winter solstice

 

The official start of winter was last night at 5:38. We recognized it by making a boatload of peanut butter cookies with Reese's cups in the middle and a batch of Swedish butter cookies. That's about all the baking I'll do. Here's to winter.

I realized the other day that I have enjoyed the holidays a lot more since I learned that it's a process and not a day. I used to get so rattled by all the preparation that I was exhausted by the time Christmas really arrived. Now I try to do the things I enjoy and just let the days roll by with no sense of urgency. I'm much happier that way. What gets done, gets done.

Ella is coming to spend the night Thursday. She has a little blow-up bed that we'll put in the bedroom with us. We're going to make meatballs and a cheesecake and some other treats for Friday. She likes to cook and is a pretty good helper. Regis taught her to play tic-tac-toe so I'm sure they'll get a few games of that in during the evening.

I'm looking for a flag that I can attach to my car so people can see me coming behind the snow banks. When I come to an intersection, I can only hope that any cars coming are taller than the snow piles. It's treacherous out there. When I had the idea, I actually thought for a moment that I had invented something but then I remembered all those sports flags that I see on cars. I suppose that's the only design a guy can find.

Regis is ordering me a car window flag. The least offensive design he found is this one. Ah, well. I guess they don't make car window flags for poets or folk singers. A Bob Dylan car window flag? An Emily Dickinson car window flag? This one should be very visible and that's all I care about, really.