Month: December 2020

Day 131: Quiet Celebration at the End of a Troublesome Year and a Bonus Video

~ Dona ~ 2 Comments

Dean and I celebrated the end of 2020 last night with classic champagne (CAVA actually) cocktails and a fire (and damned delightful fajitas with homemade flour tortillas).

Another delight of the day was watching this delightfully funny and (in)appropriate video from the self-described social impact agency, Public.

My favorite* part was “Fuck you, New Zealand! You think you’re better than us? Well, you are. BUT FUCK YOU ANYWAY!”.

*With apologies to Mali and all the wonderful people in New Zealand…

Days 127 – 129: De-Christmassing and Baking and Mingus

~ Dona ~ 1 Comment

I spent these days starting to clear up the Christmas decorations — Dean doesn’t want to take the tree down yet, but it’s not as if we hang out near it since it is in the lodge.

I also baked yeasted bread and sourdough. Always delightful!

Mingus has been hanging around me more lately — although I suspect he likes the soft blanket I wrap up in on chilly mornings more than he likes me. Still, delightful.

Day 126: My Happiest Day of the Year

~ Dona ~ 2 Comments

People who know me well know that I am not a big fan of Christmas. Not because I don’t like giving (or receiving) gifts but I find the last couple of months of the year stressful as I try to figure out what to buy people.

I blame it on wanting to obtain perfect gifts for everyone. I have only ever done that once — when I got my brother a dog.

I’ve given up trying to find the perfect gifts and that makes me feel guilty. So stress and guilt are a part of what is supposed to be a happy time. I also feel like I’ve been the one to make Christmas happen and Dean waits to think about it a few days before Christmas. He has none of the stress, except maybe dealing with my stress levels that come across as anger and resentment.

Anyway, except for Thanksgiving and maybe St. Patrick’s day, my favorite holiday is Boxing Day. December 26th is a delightful day for me.

Only 365 days until next Christmas!

Day 125: Christmas Day Paella

~ Dona ~ 1 Comment

We opened gifts this morning. I received a delightful array of gifts from Andrew and Alex (a daisy print scarf, lots of flower seeds, the book Braiding Sweetgrass and a Mary Hamilton print).

I think the kids liked their gifts — although Alex might feel overwhelmed with all the baking supplies!

We travelled to Spain for dinner with a vegetarian paella and giant empanadas (we had lots of leftover filling from our South American night). Alex made a delightful Basque Burnt Cheesecake.

We spoke to Clare for a while, which was delightful. I miss her so much.

Day 124: Christmas Eve

~ Dona ~ 1 Comment

A few years ago Dean, Clare and I (Andrew was in Atlanta with Alex) went to Christmas Eve services at the National Cathedral and decided to have dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant not far from the church. We’ve eaten Ethiopian food every Christmas Eve since then.

While I find Ethiopian cuisine delightful, it always fills me up too quickly (that darned injera) so we only have it a couple of times a year, although now that Bethesda has its own Ethiopian restaurant, we probably eat it more often.

I was delighted to not have to attend church, but we did watch the end of Alex’s church service on YouTube.

The photo is in front of Dean’s church. We were out looking at Christmas lights (another Christmas Eve tradition) and stopped at the church for old-times’ sake.