Hurrah for Bad Weather

Random 5 Friday

I maintained my “up” attitude this week.  This may be the longest stretch of joy since nineteen hundred and fifty nine.  By this time in the holiday season I am ordinarily “snarky,” as my friend, MJ says, and it all began with a Christmas tree.

• Bill  agreed to purchase a real Christmas tree EARLY this year since our weather here is so tricky! The idea of searching  in a downpour did it.  In Bill’s family the tradition was to find and decorate a tree on Xmas Eve.  But my family liked to get it all together quickly in order to extend the suspense.  Well, the weather worked in my favor this year.   We not only found the perfect tree but brought it inside yesterday (because the forecast was for cold rain!) and last night we put on the lights and I finished adding all the memory infused ornaments.  Hurrah for bad weather!

MJ’s Mondo Cookies

• Today I made MJ’s Mondo cookies!  MJ is one of my favorite bloggers.  She calls her cookies “The Un-Christmas Cookies, but they are scrumptious and beautiful and perfect for any holiday.  You can visit her at Emjayandthem’s Blog.  Hurrah for MJ!
• This week I also found a pair of skinny jeans with sparkles on the butt!  I may be a bit ancient for a sparkly rear, but hey, why not?  I am fortunate (or perhaps unfortunate) to be blessed with skinny legs and a flat bottom. The rest is indescribable.  But these wondrous jeans fit!  Hurrah for holiday miracles!

Skinny Jeans with Rear End Sparklers

• Friend Joan and I had lunch in downtown Lexington, Virginia. Our lunches last for hours since we have so much to talk about, catch up on and share.  We dined at the newly restored Robert E. Lee Hotel in their restaurant called Rocca’s!  Downtown was buzzing too but I managed to squeeze in a haircut.
• Then Bill and I had dinner with other great friends, Pete and Phebe.  Our favorite “haunt” is Frank’s Pizza because that’s where all the action is.  At our age it doesn’t really take much action, but there is something about Franks’ or maybe something in their sauce that reduces us all to uncontrollable laughter.  Hurrah for ageless hilarity.

Well, in spite of being deeply enthralled with my latest Doomsday book, Year of Wonders, (about the Plague) I am in a holiday sort of mood.  Hurrah for jingling bells and Christmas cards in the mail, and a home that looks like a Norman Rockwell painting.  And hurrah for a great family and good friends!

And although I cannot believe it myself, I am saying, “Hurrah for bad weather!”

 

 

 

 

 

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Dreaming of Sugar Plums

en.wikipedia.org Santa Claus Sugar Plums. Confection label, showing Santa Claus on sleigh with reindeer., 1868.

I’m not sure what a sugar plum is exactly, but that’s what my dear old Mom used to call me – “Sugar Plum.”   Isn’t Sugar Plum a lovely endearing name? Better than Dork or Snort I must say.  Did you know I have friends who actually call me Dork?!!!  I am immune after years of this but no wonder there are some odd looks from people out in the public.

“Tis really the season” here in the Virginia countryside and ’tis ripe for dreaming.  The weather outside slides from frightful to delightful in the course of hours, but there is a happy tension in the air that makes us ready for a White Christmas.  Bing Crosby used to sing that one.  Does anyone remember Bing and his dreaming of a white Christmas?

Awaiting Santa in Lexington, Virginia

Some folks have their decorations up and it’s only the first week in December!   Downtown Lexington is beginning to look all decked out in its best finery.  And we bought the tree(s) today – real ones – with the real scent and the real, sticky hands, real light stringing disasters and of course, real avalanches of needles on Dec. 26th.

In an effort to save tree lives, we once or twice tried plastic varieties. The poor things died quicker than the real ones.  Either we could never put them back together or one great segment of the thousand points of light would give out never to be seen flickering again.

Anyway, now we have two trees -one for the inside and one for the outside.  The little one will stand on the deck with some edible ornaments for the birds.  The inside tree will light up a window and when it’s all adorned, Bill and I will sigh and say it is the most beautiful tree we have ever had.  We mean that too, every year.

Tipsy Toy Soldier

Yesterday we went to Lowe’s for a new high powered battery operated leaf blower.  Lowe’s is in the holiday spirit too because we were greeted by what must have been a tipsy toy soldier who was leaning on a Christmas tree.  Sorry for the trash can in the photo but it was just there.  The giant soldier must have blown over in the wind or the people who put him up had a bit too much to drink too.

I haven’t dreamed of sugar plums yet, but my hopes lean toward laughter, family, friends, playing in the snow, and the magical lights and moments of the best Christmas we have ever had.

What about you?  May all your best dreams come true.

From Wikipedia:  A sugar plum is a piece of candy that is made of dried fruits and shaped in a small round or oval shape.  “Plum”in the name of this confection does not mean plum in the sense of the fruit of the same name.  At one time, “plum” was used to denote any dried fruit.  “Sugar plums: may be made from any combination of dried plums (aka prunes), dried figs, dried apricots, dates, and dried cherries, but traditional sugar plums may contain none of these.  In one recipe, the dried fruit is chopped fine and combined with chopped almonds, honey, and aromatic spices such as anise see, fennel seed, caraway seeds and cardamon.  This mixture would then be rolled into balls, often then coated in sugar or shredded coconut.

 

 

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