These Are A Few of My Favorite Things

OOps! That's not the tree, but a thoroughly goofy present from a good friend from several years back... but they do get us in the mood for Xmas and all things Xmas-ian...
Like the fabled tree. We do all remember that for the past several years I have been drumming into people's minds (with the infernal Little Drummer Boy beating accompaniment) that the two things necessary for celebrating Christmas are 1.) the Tree and #2.) Cookies.
Here's the first:

All ready to go! Purchased at Home Depot just two nights ago with an accommodating Home Depot employee tearing a tag off a lower priced tree and slapping it on a higher priced tree for us after Bob accused the guy of not wanting to help us out. Way to go, Bob! Always saying that the squeaky wheel gets the grease... Looks great all trimmed and lit. (I always remember the year that a certain relative never decorated their tree and the nude tree just sat in one corner of the room for a couple of weeks. You know who you are!) Kind of like this before photo:

Nothing wrong with this, but it does look naked! Here's the table before the clutter was cleared and the decorations were carefully hung:

That's a fun sort of mess. But we had to clear a path for Bob and I to address Christmas cards. We made a ton of them the other night and now have to say clever things and lick envelopes. You'd think that Jules the Dog would be good at that, but he seems indifferent, despite wearing a respectable amount of glitter on his head. I like these activities. They serve to offset the dark and cold of this time of year. Next, I hit the kitchen to make cookies, and eat too much dough.

The Two Things of Christmas, Maybe Three

Okay, repeat after me (I sound like a broken record), "The two things that make me feel anything remotely Xmas-y are the 1.) Christmas Cookies, and 2.) The Tree." As you can see, the first batch of Christmas Thing #1 is pictured above. I have now consumed so much dough that I feel vaguely bilious, but that's a good thing! There's a second batch on the way.
And look! What to my wondering eye should appear:

Away in a corner, surrounded by Tibetan prayer flags, no less! So now I do (kinda) feel a bit Christmas-y. And I'm finishing up our Annual Christmas Card Extravaganza. That takes time and energy as we still insist on hand-making all the cards. But they're all small creations and that's a good thing to send off into the universe. I believe that the influence exerted by making and sending something carefully hand made is priceless (like those credit card ads!). I really (mostly) enjoy making the cards; maybe once every five years or so, we grumble and "take a vacation" and purchase a box of pre-mades. This was definitely not one
of those years!
Tomorrow is the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice, and, apparently, the last day of life on earth. Or the end of the world... something big! We'll see! Our friend Joe is coming by to celebrate darkness and doom with us. At least we'll go out in style!