hold close

It's Christmas eve eve. Wanted to wish all the Chicken Wingers the merriest of Christmases!

The terribly sad events in Connecticut gave me new vision. My vision improved to 20/20 as the holy holiday drew nearer.

Enjoyed singing for old folks. My retirement singing group must have visited every retirement/nursing/alzheimer's home in this town. I savored holding every arthritic hand.

Led the Christmas merriment at the facility where my mother lived. So many ties and lovely memories there. They are kind to ask me back every year.

Had some help with Nancy, Rich and the Christmas Bichon, Sophie.

Sophie enjoying Nancy's rendition of 'O, Holy Night'.

As I was standing at the podium about to lead 'Silver Bells', a male resident walked behind me....patted me on the a## and said I was lots wider back there than I was last year. Really. Made me laugh so hard, I teased him mercilessly about being 'naughty'.

Santa agreed. The guy was naughty.

Santa 'n me!

Our church choir had a special Christmas musical with local musicians.

Was privileged to be a part of this glorious day of celebrating Christ's birth. We talked about the deaths of the innocents in Connecticut that Sunday morning. Talked about how the light is coming into the darkness. Aren't we longing for the light this year? This world feels less and less like home to me.

While I'm here, I'll savor moments like these.

Baby G and me Christmas Eve 2011. Holding close my precious grandson.

Peanut and G.

The grandson is 15 months old now. He has his own pony. He's learned to walk and he can sing 'EEE-EYE-EEE-EYE-OOOOOO! Amazing! The year has flown by.

I'm grateful for my Sprouts and for the long-suffering Texan. I need to tell them 'I love you' more often.

I enjoy this ridiculous wiener dog.

Roxy Doxy is worried about the meaning of 'naughty'.

She shows me something of God's love. I like to think He wags his tail thinking about seeing me and He would give me a big, slobbery lick if He were here.

I think He would hold me (and you!) close, too.

May your Christmas be brimming with fun times with your loved ones and lots of happiness.

The light is coming.

Be blessed.

Christmas-y love to all.

divine intervention

Divine intervention. Lord knows, I need it.

I've been busy with my annual divinity-making project. Keep dreaming of heavenly creaminess and the crunch of  fresh pecans. Even though I always aspire my candy to be celestial perfection, too often the results are simply earthly.

Some of the cast of characters.

If you ever watched your mother or grandmother make this candy, you probably learned some fun, new curse words. Divinity is persnickety. One of my batches today was a total loss. Had to pry it with hammer and chisel out of the mixing pan. Over the years, I've developed my own rules for making this Christmas candy.

Rules for making Divinity

1. Measure all ingredients carefully. Sugar must be measured to the last granule.

Pouring the hot syrup into the beaten egg whites.

2. Don't attempt to make divinity on a day with a humidity level over 40%. Candy won't set up.

3. Do not attempt to make divinity on a day with a humidity level under 30%. Candy will be as hard as an anvil.

Lovely pecans.

4. Have a USDA-NASA certified candy thermometer. Must be accurate within a millionth of a degree Fahrenheit.

5. Beware making divinity in a leap year.

Ready to spoon out.

6. Don't attempt this candy on any day or year containing the dreaded number '1'.

7. Never plan on giving divinity as a Christmas gift. Your pores will excrete nervous gasses. Those gasses react with the candy to turn it a snot green color.

This piece looks surprisingly good.

8. Never...ever...let a wiener dog observe your divinity-making. It is the candy kiss-of-death.

I really wanted my candy to be perfect, but it wasn't. I was tempted not to give it. Didn't want my friends to suffer through crunchy divinity.

I put the candy in my pretty Target gift boxes and gave it away anyway. Maybe they will taste the love. Strikes me as a parallel to so many things in my life right now.  I could use a little divine intervention to straighten things out and spruce things up a little bit. Even if I don't see divine intervention or I don't feel it, it still seems important to keep striving....to keep giving. I'll live fully in this current messiness and imperfection and you can meet me there. We'll have a party!

Maybe that realization is my divine intervention for today.

Carry on. Christmas is coming.

Karo-y love to all.

visor study

Presented for your viewing pleasure.

Etude du visors avec chiennes. Or, the importance of being earnest.

Chienne un. Doodle in red visor.

Chienne deux. Bichon in red visor

Chienne trois. Wiener in red visor. La sausage en chapeau rouge.

Faves?

I hear it's almost Christmas. Time to get busy. Thanks for stopping by.

Sincere love to all.