The Seated View

I had a plan. It was a good plan. I was going to take some time off and as we came closer to the 31 st , I’d write a thoughtful post about the past year. There was no reason whatsoever that this plan shouldn’t come to fruition. Except for Nemesis , of course. Who, I am quite sure, rubbed her hands gleefully, and casually directed a small cold germ my way. It hit before Christmas, but was surprisingly mild and short-lived. And that’s when hubris sat in, priming me for a lesson in Greek mythology the likes of which I haven’t experienced since high school. Because it swanned off, mutated, and boomeranged right back at me. And this time, it wasn’t mild. Contrary to appearances, I don’t actually have stock in Vick’s. Although if this things keeps going, you may want to purchase some. Subsequently, the thoughtful post is heavily influenced by an excess of lozenges, cough syrup, and soup. Which makes for something more akin to “whoa, dude…” only with more words. It w...

It all started with the cherries. Cherry sauce is required for ris a la mande, the special Danish Christmas dessert. It has a French name, which apparently makes no sense at all in actual French. Every couple of years, we freeze 5 pounds of black Bing cherries in the summer and come November, carry them to my mother’s to make cherry sauce. It’s a long, involved process resulting in the most beautiful concentrated dark cherry sauce dotted with whole cherries. You drizzle that over the ris a la mande and… Heaven in a bowl! My mother insists on using a Danish product to thicken the sauce just a little, and followed the usual procedure this year. No need to look at the instructions on the back of the package, right? I know you can hear the foreshadowing. Turns out the product had changed, becoming much more concentrated. With the result that as the cherry sauce was being poured through a sieve, what came out on the other end of the sieve was a jellied cherry-sicle....

It’s here. By the time you read this, you’ve probably done the big rip (especially if you have kids) (or you still retain the childlike wonder about pressies). I’m all about the latter. Maybe even the childlike wonder about the magic of this particular holiday. It’s what gets you through a busy, emotional day. Connecting to the feeling you had as a child, seeing the excitement in the faces of the children that are part of your day, or just enjoying that warmth in your heart. No doubt you’re exhausted. Even if you followed every single tip in the #ChronicChristmas Advent calendar, you have likely burned through every bit of energy you have. Take some painkillers and slap the fun filter on it for the rest of the day so you can enjoy the festivities. You can crash tonight.  And when you do, know that you’re not alone. I’m crashing right along with you, and so is everyone else. Thank you for following along with for the last 25 days. Creating this Advent calendar for...