etc.

It’s been warm here for most of the week but this morning there were two brave inches of snow on our front walk, and the sky is still bearing down quiet, fast flurries. This being the last day of 2005, I am busying myself with new-year-preparedness tasks, such as, filing away bills, readying wall calendars, transferring important dates, numbers and other miscellanea from the daytimer I’m using to-day to the one I will use to-morrow. These are reasonable, responsible tasks, they make me feel like I am clearing away the detritus to make room for a new year.

I was going to tell you all about the holiday gift crafting I did this month, but it all seems so long ago now, so I will, instead, direct you to the pictures. Suffice it to say that I introduced myself to the walking foot that came with my new(ish) sewing machine and we became fast friends.

And a happy aught-six to you, gentle readers!

There has been eating and drinking and merrymaking in spades, the holidays are going swimmingly. What is it about this season that makes it okay to have sugar cookies, butter horns, and hot tea for breakfast? Whatever it is, I like it. Here are some films we’ve watched lately, starred out of five:

• Syriana ****
• Serenity ****
• Bad Santa *
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ***
• The Amityville Horror **
• Boogeyman **
• Munich ****

There was no consensus at all on Munich, the mister insisted that I tell you. We watched it with my family and we were split well down the middle: half of us thought it was brave and balanced, the other half thought it was boring and biased. The four-star rating above represents the right half, of course.

At the moment, I am warmly ensconced in Jonathan Franzen’s embrace: The Corrections is an impeccable book, I commend it to you without reservation.

Via Monica, a meme! I hardly ever get tagged for these things anymore, it must be something I said. Truth is, there’s been slim blog-fodder lately, it’s either all library/tech (the online course I was teaching just wrapped up and the slightly busy fall talk schedule is done), or holiday gift-making, which I can’t yet tell you about anyway. So, bring on the memes!

List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they’re listening to. Here are my seven songs (with artists, albums, & notes):

• Hit, The Sugarcubes (album: Stick Around for Joy). Notes: I’ve loved this song since it was released in 1992. I think it’s a time & place thing.
• Oh Be Joyful, Matthew Good (album: In a Coma). Notes: there isn’t anything Matt Good does that I don’t like. This one just happens to be on regular rotation at the moment.
• Wake Up, Arcade Fire & David Bowie (album: Live at Fashion Rocks EP). Notes: really liked the single, love Bowie on the live version.
• Soul Meets Body, Death Cab for Cutie (album: Plans). Notes: I think this one just ended up being an earworm. I’m constantly humming it.
• Everything Counts, Depeche Mode (album: Construction Time Again). Notes: my sister and her mister went to see DM in concert last week. In her concert report she said “they sang Everything Counts!” I immediately started listening to it and can’t get enough of it all over again.
• Better Together, Jack Johnson (album: In Between Dreams). Notes: such a warm tune, it puts me in mind of Summertime.
• Ageless Beauty, Stars (album: Set Yourself on Fire). Notes: I’m not sure why I like this song. I just do.

Tag: anyone! And, if you’re blogless, feel free to leave your seven in the comments.

I waffled for ages on what to do for Christmas cards this year. Potato stamping? Cut-outs? What about glitter? Should there be glitter involved? Then I started rifling through my fabric scraps box and decided on little christmas trees sewn on to cards. Quick and minimal, I like them. More pictures here.

Happy birthday, John Milton. It’s no gesture whatsoever that the rest of this post has nothing at all to do with you.

I upgraded to Tiger a few days ago and it’s been good times ever since. Those widgets! That Spotlight! That Automator! Good times. I also upgraded to Firefox 1.5 and it’s been a whole new journey of good browser discovery all over again. There are some neat new extensions and some impressive updates to old favourites as well. The upgraded del.icio.us extension is particularly slick.

I’ve complained about Fall before, but I don’t think I ever did tell you that the reason why I am not much of a Fall-fan is because Fall is the prelude to an inevitably cold, dark Winter. But, as much as I work myself into despair at the thought of a cold, dark winter and feel like shutting down all systems and sleeping for months, when Winter does appear, lion-like or lamb-like, I actually enjoy it. I love padding downstairs on a Sunday morning, all bundled up in layers, brewing up a pot of tea, settling in in the front room for hours with newspapers and internet, and later moving on to a comfy pile of knitting. It’s blissful. And it puts me in mind of a little holiday tradition the mister and I have struck for ourselves, where we camp-out in the front room with piles of books and a constant rotation of warm beverages, and read and read, sometimes to ourselves and sometimes aloud, throughout the six days between Christmas and New Year’s Day. I’ve already started the book pile this year, it includes the Pullman novels (which we never did get to last year), Babel Tower, and The Corrections.

O, happy December!