etc.

Yes. Yes it was. For all the kvetching I did last week (and there was a lot of it, both online and off-), things ended up coming together like you said they would. My cards were written and in the post on Wednesday; shortbread was baked, the holiday reading list was compiled, and all the gifts were wrapped on Thursday; ginger snaps were baked (I pulled off 2 cookie varieties, yay me), and international gifts were mailed on Friday. Late? Yes. But done, nonetheless. Accompanied with a feeling of suitable accomplishment, along with some remorse for all the complaining and poor spirits!

The one thing we didn’t do was put up the Christmas tree (that’s my parents’ tree up there -isn’t it lovely?). Every year we come very close to not putting up the tree, mostly because it’s a fiddly job, with hundreds of individually labeled branches that need to be attached to the fuzzy, fake bark individually. A tedious job at best, and once you’re done with the assembly, it’s on to stringing the lights, isn’t it? More tedium. So, this year, we just didn’t get around to it, and although I managed to convince the mister that we should pick up a real tree (I argue for a real tree every year), we never got around to that either. Practically speaking, it’s not that big a deal since most of the holiday celebrating we do is at homes other than our own, but it’s still a little startlingly amusing to leave our decoration-deficient home and realise, hey yeah, it is Christmas!

Well, now. I’ve settled right back into old habits quite nicely, haven’t I?

We’ve been Christmas shopping three times over the last six days, which is three times too many for this shopping-hater. I’ve done quite well with handmade gifts over the past few years, but this year family and friends are getting shop-bought gifties (sorry, family & friends!) on account of two all-consuming things I’ve been working on all month (one professorial, the other not). To-day, we went to the craziest mall in this town, which was a ridiculously asinine thing to do, we avoid this mall every other day of the year, why did we think it was a good idea to go there on a Friday afternoon 10 days before Christmas? Asinine. We left 45 minutes after we got there, with one small shopping bag in hand. A shopping bag that contained no gifts. Asinine.

I love making and buying and giving things to the people I love, but this time of year just makes me grouchy. If I had more time — if only I had more time! — and if I was more organized — nay, organized at all! — I do think I would be more cheerful and happy and filled with nothing but the milk of human kindness. I haven’t written or sent cards, the tree is not up, I have no idea what to get the mister, and I’ve just decided that I’m scaling back my holiday baking to a single — one! — variety of holiday cookie. If you’ve come in search of holiday cheer, let me apologize for the short shrift.

Grouch, grouch, grumble, grumble.

You know what I love? I love how a glance at this Flickr page provides a glimpse into the sights, colours, images, and textures that appeal to me at any given moment in time.

Notice all the paleness and white in this one compared to my last favourites capture? Quite a difference! I’m not sure if it’s the sudden change of season*, or a reaction to the mad rush of red and green I’m seeing in every commercial space in preparation for the holidays, but it is paleness and light, white and cool touches of blue that are making me come alive at the moment. Last night I had a fleeting thought about spray-painting our fake Christmas tree a sheer white (“fleeting” being the operative word).

*We had our first major snowfall yesterday, and guess who forgot to put the snow/ice scraper back in her car a day after she was all proud of herself for remembering to take it out of storage? Yea, that’s right. Lucky for me, when I got to my car at 9.20 pm last night, it was blanketed in four inches of the lightest, most shimmery snow I’ve seen in a long time! A faint sweep of the arm (fun!) was all it took to get my car into driving condition, thank goodness I remembered to wear my mittens.

On campus. Earlier to-day. An exchange between me and a middle-aged fellow handing out copies of Gideons Bible:

Gideons Guy: [holds out a copy of Gideons at me as I walk by]
Me: [smile] “No, thanks.”
GG: [as I pass him] “Are you sure? It’s a really good book!”
Me: [wonders if he got that from Gideons Book of Opening Lines] “Yeah, thanks. I’ve read it.”

Hey, guess what? When I got home this evening I caught myself thinking, “don’t forget to blog to-night.” I think one might safely call this habit-formation. So, in honour of December (and the frigid cold that has descended upon us in such an annoyingly timely manner) here’s a holiday meme spotted on Moni’s blog:

1. Eggnog or Hot Chocolate?
Neither, thanks. Eggnog is an abomination and I’ve never been much of a hot chocolate fan either.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
Wrapped, always! I didn’t realize there was another option.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
White.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
No.

5. When do you put your decorations up?
Usually really late (last year we did it on the 22nd!). This year, we’re a bit more organized, we’ll probably get them up this weekend.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
Stuffing and gravy.

7. What is your favorite holiday memory as a child?
It’s sort of a collective memory of all the Christmases as a kid, when my parents miraculously managed to get our gifts under the tree while we were out at midnight Mass on the 24th. Yes, yes, I know they probably did it before we left, but they were pretty crafty about it because we never caught them! I love it that they continued to do this until well after we knew the truth about Santa Claus.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
I think I knew long before I actually admitted it to anyone. While I don’t remember the exact circumstances surrounding the revelation, I’m pretty sure my sister had something to do with it (older siblings usually do, don’t they? It’s almost a birthright).

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
We used to open all our gifts on Christmas eve! Now we do it in bits and pieces, mostly when we’re with our families.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
Quickly. For whatever reason, I don’t enjoy doing it.

11. Snow! Love it or dread it?
Neither, I’m mostly indifferent to it. I still get excited about the first major snowfall though, and shiny, powdery flakes on Christmas day is lovely!

12. Can you ice skate?
Yep, used to be a figure skater. But I haven’t laced up the skates in about 7 years.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
As a kid it had to be my cabbage patch doll (I was mental over those things; in fact, I still think they’re sort of adorable. There’s a toy that could use a comeback). As an adult, they’re all my favourite! We have some pretty thoughtful gift-givers in our family, so no Christmas cake in my stocking, thankfully. Or lumps of coal, for that matter.

14. What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you?
Family. Down time. Down time with family, especially.

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert?
The cookies. And all the sweets my mum makes.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
At the moment, all I can think about is the considerable amount of couch-lounging and reading the mister & I do during the holidays. I usually assemble two small piles of books for the two of us and we do a pretty good job of just sitting around and reading through our respective piles over the holidays. I find myself thinking fondly and longingly of this tradition all year long!

17. What is your favorite part about Christmas morning?
The anticipation!

18. Which do you prefer – giving or receiving?
Giving. Especially when it’s something I’ve made. Not to knock receiving or anything.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song?
Happy Christmas (War is Over), John Lennon.

20. Candy canes! Yuck or Yum?
Yum.