12 Oakdale

Spaulding and Molly have come to Orlando, combining a work trip for him with a visit with us. They are staying in Melbourne, but Sunday night we got together for dinner after walking to the end of our block to watch the Windermere golf cart Christmas parade. Grant served his vegetarian bean and corn chili with my fougasse herb bread and green salad. I made a chocolate pound cake and bought Santa’s White Christmas ice cream at Publix. I resisted serving the SWC coffee I have.  Patten and Ryann brought their dogs, which sent both our cats to ground: Annie into her preferred closet,  Gracie under the down comforter on our bed. For a few minutes, Mimi wandered around, looking for, but not finding them. Since pit Bobby would eat them without out pause, we closed the bedroom doors. Bobby is a sweet dog, but genes are genes. Of course, one of the boys had to rearrange my “Merry Christmas “ blocks.  I am so delighted that my children enjoy each other’s company and our’s. If I cou...

We are on a Christmas roll. I wrote our annual newsletter and had it printed by the end of November, so I was able to use a coupon for cheap color printing. Our Christmas cards are several designs of Santa with flamingos from a small American company. Grant signed cards and stuck on the labels I’d printed. Cards were in the mail December 1st.  We have lights out front and in the lanai; fairy lights shine in the trees. I set up decorations along the buffet and hung our stockings on the bookcase. The little battery operated lights now come with timers: 6 hours on,18 off. What a great invention. No tree, but I ordered a made-in-Maine balsam wreath that I hung inside and which makes the house smell like a forest in the morning and evenings. I am really enjoying that mixed with the gingerbread house’s aroma. This morning, I baked Santa Lucia buns, so the house smells delicious. Grant’s kimchi sandwiches sometimes overwhelm the holiday scents, but the weather is still warm enough that I ...

Clara and I spent all yesterday baking and baking. We made pinwheels, gingerbread, checkerboards, shortbread decorated like little packages, and Santa’s from Nutter Butters dipped in white chocolate for hats and beards. She was a trooper but wore out before we got to the chocolate drops. I was pretty done in too, so we saved that recipe for another time. She took plates of cookies to share with Nancy next door and to the little girls across the street.   She also helped me make our broccoli and bacon crescent roll appetizer wreath which was our dinner during Zoom happy hour with our marriage enrichment group. We drank what I call Noëls, appropriated from a Total Wine Halloween Bloody Good Times recipe: 1 oz cherry vodka, 1 oz vodka, 4 oz cranberry juice. Shake with ice. Serve in martini glasses or over ice; good maraschino cherries for garnish. I called them Cranberry Delights at Thanksgiving. Three celebrations just about uses up one bottle of cherry vodka. As if I needed any more...