Morning, friends, happy last-Tuesday(whoops!)-in-2020 morning to you all! Sorry about no post yesterday. I had a particularly crazy workday yesterday – booked solid with conference calls all day, plus two filings, yipes – and this little corner of the internet completely slipped my mind. Apologies! Here’s a Tuesday-Monday-reading-post for you instead.
If you celebrated Christmas, how was it? I hope you had a wonderful day, whether that looked like time with your bubble, or a restful and rejuvenating day. Our Christmas was oddly quiet, but nice. The kids were up at the crack of dawn, as expected. Steve did the family a solid and woke up by shortly after 6:00 so the munchkins could start their Christmas celebrations (I am an early riser, but he’s not). After the gift-a-palooza, we attempted to hike but were stymied by all the nearby parks being closed for the holiday – whoops. Came home and spent the day on phone calls and FaceTime with far-flung family members, day drinking, cooking, and eating a delicious, if non-traditional, Christmas dinner.
I think we all had a good Christmas. Steve had gotten a new TV for his birthday, and he’d ordered a new XBox, so those were his gifts sorted – but I did make sure he had some things to open; his favorite Smartwool socks, some beer treats, a few books. The munchkins got a mix of toys, books and clothes. Peanut’s gifts were overwhelmingly horse-themed; she is obsessed currently. She was delighted. Nugget got the two things on his wish list – a few new “Who Would Win?” books and “a stuffed mouse named Joe.” As for me, I was wildly spoiled – the usual books and new hiking clothes, but Steve also surprised me with an inflatable NRS stand-up paddleboard! And a Werner paddle to go with it. I’m a lucky paddlesports geek! Can’t wait to get my new treasures out on the water. Is it summer yet?
Reading. Still going strong on the book front, heading into the last week of the year. I spent most of last week over Winter Solstice. Typical of Rosamunde Pilcher, it got off to a bit of a slow start and took me a minute to work my way into it, and I kept breaking off to get to my final books of the Christmas season. On Christmas Eve, I read An Englishman’s Commonplace Book, followed by my Christmas Eve tradition – The Twelve Days of Christmas: Correspondence. On Christmas Day, I made time for another tradition: A Country Doctor’s Commonplace Book (which is hilarious). Finally turned back to Winter Solstice and finished it up on Sunday, then turned my attention to reading one of my Christmas presents – Death on the Nile, thanks Mom!
Watching. Actually did quite a bit of watching this week. A few episodes of The Great Festive Bake-Off, and after the final episode we’re now jonesing to watch Derry Girls, which is luckily on Netflix – so look for that to appear in this space in 2021. Another attempt at getting all the way through Rick Steves’ European Christmas (kids fell asleep again) and a few of the “regular” episodes of Rick Steves’ Europe. Finished up nearly all of the holiday content on Miranda Mills’ YouTube channel. And on Christmas night, Steve and I watched a recorded concert of his dad’s chamber choir, Vocalis, singing Christmas carols a few years ago – a recent discovery by Steve. Steve’s dad passed away in 2018, and I could tell he really treasured the chance to see his dad sing again.
Listening. A few podcasts, but I’ve been on more of a music kick lately – The New Pornographers specifically. Not being especially in the holiday spirit this year, I eschewed Christmas carols in favor of belting out songs from The Electric Version and Twin Cinema (oldies but goodies) as I ran my last-minute holiday errands last week.
Making. I spent a decent amount of time in the kitchen last week, celebrating having a dishwasher again. (Yes, I have a dishwasher again! We got the call on Monday and it was delivered on Tuesday. A Solstice miracle!) Made my holiday tradition – artichoke dip – for Christmas Eve (served it alongside smoked salmon). Nugget liked it, but Peanut turned up her nose. Break my heart! (Also, how?) On Christmas Day, we were a little non-traditional and sat down to a slow-simmered bolognese sauce (made with Impossible burger ground) served over organic spaghetti – yum. And for dessert, I whipped up an apple custard cake from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking Chez Moi. Easy and festive!
Moving. Meh. Not much of a movement week, unless you count running around doing last minute stuff to make the holiday festive for the family. We hiked on “Christmas Eve Eve” after wrapping up work for the day, and on Saturday after Christmas. (We attempted to take an actual Christmas Day hike – it was raining cats and dogs on Christmas Eve, so no go – but all of the parks nearby were closed. Understandable, but a bit of a bummer. The kids were pretty unenthusiastic too; even Nugget, who is usually down for trail time, wanted to go home and commune with his new toys.) And we made to a new-to-us trail at Riverbend Park – our local fave – on Boxing Day. I’m hoping to squeeze in a few hikes this week ahead, and more running. I’ll have to fit it around work, though.
Blogging. I’m starting New Year’s content this week! No time like the present, right? And while I might be a little concerned about what fresh horrors lay in store in 2021, I’m not going to be sorry to see 2020 out, either. Posting my traditional look back at the preceding year on Wednesday. Since Friday is New Year’s Day, I’ll just pop in quickly for a brief hello; I’m planning to spend most of the day enjoying family time with my bubble.
Loving. I almost never have a product in here, but what is making my life the most awesome right now is – my new leggings, a Christmas present from Steve. I have been wanting soft wear-around-town leggings for ages, but couldn’t seem to find the right pair. I finally hit on the Spark 2.0 leggings from Title Nine as a likely bet, and Steve delivered for Christmas. You guys. I’m calling them my Goldilocks leggings, because they are perfect. Soft, comfy, flattering, with that sticky stuff around the waist so they don’t slip down. I’ve worn them on neighborhood walks, hiking, and around the house, and they’re everything I ever dreamed leggings could be. I never want to wear anything else.
Asking. What are you reading this week?
covered in flour 
What a beautiful tree! We failed to get a tree in time this year. We ended up using an artificial evergreen outdoor decoration. It’s fine. I hear you about work this week. My office is officially closed for the holidays and New Year, but with clients, COVID issues, and a new legislative session starting, I’m busier than ever. I hope you’ve been doing well!
Thanks for stopping by! Artificial evergreens are a great option – no shade. If you use them year over year they end up more environmentally friendly than the “real” thing. We took the tree down a couple of days after Christmas because we went up to NYS for a week to spend time with my parents. We quarantined the entire time we were there but were still able to get some quality family time in. Hope you had a good end of year and are getting off to a good start! My first week of 2021 was insane – five depositions and, oh, evacuating the city during an attempted coup. So far 2021 is even worse than 2020.