Medium Dawn Felagund of the Fountain

Several years ago, the Felagund family used to make an annual trek every December to New York City for the day. It was a nice day: time for a leisurely lunch, to wander around the city, capped off with the Radio City Rockettes' show, and followed by a walk back to the bus that involved an inevitable stop for sandwiches at Pret a Manger. Then, under the pretense of The Economy^TM, the bus company stopped running this trip. This year, they started it back up again (perhaps because The Economy^TM has supposedly improved).

Dad asked if we wanted to go, and the decision was instantaneous: Of course we did! To make matters even better, the trip was on a Thursday this year--it had always been on a Monday before, the one day of the week that the Met is closed--so I indulged a fantasy of meeting heartofoshun for lunch, taking the subway to mill about the Met for a couple of hours, and returning in plenty of time to see the show.

But then we got the itinerary. ( Read more... )

Bobby and I celebrated Yule on the solstice. Last year, we started a new tradition of making each other a gift for Yule; this year, Bobby painted a landscape for me, and I wrote him a collection of poems related to the green man. I'll post them both later.

Christmas Eve, we drove up to El Rodeo for lunch, then Bobby made cookies while I prepared the various components of the German chocolate ice cream pie that I make every year for Christmas. Christmas is my parents' holiday, so we were going to their house. Bobby and I always have pizza for supper on Christmas Eve; this goes back to my childhood, when my dad always made a pizza, if not for supper, then later in the night. Bobby and I have continued observing that through the entirety of our marriage. We wrapped gifts, which is a bit more of an endeavor since, last year, we decided to do away with wrapping paper and now wrap our gifts in cloth that has to be stitched closed with yarn. It takes a bit more time at the wrapping stage than using paper, but it saves a lot of time in cleanup and, of course, quite a bit of waste. We always watch a holiday movie on Christmas Eve; this year's was A Christmas Story, but I fell asleep before the end due to the rum-spiked eggnog!

( More--with Pictures!--below the Cut )

Every year, Bobby and I have a bet about when we will see the first outdoor Christmas decorations in our area. The winner gets bragging rights. Our area has an exceptional amount of jollitude: that seasonal spirit that inspires people to leave up Christmas decorations November through February.

I won the bet last year; this year, I picked the 11th and Bobby chose the 14th. Come the 12th, I was pretty nervous, as we hadn't seen any Christmas lights ... well, let me qualify. Shortly after Halloween, I noticed what appeared to be a garland with white lights around the door of a house down on Old Fort Schoolhouse. However, there was an iota of a possibility, I suppose, that they were Halloween lights.

Driving to SCA on Friday, we saw a roof with JESUS spelled out on it in white lights, but that turned out to be a church, and we decided last year that only private residences count. (Westminster turned on the jollitude weeks ago, before Halloween even, by putting ribbons and garlands on the lampposts.)

Then I saw a Christmas tree with white LED lights in a window in Hampstead and was sure I'd won! But Bobby said the lights had to be outside. >:^(

Then I saw a lamppost up on a hill wrapped in rainbow lights, but Bobby didn't see it (he was driving), so I didn't think it fair to count it.

By this point, Bobby was pretty cocky, because we were leaving Carroll County, and starting the next day, any lights we saw meant he'd won. It was unlikely we were going to see Christmas lights down in Woodlawn. And we were going to Hanover for dinner at El Rodeo, and Hanover is the town for jollitude.

Then we were turning into the church where our baronial meetings are held, and I happened to glance over at the apartments across the street and--jollitude! One of the balconies had white lights wrapped around the railing! They were clearly Christmas lights. They were outside. And Bobby saw them too. Score! The win goes to Dawn for the second year in a row!

The next evening, we went to the heart of jollitude in Hanover. Actually, Hanover is currently representing three holidays. People still have up Halloween decorations, including orange lights. We saw a garland of lights twined with autumn leaves and a large, inflated, illuminated turkey in someone's front yard, presumably for Thanksgiving. And several people had their Christmas lights on already. I ♥ Hanover!

I posted a while back asking for requests for holiday cards. However, due to rigmarole associated with said cards*, I only got about half of them sent: those to destinations outside of the U.S., since these take the longest and, therefore, always go out first.

I thought about sending them out belatedly. However, I've decided not to do this. Instead, if you asked me for a card, I will send you a much nicer notecard sometime over the next few months with a message other than my scrawled signature. (So, if you'd like such a card and didn't request a holiday card [or got a holiday card and still want a purdy notecard], please let me know!)

* Said rigmarole resulted when the AKC cards we ordered simply never arrived. Of course, by the time we realized that they weren't merely late but not coming, I had one day to grab some suitable (earth-friendly!) substitutes from Target and get them written and sent in an afternoon to friends outside the U.S. Then the holiday maelstrom swept me up, and I just never got the time to finish the rest of them. Bah.