Pook rocks!

Snow makes a happy time

Pup prowled the park at a great distance, rolled on a flaccid tennis ball after locating it by smell, ate a stick, then settled into the snow. Taken with Pop's new binocular camera (Sharper Image, eh what?, a gift from a techie), there's only a hint of snow-on-the-nose, showing how snow makes a happy time. And it improved Pop's view of things, too.

December 27th

We did nothing. All day. It was good. OK, Linda took a walk. It was good. And I worked on the blog. You can see from this entry how much work I did. It was good. And Pook played at the playground on the fire truck. It was good.

Boxing day (but we didn't box anything)

Boxing Day was nice and bright, a pretty day to get out since Linda couldn't possible imagine boxing up Christmas the day after. So we decided to go shopping at Tiffany's and Sur la Table and Pottery Barn. We really went to get the trophy wife's ring cleaned, but I know better about Tiffany's. Then we found a chocolate cake Christmas tree ornament, and some cool cocktail napkins, 9 of them for the 8 reindeer and Rudolf, and some more icicles for the outside back window. And then off to Trader Joe's for some vermouth for the martinis. Oh, and we got pretty towels in red for the Christmas kitchen. So good and focused were we that we got out of Easton's traffic before the real shoppers even showed up. Home for some fish, and then we turned on Nutcracker (well, not really: we turned on Nutcracker after the kids left on Christmas Day, but I didn't remember to write it in, then). And ended the evening again in front of the fire, with Wally's new squeeky bone getting a good workout while accompanied by holiday music.

Christmas Day & kids

Christmas Day dawned magnificently, leisurely. Even with a late night beforehand, I (today, "Pop") still was up early, watching the eastern sky pink and violet. Pup enjoyed the out-of-doors, and we still could see the lights on the back as we came in. Turning on the tree, and breakfast starting, brought Linda to the day. We had a good vegetable tart, chard and onions and Parmesan, and croissants, and fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice, and v-e-r-r-r-r-y crispy bacon: very good, says Linda. We opened our gifts and stockings including the pup's new meaty bone, and morning Christmas cards, and read the text message from Andy and T. Then we sat over coffee and recorded The Night Before Christmas for Colin-the-pup, even though this year the story was really for Jenny and Chris.

The plan was to not go fast, and the plan executed flawlessly. A walk in the park. Whacking the brussels sprouts off the stalk. More attention to the dog. A long wonderful talk with Barbara, while all the California crowd was napping but her, so we could hear about Pook. Making the pecan pie.

Colin-the-pup and Jenny and Chris arrived mid-afternoon, with the pup bright-eyed in his carrier and looking alertly at everything. He spent time on his mom's lap before we ate, in front of the fire, Wally looking on and marvelling at the similarity of cooing sounds offered a baby and offered a dog.

We pottered around for the entire rest of the day, the dark coming 3'ish or 4'ish or 5'ish and not noticing the time at all. Barbara called and we chatted again and Jenny got to chat as well. A good pork loin with mustard and tarragon; Chris finished the cabbage in cream with a flourish; we polished off the wine (moving to champagne plan B after plan A froze in the freezer while chilling).

We carried Colin around; we sat on the floor with the dog. And we ended the night after the kids left by enjoying the fire and the music, and drank just a little bit more.

Christmas Eve

While Linda was at the health club working out, I put lights out for the birds, along the back bushes. From the park at night, the house seemed to twinkle! We got things ready for Christmas, busy for two lazy flickers: prepped the pork, got the Boy Scout teams together to put out the luminary display at the church (a 1st for them) by driving a bus-load of candles and milk bottles into the car-packed church lot to off-load and then parking the bus in front of the house (not blocking the sleigh and 8 tiny reindeer), and going over to the 11:00 service for memories and fellowship.

We talked to Ben as he fed Pook, hearing of plans for California Christmas with the Sullivans all and Ellen too. And we heard from Andy and T as they were in San Jose toasting champagne and welcoming in the friendship of Christmas with Lynn and Doug.

For us, a late night, an enjoyable time walking the dog before all of us to bed at 1 am. (And no sleigh and 8 tiny reindeer. But then, with mama in her kerchief and I in my cap and all settled down for a long winter's nap, out on the lawn there arose such a clatter that I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter....)

Nancy

Nancy Brower stopped by after work, for martinis in front of the blazing fire and holiday music in the background. "I like the tree; the tree's not real crowded," she said, confirming all of Linda's executive design decisions. It was great to see an old friend, as we'd not spent time together quietly for several months. And pup whined and wiggled and brought her a special spit-covered meaty bone, to show how much he cared (cared, that is, to be paid attention to). So we paid attention to Nancy, too. Friendship.

The Christmas tree underway

Today, we brought in the tree. It had been carefully picked out by Linda and Wally, and standing in the back yard in a bucket of water. During the night, snow fell, coating the tree with a marvelous dusting that had to be shaken out to bring it in. We waited some time indoors, hoping the limbs would drop a bit so we could tell where to decorate big and small ornaments, and nothing happened so we made lots of executive design decisions. Well, that was the papal "we:" Linda made the design decisions.

I started by putting the lights on, but clearly not enough for my bride, since we only had 5 strings. Then I "helped", the following day, sitting on the sofa and handing out ornaments one at a time, so Linda could place. We chose mostly old ones, Radkos we'd picked up along the way together with pickles and hedgehogs and three little gold ducklings. At the bottom Linda put a big glass box, gold and magenta and white, that proved to be at tail-height. After it shattered into pieces, we put only the old paper ornaments made by Andy and Ben and Chris at the bottom, a just-right thing.

Linda & Barbara & Jack

Dinner was fun with our friends Linda Lorenz and her sister Barbara and Jack Hunter. A classic cassolet for the crowd, reminding us of Canada even if there wasn't any significant new snowfall.

Sitting around relaxing, telling stories, looking at the skaters on the bar-top which we'd gotten out (who had snow, even if not real) and enjoying each of the old dolls we'd gathered: the green, the pink-robed, and the blue Santas, and the red Santa above us all.

A rich Christmas Concert

Worthington United Methodist Church has a long tradition of offering holiday music, and we took our neighbor Dot to share this year's, on Sunday afternoon. Short and focused and rich, the choir sang John Rutter's Gloria (and there's a cut of the first movement on the sidebar!), which a friend in the choir said he'd practiced since September. The director trained with Robert Shaw and directs OSU's men's glee club, and the chorale showed it. Most moving? A rendition of Oh Holy Night by the head of Kilborne High School's music program. Most fun? The duet of Baby It's Cold Outside, and the final, fun tune You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch!

First snow, really

The morning brought our first snow. Sure, there was a dusting a week ago, and the ground's been frozen, but we've gotten an inch and more's coming. The quiet outside is marvelous, the smell wonderfully crisp and wet. Pup's ready for his treat on returning from outside: to lie on the floor and get his paws massaged with great waxy-protective "musher's secret." Think snow.

The 2009 Holiday Season Begins

For us, the holiday season always begins with our annual Holiday Open House, December 6 2009. This year was our 20th open house, a milestone we still smile about and shake our heads over.

We had a delightful time! Friends, neighbors, colleagues, people we keep on our list and send invitations to who never RSVP but show up, people who just remember it's the first Sunday in December and mark it on their calendar and don't even remember getting the invitation, people from across the country who send emails saying they're not heading North or East or whatever yet... a fantastic time to visit and reconnect.

Wally stayed up with the last guest, ChrisMoose. ChrisMoose came by the hand of our friend Liz Hager, who this year was the longest-lasting (yes, 2-5 are hours on the invitation, and Liz went home at 9). Liz raises companion dogs, and ChrisMoose was sent by Emelia, a yellow Lab / Golden mix of nine happy months' age, who signed her card. Wally and ChrisMoose invite you to share in our blog for this year's Holiday Season. Love, Linda and Mike (and Wally).