Good Advice

Last Leaf

Mary sent this photo of the last leaves holding on which reminded me of the O Henry short story The Last Leaf, which I read in 7th or 8th grade, and it stayed with me. I always think of it when I see a tree with only a few leaves left on it. Checked Google and you can read the whole short story here:

http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/LasLea.shtml

Forgot One Anecdote

I have an Advent Calendar where they give you the background of the manger scene and 24 stickers to build the Nativity scene... the stickers are randomly numbered. I saved the calendar for Barbara to do as part of our Christmas party. She found Sticker #4 which is the Virgin Mary. Oh wow, big responsibility... so far, all I'd stuck was a lamb, a chicken and a donkey. She was about to stick on the Virgin Mary when she spots the cat sticker and asks if she can do the cat instead (cat scheduled for December 11). I said, "You'd pick a cat over the Blessed Mother?"

Well, yeah... so she did the cat and the Blessed Mother will have to wait until December 11th to get placed.

More Christmas

Mary reports:

My wreaths were delivered today and they're now hung on the front and back doors. I finished the Parker house rolls, a challenge but I have ample rolls in the freezer to take some to PA. I'll make the cookies another day.

Judy and Rob arrived and Matt took them to the Fish Market restaurant in Alexandria. I expect I'll see them tomorrow.

It was a beautiful day today although I spent it in the kitchen. At least it smelled good!

Outside - Front Door

Inside -- door to the deck

First Christmas Bash of the Season

Today was Barbara's and my traditional Christmas party lunch where we each wear our matching Christmas light necklaces, eat well, and exchange presents. Yes, we are 12 years old!

We ordered from Gracie's and here it is having just arrived:

Barbara had her usual BLT on rye toast, and I varied by having French Toast & sausage.

Then we shared our well done fries...

My French Toast:

And here's Barbara enjoying her BLT:

Of course, since this was a PARTY! Barbara stopped (at my suggestion) at Little Red Hens (bakery) on the way to my place to get us some cupcakes:

She got me a coconut cupcake, based on Cathy's Thanksgiving recommendation, and she got herself a Chocolate/Chocolate cupcake.

Here's the review of the coconut one: The frosting is heavy with flakes of toasted coconut. When you bite into it, the cake part is so airy, so light; it's like biting into a cloud. It made me do a double take. On the first bite, I didn't get any cream, but on the second bite, I got the light-light cake along with a cold thick pudding chock full of coconut. Honestly, I have to say it was probably the best cupcake I've ever had.

Luckily for me, Barbara doesn't like coconut so I didn't have to share, but she did offer a piece of her chocolate cupcake. Same light but rich cake, and the frosting was so chocolately that you get an immediate chocolate hit, followed by this fudgy aftertaste. I sound like an idiot rambling about cupcakes, but they ARE this good.

So then it was time for presents... Oh wait, we had presents first... anyway, in preparation for the dystopian society that may come in 2016, I gave Barbara a solar-powered, hand-crankable emergency radio that can also charge cellphone and is a flashlight. I want her to be prepared. She joked that she had considered buying a gun, so I said this radio is a stop-gap measure. I also gave her a box of chocolates.

For me, I got three things -- two presents and one "un-Christmas present." The first present is a zippered pouch from the Strand (bookstore):

And my second present was a box of these wonderful chocolates that have sea salt on them that she also gave me last year from a candy place in Brooklyn:

Then what was labeled as an un-Christmas present, she gave me a paperweight from her collection. I collect paperweights like this, but Barbara's collection has paperweights that are Lucite with real plants and flowers in them. In fact, I pored over eBay looking at these paperweights and just couldn't decide if the ones I saw would fit. Told her this and said she had once commented how difficult it is to buy something for someone else's interest. 

But she was right on with this paperweight, which unbelievably she bought at a thrift shop for one dollar. She was giving it to me since it just didn't fit into her other ones. Of course the photo doesn't do it justice, but it's like the inside of an ocean wave, swirly and blue... I have it sitting by me now.

And not a present, but a pass-along book. I've read a bunch of these series, and this is the latest:

Mary's Christmas Cactus

Christmas must be coming! Mary says:

The first one has started blooming. Finally the rain stopped and the sun is out. I'm starting my baking.

"Little Christmas"

When Barbara and I made plans for our next monthly lunch in January, and we picked January 6th, Barbara mentioned that was "Little Christmas." I'd never heard that name for it; said I called it Epiphany and remembered that my mother believed you don't take the Christmas tree down until Epiphany, which signals the end of the Christmas season.

So, as all discussions, are settled/enhanced/informed these days, we Googled "Little Christmas" and found out it's the same as Epiphany, and how Little Christmas is mostly used in Ireland and Scotland.

But the cool thing is this Irish tradition called Women's Christmas... had never heard of this, but we realized we WILL be celebrating Women's Christmas like this on January 6th when we have a girls' night dinner together.

Here's what Wikipedia said:

Women's Christmas

Little Christmas is also called Women's Christmas (Irish: Nollaig na mBan), and sometimes Women's Little Christmas. The tradition, still very strong in Cork and Kerry is so called because of the Irish men taking on all the household duties for the day. Most women hold parties or go out to celebrate the day with their friends, sisters, mothers, and aunts. Bars and restaurants serve mostly women and girls on this night. Children often buy presents for their mothers and grandmothers.

So I invite others of you to join us in celebrating Women's Christmas this year!