Elegance
One perfect roasted pear. One perfect dessert.
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recipe after the jump
Christmas wrapping
I’ve put it off for as long as possible, but let the wrapping begin! (I’m a notoriously bad wrapper of presents, so here’s the table before I got started. You’d thank me if you saw the grade-school job I typically do.)
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Peace on Earth
… and cookies for all.
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A mod Christmas
The Advent Calendar blue period.
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recipe after the jump
The stockings were hung by the kitchen with care…
My parents’ house early Christmas morning, cozy and waiting for my nephew to arrive and tear into his presents.
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recipe after the jump
Christmas crackers!
My parents introduced me to crackers years ago, after picking up a box on a trip to England. I found these in a store near my office this week. They’ll make nice treats wrapped up with the gifts I’m giving this year, don’t you think?
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recipe after the jump
Sentinowl
Maybe the “real” New York is the one you experience in mid-August when everything is oppressively stanky and tempers are short, but the fantasy New York of Christmas season is all right by me. Here’s a little owl perched above the gate to a park near Macy’s, keeping watch over holiday shoppers by night.
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recipe after the jump
The Messiah
This time of year, you can usually find me at my piano poring over the score of The Messiah, trying to decide if my alto won’t embarrass me too much to sing with the masses at Lincoln Center. It’s a magical experience to hear such power and beauty result from so many individual voices working together, and it’s comforting to know any of my flubs will be drowned out by those voices, too.
Not that I’m giving up karaoke anytime soon…
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There was no bow
The best Christmas present I ever gave myself? That’s easy — Astrid, my Mini Cooper S, who came to live with us one year ago today. Happy birthday, girl!
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Get craftsy
Far be it from me to lecture anyone on the evils of commercialism at Christmas; I’m out there shopping with the best of ‘em. (OK, maybe not “out there” exactly because Jersey malls scare the bejeezus out of me, but online counts, right?) But sometimes handmade decorations are just perfect. These cute and easily assembled paper ornaments were inspired by those on design*sponge, one of my favorite design blogs. They’re hanging in the guest bedroom now, where the colors play nicely off the almost-Tiffany blue walls.
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recipe after the jump
