Feeling Festive

Okay, so obviously the picture wasn't taken in the last few days. I was so so proud of my flowering plant that lived into the month of November. Now of course we are dealing with rainy yucky weather; the kind where I don't feel like schlepping around in it with Harvey (who LOVES going with me on errands). Today he was very upset when I left without him - but it was just so miserable out!

It has been a rather festive weekend. Yesterday we had 20 piano students over and they all played Christmas Carols and duets. Everyone gathered around the piano for a hearty round of Jingle Bells, and then we ate fabulous Sant Ambroeus cookies from Madison Avenue and polished off a batch of my crystallized ginger cookies. Last night was the Aberwyck Christmas party and Harvey was quite the hit with all the senior residents. After a couple glasses of GLOGG, I played the piano and everyone sang about a zillion carols. Usually Joe is the one who heads up the entertainment, but he had to work last night. Today we all slept until 9:30 AM! I love Sundays around here lately. I have come to the point where I just don't want any commitments on Sundays. I love the down time. The New York Times, leisurely coffee, listening to records (Joe just fixed the turntable - Hurray!), Harvey being Harvey, etc. Today we got some good headway on the Christmas Cards. Joe calls it the "Christmas Card Sweat Shop". We also did a lot of around-the-house chores like putting up pictures and organizing closets. I even managed to polish the silver for the first time since before H was born. (It had gotten pretty nasty!) The icing on the cake was when we put some Christmas lights up in the living room. We decided not to get a tree this year for numerous reasons (I'll explain later) and so it hasn't really felt like Christmas, but putting the lights up gave me a festive feeling. Now all I have to do is find the Bing Crosby Christmas Album...