Necessary Chocolate

During the lull: fudge

Fudge is among my favorite foods, so I can't make it often. In fact, out of self-preservation I haven't made it for years, but this year, during the lull, I decided to put it at the top of the list. So, Monday night, I made fudge.

And it only took three pans, two bowls, a whisk, a wooden spoon, a spatula, and the paddle beater.

Oh well. It turned out very well. After the butter had separated from the rest of the mixture. And I poured everything back into a pan to reheat. And then beat the heck out of it. Some days you just have to work for those calories.

Christmas and mercies

Santa is now in the bakery, and I'm enjoying that wonderful lull between holidays.

So much went right this year. The second week of Christmas, always crazy, lived up to my expectations of exhaustion:  an office cookie exchange, the office party, and my class breakfast, all in one week, all with me in charge. All went well.  And then, that Friday - snow.

Blanketing snow. The close-the-office-at-noon kind of snow. It didn't seem so merciful when I tried to fly to Virginia on Sunday, but I was able to after all, so that I could be in time for my parent's big Christmas party. Another mercy.

Last week was another one filled with friends and family. The friends who invite us each year for Christmas Eve know how to keep Christmas. Besides a feast, there is a talent show, where each family must perform. This year's theme: Rap. We managed to cheat by wrapping candy in layers upon layers of wrapping paper, bubble pack, and shrink wrap. The bundle was tossed around and ripped apart while the Muppet's "Little Saint Nick" set the pace.

Now it's quiet again. I didn't plan a party for New Years - just too exhausted this year. And so far, the only invitation is the "she won't mind if you come" sort. But that's okay. I may stay home and sew and read. Or make a glitter house for my living tree. Or just play computer games. This is my lull, and I plan to enjoy it.

At least it's pretty

Gorgeous it may be. But after two days without heat, hot water, or electricity in very cold weather, I will not be reading Laura Ingalls Wilder's "The Long Winter" anytime soon.

I'm one of the lucky ones - I now have heat, hot water, and electricity. And a car. The manual release on my garage door didn't work, so I didn't have a car until the power came on. Now, life is almost astonishingly back to normal, except that I love, even more than before, heat, hot water, and electricity.

That's the summary of the weekend. Here are the boring details:

Thursday: Power goes out.
Friday: Power still out. Can't get car out of garage. Take bus to work (where there is power and heat).
Friday night: Cold. Put fire in fireplace and wrap gifts. Much colder and not anywhere near as romantic as it sounds. Gifts look surprisingly good in daylight.
Saturday: Cold. Get ride to church to set up for Christmas concert.
Saturday afternoon: Power! Heat! Electricity! Car! But car battery is dead. Get out recharger and recharge car.
Saturday late afternoon: run errands like crazy. Drink hot chocolate. Eat warm things.
Saturday evening: Church Christmas party. Friends without power come over to stay (the fun part of the weekend!)
Saturday 11pm: Realize that, unlike promise made to friends, there is no hot water. Go down to basement. Throw away two dead mice. Squeegie standing water out of basement. Learn how to light pilot light on water heater while kneeling in water.
Sunday morning: breakfast with friends; church
Sunday afternoon; meetings, lunch with friends, make cookies for office cookie exchange
Sunday evening: Help with Christmas concert food and decorations. Come home to warm house.
Monday morning: Sing Hallelujah Chorus with early-morning class, and mean it.

On the ironing board

I'm making a skirt for 12-year-old Laura, who prefers conservative fabric. When given a choice of fabrics, she picked out a brown corduroy with small green dots. Very tasteful.

But I chose the lining.

Counting down at home

A few decorations are partway up. Two items I'm particularly proud of:

I removed the air conditioner from the kitchen window by myself last night, so now there's no -9 degree air blowing in; and

I rearranged my red cabinet shelves so that, after a haitus of years, I could break out my advent calendar:

It's the Playmobil angel bakery, and I love it very much.

Counting down

Thank you so much for your kind words about my photo. Seeing myself in a photo is usually traumatic, so it's nice to have a positive experience!

This year, I'm determined to enjoy what I'm doing during the Christmas season, instead of what I wish I could do (like get away to NYC for a day). I've started with a couple of advent calendars that are helping me count down the days.

In my seminary class, we're counting down the last ten days of class for 2008. Each day we open an envelope to find an activity for the following day.* Monday we ate chocolate chocolate-chip muffins; today our lesson was held on the floor, with blankets and pillows; tomorrow, we will have hot chocolate with marshmallows, chocolate syrup, and peppermint stick stirrers. Thursday we will try to sing the Hallelujah Chorus. One day next week I plan to have bacon, simply because I think it will be funny for them to read the work "bacon."  It will all culminate in breakfast at my house, where we will open the last envelope and read "sleep in."

If you have any other ideas, let me know. We'll probably do the nativity scene one day, but otherwise I'm hoping for some more inspiration this weekend.

I always wanted to do one of these advent activity calendars - and this one is living up to my expectations. Plus, I used the little clothespins I've been hoarding for YEARS, indulged in using fun fonts, and learned a few new tricks in Indesign.

*To reassure those of you that are religious minded, there are also wallet-size prints of my favorite painting/woodcuts of Christ each day. Just so you know.