we decorated a tree. 

Van's tree this time (though, technically, both trees we have up are Van's trees).  The tree at Van's house.  We'd got it set up earlier in the week, and Saturday night, the ornaments went on.  And you know?  For all that I am glad that we didn't put up a tree with a lot of ornaments at the condo, I am so glad we got to do the one at Van's.  After a handful of years together, we've come to know at least some of the ornaments now.

I poured us all Last Words,

and in among sips,

we got the tree underway.  Of course there was rocket ship Santa! 

There was the CU Buffaloes ornament in honour of Van's alma mater. 

There were vegetables,

so there was an eggplant. 

That paired nicely on the tree with a pair of briefs, and that was met with mirth when I share it on Instagram.  There was Olive - hooray! 

There were bears. 

And, in the end, there was a lovely tree.

We'll get to enjoy both trees this holiday season, and I, for one, am thrilled and delighted!

one (small) tree done

Given schedules and such, as well as the need to replace lights on the big tree, the decorating project is taking us days.  But we made some progress last night.  After dinner, we brought some vintage(or -ish) ornaments upstairs and decorated the small tree we put up in a corner of the bedroom.  It made for a nice place to sit and read in its light afterward.

And I adore this delicate little penguin!

and so it begins for us

Having spent time on Sunday taking care of the tree at Van's place, it's now our turn.  First step, sorting out all the ornaments (and, truthfully, weeding out some of them).  With luck we'll have the tree up and decorated tomorrow night at the latest!  And in the meantime, there are some smaller decorations in place to add a bit of holiday cheer to the condo.

getting Christmas going here

It's the Sunday of a four-day weekend, and it's weird to think that it's back to work tomorrow.  A nice four days off, and at the same time, I wish I had done more.  Says the man who cooked enough food for many more just a few days ago.  Ah well.

I am not one much for going out shopping on Black Friday or all the ancillary days that have been attached to it, and so I really didn't.  Still, we did get a start on Christmas this weekend.  For one thing, I have 35 cards ready to go in the mail and some more to write tonight. 

For another, we decorated the tree at Van's place, which was fun because of the stories and memories connected to the ornaments. 

Yes, even the briefs!

So it's on to Christmas, and hooray for that.  But I do wonder when we'll get our own tree put up and decorated....

taking down the tree

Early January is a sad time of year (aside from a very big day next week, that is). Christmas is over, the gifts have been given, our dietary habits are more moderate, and I cannot play carols again until October. And as is our custom, the first weekend after New Year's Day we take down the tree. So it is tonight. It kills me a little inside.

Oh, sure, it was a sunny and lovely day out. A decent swim. Some tidying around the house. The fragrance of the chicken stock I spent the afternoon making in the kitchen. We're re-claiming our living room! Still, it's a melancholy evening in a way, and here I sit, deliberately drawing it out by blogging it.

Setting up the tree was odd and different this year. We set aside a the first Sunday in December (as opposed to American Thanksgiving weekend) to do the tree ourselves. No one helping. I can't even recall what I cooked or if we might have ordered in. One big tree in the corner, and a small feather tree on the dining table.

A little closer to Christmas we had those who might have been our recruits over for a nice meal: some curry turkey pot pies, biscotti, a steamed pumpkin pudding.
No work on the tree, just enjoying it and the other bits of holiday decor.


A fine night. There were too few of those this past Christmas.

And now it comes down. We started prepping the apartment before dinner, and then Conrad went to get the boxes from storage. A dinner of a chicken tortilla soup in us,
and now we're at it. I refuse to play Christmas music, however. Better to get this done and get back to the normalcy of the rest of the winter in the apartment.

I sound bitter, I think. Sorry for that. I do love Christmas, it's well known. Ah well. 9 months until the music comes creeping back into my playlists, and for sure, I'll be on the lookout for good gifts well before then.