Oh, hi. Where was I.
Here's the hat my sister knit me for Christmas. She's a whiz with double-pointed needles. The pattern is from a book called Knitting Nature and I think it's modeled after a pine cone. I've worn it a million times already, on the many snowy walks I've taken in the last couple of weeks: with my brother, my sister, my parents, Stephen, Stephen's dog--pretty much anyone who was willing to bundle up and go outside with me. The weather was spectacular at Christmas: sunny days, snowy nights, some foggy afternoons. Now it's bitterly, angrily cold, so cold that the snow has changed texture and sounds dry and glassy when stepped on. But I hear that there's a thaw coming, one that will have us seeing the mid-50s by Wednesday. Can't wait for that. I've been wearing my long underwear all week, and not the usual lycra kind, but the heavy-duty fleece-lined ones.
Anyway, let's talk about Christmas trees.
Here's our little fakey-fake tree. You can't really look directly at it when it's lit; it's like looking into the sun. I love it, though. So sparkly, so irrepressible, so inappropriately dressed for daytime. Quite a contrast to the stately, subdued fir we have in the living room, all little white lights and folky ornaments and faint woodsy smell.
You probably can't see it in that picture, but there's a little line of Santa Lucia dolls parading around the trunk, like so:
Stephen and I made these from a kit before Christmas; we made a second set as a present for my mom. It was so fun in the harried days before break--heavy with homework and shopping and snow--to sit at the kitchen table and paint, sew, and otherwise assemble these. I should make more things. Last winter I tried to crochet a blanket and ended up deciding (when I was 95% done) that I didn't really like it. So now it's in a drawer, waiting for me to decide what to do with it.
Although I didn't want the holidays to end, January is making a good argument for itself right now. Over the last two weeks, I've celebrated Christmas, my birthday and New Year's Eve. They were brilliant and fun and full of food and glitter. But I've eaten a lot of cupcakes, and I feel ready now to start afresh. Clear away the scraps of wrapping paper, take the boxes from Amazon to the recycling shed. Go to the gym. (I got a membership for my birthday, and I'm very excited.) We went to Whole Foods on Thursday and bought tons of veggies. The cupboards are full, and the new year is fat with promise.
