The most wonderful time of the year.

I love this time of year. I really do. I think it's my favorite time of year (though summer, because of the sun, the warmth, and, most of all, the beach, is a very, very, very close second). From Thanksgiving until New Year's it's non-stop excitement and fun. And food!

This is a little of what I mean:

Thing 1: Thanksgiving

Doug and I hosted Thanksgiving this year, as you know. We'd happily do it again, too. What fun! I really liked picking out all of the recipes and gathering all the ingredients. And cooking it. I had a lot more fun cooking the dinner than I thought that I would. I was able to time everything well so that it was all ready at once, which was something that I was worried about. But it all came out great.

Doug was in charge of the turkey and he took great pride in his bird.

We upgraded to a 19-lb turkey because we thought we would not have enough with the 15-pounder, but 15-lbs would have been fine. As would have fewer brussels sprouts.

That's only 2/3rds of the brussels sprouts that we shredded to saute with shallots and a little white wine vinegar. The more brussels sprouts the better, though, because I have learned to love the little cabbages (and I never in a million years would have expected to say that).

So this Thanksgiving I was thankful for friends and family, no kitchen mishaps, and the chance to finally use all of the dinnerware that we got for our wedding (some of which had never been unwrapped!). I look forward to more Dedham Thanksgivings.

Thing 2: Our Nation's Capital

This year I was also thankful for our somewhat impromptu trip to Washington D.C. and Alexandria. Doug was recently in Alexandria and D.C. for work and I didn't get to go with him, so we decided to head down there for a few nights. True to form, we crammed a lot in to our short time there, like:

The new MLK Memorial, which leaves you speechless for a variety of reasons:

The National Gallery of Art, which had a nice, though small, collection of 20th century American art:

Arlington National Cemetery, at which we were able to see the JFK burial site, eternal flame, and the graves of Robert and Ted Kennedy. That was pretty moving (but I didn't take photos because it somehow felt wrong to photograph their resting place).

And historic Alexandria,VA, which is just absolutely bursting with history.

I'd be telling a lie if I said that Doug and I didn't think about moving there at least a few times during our trip, but I will happily report that this is the first time that Doug and I didn't frantically search real estate listings and job ads when we came back home. We really liked it there and could see ourselves living there, but that obsessive-compulsive need to leave our home and all of our troubles behind was distinctly lacking this trip. That was a vacation in and of itself.

Thing 3: Christmas

We came back from D.C. and suddenly Christmas was upon us. The neighbors had begun to put lights up around their houses, Christmas music had taken over the radio, and the tree was lit in Dedham Square.

This, of course, meant that it was high time that we put up our own tree, so this past Friday night we got the tree and decorations down from the attic and decorated.

The white tree has grown on me. I like how it looks. I do miss the Christmas tree smell in the house, though, and we are out of balsam fir candles. This coupled with the fact that Sherman thought that the tree was a giant chew toy when we first put it up might make us consider throwing a real tree into the Christmas tree mix some years. But for now this is what we have, and I have been dying to turn down the room lights, put on the tree, and sit and read. That's my idea of a good and relaxing holiday evening!

Hello spring... and winter!

Yesterday was a weird day. I woke up and decided to get a walk in before the day got going, both because I have been feeling slothful (having a bad head cold and laryngitis doesn't really put you in the exercising mood) and because I needed some fresh air. The morning was eerily quiet and gray, but slightly warm and the air was moist. Snow! It felt like snow. I took the walk and came back, only to notice as I was coming in the door these little guys: Buds on the lilac trees! How can there be snow if the trees think it's spring? About an hour later a light rain began to fall. Rain makes more sense in spring.

While I was doing some work (one of the reasons we could not go this year to the Perrino annual Christmas tree party) Doug set to putting up our Christmas tree - a blasphemy on all that I have held sacred about the holiday season for about thirty years. But a darn good-looking and convenient blasphemy, and one for which Doug has been pining for a while, so I caved. I have to admit that the glowing white tree looks very pretty when it's dark out. We'll just have to have the balsam candles burning constantly through the new year to get that real tree smell in the house, because unfortunately there is no fake balsam scent injected into the polyester limbs of this tree. But ever since Doug saw Chris and Chris's white tree he's been smitten, and the more time I spend looking at our tree, the more I can see why. It does create a bright spot in the house, and Doug likes it, the cats like it, and I don't have to water it or clean up its needles, which I will like, too. Tradition be gone for now, I guess. Time to make some new ones.

And maybe some new traditions are welcoming the first real winter snow in the pseudo-springtime, because last night as we were doing some quick Christmas shopping before a housewarming/house good-bye party at our friend Michael's house, it started to snow... and actually stick to the ground! Not only had I just seen buds on our lilac trees that morning, but the day before the temperatures were in the 50s, and the day before that the temperatures were just about 70 degrees during the day! It's hard to remember that warm day, though, when this morning it's about 30 degrees out and I'm looking at this: However, it is December, and I would much prefer a little snow cover to blooming trees - anything to alleviate my anxiety over the melting of the ice caps and the looming climate crisis. So, in this house we say to winter: