sunday, december 7th

delicious chocolates for st. nicholas day . . 

greg and i took a walk in the late afternoon to a coffee shop we had never been to before . . 

nutcrackers along the way at the local dry cleaner and tailor shop . . 

we shared a pot of creamy hot and sweet cardamom coffee. i didn't think we would drink it all . . but we did . . and i worked on my knitting (a joji locatelli pattern from her mystery shawl knit-a-long).

we stopped on the way home for kitty litter and cat food . .

and to admire st. anthony's creche . . i sent photos to my sister who had attended a special creche festival at her church where she had included a pretty white one of our grandmother's (mom's mom):

----

at home we had dinner with chanda and lit our wood advent wreath for the second sunday of advent . .

and played a round of bananagrams . . happy st. nicholas day, and happy advent.

st. nicholas day

 

a song for st. nicholas

welcome, friend! st. nicholas, welcome!

bring no rod for us tonight!

while our voices bid thee welcome,

every heart with joy is light.

tell us every fault and failing;

we will bear thy keenest railing

so we sing, so we sing:

thou shalt tell us everything!

welcome, friend! st. nicholas, welcome!

welcome to this merry band!

happy children greet thee, welcome!

thou are gladdening all the land.

fill each empty hand and basket;

'tis thy little ones who ask it.

so we sing, so we sing:

thou wilt bring us everything!

by mary mapes dodge from hans brinker and the silver skates.

----

we had a quiet morning with treats from st. nicholas . . 

and then we had a project to attend to . . (chanda ran off to school for an important presentation she was doing with a few other students, which she said went well).

it was time to take up the old rug from the big bedroom. 

it was quite a project which cricket and zuzu found very interesting . . 

lunch break . . 

it was tiring work and we were happy to finally finish and get cleaned up and collapse into bed.

(we had leftover tortellini with tomato sauce for dinner.)

st. nicholas day and happy independence day to finland

 

 nicholas, saint of sailors,

children of the sea,

when their sails are torn by gales

close at hand is he.

the wind in the rigging

hears the sailors cry:

"save us here, old nicholas!

save us there, good nicholas!

saint of sailors,

bring us safe

home, high and dry!"

from a rhyme for st. nicholas by eleanor farjeon (1881-1965)

 

 

 

 ----

 

this evening at dinner we lit a candle with victoria in celebration of finnish independence day, which was declared in 1917 on december 6th. victoria says that with the russian war on ukraine, her friends in finland are more fiercely patriotic this year, thankful and protective of their autonomy and that of others.

traveling with figaro

greg and i took figaro with us out to montauk sunday morning as we needed to be there for the delivery of a new furnace this morning. we stopped at home depot in shirley as i wanted to get a wreath and lights for the house.

----

sunset . . 

the lights look pretty in the phtoograph, but they are actually a bit too bright for me - a cold LED blue . . 

 

 and i think the sparkles are too fast . . too . . too something! i actually didn't realize they would  blink. in the morning i'll look to see if my dad has anything different downstairs . .

----

monday morning . . 

looking for bugs . . 

it's a rainy day . . 

the furnace people never came . . the technician's truck broke down . . we had to reschedule for after christmas . . (ay yi yi).

does this man seem unhappy to you? he is . .

because of this fellow . . 

who chewed right through the cords to his headset . . and totally destroyed it. nope . . greg was not a happy camper and figaro was officially in the doghouse. 

i left them to their ruminations and hung the wreath and investigated the christmas decorations in the basement, where i found two unopened boxes of colorful christmas lights! i wrapped these around the railing and couldn't wait to see how they looked after the sun went down. but first:

i also went through ten to fifteen photo albums looking for old pics for my "caption this!" holiday game . . here are several that i found:

christmas in california in 1981 or 2, (i think) . . 

visiting the japanese deer farm or knott's berry farm . . i think! (from that same christmas holiday time).

in my dorm room, january of 1981/2 when my mom stayed with me on campus (such a fun visit!) (the afghan i'm lying on is one she crocheted for me. i picked out all the colors and the pattern.)

my parents relaxing before dinner in the 1970's. the afghan in this picture was crocheted by her friend greta, i think. (there are many details i'm not sure about!)

my dad working on the car at a rest stop during our 1990 cross country trip with my mom and my sister and nephews. (he was an auto mechanic supervisor with the nassau county police department.)

my nephew ryan having a sponge bath from his mom when we were in california for his christening.

korrina and my dad at the beach . . 1995 probably . . morgana was not born yet.

 she was such a yummy dumpling of a child!

back to 2021 now . . after decorating, doing laundry and some cleaning and rummaging through old photos, i had time to sit down and watch a movie, knit and have tea and my st. nicholas chocolate before it was time to pack the car and head home.

 

figaro joined me . . he's getting better at accepting that he cannot play with my knitting project.

the movie of choice today was when harry met sally . . (i love romantic comedies that take place in nyc . . . see the twin towers in the middle of washington square arch? and the bell tower belongs to judson memorial church, built in 1888.)

has someone had a hard day?

here are the lights! happy st. nicholas day! (i put them on a timer - i love thinking about them going on every night.)