a quiet day at home . .

 he attacks anything that moves . . which means when i wrap gifts, he's trying to eat the ribbon and kill the tissue paper.

parchesi night . . with hot chocolate and ginger cookies.

christmas eve

 we had another busy day of baking and errands before we left for christmas eve service at korrina's church in brooklyn heights.

 greg is always studying these days for his recertification with cisco systems. he leaves his job at the end of january and has a month or two off before beginning the search for a new job.

 madeline has been quieter than usual . . i'm not sure if she is miffed that there is a new cat in the house, or that she finds it calming. it's comforting that she doesn't meow as much. her meowing was very loud and unnerving. we think she is hard of hearing (thus the extra loud meows).

 sweet little kitten! he is fast! several times he's run out of chanda's room and almost bumps right into madeline. her hisses are a little less belligerent, so that's good.

 at 4 pm, chanda and i left to meet korrina and morgana at first unitarian universalist in brooklyn. morgana came from work. it was fortunate that we left so early, as the church was already very full at 4:30 for the 5 pm service. we were also fortunate that the trains were on time as we traveled there in only half an hour.  

 as we entered the church we ran into our friend kendall (who lives in our neighborhood). she was meeting her sister and nephew for the service. she gave us two pairs of special holiday glasses that turned flickering lights into santa claus faces and candy canes. they were fun!

 so many people in church this evening . . 

 and it was such a beautiful service. the choir sang . . the congregation sang . . there were beautiful intstruments: harp, violin, oboe, and piano . . there was candlelight and we all sang silent night.

 after talking with kendall and her family and two friends, morgana, chanda and i returned home and korrina took the train to celebrate this evening with brian's family. she and brian will return tomorrow to celebrate with us.

 linguini and clam sauce!

and the night before christmas . .

lille julaften

 we had our annual visit to ferrara's this afternoon, to celebrate lille julaften; aka little christmas eve.

 since we were there in the afternoon, rather than the morning, it was busy with a lunch crowd. they seated us upstairs which was a first for us.

 new york cheesecake. i had changed my order to a cannoli, but the server talked me into staying with the cheesecake . . and i think it was a wise decision!

 someone is trying to steal a bite of my cheesecake . . 

 delicious butter cookies . . 

 pignoli cookies and tre colori . . 

 korrina is opening a belated birthday gift from morgana . . 

 which was filled with trinkets from her trip to tokyo. 

 recognize the paper, san?!

 i love these goldfish bowls . . 

 walking together for a little while before going our separate ways . .

we stopped in da palo's across the street, but they had an hour and a half wait for service! we next went to porto rico imports for korrina to buy coffee for greg and then we went to murray's for cheese to go with the delicious honey soaked figs my friend joanna gave me. murray's line was at number 63, and we pulled number 97 from the number ring. we didn't get fresh cut cheese! we chose the prepacked and checked out! chanda went home to see her kitten, morgana went to see her friend deychen, and korrina ran additional errands before going home to wrap gifts and begin a new knitting project. i went grocery shopping.

fourth sunday of advent

december photo project: december 22nd

 on the way back from having a hot chocolate with my friend janet, we passed the hudson park library branch . . 

 i think a group of buildings grew up around the library as it extends from varick street/seventh avenue through to leroy street.

the seventh avenue side has a paper art work display. i don't know anything about the artist behind its creation . .

 but it's a lovely little exhibit . . 

 of paper animals large and small . . 

walking beside a city scene . .

solstice kitten

chanda has been asking for a kitten for a long time now, so for her birthday we said we would get one for her. we went to the soho best friends pet adoption center in november where she saw this little fellow. at the time he was too young to come home with us, but today he was old enough! he has cerebellar hypoplasia from having feline panleukopenia while in utero. his two litter mates didn't make it, but he survived and we're happy to have him be a part of our family. when he's excited his head trembles slightly, and he flops about a bit when walking. these are all normal symptoms from the disease which will stay with him as he grows, and shouldn't get any worse. he has adjusted well and is a curious and sweet little kitty. he has the loveliest purr. i can't wait until he and madeline have adjusted to each other. i think madeline will find him wonderfully fun to be with (all of us think she's very bored these days, without any other four legged creatures to commune with).

the adoption center family called him jelly, but i think chanda will find another name for him in these next few days. i'm partial to sol for solstice, but she's considering espresso. he has lovely brown tiger stripes mixed with his black fur. he's very handsome.

happy winter solstice!

----

here are a few photos from dinner this evening:

 morgana, greg and i are finishing dinner here. chanda  and her friends had just left the table to go see the new cat in the bedroom. we all shared spinach ravioli and sautéed zucchini. (i was relieved that morgana had bought a big box from rafetto's on her way home from work.)

 we also had two different sauces with it, all for a good price. rafetto's is one of the last neighborhood places to go to in a pinch for a pre-made dinner that is homemade, delicious and affordable.

 chanda and her friends with the new kitty . .

december photo project: december 20th

 i had many, many holiday preparations i was supposed to do today, but instead i watched a movie with morgana and chanda (ocean's eight, which i enjoyed), went to lunch with my friend jeanette, attended a modern dance holiday recital which our friend charlotte was in, and then attended another modern dance recital for the martha graham school across the street from me with my friend janet (who knew one of the dancers). it was a very full and busy day . . just not busy with the tasks from the christmas prep list!

i took these photos on my way from lunch to the first recital.

tree trimming

 morgana had a very specific idea for decorating the tree this year. she envisioned a paper garland wrapping itself around with just icicles and snowflakes . . however, chanda and i wanted to include all our favorite ornaments so the outcome isn't quite what she had planned. above, she's preparing the garland.

 chanda clicked on the latest scene from the jacquie lawson advent calendar.

 we all had earl grey cream tea and cookies and french chocolates.

 she glued each piece and held it in place with a paper clip while it dried . .

 and kept adding to the length until it wrapped around the entire tree.

we all agreed that it's the prettiest it has ever been.