The Burrow

Big Cuter says I never send him brownies any more.  We'll see if he reads this and reacts with a smile. I have something to send Megan, frequent comment-leaver and fierce woman incarnate, and it seemed silly not to send her brownies, too. Not-Kathy and Dr. K know the holidays begin when my brownies arrive; it's early this year, my friends. And, perhaps, my treats will arrive at R-Square's before their lands on my doorstep. It's Brownie Season, and I'm happy. I will not ruin it by thinking about that which I cannot change (ie. President-elect tweets) having done what I can to make my voice heard (emailed my Senators re: Jeff Sessions for anything). I will smell the baking and write the cards and start the season off with a full heart.

Two candles, and the shamash.  Nested next to one another, commemorating the hours that small vial of oil continued to shine brightly. I've been holding that image in the front of my brain today.  There's so much to do, so much I want to do, so much that's going to happen, and I'm only one small person trying to tackle it all.  Little Cuter is in the same predicament; although she is marginally larger than I am, her responsibilities are more pressing. No one is paying me to show up at 8am, no one expects me to sing her to sleep, no one has any call on my time at all, really.  And yet, the Brownie List beckons, the Stroll and Roll looms, and the stack of library books tempts.  My responsibilities trumped my desire to curl up in the sunshine with Kay Scarpetta.  I cancelled Pilates, I begged off Mah Jongg.  I sat at the dining room table and packed and labeled and stickered to my heart's content; then TBG played Rudolph to my elf and drove the big ba...

Saturday was faux-Thanksgivukkah, and if that isn't clear to you, perhaps this visual will help: http://tinyurl.com/m8ufdza Modern Tribe Thanksgivukka Card So, the first night of Hanukkah coincides with Thanksgiving evening.  The next time this will happen is in 70,000 years.  I'm thinking that's a good thing. Somehow, I'm behind and it's not even December.  Sigh. All the kids were here this weekend, so we celebrated Thanksgivukkah on Saturday.  Little Cuter and I cooked up a storm and the five of us gathered around the dining room table, holding hands and feeling lucky, as the sun was setting.  By the time the dishes were done, the first star would have been visible if the cloud cover cooperated, so we lit candles and said the blessings and sang songs and exchanged gifts and collapsed on the couch.   I went next door to return the pies we hadn't finished to JannyLou's family and friends; we'd been invited but decided that the one full ...