Festive Is As Festive Does

Gloating a bit this week. My year long campaign to corrupt the men in my daughters' lives is finally seeing success. Both men left my slightly delayed Thanksgiving table vowing to return for the Christmas gumbo. A man and his bottle of Tabasco is a glorious thing to behold.

You can keep you goose, your clove studded ham and your turkey reprise. Give me day old gumbo filled with shrimp and crab and sausage and it is holiday time in the south. It just don't get any better. Slip in a skillet of cornbread on the side and the men line up like angels at the pearly gates - heaven awaits for sure.

The spirit of the season has taken hold. Earlier this week, my Dave & I had date night at Mission Inn. Mid-week is the perfect time to sit and enjoy the Festival of Lights here in Riverside. If you are in the area, or just want an adventure, it is definitely worth the trek.

Free entertainment. Plenty of photo opportunities; citizens proudly wearing Santa hats; even a scarf or two in anticipation of some inkling of winter. It's a grand display sure to melt Scrooge himself.


This morning was the beginning of the seasonal baking effort. Pumpkin bread with streusel topping for the guild meeting on Saturday morning. Quite professional looking, don't you think. This topping is the standard flour/sugar/butter mix but with oatmeal, cinnamon and fresh ground nutmeg added in. I'm quite proud of the result. And the whole house smells of anticipation.

Oh, and there will be gift exchanging at the meeting. Clearly my ability to wrap a gift is not on par with my skill with sticks and string. There aught to be some parallel. One would think there is the possibility of skill transfer. But, sadly, there is not. Thus, no photo of the exchangeable gift.

Ahead of my time

I am ahead of my time. Yes, already moving quickly through the gift making rush for the end of the year. Mid-October and I am on a roll.

It is my privilege to chair a committee of amazing thinkers and workers. The organization we belong to focuses on doing for others; thus we don't make a big deal of gifting our volunteers. But how can a little cotton string be interpreted as doing too much for self?

Each of my committee members will receive a washcloth and soap as a reminder of all the work we have done to "clean up" some issues and wipe out old practices to let the new shine through. Using Cathy Waldie's Two Hearts as One Dishcloth pattern and Bernat's Organic Natural Cotton.

Three down and one to go. It was all going so smooth and fast. Then, Bert happened. Bert is a dwarf macaw who likes yarn. He often enjoys the end of the skein and decorates his cage with lovely abstract hangings. Today, Bert tried to get more than his fair share. He went straight for the ball and started to pull. At least he had the courtesy to pull from the center and not mess up too much.

Back to the cage for Bert.