holiday preparations

 
sunrise this morning . . 

stollen and tea today for breakfast . . 

and before running off to work (and doing her laundry) chanda helped with making biscotti.

cricket was able to stay in the kitchen and help also as there wasn't any butter or cream in the cookies, just eggs . . and he wasn't interested in eggs.

it's late. i'm very tired. i just got off the phone with korrina. she was home . . and i called to see if she had any biscotti baking tips for me as i overcooked my biscotti because i thought the inner part wasn't well done enough. they are too hard right now, though still very tasty! this has happened often. i remember my mom biting into a biscotti one year and saying, i'm going to break my teeth on these! every time she said that, i would say, dunk it! (in her tea or coffee). korrina remembers this also. i think i put in too many chopped almonds and hazelnuts. it made the dough too dense. they were perfect last year! i hope we eat all of these so i can try making another batch.

i did many many other things, but there's still much to do.

good night!

welcome winter on the fourth sunday of advent

tea and stollen at 10:03 in the morning when the sun was at it's most southern point . . 

after which we went with chanda in search of a tree in the neighborhood and found one on seventh avenue. it was a concolor fir, one of our favorites as it has soft needles and a light bark. we were surprised to find one! chanda even talked the tree salesperson down a little in price . . good negotiating!

sawing off the tip before putting it in the stand . . 

time for a pluto inspection . . 

it's late now and i'm very tired. i just finished going over three lists and consolidated them for what needs to be done tomorrow and tuesday. we missed a solstice celebration at a local garden that we had considered going to, and i also missed a zoom get together with knitting friends and bayron handknits that was at 4 pm. there was just so much to do today. (i've missed the knitting get together for the past three months . . well, here's hoping for january.) anyway . . 

happy solstice . . 

and happy fourth sunday of advent.

holiday shopping

greg and i had different chores and errands to do in the morning and then we finally met at union square to look together for a record for my nephew. after visiting barnes and noble (which didn't have what we wanted) we headed to petco for cat food . . 

and ran into santa! was santa in petco . . 

and were these pups and their owners waiting to see him? 

i think they were because here's santa on the balcony by the cat food aisle! i also overheard a manager whispering to santa that a line had formed and he needed to come in and visit with the customers. greg and i were very amused and today when reading an article about christmas trees i saw a long island pet store ad with the times that santa would be available to meet their customers' pets. i guess it's a thing to do these days! i think it's very cute and very crazy. 

we had not eaten breakfast and at 1 pm we were very hungry and happy to find a cozy diner near where we were shopping.

lots of food! half of the wrap sandwiches came home with us.

the grinch kept an eye on us as we ate.

walking home . . such a beautiful sky.

(we were at janet's solstice party for a little while in the evening where we saw several homeschooling friends we hadn't seen in years!)

out and about

here are some photos from running errands these past two days . . above is the tree at washington square . .

my peppermint mocha from levain bakery on lafayette (their latest spot that opened) . . 

the empire state building looking very pretty in blue . . 

a festive staircase . . 

greg walking by the fancy brownstone that is always beautifully decorated . . 

cricket looking very cute this afternoon . . 

morgan's pudding hat for little dougie!

it looks wonderfully warm and is very cute!

tuesday night

 
after the children's class (which went very well), i waited for greg to join me to walk to a radio play production of it's a wonderful life at the irish repertory company.

the performers were wonderful and we both really loved it. they used 1946 as the year it was being performed in, and they told the story of george bailey amidst 1946 ads and the radio station's jingle - singing out WIRT new york ciiiiity . . they took on multiple roles and sang several songs, such as: look for the silver lining, let it snow, brother can you spare a dime, blue skies, keep the home fires burning, silent night, auld lang syne . . and some facts of the era:

morning goes by too quickly

 

(photo of zuzu watching the snow come down from sunday)

morgan is making a pudding hat for harley's new little nephew born during the summer. i think it's going to be very cute.

we were talking about old christmas cards, and this is sitting on their mantel in londontown . .

and that's what i need to do right now (it's already afternoon!) - write some christmas cards before running out to ellen's for the 7 year olds' presentation of march of the wooden soldiers, sugar plum fairy, candle dance and russian dance . . a lot of dances to learn for 7 year olds! and someone is always absent. grace (the other assistant with me) fills in for the absent ones, which helps a little bit for things to go more smoothly . . but . . anyway, i have to "run" the sound on the mini disc she uses which is a little temperamental to operate, so i'm nervous! wish me luck! (wish us luck!)

a cold and icy day

 

zuzu and . . 

cricket . . keeping an eye on anything that flits by . . 

everything has frozen as it's in the mid 20's today.

greg worked from home and we had lunch together (my plate is reminiscent of my breakfasts at gail's cafe in london on the fulham road where i would get a salami sandwich on a small brioche roll with a pickle).

here are a few pieces from my clay creche that my mom bought for me years ago when greg and i first moved to the neighborhood. there was a lovely shop on west 10th street, across from jefferson market library that sold beautiful pottery from local artisans and from south america. so far the cats are leaving it alone, so i might add the rest of the figures.

and on the piano . . 

greg made deviled eggs this evening to take to his holiday work party tomorrow. he even walked to the container store for three medium size containers to put them in.

they look very yummy!

i mainly packed a small padded envelope for london today . . it takes me ages to do and it will supposedly take three weeks to get there.

snow day and the third sunday of advent

we were out early for a walk in the snow . .

zuzu enjoyed watching the snow whirl by . . 

the view from the living room window . . 

breakfast with chanda .  .

talking on the phone with morgan . .  

----

this evening we welcomed the third sunday of advent . . 

the first light of advent is the light of stones,

light that lives in seashells, in crystals and in bones.

the second light of advent is the light of plants,

plants that reach up to the sun and in the breezes dance.

the third light of advent is the light of beasts,

light of hope that shines in the greatest and the least.

and we sang:

people look east the time is near,

of the crowning of the year,

make your house fair as you are able,

trim the hearth and set the table -

people look east and sing today!

love the guest is on the way.

furrows be glad though earth is bare,

one more seed is planted there,

give up your strength the seed to nourish,

that in course the flower may flourish -

people look east and sing today!

love the guest is on the way.

birds though ye long have ceased to build,

guard the nest that must be filled,

even in the hour when wings are frozen,

he for fledgeling time has chosen -

people look east and sing today!

love the bird is on the way.

it's very cold now, too . . when chanda returned from visiting friends she said everything was frozen outside; sidewalks and streets were icy and chunks of snow were falling from the trees. 

and there is much to catch you up on with korrina's new job! today was her sixth day of work. of course there is much to catch up on with everything . . i will try as these next days fly by . . (here's yesterday morning).