dual personalities

This weekend really felt like the beginning of Christmas, because we threw our not-quite-annual holiday party. I took off Friday to clean the house and prepare. Even so, we were down to the wire with our prep! This year was nearly derailed by burned scones at the final hour, but crisis averted — DN cut off the burned bottoms and every guest still complimented them.

We also served bagels with toppings, winter citrus salad, and chewy molasses cookies. I was very pleased with the versatility of our dining room table — ends down and leaf in made for the perfect amount of serving space. (No, we haven’t yet replaced the too-small sisal rug!)

My decor (Christmas and otherwise) makes me so, so happy. This party also served as a bit of a housewarming, as we haven’t entertained much since moving in. It was nice to put out all of our nice things, and people were very complimentary. (I think my friends know that I am a words-of-affirmation gal.)

I was tempted to provide a Bingo card for Christmas decorations–how many thematic tea towels can you spot? Needlepoint items? “Woodland creatures” would for sure be the free spot.

Nothing beats a cheese board! A while ago I learned to put out food in more than one location, and this year was the first time I had it together enough to realize it helps to put plates out in all of those locations, too.

And of course, DN always makes a party punch that keeps the crowd lively. This version is a batched French 75 (champagne, brandy, and lemon) with ice cubes that he froze with cranberries inside. Very festive. (FYI, the thematic tea towel protecting the mirror on the bar says “Christmas Spirits”!)

Well, we were exhausted by the end, but I always think it’s worth it to throw a party. People are generally grateful that someone has done so — everyone wants a chance to be festive! I am happy to oblige. I’ll be keeping this festive mood going for the next couple of weeks — I just have to get through 4 more business days and then the real fun begins!

Life gets busier and busier the closer we get to Christmas, and if we’re not careful, we’ll spend so much time getting things done that we won’t be able to focus on what’s really important. Yesterday, for example, I spent the morning distributing gifts with our Church and Community Giving Tree program. By the time I got home, the non-stop cheerfulness and smiling had taken its toll. What’s more, instead of feeling good about helping people, I had started to question the program itself: were we helping or enabling? Fulfilling a need or creating dependents? — Probably some of both.  Feeling tired and deflated, I went home and took a nap. The nap restored some of my energy, but I still needed a spiritual boost. What better antidote than the Bible? I had taken up my DP’s challenge to read a chapter of Luke a day until Christmas, so back to Luke I went and was duly rewarded. I highly recommend reading the New Testament (Isaiah, too!), but don’t forget the nap — naps help us retain what we read (studies have shown!) and we awake feeling calm and renewed.

Have a great weekend and don’t stress!

*Luke 12:32

I may have mentioned at some point that my program recently moved to new office space. Slowly but surely, I have been furnishing the suite, stocking the supply closet, and appointing my own office. This is very exciting for me, as it’s the first time I really have my own workspace — with windows and a door. I feel especially lucky because I was able to pick out my furnishings. As you might guess, I asked for bookshelves, first and foremost!

Clearly, I need some plants

Shelf space is at a premium in our apartment, and there are lots of volumes that just make a bit more sense on campus than at home — journals, for example, and works of criticism. I still have all of the texts I ever taught, as well as plenty that I read for research. Having them in my “staff” office feels like that old part of me still exists. That’s also why I hung up my Concord map over the meeting chairs.

Henry David Thoreau would disapprove of all the things on my desk that gather dust

Maybe it is a little silly that I want to have a “writerly” or “scholarly” office as a mere staff person. But in some ways, it’s all the same, right — it’s about sitting at your desk and doing the work. Being in a space that makes you feel like yourself surely helps you do the work.

Every morning you climb several flights of stairs, enter your study, open the French doors, and slide your desk and chair out into the middle of the air. The desk and chair float thirty feet from the ground, between the crowns of maple trees. The furniture is in place; you go back for your thermos of coffee. Then, wincing, you step out again through the French doors and sit down on the chair and look over the desktop. You can see clear to the river from here in winter. You pour yourself a cup of coffee.

Birds fly under your chair. In spring, when the leaves open in the maples’ crowns, your view stops in the treetops just beyond the desk; yellow warblers hiss and whisper on the high twigs, and catch flies. Get to work. Your work is to keep cranking the flywheel that turns the gears that spin the belt in the engine of belief that keeps you and your desk in midair.

–Annie Dillard

Well, it isn’t so nice as that. But at least I can see trees from my desk, even if it stays very much planted on the floor.

“He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite as well that they should wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms. His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him.”

–Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

We had a wonderful weekend! It was destined to be a good one, because we started it by watching White Christmas. What an absolutely perfect movie. As always, we just loved the wardrobe, the dancing, the impeccable dialogue, and everything in between.

This time around, DN did a little couples analysis. Phil “ootzes” Bob along, “every step of the way.” Betty, too, is a “slow mover,” and Phil tells Judy that she’s “in there with the champ.” Doesn’t it usually work out that an “ootzer” ends up with a slow poke? What I’m saying is, DN and I are Bob and Phil. I ootz. He was a “lonely, miserable man” before he met me 🙂

Just kidding. We like to think of ourselves as Phil and Judy…

or better yet, Judy and John (DN’s favorite)

Well, our fun did not stop with a Friday night movie. On Saturday, we trekked all the way to Northern Virginia to pick up our wine subscription at our favorite winery (la dee da, I know) and then to Frederick, MD for some antique shopping. We made out like absolute bandits, though many purchases were gifts that I cannot share.

I did pick up this pretty Vera tablecloth for myself…

I got the Spode wine glasses at TJ Maxx the next day. I spent the rest of the day writing cards, sorting presents, making to do lists for the next two weeks, and cleaning.

Like I said–a wonderful weekend!

Here we are one week closer to Christmas. As usual, I’m way behind with my shopping but I’m not getting stressed. This year I’m going to enjoy myself. Last Saturday I did just that by spending a good portion of my day at an antiques auction. Most things went for a song. There were two 19th century spinning wheels that each sold for about $50,

and a couple of old fan back Windsor chairs that together brought around $100. If I had any place to put fragile antique chairs, I would have bid.

I was tempted by this lovely old book case/cupboard, but could not figure out where I would put it. Although it wasn’t in great condition, it should have fetched much more than it did.

I also liked this cradle a lot, but again, have no place for it. I suppose that’s what most people thought.

There was even a modern reproduction secretary similar to the one my niece rescued from the curb in her old neighborhood. No one wanted this one either and it sold for $50.

In the end, I bought this Chippendale style mirror for $10. I was the only bidder.

I don’t know how old it is and I don’t really care because it’s the perfect small size for my foyer. I’d show you a picture of it in situ but my camera-computer interface won’t work, so I have to rely on auction photos. At any rate, I got a good deal!

We’ve lamented the apparent death of antique ‘brown furniture’ many times, and you can read about the decline at Yankee Magazine which points out that part of the problem is that children don’t learn history in school anymore. I don’t know what they do learn, but it sure doesn’t make them appreciate their country’s past. According to the article, “Aging baby boomers looking to downsize are facing their children’s rejection of their Royal Doulton china, Grandma’s silver, and even the family photo albums. To their children, all this stuff is “mildewed and unmeaning.”” Wow, even family photo albums? Unmeaning? How depressing is that? Obviously, not everyone in the next generation feels that way. Our own children, for example, appreciate family history and antiques, so the situation may not be as gloomy as it seems. After all, the prices are great for those of us who still care!

I hope you’ll forgive the fact that this isn’t a very holiday-season-appropriate post. I have been decorating assiduously and I’m in a festive mood. And though I hate to see people abandon their past and treat its surviving objects with derision, I try to keep it all in perspective:

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2nd Corinthians 4:16-18).

And one more thing to remind us about the importance of remembering our history… Today marks the 78th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Let’s not forget that.

*all photos retrieved from Blanchard’s Auction Service November 30, 2019.