Sunshine & Jingle Bells

We have had three days in a row with sunshine! It's almost too good to be true, but lots of people are out and about shopping, getting ready for the holidays, and enjoying our snow and warm weather. It was in the 40s or maybe a little higher in the sunshine today. The snow has melted off the trees letting branches straighten and bent trees stand tall again. Our snow has compacted, but we still have good ground cover here at Joe's Pond. We haven't seen any activity on the pond since it froze over about two weeks ago, but today Diane Rossi caught this para-glider having fun out on the ice. It was a perfect day to be outside.

'Tis the Season, and it looks like we'll have a White Christmas, although rain is in the forecast for Sunday night into Monday. Sometimes the rain we get here is white, and at this point, with Christmas so close, I would personally prefer snow to rain - just not too much and keep it light! I'm really tired of shoveling wet, heavy snow, and we aren't even officially into winter yet - not until we've had the shortest day of the year (December 21st). The 22nd is then considered the first day of winter. 

Christmas cards are coming to my mailbox and I am enjoying the messages - nearly everyone writes at least a few words to personalize the card, and I appreciate that. I've sent out some, and sent off a long  email greeting to all my Bolton cousins; and I've enjoyed hearing back from some of them already.

As for gifts - I am not a big shopper. I remember years ago making gifts for family members. It's strange that even with three kids I found time to knit and sew. Actually, probably not really strange at all - we had limited television and no computers. Now one or the other of those takes up a good share of my time. But I find online shopping is a whole lot easier than trudging from store to store. Online  doesn't have the same holiday feeling, though. No Christmas music or friends and sometimes strangers wishing me a cheerful "Merry Christmas!" And while I sometimes have hot chocolate as I watch a Christmas Hallmark movie, it isn't the same as being served in the welcoming warmth of a shop filled with happy customers sipping cocoa amid poinsettias and lighted garlands, hearing the strains of Silent Night in the background. And the smell of cinnamon, spruce and gingerbread! One night I lit one of those candles in a jar that was supposed to smell like Christmas, but it fell short of the real thing. Nice, but not quite what I was hoping for.

When I was growing up we had a big wood-fired cookstove in the kitchen. Whenever we had oranges we would place a few on the back of the stove, sometimes with some cloves embedded in them. As the orange peel warmed, it gave off a very pleasant smell. Sometimes in the winter when everyone was having colds, my grandmother Bolton would sprinkle sulphur powder on the stove. That made a horrible smell, but it was supposed to cleanse the air of germs. I bet it did, too. Grandma Bolton also believed in a good dose of sulphur and molasses in the spring. I never had to manage that, but I'm pretty sure all of her ten children got those treatments, and they all survived! This is the same woman who  tied a piece of raw salt pork over a puncture wound on my leg to "draw out any infection" after I had speared my shin with a pitch fork while leveling silage in our big silo. My mother was not impressed  and replaced the pork with a proper bandage on as soon as I got home. I was pretty lame for a few days, but it healed without incident, no doctor involved. 

I defrosted my small chest freezer yesterday, and cleaned and organized the freezer on my fridge today. There were several things I couldn't identify, so they got tossed. Most were not just months old but years, so it was time. I kept all the applesauce from two years ago - it looks ok, and sometime soon I'll thaw out one of the containers and if it's still good. I found tripe that I had a craving for about three years ago but only had one meal - two frozen portions were still in the freezer. I have no interest in cooking it, and anyway, it would probably taste awful, having been in the freezer that long. I found I have an assortment of coffee beans - but I'm not sure where my coffee grinder is now. I haven't used it in years. But those coffee beans are probably fine - and maybe I'll come across the grinder and can brew up a cup of really good Green Mountain Coffee Roaster's coffee! Having done the two freezers, the refrigerator is next on my to-do list. That, too, has some ancient items that need to be discarded. This is a chore Fred did - often insisting things be tossed that I objected to. He checked the dates on everything. My problem is that I don't require as much in reserve as I used to when I was cooking for two and often for guests. So I'm adapting -- and it's rewarding to see things organized. 

Enjoy the holidays however you can. Holidays are always stressful. Someone once told me that we are more inclined to lose patience with the people we love than with a stranger. I guess it's because we love them that we expect more from them. Perhaps one has to be old to begin to figure out what is really worth stressing about from all the little irritations that aren't worth a second thought. Be Happy!

I leave you with my favorite Christmas cartoon-tune.