Say Goodbye to 2023

2023 felt like a more normal year than we have had in the near past. At this point in life I am happy for normal. I feel lucky to have my family doing well, Shay still ruling the roost, my old friends hanging on and all my new friends and students wanting to learn from me.

There are plenty of things in the bigger world that are troubling, but in my smaller world not too bad. I am concerned for the whole world and the I pray everyday for people to come to their senses, but the only thing I can control is how I act.

So farewell ‘23. I make no predictions for ‘24 because I don’t want to jinx anything and there are some big things to bet on. I hope for kindness, justice and fairness and for the mah jongg wave to continue.

Have a peaceful New Year’s Eve. Stay safe and get a good night’s sleep. I think we need to be well rested for 2024.

Don’t Be A Good Actress

As I was vacuuming the last of the glitter and sparkles from the front hall way I noticed two giant boxes on the front porch. I inquired of Russ if he was putting the recycling on the front porch.

He said, “No, those are for you.”

He carried in these boxes and I looked at the shipping label. They were from a company I recognized because someone else I knew got something for Christmas from the same place. I opened each box and they were a match of a gift someone else got.

Russ and Carter thought that I Iiked those gifts, so they ordered me some of the same, thankfully on sale. I did not want those gifts. I was just being polite making the giver feel good about them. The receiver liked them and I should not have said anything, especially if it gave others the idea I would also like them.

It was a sweet, albeit unwanted surprise, done with the best intentions and love. When I say I don’t want more stuff, I actually mean it. If there is specific stuff I want I will probably mention it or buy it for myself. I feel ungrateful, but I have learned not to react to other’s gifts, unless I really, really want the same thing. Now I have made Russ feel bad because I was acting polite.

Half Undecorated

Sadly today is Carter’s last day in Durham. Tomorrow she is off to visit Claire’s family in Connecticut for New Years. No matter what they do for New Years it will be way more fun than what we are doing.

Carter has been so productive while she was home. She cleaned out her whole closet and the closet in the sweat shop creating four giant bags for donations and two bags of trash. As she was in such a helpful and friendly mood I took advantage of her and got her to help get the Christmas boxes down.

Taking Christmas down is not half as fun as putting it up, but it also takes half the time, if you don’t count the cleaning that you have to follow up with. I got almost all the ornaments off the tree, in the thousands, and Carter stepped in to go up the ladder the last three trips.

After dinner she suggested she and Russ go ahead and take everything associated with the tree and the platform and get it down the stairs put away. Oh my goodness, this was the best gift I was given this year.

I still have the dining room and half the living room to undecorate, but that will take no time tomorrow and it will all be done. The sparkle and lights will give way to clean and sparse like a winter day after a fresh snow.

I am thinking of leaving some decor in the attic and changing things up a bit. Looking for the opposite of holiday. Perhaps it is the sadness of Carter leaving.

Unadvertised Fun

There are just some words that are so much better than others. Today Carter and I took a little field trip to Fearington village and I heard a combination of favorite words as soon as we walked into Dovecote. “We are having an unadvertised sale and all our shoes are 50% off.”

Usually those words are met by disappointing choices and tiny sizes for the season that is ending, but not today. Dovecote had some shoes I had been wanting and was looking to get at full price, but got at half price. We were going for half priced Christmas stuff, which we did get, but I did not expect shoes.

Surprises like this just don’t happen too much and when they do they make me very happy, especially since these are shoes for spring and I can use them when I am off to Lyford to teach.

To boil it down, favorite words today, shoes and half-price.

Lazy Day

It’s that wonderful week between Christmas and New Years when nothing really happens. That is if you don’t count all the people who got Mah Jongg sets for Christmas and now are desperate for classes. (The bad news is that January and Feb are already full. Think March for Mah Jongg.)

Back to the Lazy day. Two of Carter’s dearest friends, Ashley and Estelle both came over and we spent the better part of the day catching up. Estelle brought her new dog Josey who was quite comfortable here. Shay was not much interested in her, which is an embarrassment as a hostess.

I should have done something like vacuuming after they left, but opted to finish the puzzle Hannah brought us for Christmas. Carter kept me company while I did it. 1000 pieces in three sittings was a very fast puzzle. It helped that it was one divided into little sections. But completing it was very exciting. The table I worked it on was just slightly too small and Carter and I laughed about carpenters 200 years ago not fortune telling how big puzzles in the future would be.

We are having Thai take out and snuggling down tonight. The perfect rainy holiday weekday. It was so much more fun than cleaning up the wrapping and boxes in my office. I am dreading taking Christmas down, but I see it in my near future. Life will have to start back again soon.

After Christmas Movie Time

Now the parties and presents are over it’s time to relax. That means Movies! We have gotten out of practice about going to the movies since the pandemic. Last night we stayed home and rented The Holdovers. It was the story of a boy who has to stay at boarding school over Christmas break and the teacher who has to supervise him.

Since I went to boarding school I can not imagine anything worse than staying at school over Christmas. I counted down the hours until Christmas break with a pack of hour cards on a ribbon. I carried it with me everywhere the last three days of school and flipped the number one lower every hour. Don’t get me wrong, I loved going to boarding school, but going home to sleep in your own room, not have classes and have a kitchen was needed by Christmas.

The movie is set in 1971 and does a great job of portraying boarding school life, at least for boys, at the time. Paul Giamatti plays the teacher and is fantastic. We give the Holdvers two thumbs up.

Today we ventured out to go to the movies. We unanimously picked The Boys In The Boat. When we arrived at the theatre I heard my name called and we discovered the most rowing family we know, the Beischer’s were also there to see the movie. It is the story of a boy who went out out for the rowing team at the University of Washington during the depression because then he got a bed and some help on his tuition by making the team. I won’t give anymore of the story away, but it was a beautiful movie, even though it had to pared down from the book.

We all loved this movie. Nick Beischer, who crewed at Williams, deemed the rowing very believable and liked the movie as well.

Two movies in two days. I can’t think of the last time we did that, even though one was at home. I would love to know what else you have seen. My friend Janet said Ferrari was OK. Has anyone seen The Color Purple or Wonka? Wondering which movie is going to be the big hit of Christmas.

Its Come and Gone

You would think I was four by the way I can’t sleep on Christmas Eve. We had a big day yesterday and I just got to writing my blog at 11:30 and turning my lights off after midnight. Someone near by was celebrating with fireworks so I didn’t go right to sleep.

I did wake up multiple times through the night and finally at 6:30 just got out of bed to start Christmas day. I baked the Christmas breakfast casserole while Carter opened presents brought by Santa. We got a big laugh out of the monogram on her new iPad. That personalization will certainly keep anyone else from considering stealing it from her, that is as long as they carry a big magnifying glass around.

My family came at 10:30, instead of 10:00, thanks to getting stuck in the elevator at my Mom’s house. Thankfully they got out safely.

We had a big game of our gift exchange and I ended up with two gifts I bought, as well as a karaoke microphone, which everyone knows I don’t need, or should not use. I am my own loud speaker system.

We had a yummy lunch and the most popular dish was the chicken Marsala I threw in at the last minute in case people didn’t want tenderloin. You just can’t beat a chicken thigh.

Carter made us individual cross word puzzles which were our most fun activity and before we knew it was time for everyone to go. Russ and Carter did all the dishes for which I am always grateful.

We talked to relatives who were not with us and wished them all a Merry Christmas. In the blink of an eye Christmas has come and gone. We still have the sparkle and light for a few days more, then the darkness of the winter becomes apparent.

Only eleven more months until I can put all of Christmas back up and do it all again.

Christmas Eve in Six Lines

It was a full day of cooking, puzzles, candles and brass. We could have given lessons on Christmas with class.

The beef needing trimming, potatoes were baked, chicken Marsalaed, and cookies to take.

Christmas puzzles were worked with great speed and precision, which one was best now that’s the decision.

The Toms were coming for dinner tonight, but Lynn called at five, and illness to fight. But we got Ellis and Logan for sure, we had cannelloni that was our lure.

Off to church for the lessons, carols and brass, that’s the thing that keeps Christmas from being too crass.

So with Santa to come I must bid you goodnight, looking forward to Christ’s coming with new morning light.

Not the Mama

Today was a big prep day. I feel like we got a bonus extra pre-Christmas day with a whole weekend before the big day. This meant I didn’t have to cook all day, although I was instructed to add another dish to Christmas Day.

I made Cannelloni with crepes for Christmas Eve. It was a labor intensive dish and after covering every counter in dirty dishes I decided I needed a break. Carter took over kitchen duty making tart shells and I went to watch TV and work on my Santa Puzzle. I was in the middle of bingeing season one of Reacher. This is about the least Christmasy show to watch with lots of bad guys being killed in every episode.

After dinner Russ suggested Carter and I watch a Christmas movie. Lord, there are so many Christmas movies to chose from and all would be less violent than Reacher. Carter suggested The Family Stone with Diane Keaton and Sarah Jessica Parker whom I love.

So we snuggled with Shay on the big sofa, needlepointing and watching this movie. It has a great cast and good sound track, if not a very quirky plot. Diane Keaton was the mother and a little difficult as a she has five adult children and one brings home a girl for Christmas. You think the movie is going one way and suddenly it serves and after spending 90 percent of the film on one Christmas Day you are at the next year’s Christmas and Diane Keaton has died.

Through our tears I look at Carter and she says she is so sorry to have picked a Christmas movie where the mother dies. Reacher, with ten killings in fifty minutes was less emotional. I made Carter promise no more sad Christmas movies.

Merry Christmas all you mothers. Hope to see you again next Christmas.

Cousins Christmas

All kinds of merriment happens because Carter comes to town. My sweet cousin Sarah invited us, her sister and family and her Mom for dinner so they could see Carter. It’s nice that Russ and I get to come along with Carter and spend time with the cousins.

It is crazy that Sarah and Mark are just in Raleigh and we hardly see them. Their son Sam was there, but Jane was off performing in the Nutcracker and we missed her.

Mark, who is a judge, had heard many cases today, but came home and cooked us a yummy dinner. Leigh and her family came from Durham too. We don’t see them often enough and they live literally ten minutes from our house.

We used to see each other more at the farm, but now that neither of our father’s are living and our mothers are in retirement communities we are not there anymore. There is hardly enough time to keep up and that makes me sad, but we had a great time tonight.

Sarah and I promised we would see each other more. It’s not like I’m not in Raleigh all the time, but when I am there I am working, and they all work and have kids and life happens.

In the car on the way home Carter lamented her lack of cousins close by who are close to her age. Sometimes it is hard to be an only child and the only grandchild on one side. I do love my cousins and find them to be some of my favorite people who I have so many shared wonderful memories with. Thanks to Sarah for getting us together.

Jammed Packed Day of Christmas Fun

I could hardly sleep waiting for Carter to come home this morning. Turns out she had the same problem sleeping, but it was probably because of her fear of missing her very early flight.

I picked her up from the airport and we went for brunch at Snooze in Chapel Hill. If you haven’t been it’s lots of fun. A chain, but well done.

From there it was off to Chapel Hill Needlepoint to see Nancy. We lucked out that we were the only ones in the store for a while so we had quality time with Nancy. Carter finished her big pillow project and we had to get a few Christmas goodies. Carter should have stitching for a while now.

From there it was off to see our financial advisor for some education. We had the bonus of seeing Dave Pottenger while we were there. Carter is a good financial student.

Finally we stopped at home for an hour and picked up Russ and set off for the Koko Booth Amphitheater to see the Chinese Lantern Festival. We were guests of our finance group which was a fun Christmas thing to do. We had twilight tickets which opened at 4:30, but we didn’t get there until just after 5. The place opens to the regular crowd at 6, so we lucked into a lull in the attendance. It was a very fun outing. The lanterns were beautiful. We finished walking through the whole exhibit just before they were letting in the giant gaggle of 6pmers in.

Back to Chapel hill we went for dinner at Jujube and home to needlepoint and watch SNL skits. It’s great to have Carter home, even if I am exhausted.

Unheard Of

Today I purposely allowed nothing to go on my calendar so I could finish anything related to Christmas presents. Although I am notoriously a Christmas Cadet, that applies mostly to decorating and entertaining. The presents part of Christmas is my least favorite part.

Acts of service are my love language. I think we all have way to much stuff, which rules our lives. I don’t like taking care of stuff, unless it is a Christmas decorations, then the more stuff the merrier.

I love my family and do want to show them I love them, so I do buy Christmas presents, but the wrapping, etc is last on my to-do list. Usually I am wrapping on Dec. 24 and I hate that.

So this year I made a pledge to have it all done and dusted in the present department by today. I have bought presents all year. The problem is not the buying. The problem is the finding where I hid them, the taking stock of how much I have and for whom and the wrapping.

Last year I sprung a little surprise on my larger family and we had a Chinese Auction, some call it a Dirty Santa. So I bought a bunch of universal gifts and we had a great time stealing gifts from each other. My sister Janet loved this and suggested we do it again this year, but she and my sister Margaret would also contribute some gifts. This makes my life so much easier.

I set up a wrapping station in my big room where the tree is and it took less than three hours to completely gather everything and wrap. I somehow had in my mind that this would take all day, but with the paired down giving it was a cinch.

Since I had the wrapping put up, I took advantage of the table I was using and worked a Santa Puzzle Jan brought me. No guilt. I’m ready for Christmas, if you don’t count the food shopping and cooking. I couldn’t do that this early because I don’t have room in my freezer to keep anything anyway.

Carter flies in first thing tomorrow so all my time will be spent with her. This early prep is unheard of around here. I think I will make it the new normal.

Give Mah Jongg Classes for Christmas

In the last few years I have had people contact me about wanting to give their child or spouse Mah Jongg classes for Christmas. This has proven to be a big hit with the recipients. My favorite was the mother who gave her daughter a class for 16 and she invited all her friends. It was really a nice gift to the friends.

It is hard to purchase a seat in a class as most of my classes are full upon creation, but you can always give a whole class and charge your friends to join as you would be the creator of the class.

You can also purchase private lessons if you want a real leg up. For those husbands who have not thought about Christmas or ones whose wife already has everything, message me. I know I can help you out of your predicament.

To set expectations most classes will have to be scheduled starting in March unless you have a very flexible schedule. Private lessons can happen faster.

Merry Christmas all you mah Jongg lovers and the ones who love you.

Thank You Lunch

Making new friends teaching Mah Jongg is not just a side benefit, it’s the real reason to do it. My Kinston crowd has been a joy, which other cities envy. The first time I went there I met a new person in my class and she asked where I was staying. I told her the Mother Earth Lodge because that is where I was told to stay. She said, “Why aren’t you staying with me?”

“Well, I’ll stay with you next time, but what is your name?” That turned out to be Jane Brothers who I came to love and adore, along with her sweet husband Warren.

I stayed with Jane twice and then other people told Jane that they would like to have me so I stayed with Becky and Debbie and Kristi at the beach. It’s a lot to have me come stay. These women don’t just give you a key, they make meals and throw parties and make it a vacation.

I wanted to have a special Kinston thank you for my hostess friends so I invited them for lunch at my Christmas cottage. It is so much better to come to my house at Christmas than any other time I think I may stop having parties during the year and have like 20 parties in December.

It was so wonderful of them to make the big drive here and back just for lunch, but we did have fun. They all brought gifts which makes me mad because this was a thank you to them and you don’t bring a thank you to a thank you. Now I have to write thank you notes for the thank you of the thank you.

I know I have other hostess I need to have for lunch, (Scottie, Marty, Reba and Kate I’m looking at you). I can’t wait until next Christmas, but maybe I come up with a better idea than lunch at my house.

It was just fun to have the friends who have had me to their house come to mine. If I wasn’t away teaching so much I would have people come for lunch two or three times a week, but if I don’t go away I don’t have as many friends who I want to come for lunch.

Thanks for everything you hospital bunch. I do adore you all.

My Life Watching the Crown

Sadly I have watched the last episode of The Crown. The eight year journey to watch the fictionalized life of Queen Elizabeth has been a joy to go on. The first episode aired on November 4, 2016 before the election that year, which turned us up on our end. It was a moment before the loss of innocence.

I have faithfully followed, consumed, watched, rewatched the episodes of The Crown, preferring to live through the life of Elizabeth. Waiting long stretches of time for new episodes to be released. Waiting to learn who would play the ever aging Queen. Loving learning history, if even just slightly fictionalized.

Having lived in London twice, the first time from 1979-1981 and second from 1994-1998 I recognized the changes in Britain as an ex-pat. I felt how the love/hate relationship for the monarchy ebbed and flowed. Russ and I were there the day Diana died. Watching The Crown was like going back in time for some of my own life because we all knew where we were when major things happened in the royal family, life Charles and Diana’s wedding or the death of the queen mother.

So I am very sad to have no future new Crown episodes to take me away from my commoner life. They were a great escape from the reality of what was going on in this country.

I feel the last episode was a great work of art (spoiler alerts) to foreshadow the Queens future death without getting close to it and to bring back Olivia Coleman and Claire Foy as the younger versions of the Queen to close out this last episode.

Unless you are a Queen you will never know how accurate the depiction of daily life was, but I feel that The Crown did a great service to the Monarchy to give us the feel of the weight of the Crown. It was a job well done.

Christmas Carousel Connection

Russ and I started out today with a trip to our friends Angela and Ian’s farm. We had such a great time catching up and seeing the chickens and the dogs. Russ was a particular favorite of Ollie’s who snuggled up with him during coffee.

Ian told us that a trip to my father’s farm years ago had inspired him to find a farm in North Carolina. My father would especially like their farm as it is perfectly kept and every view is more spectacular than the last.

Carter would like that it had been a horse farm and they still have the arena and exercise area for horses. While we were out walking Ollie found a deer scull and proudly brought it back to Ian as a prize.

Farm life is perfect for them and I can’t wait to go back in the summer when their vegetable garden is in full production. Today we were lucky to get salsa and 9 pepper jelly as a lovely parting gift.

Tonight we went to the big Christmas Party of the season at our friends. Yesterday, as Kathi was preparing she called and asked me if I had any candles for her Christmas Carousel. I went to look and laughed when I found them.

I had two boxes of 48 candles each of these four inch red candles in a chest of drawers in my living room. The boxes had a date of 1999 on them. Put this in the category of things I have that no one would ever know I had, let alone where they are.

In the small world of Christmas Carousels, Angela and Ian had one on their living room coffee table. I remarked about their beautiful gold candles in theirs and Angela told me that I had given them that Carousel in about 1999 and she had never forgotten that I had given it to her. I had no memory of giving it to them, but so glad it has brought them so much joy all these years.

I guess it was a Christmas Carousel kind of day.

Big Hit

This May Russ and I will have been married for 32 years. That means that my poor father -in-law, Marty, has been searching for gifts for us for that many years. He is a man who loves to find the right gifts, wrap them with great precision and send them for early delivery. He asks for advice secretly, but really hates if the answer is a gift card.

For me, the best gift in the last ten years has been a gift certificate to Chapel Hill Needlepoint. I know it pains him to give that to me, but he does. Rather than have Nancy at Chapel Hill Needlepoint just give it to me or even have Russ pick it up, Nancy sends it to Marty and he wraps it in a beautiful box with many bows.

True to form this year’s presents arrived last week in a giant box. I took the wrapped gifts and put them around the tree since they are the only wrapped gifts we have so far. I did not shake any of the boxes or even look too closely at the tags.

Then to my surprise and new small box arrived today. Russ said he had gotten a text from his father who has been tracking this gift. “Open it right away,” were the instructions. What could it be, a tiny live mouse?

Using the requisite pocket knife as the only way to pry the tape from the paper Russ revealed a white box with an “S” on it. What is this logo he asked me. “Swarovski,” I exclaimed.

The white outer box enveloped a beautiful heavy green box. Russ gently pried the thick lid off to uncover a green foam covering with a small finger hole on one side. Tendlerly lifting the green foam Russ exposed a crystal star to first light that sat nestled in a green foam nest.

He handed me the box so I could lift the little star up by the ivory ribbon it hung from. It is without a doubt the most beautiful ornament, almost too special for my chock-a-block tree.

After 32 years Marty has come up with his own perfect gift, one that he needed no advice on. So a star will lead us on Christmas Day. Thanks Marty. You done good.

Best Gift Givers

No one gives a middle aged woman a gift like another middle aged woman. Our friends know us best from the point of view of what we like at “this” age. Our spouses think they know, but sometimes they think we are younger than we happen to have gotten too. Our children want us to be hipper than we are. So it’s friends of the same age and stage who know best.

I have gotten some excellent puzzles from friends. The funniest one came from De, a mah Jongg Rubix cube, but harder. Not only do you have to get all the green dragons on one side, and red dragons on another, the cube has dot, bams and cracks that you have to also get in the ascending number order on the same side. I am certain I can spend my whole life trying to do this puzzle and never get it back to the right order, but it is the perfect gift for me.

Christy gave me a dozen puzzles in an advent calendar form. So perfect because they are each small and I have no guilt working a puzzle for 15 minutes a day.

Mary Lloyd gave me a Ho Ho Ho hat, not calling me a Ho, but knowing I do think it’s fun and funny.

If any husband wants to know what to get for their wife, they should ask her friends. For years I advised my friend’s husband about jewelry since he did not even know what color an emerald was. After years of private tutorials he finally graduated to being able to pick his own gifts.

I’m not in the market for anything extravagant or indulgent. This year a nicely worded heartfelt letter is what I want most from my family. My girl friends have already satisfied the fun of something unexpected and perfect.

My love language is not gifts, but acts of service and that is something that my husband knows very well. I am much happier with him doing the dishes every night than giving me any kind of gift.

Back to Cooking

I had the day totally off so I went ahead and made the soup for my garden club friends who paid too much for it. It has been so long since I have done any kind of production cooking, but it is like riding a bike.

I offered two quarts as my garden club item to one person, then I doubled it. So I really only had to make four quarts. A third person met the original bids and wanted two quarts. No problem, until she said she wanted a different soup. I had already bought everything to make a big pot of soup that would be between 14-16 quarts. So I gave the original bidders a little extra.

Russ and I had it for dinner. I packaged up the rest. I will serve some at a luncheon. Carter can have some when she gets home.

I will do some more production cooking tomorrow to make the second flavor. I just won’t make my biggest pot. I have no need for 16 more quarts. It did feel productive to make good soup. I just don’t want to fill the freezer and then not eat it out of the freezer.

I guess this is what happens when I take the rest of the year off from teaching. Maybe I should do something like clean out a closet. It would be getting rid of something rather than creating.

Garden Club Christmas Auction 2023

Well, it’s that time again, the Hope Valley Garden Club Christmas Auction. Another favorite holiday activity. I have been in this garden club for 23 years and the Christmas Auction was the first meeting I attended. I brought fudge as my auction item and I think it might have sold for $15 which I thought was a lot considering how little it was.

We had a wonderful lunch made by the hostess committee. This year we were at Emmy Huckabee’s beautiful house. They made salmon and orzo and salad and apparently some yummy biscuits. I say apparently since I couldn’t eat those, but heard a lot of oohing and aching as they were gobbled down. That part of the Christmas auction has remained the same for at least the last 23 years.

Then there are other things about the event that have changed, especially this year. The items that people bring for the auction are incredible. I can remember in the early years the used pink plastic flask, or the Boy Scout popcorn brought by much older members. Hands down the worst item was a used ugly Christmas sweater that came from a house of a chain smoker.

This year we had needlepointed Christmas ornaments and needlepoint canvas kitted out with the fibers and stitch guide, French chef quality pastries and Christmas worthy cakes, original art, bespoke Christmas planters, soups, and the biggest hit of all was a Holley Broughton original wreath of tiny houses she made. Kathi Eason snagged that up.

The bidding was extraordinary even when I, as the auctioneer, was having trouble keeping straight if the bid was made by Laura, Laurie, or Leslie, or Ann, Anne, Anne or Anna.

In the end the real hero of the day was Missy McLeod our treasurer, who works through the whole event registering the items as they are brought in, checking in the guests, then making down the value of the items sold and who bought them and collecting the money at the end. She reported in that we had made over $8,500 and that was before she collected money from the people who did not bring an item to auction. To put into perspective how good that is, last year we broke our record and raised $6,550. All this from some cakes and wreaths.

It’s not so much about the money, but it is wonderful to raise it so we can give it away. It is the fellowship and the fun. I offered two quarts of soup, the winner got to pick which of my original recipes I would make them. When the bidding got to $200 I said I would let two people each get two quarts for $200 each. Then after the auction another person wanted two quarts for $200. So tomorrow I am making the soup and the garden club got $600 for a very small amount of soup on my part.

Paige asked me at the last minute if I would auction off an hour of private Mah Jongg lesson. Two people paid $200 each to share an hour.

The guests made a big difference as some bring items and many bid up items. We really love having them come. It was a fun day all around. I can only imagine what Pat Joklik, the previous auctioneer, would think about the amount of money we raise today compared to 23 years ago. At least she would recognize what a nice job the hostess do.

Made With Love

The exuberance of the season continues. Tonight was my second smaller needlepoint group’s ornament exchange. It was our fourth year of exchanging ornaments and it is a very special night.

It all started when one friend wanted to learn to needlepoint and invited a few experienced stitching friends to come stitch with her every month. We became a very supportive group. When this friend learned of my other stitching group ornament exchange she decided we should do the same.

I am not saying we are a competitive group, but discerning might be a better description. So we not only make a special ornament for another person, but we also exchange lovely gifts. I look all year for just the right gifts to give this group and love everything I am given and I usually could care less about gifts, (except for homemade ornaments.)

This year I received a very special ornament from my friend Michelle. It is the cutest rendition of Shay. The most amazing thing is Shay is wearing a green coat and Russ and I bought her a green coat this summer in Maine and Michelle says she stitched it last winter. Just seems like these friends know each other so well we can predict what we will like.

So here are the wonderful ornaments, made with love for our little group. Each one is a treasure that only another stitcher can truly appreciate.

We picked our names for next year so now the planning has to begin. How can I top myself?

Cilantro Lime Dressing

Last week I served this dressing at two parties and promised I would write the recipe down. You know I don’t measure as I cook so if I don’t write down what I do right away I will forget and if when I write it down it is just an approximation of what I did. So feel free to adjust everything to your taste.

I used this in a chicken taco salad, but it would be yummy as a sauce on grilled salmon or in a shrimp salad or even just mixed into rice.

1/3 cup fresh squeezed lime juice

1 garlic clove

1 tomatillo -quartered

1 fresh jalapeño-stemmed and seeded

2 T. Honey

1 t. Coriander

1 t. Garlic powder

Large bunch of cilantro washed with just a quarter inch of stems cut off. (The whole bunch you get at the grocery which is probably 2 cups if you stuffed it in a measuring cup. Use the stems because they have the most flavor.)

Shake of red pepper flakes

1/4 cup mayo

1/4 cup Greek yogurt or sour cream

1/4 cup olive oil

Black pepper

Put everything in the blender and pulverize.

Not Going to the Party is the Only Answer

A couple of weeks ago Russ asked me if it was all right if he went to Philly this weekend as it is his father’s birthday. Of course that was fine with me and then I gave him the very good news that he would be missing a big Christmas party. I was perfectly fine to go alone and he was more than perfectly fine not to have to go even though it meant getting up at 3:45 AM.

No one thought to ask Shay if it was going to be OK with her. She has gotten very used to Russ being with her all the time. Since the pandemic he does not travel half as much as he used to and with me traveling for Mah Jongg she gets to go to the office with him, when he goes in.

Today she was a little despondent as it was just us until my Mom came over, but then even we left her to go out to lunch. I knew she was mad because she did not eat anything all day. Finally around six I cooked her some hamburger, something Russ has started doing so she was a little happy with me.

That was until I put on a nice dress at 6:30pm. Nothing good can come of Mom getting dressed at night. Off I went to the party. I stayed barley two hours. It was getting loud and it was getting hard to talk. The only thing I want to do at a party is talk. So I slid on out and came home to a very mad puppy who didn’t even raise her head from the bed.

Russ would have been thrilled to only go to two hours of any party, if that was an option ever offered to him. I am worried we have spoiled Shay so much she is always going to mad if we both leave the house at the same time.

I am not certain I can make everyone happy unless I say we are doing nothing but staying home. I guess I can only go to daytime parties alone so Shay can be with Russ and they both can be happy they are not at a party.

Little Brown Dog Goes to the Cleaners

My Daddy is well known at the dry cleaners thanks to his tiny Smart Car and the fact he has been getting his shirts done there for the last 29 years.

I like when he takes me to go drop off or pick up his shirts because the nice ladies there give me treats. I always sit on Daddy’s lap so they can get a good look at me and let them pet me if they want. I act very happy as I gently take the milk bones they offer me. Sometimes they like me so much they give me more than one.

I don’t want to hurt their feelings, but I don’t like to eat the treats they give me. When their backs are turned I drop the bones in my seat. When we get home Daddy will pick up the treats and try and give them to me once in the house. He must think I am some kind of dolt, but if I didn’t like the milk bones at the dry cleaners I don’t like them anymore at home.

I don’t like going to the dry cleaners for the treats, or even for the fawning from the nice dry cleaner ladies, I like going to the dry cleaners to get to spend more alone time with my Daddy. I love the wind blowing through my locks as Daddy tools down the road with the top down. So if Daddy ever says, “Do you want to go to the cleaners?” The answer is always Yes. It’s not about the treats it is what the treats represent.

Party Number Two

Seven days into December and I just completed my second Christmas Party of the season. Since it is December 7, Carter’s birthday, I am used to always throwing a party on this day. Since she is not here Lynn and I threw our Chinese Auction today instead.

I think the is my 20th year of giving this party. Lynn joined me probably 16 years ago. We had a stellar turn out this year. Since everyone knows that this party is about bringing a gift that everyone would want the competition was high for the most stolen item. For the record gifts with red bows do well and Kai lotion or a Kai diffuser are the most popular item.

Shelayne had quizzed me about what good strategy would be to have the most stolen gift. I told her the wrapping is key because you want your gift opened early so it would have a chance to be stolen. With each gift opened that was not Shelayne’s she became more and more despondent. Finally someone opened her gift and it was a good one. I stole it, but it was stolen from me.

Thankfully I ended up with the gift I really wanted. A beautiful glass Christmas tree that Kathi Eason brought that was all the colors of my living room. Kathi said she had hoped I would get it.

I served the same lunch I served my needlepoint group on Monday. It was a chicken southwest salad in a jar, with a cilantro lime dressing and a chocolate mousse in a jar.

I could not top last year’s make your own Poké bowls so I had to make this year about the presentation. It was a hit. The homemade tortilla strips helped. They weren’t in the jar, but in a bowl passed around.

I will definitely make another meal in these jars. It makes serving so quick and it’s lots of fun. Everyone, except me, followed instructions and put their plate on top of the jar and then flipped the whole thing over so that the salad would not fly all over the place. Thankfully mine all stayed on my plate even though I didn’t follow my own instructions.

I am especially thankful to the Presbyterian dish washing crew who cleaned all the dishes and put them away.

I will be posting my dressing recipe tomorrow per all the requests I got for it, plus I would like to memorialize how I made it because it was a keeper and I won’t even remember it in two weeks.

Lynn and I did not have time to open all our hostess gifts today so we will continue the fun tomorrow and open all our gifts. It is a way better haul than I ever get on Christmas. Such kind and generous friends we have. I know they all want to be invited back. I did tell them about the person who used to be invited, until the year I got her gift in the exchange, a pedicure kit. That seemed fine, until I went to use it and discovered I was not the first person to use it. Bringing a used gift that is not an antique or something really special got her kicked off the list. Just sayin’.

The Layering of Festivities

There is nothing better than having two fun things in one day. The first was a visit from my Kinston friends, Jane and Kim. They had a big trip to the city and the best part is they spent lunch with me. Jane had some appointments and after being with me they did some errands before her last appointment. They had to be really board because they wrote and ABC list about me. It was very cute, but it was too kind so I’m not sharing it. I did love the idea of writing an ABC list about a friend.

After that fun visit I went to Amanda’s tea party at the WaDu. That was a real holiday treat. First of all, we all love tea, second it was a sweet group of friends, third Amanda even made sure I had some gluten free goodies. Such a good Christmasy time with friends.

Tomorrow is Carter’s 25th birthday. I can’t believe she will be a quarter century old. I so remember exactly how I was feeling 25 years ago tonight as Russ and I could hardly sleep waiting to go to the hospital for my C-section as Carter was two weeks late. The anticipation of meeting her was too exciting. I never imagined that she would be even cooler than I could think up.

Her company gives everyone their birthday off so I hope she has nothing but fun tomorrow. It snowed today in Boston which I know she loved. If you know her wish Carter a happy Birthday.

It’s My Favorite Season

There is nothing more wonderful than having friends who understand my love of all things Christmas. From sharing needlepoint ornaments with not just one group, but two, to friends who come and steal presents.

Today my friend Kathi surprised me with a special Christmas table cloth for my breakfast room table. Not only did she bring it by, she helped me unset the table and reset it with the beautiful cloth on the table. It totally changed the look of my room adding the perfect Christmas look.

Later in the week I will go help my friend Jan make bows for the outdoor decorations at her house.

Russ is going to visit his Dad this weekend to celebrate his birthday and will set his Dad’s Christmas up. I am sorry I will not get to do that decorating, but I am happy Russ will actually get to decorate a tree.

‘‘Tis the season. Let the sparkle fill your heart.

The Best Laid Plans

It is a good thing I used to have a catering business otherwise today could have been a disaster I might not have recovered from.

My plan for my party today was to get up and assemble the lunch I was serving. Since it is the same lunch I am also serving at my party this Thursday I am not going to reveal today what it is, but suffice it to say, it is something that takes lots of work to prepare.

I had set the table four days go, but forgot that I needed to needlepoint two place cards for two new members of our group. So in the midst of checking the table at 9:45 I realized my mistake and ran upstairs to quickly needlepoint the missing place cards.

I finished by 10:15 and went back to the kitchen to finish the lunch prep. The guests were due at 11:00 and I knew I had plenty of time. Well, that was before a three quart container of cilantro lime dressing fell on the floor.

I had spent hours perfecting that dressing and 85% of it was on the floor, the cabinets, the dishwasher, my shoes and my dress. It took 20 minutes of mopping, 10 minutes of recreating more dressing and 15 fast minutes of prepping the food. With one minute to spare I changed my dress and the first guest came in while I was still upstairs, but you could not tell the disaster that had just occurred.

In spite of all that the Needlepoint Christmas party was as fun as ever. Gorgeous ornaments were stitched by all. My friend Jeanne made me a French butter 3-d ornaments that I adore. We had a fun lunch and then a little puzzle activity I had planned.

It was wonderful to be together and share in our love of needlepoint and each other. Some of these women I don’t get to see much as I am off on my Mah Jongg tour so it was nice to catch up and hear what is going on with them.

It made no difference that the dressing spilled all over the kitchen. Thankfully I had plenty of extra ingredients to recreate it. My years of catering gave me the muscle that makes you just push through the disaster and fix it. No crying over spilled cilantro lime.

The Parties Begin

Tomorrow is the first Monday in December. I always know exactly what I am doing on the first Monday in December and have for the last 9 years. IT’S NEEDLEPOINT CHRISTMAS!

I was so honored to be asked to join in the needlepoint exchange group ten years ago by an extraordinary group of stitchers. I was relatively new to them, but they welcomes me into their stitching fold. Ever since then we have picked names and secretly stitched an ornament for one of the members of our group.

Needlepoint is one of those things that only another stitcher appreciates. Non-stitchers cannot fathom the work or cost that goes into it. To stitch for someone who knows and understands is a joy. To do it for anyone else is a heart break.

Needlepoint Christmas is the official start to all my celebrations. 12 friends will come for lunch tomorrow and we will ooh and ahh over each tiny work of art. I have spent the weekend preparing for their arrival, making food and setting the table. I even have a fun game activity for us to do after lunch.

From here the pace of parties picks up fast, other to go to and to throw. It feels like Christmas time pre-covid. For now I love that I always start the same way. Cheers to the season.

Giving Something Away is Easy

Yesterday I wrote about this computer cabinet I wanted to get rid of. It came as no surprise to me that you regular blog readers did not want it. So when I woke up this morning I posted it as Free on Facebook Market place.

The post went out at 6:04AM. Within fifteen minutes someone nearby inquired about how tall it was to see if it would fit in their van. I reported back it was 63” and he said he would take it. We agreed on 9:30 as the pick up time.

Between that communication and the time he and his wife showed up I had six other people wanting it. I didn’t respond to them until the original couple showed up and took it away, just in case they didn’t make it.

They were a tiny little couple at least fifteen years older than me and half the height of Russ, but they came prepared with an indoor dolly and an outdoor hand truck. Russ helped, but it only took about five minutes and they were off with the cabinet.

The wife told me they were going to cut the center out and make it a broom closet. I was just happy that it did not go to a landfill and was being recycled.

It was much easier to offer it for free on Facebook marketplace than it would have been for me to take it to the dump and it was if very good shape. Please consider giving things away rather than throwing them away. There are obviously lots of people out there who could use your old stuff. I was sorry I didn’t have other things to offer the people who wanted the cabinet but were not up early enough on Saturday morning to see the listing. I was pleased that everyone I turned down, telling them it was already gone, responded with a thank you anyway.

Free Cabinet

Recently an antique step back cabinet I bought at auction in Maine arrived. At first I thought I was buying it for Carter, but getting up her fifth floor walk up was too daunting. So I had it shipped here along with a corner cabinet that went in the dining room.

The only place for the step back was in my sweat shop. Thankfully I had exactly the right space for it where a computer cabinet sat. The computer cabinet is something we must have procured when Russ used the swear shop as his office. That was three uses of that room ago.

Carter did not use it when it was her office when she moved her bedroom down to the room next door. It had been storing stuff for years, mostly a printer which has not printed anything for at least a decade.

So now this computer cabinet is sitting in the middle of my sweat shop and I want it gone. So I am willing to give it to anyone who will come and get it. It is under five feet tall. Does not come apart and is very solid.

Let me know if you want it and when you can come and take it.