The holidays flew by at such a dizzying pace that I hardly had a chance to take any pictures. But what a good time we had! Our daughter Shannon, her husband Mike, and their two dogs stayed with us all the way through Christmas and beyond to the next day.

I did manage to take a picture of our Christmas morning brunch. The pumpkin bread was homemade; the cinnamon roll was not.

On Christmas Eve day, my brother, his wife, and their son came over for a celebration. By gosh, with everyone grouped in our small living room and the coffee table filled with appetizers, it felt like old times. Lots of talking and laughing.

As for COVID…all our guests had had it recently, and they were up-to-date with their vaccinations.  We felt as though the odds were in our favor, and as it turned out, they were. None of us caught COVID over the holidays.

Good things sometimes arrive in the mail. From two of my blogging friends, I received two delightful Christmas packages.

The first one came from Judy of New England Garden and Thread. She knows how much I love my home, and she sent me this beautiful calender with a picture of her own home. Her granddaughter did the artwork, and what a wonderful job she did. You can bet that this calendar will never be used to wipe hands or dishes. There is a pocket for a dowel, and I plan to hang it in my office, where I can see it when I work.

The second came from my friend Betsy, who follows my blog but doesn’t have one of her own. She knows I have a Santa collection, and she sent me this delightful duo. The larger one is a candle, which will never be burnt.

Many thanks, Judy and Betsy!

After Christmas, there was a much-needed week of rest. Our daughter Dee, who is staying with us, took a week’s vacation from her job, and we did the same with our work. Except for an errand or two, we stayed home. We also took a week off from our rather stringent low-carb regimen and ate what we wanted. We slept late. We read. We played board games. We watched, among other shows, two seasons of Britain’s Best Home Cooks. In short, we had a wonderful time.

Reflecting back on our staycation, I am both amazed and gratified by how little it takes to entertain us. The term low maintenance really does describe us, and I can’t help but think that if you take pleasure in simple things, then your days are full and happy.

On New Year’s Eve, the three of us—Clif, Dee, and me—had a tasty appetizer night.

We watched Avengers: Endgame and nearly timed it right so that Iron Man snapped his fingers at midnight. (We were off by 30 seconds or so.) Ah, well! The New Year came anyway, a little after Iron Man’s snap of the fingers.

In 2023, I plan to continue blogging once a week, on Monday, unless something comes up and I need to change the day. Occasionally, I might add an extra post.

A very happy New Year to you all. I am so grateful to be part of this blogging community, and I look forward to reading your posts in 2023.

In the northern hemisphere, we have less than a week until the shortest day of the year, less than a week until Christmas, less than a week until our home will be filled with dogs and family.

I am happy to report that my cooking is right on schedule.

I’ve made chili,

more pumpkin bread,

and I put together a pie using peppermint ice cream made by Gifford’s, a Maine business.

All are in the freezer waiting for the big day, and the cupboards are bulging with goodies to go along with what I’ve made.

On Friday and Saturday, to get us all in the mood for a Maine Christmas,  Mother Nature obliged with a nor’easter.

During the storm, here was the view from our living room,

and here was the backyard from another room.

Unfortunately, the snow was wet and heavy and knocked out power to more than 100,00 customers in central and southern Maine. Today, there are still over 18,000 customers without power. Given that the entire state only has a population of a little over a million, a fair number of households lost their power last weekend.

We did lose our power, but only for a few hours in the middle of the night, and we scarcely noticed it.  As I’ve mentioned before, although we live on a country road, we are lucky to be on the same line as the town’s fire department. Every time a bruiser of a storm comes, we give thanks that our power line is linked to the fire station’s line.

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My new book, Of Time and Magic, continues to sell very well. In fact, Of Time and Magic has sold better on release than any of my previous books. Many thanks to all my blogging friend who have bought Of Time and Magic. If you haven’t bought a copy yet and want to, never fear! We have plenty of books in stock and would be happy to mail them in the U.S. after the holidays if that is more convenient.

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If you celebrate Christmas, I wish you a very merry Christmas or Joyeux Noël as we Franco-Americans would say.  I will be taking a blogging break until the new year. Wherever you live, whatever you celebrate, I hope the last days of December are filled with warmth, merriment, good food, family, and friends.

And a happy New Year to all!

At our home on the edge of woods, Thanksgiving was simple, quiet, and good. I made two loaves of pumpkin bread and thought we would have one to eat and one to freeze for Christmas. Silly me! We ate those two loaves as quick as can be, which means I’ll have to make two more for Christmas.

We had a nice little brunch on Thanksgiving morning. As you might notice, we even had dessert, leftover homemade chocolate pudding from the pie I made. Good thing we don’t eat like this every morning.

I forgot to take pictures of our Thanksgiving dinner. Too busy cooking and getting ready for our little feast. Afterward, we were all too stuffed to do much of anything, and we settled in for some episodes of Season 4 of The Great American Baking Show: Holiday Edition. Past seasons of the Baking Show—British and American—are available for free on the Roku channel. There are commercials, and they are often clumsily inserted, but the shows are still worth watching.

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Outside, the snow has all melted, and the gardens are in a strange in-between state, not quite fall, not quite winter. There’s still plenty of green on the lawns, but one morning there was a skim of ice in the ornamental bird bath.

Black-eyed Susans, their petals long gone, lean into another plant, whose name, alas, I have forgotten.

And Minerva, in her wisdom, presides over the front garden.

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The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we put up our Christmas tree. It is an artificial one, and while I miss having a real tree, I don’t miss the mess or the expense—in central Maine, $50 is about the least you can pay for a decent-looking tree.  (I know it is much higher in other places.)

Still, it gives me pleasure to put up our ornaments—some plain, some silly, some old, some new, some poignant. The house ornament was made by my blogging friend Judy of New England Garden and Thread. 2020 was indeed the year we stayed home, and to me the ornament is a lovely reminder of all the ways we stayed in touch during that first terrible pandemic year. Many thanks, Judy.

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A couple of days ago, a special card came into our home—another beauty from my blogging friend Alys of Gardening Nirvana. Alys made this card from a 100-year-old National Geographic. In the lower-left-hand corner is the word Maine. In the middle, White Pine. The white pine is Maine’s state tree, and the tassel is its state flower. My oh my! Thanks so much, Alys.

Yet again, as the day grows shorter and the nights grow longer and the cold settles into our yard, I am reminded of how much there is to be grateful for.