Time: 8:25pm
In my mug: black coffee
On the stereo: a rick steves podcasts
In my belly: portuguese custard tarts
In the fridge: leftover soup
Last thing on the laptop: debating between making austrian chocolate walnut bars or peppermint truffle brownies
On my wish list: a new candy thermometer
Looking forward to: a dinner with my husband tomorrow
On the nightstand: American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld
Recently satisfied: An awesome long walk followed by a night in portugal
I sit here a night, cozy in my pajamas with my husband and dog nearby, the Christmas tree freshly decorated and my belly full of leftover turkey sandwich and mashed yams, thinking, planning and dreaming of the coming month. A crazy month of birthdays and festivities. It hasn’t just started though, I’ve been planning since the beginning of November for Christmas, because I really don’t mind being totally caught up in the experience. I don’t mind Christmas carols in November or a tree up a month early. I don’t mind hectic grocery stores or long lineups. It’s all a part of it for me, the lineups force me to slow down and the carols make my heart sing. The Christmas tree brings back such great memories with every ornament of Christmases past.
The Christmas cards are made and addressed, each with a personal note inside. My holiday gifts are planned and the decorations are up, it’s all set in motion. I think one of the main reasons Christmas is such a great time for me is because I don’t let myself get stressed out. All our Christmas presents are from my kitchen so I’m not worried about finding the right gift (though I do worry about the store being out of bulk pecans or dark chocolate.) And the few Christmas parties we throw are never more than two couples at a time, so everything feels manageable. The Christmas goody boxes we love to bring around to our extended family and friends are recipe tested long in advance and the freezer is stock piled with frozen dinners from the past few weeks, for those nights after work I really don’t feel up to anything but a good movie.
But the absolute main reason this is all possible is...we don’t have kids to wrangle, bedtimes to manage and sugar crashes to deal with. And for that I’m sorry. One day we’ll be there too.
So this month I’ll spend one Saturday evening at the symphony, my favourite musical night of the year and one Tuesday at our favourite restaurant in the city eating mussels and fries and drinking Belgian beer. We’ll spend an entire day delivering smiles to the people who are important to us with boxes of sweets. We will definitely be praying for a white Christmas to astound us while we spend one very special morning around a fireplace drinking coffee, eating cinnamon buns and laughing with the people we love the most. We’ll spend Christmas Eve and evening cooking for our two families and at least two nights before that enjoying the company of friends. When you look at it that way and sprinkle a little snow on top it’s hard to feel cynical or pessimistic about the season.
