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.

winter solstice christmas tree expedition

we woke to an apt winter solstice morning with a light coating of ice and snow and 20 degree weather and decided that it would be a good day to pick out our christmas tree, since tomorrow would be even colder. morgan and i first visited the green market for eggs, kale and spinach (where we ran into kendall and aurélien) and then we were on our way to connecticut.

it was very cold and the first thing chanda did was purchase a hot cup of coffee from the tree farm's little treat stand.

meanwhile, i took what seemed like several hundred photos of dan and jake, the maple row farm oxen who took turns mooing at me.

chanda running up the hill . . it feels wonderful to be out in the cold, fresh air.

brrr . .

we did a lot of traipsing about the tree farm before settling on what i think is a douglas fir. also, it was so cold that i couldn't take half as many photos as i usually do. my fingers were freezing on the camera.

i think they let harley have the honor of sawing it this year.

and then, as chanda said, with great ceremony you carry it to the twine station to be tied up for the car ride home, eschewing help from the flat bed truck that could haul it back for you. (the truck did pass us, driven by our friend who we see every year when picking out a tree - since 2009.)

(i'm just noticing now that chanda has a hole in her pants, and i don't think she's wearing any long johns . . insert emoji with my wide flabbergasted eyes here).

standing around the fire eating our sandwiches. it was too cold to sit on the benches. one needed to be right up in the smoke. we had made salami with butter on baguette (chanda, morgan and i), turkey with mayo and swiss cheese on challah bread (greg) and chedder cheese on challah for harley. we also had hot chocolate (which wasn't really hot - we no longer seem to have a proper thermos) and biscotti.

the wonderful fire . . 

(korrina was holding down the fort at work.)

surprisingly, there was a lot of traffic this year (everyone doing last minute shopping?) and we didn't arrive home until dark. fortunately, there was a parking spot in front of the apartment and it was easily hauled upstairs with everyone's help.

(morgan is laughing at the antics of the cats who were playing with twine that was wrapped around the chair.)

perfetto!

morgan did the ironing in seemingly seconds - what surely would have taken me an hour to do.

so wonderful!

putting on the strands of lights while the cats ran around . . 

after a dinner of leftover ravioli and black bean soup, we were truly exhausted and happily fell into bed. 

happy winter solstice!

the weekend and today

greg and i went out to the house on saturday to decorate a little before christmas: to put up a few lights and place a few holiday ornaments on the piano and mantel (we'll celebrate there with kathy and everyone). also, i've been putting off cleaning out two areas of the kitchen after the mouse situation: the tupperware/plastic container corner cabinet and the pot lid drawer beneath the oven. both had a few mouse droppings and the plasticware hadn't been washed since the tenant left. the above photo was taken sunday morning (it rained all day sunday which made for an unpleasant drive home and a muddy christmas tree expedition).

pluto was entranced with a fly caught between the screen and the sliding door . . 

i don't think he caught it as it wouldn't come out.

the tupperware after a washing. i was surprised at how many containers and bowls there were (hidden as they are in a large corner cabinet).

we stopped on the way home at a tree farm. you can't tell in the picture (except for the umbrella) but it was very grey and very wet and rainy. the parking lot was so muddy that it was a miracle we didn't slip in it and that the car didn't get stuck.

it took us five minutes to pick out a tree. it was too wet to be particular! (i think they shape them.)

cricket has learned how to open all the cabinets (and zuzu can open the sliding hot water heater closet door). all the cat food is now in the refrigerator, or high up in a closet in the small bedroom. however, the garbage needs to be underneath the sink and easily accessible, so i looked in rite aid today for child cabinet locks, but they didn't have any. i thought i would have to visit the container store (or amazon online) but kendall came to the rescue with an extra lock she had at home and didn't need, and which i picked up right before dinner. it's perfect!

morgan and harley arrived today! their plane landed at 2:15 pm. we're so happy to see them, and this evening (before our vegetarian chili dinner) they sat down to fix the string of lights for the tree.

we also lit our first candle of advent.

the first light of advent is the light of stones,

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

wrapping the tree in lights with pluto making sure it's done correctly.

'tis the season again.

a christmas tree and advent

 

it was such a pretty day to drive to connecticut to look for a christmas tree. 

we first walked to where all the concolor firs were located (by the entrance) and then walked across the farm to where there were more spruce trees and then back to the firs. it was cold out, but the sun felt warm. 

i would look at a short and plump tree and say how i liked it, and greg would immediately point to another one next to it and say how much he liked that one. this was very new to me. usually he doesn't care. finally i asked . . why??! and he said we may as well get a bigger tree, we're paying more money this year . . yes, the price went up significantly. what is funny is that we ended up choosing a tree that has the most slender trunk of any we've had . . but it is a little taller than the ones from the past few years. 

i was glad it was a light tree as it was much easier to help him carry it . . and i could easily pick it up by myself.

saying hello to the oxen, dan and jake after dropping the tree off to be tied up for the trip home. we saw a worker there who commented that we had found our concolor fir . . he remembered how we liked that type of tree from past years. it was nice to say hello and that it was good to see each other again . . once a year at tree expedition time!

here is dan . . 

and here's jake with his horns peeking above the fence . . 

we ate lunch at the picnic table but i did stand by the fire long enough so that the wood smoke permeated my clothes and hair and is still lingering.

st. nicholas chocolates and coffee for dessert . .  

and then we loaded the tree into the back of the car and headed home.

----

the fourth light of advent is the light of you and i, the light of love, of thought, to give and understand.