Christmas — Page 37

A Little Decorating and Another Nancy

December 12, 2017 at 9:25 am by Claudia

Monday List:

Get the trees out and decorate them.

Check.

I added this little tree to the den. I bought it last year when I had to spend the holiday season in Hartford.

The lights are from Target and are battery operated. Since we actually had some AA batteries on hand (that never happens) I was able to use them.

The ornaments on both trees are vintage; mostly Shiny Brites. When Don came home in the afternoon, the trees were up and the lights were glowing and we admired the trees while eating molasses cookies that I had just made.

That was the other item on my To Do list. Making the cookies.

Oh, and wash the sheets. Check.

I love turning on the tree lights when we get up in the morning. It makes for gentle and lovely way to start the day, slowly sipping coffee while looking at the tree.

The expected snow for today has turned into rain.

This arrived yesterday:

Love the cover art.

I bid on an earlier auction for a copy of The Clue in the Diary, but lost out, which was fine as the price went higher than I was willing to pay. The next day, I looked at eBay and there was a new listing for a ridiculously low price and it was Buy Now. So I did. It was printed during WWII and there’s a message on the title page:

This book, while produced under wartime conditions, in full compliance with government regulations for the conservation of paper and other essential materials, is COMPLETE AND UNABRIDGED.

Only three more to collect in this limited series of Nancy Drew books with dust cover art by Russell H. Tandy: The Hidden Staircase, The Clue in the Old Album, and The Ghost of Blackwood Hall. I’ll get them, eventually. I know exactly how the cover art should look and, since there are only three more to get, I’m taking my time so I can extend the pleasure of the search.

Happy Tuesday.

Back In The Saddle

December 27, 2016 at 8:43 am by Claudia

Back in the saddle in Hartford.

I drove back here yesterday morning because I had some coaching to do yesterday afternoon. I can’t complain! I love my work, so it’s nice to be back. And, I was lucky enough to get two and half days back home.

We had a lovely low-key Christmas, which is just how we wanted it. Christmas Eve was full of chores; doing the laundry, cleaning the house (because even though I know Don cleans, he doesn’t see what I see…) wrapping presents, and listening to Christmas music. We watched It’s a Wonderful Life in the evening and we cried, as we always do. Side note: Old Man Potter is the movie version of a certain all-too-real man who shall remain nameless, but you know who I’m talking about. I can’t tell you how many times we turned to each other and said “It’s him!”

We lazed around on Christmas morning, finally getting around to opening gifts around 11 am or so. No, we didn’t have coffee cake because it’s full of dairy and decidedly non-vegan. At some point, I’ll figure out how to adjust the recipe, but I was tired and it was Christmas Eve and we decided to forego the cake for this year. Don did find two vegan turnovers at a local bakery and they were delicious!

Dinner? Don decided to throw caution to the winds and we ordered Chinese take-out. All in all, a perfect day. We ended it by watching Eight Days a Week, Ron Howard’s new documentary about the touring years of the Beatles. The DVD was one of my presents to Don. Excellent and full of footage never seen before.

I didn’t take many photos, though one of my presents from Don was a camera lens I’ve been wanting for a long time: a long-range telephoto lens that will be perfect for capturing bird life around the cottage! I’m thrilled with it.

Photo courtesy of Don’s iPhone. I played around with it only for a short while, as I quickly discovered my camera battery needed charging and the charger was back in Hartford. I try to avoid posting Christmas morning photos as I’m always still in my flannel pajamas, with messy hair and no make-up. As you can see.

Goodness, I look like my mother!

I did manage to get this shot of a nest high up in one of our maple trees.

One day when I have some spare time, I’ll visit the park across the street from my apartment building and see what I can capture with the new lens.

Don’s big gift was given to him in November – a new guitar. Under the tree for him this year: five vintage editions of the Hardy Boys, a vintage Big Boy ashtray and a book of Bob’s Big Boy matches in pristine condition with an ad for Death Valley Days on the back! We both got a neat little battery charger for our cars that will also charge our phones. And he got the DVD.

For me: the long-awaited lens, earrings and a necklace from Nest Pretty Things, a fabulous Etsy shop, Mary Oliver’s newest book of essays, Upstream, two beautiful handmade stone coasters by a local artist that show a view of our local mountain range, and a photo book that Don made for me, full of photos he’s taken on his iPhone, many of them at the Protest March we attended in NYC. He included some quotes about strong women/his wife and I, of course, cried.

Priceless and utterly beautiful.

All in all, a beautiful day.

I’ve told you about the strange way in which little mirrors and canvases are hung on these walls. Much too far apart to make any sort of statement and, in this case, too far apart to adequately cover up with this quilt I brought from home. Nope – neither horizontally or vertically. I tried.

So I hung this right below the canvases. I don’t feel I have the right to take them down because doing so would make it impossible to hang them up again. Just know that there is one 12-inch square sort- of-modern-art canvas at the upper left hand corner of the quilt and one at the upper right hand corner. I’ve cropped them out of this photo. The quilt does draw my eye away from the canvases, which is a good thing.

Okay. We’re all caught up. Little Z had a fabulous Christmas and hearing the excitement in his voice as he was gearing up for Christmas Eve was heaven. His new red wagon is “loud!” and he is having a great time with it, as well as the plethora of Paw Patrol toys and accessories that he found under the tree.

Happy Tuesday.

On Celebrating Christmas

December 24, 2016 at 10:47 am by Claudia

Because I wasn’t needed at rehearsal yesterday, I got on the road toward home at about 10:30, made a couple of stops on the way, and arrived home around 2:00. Smooth sailing, dry roads, none of the traffic that would have caused long delays on the interstate if I had been unable to depart until the evening. I’m very thankful for my friend Robyn, who is the stage manager. She managed to pack my schedule for Wednesday and Thursday with one-on-one sessions and that allowed me to finish my first round with the actors and leave early on Friday. Thank you, Robyn.

Today is rainy and sleety and not at all pleasant. But I’m home. I had a lovely afternoon and evening with my husband yesterday. Today there is laundry to be done, presents to be wrapped while listening to Christmas music, pine-scented candles to be lit, newspapers to be read, and maybe a coffee cake to be made. We’re not sure yet. Do we want the sugar? The decision needs to be made soon, as I will have to run to the store for the ingredients.

By the way, if my posts aren’t updating on the computer, it’s probably due to a caching plugin that Bluehost put on my blog. Grrr! Just go to my site, reload the page, and the new post should load.

I’m going to take the next two days off as I celebrate a quiet Christmas with my husband. I have to leave early Monday morning to get back to Hartford for an afternoon rehearsal. I’m grateful for these days at home to celebrate and give thanks for all of our blessings.

I’m not a preacher (though my mom had a secret wish for me to either be a preacher or a preacher’s wife – sorry, Mom!), but I do have some thoughts on Christmas and its true meaning:

I hope your Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are filled with love and joy. I send a wish for peace to all of you and to our world. I hope that this next year will see a change for the better in our citizens; less hate and fear, more love.

Those who celebrate Christmas as the day of Jesus’ birth must surely, deep within their heart of hearts, know that Jesus was pure love, a man who reached out to those in need, who welcomed refugees (indeed, was one himself), who looked on everyone as his brother/sister and knew the simple truth: We are all One. No matter what faith or creed, what ethnicity, what country of origin, what color of skin, what sexuality – We Are All One. Jesus would have been the first to speak out against the hatred and intolerance that fuels racism, bigotry, misogyny, xenophobia and the “us against them” mentality that seems to be taking hold. He would have overturned the tables of the moneylenders and the rich who seek to profit at the expense of those who have less. He would have championed all those who work and fight for social equality and justice because that is what he knew to be right and of God. He would have reached out to the beggars and the lame and the sick and the lonely and the disenfranchised and those who were looked on as ‘other’ and he would have raised them up.

He knew Truth. And he always recognized those wolves who donned sheep’s clothing, who said one thing but did another.

So, as we celebrate his birth, what better way to honor him than to put into practice what he taught us? Otherwise, Christmas is just a hollow celebration, an excuse for gifts and tinsel and lights and all of the lovely hoopla of the holiday, with no substance at the core.

To you, my friends and readers, may you blessed this Christmas season and always. May those of you who have suffered loss be comforted. May those who are facing challenges be comforted and guided. May you give love and receive love. May you see all creatures as God’s creations. May you love and nurture your fellow man and all animals and plants and birds and bees and fish and the mountains and air and water and continents that make up our precious planet. They are gifts from God, all of them, that mustn’t be taken for granted or harmed or abused in any way.

End of my little sermon.

Merry Christmas from Don and me!

And Happy Saturday.

A Little Decorating and Another Nancy

Back In The Saddle

On Celebrating Christmas

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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