I like lights at midwinter. And, though I occasionally miss going out to my aunt’s farm to cut a smallish Eastern redcedar (juniper), the table-sized fake tree is much, much more convenient.
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Christmas Day is one of the few times when I watch the sun rise. (Even if I’m up that early on other days, I’m usually busy and not watching. For whatever reason, though, I kept waking up early last week. I suspect it’s the extreme quiet at my grandmother’s house–it’s unsettling.)
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My dad and I only managed one walk along the bike path, but it was a lovely, lovely day.
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We did a bit better as far as cookie-baking–we made oatmeal cookies, chocolate crackups, and an improvised nutella cookie, which we served along with gjetost (my new favorite dessert cheese!), some Earl Grey shortbread that I made here for a cookie swap, and neighbors’ banana bread and hermit cake. (Speaking of which, if you have a recipe for hermit cake that you know and trust, would you send it to me?)
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I also did a bit of knitting and spinning, but I forgot to get pictures in daylight, so that’ll show up later.
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(The real highlights, of course, were getting to see my parents, grandma, and other family. And it was also lovely that all of my gifts went over well, including the neckwarmer.)
an ent knits 
December 30, 2008 at 9:50
I don’t know if hermit cake is the same as hermit cookies? But I have a deadly wonderful hermit cookie recipe.
http://nownormaknits2.typepad.com/now_norma_knits_2/2005/02/music_meme.html
Tried and true, and sooo delicious, especially a day out.
January 20, 2009 at 23:33
Hurray for discovering gjetost! That is part of my family’s traditional Christmas morning — gjetost on slices of julekakke [Norwegian Christmas bread, a domed yeast bread with a few raisins and bits of citron and almond in it, with a goodly dose of cardamom in it].
Gjetost is good at other times too, but you have to keep it away from the kitties, because they don’t like to share once they’ve gotten a taste ;-)