Here in the House of Nuts we had a really lovely pink candle day. The tree was strung with lights, and baubles full of memories were hung in its boughs; Peanuts were bursting with exuberance; the sun shone (well, actually it rained, but for the purposes of the theme I've got going, let's pretend the sun shone brightly); yummy aromas of baking permeated the house (that part is true).
In the picture, is Five, waiting patiently after lunch, while we were busy cleaning in the kitchen, for someone to come and get him out of his chair. He would occasionally call out "all done!", and wait some more.
Do you remember the story of the cookie sheets? The ones that I'd originally bought didn't fit in our wee oven, so I gave them to Oma who has an oven of adequate size. However, here in SOHOE, we have an actual grown-up stove with full-sized oven, so Oma graciously gave the cookie sheets back. Yesterday, I put them to good use, baking up a batch of delicious pumpkin cookies. The cookie sheets are aMAZing! I feel as proud of them as if they were my own invention. (I was so struck by the beauty and size of the trays, I had to take a picture before the cookies were even baked. Note the wings on the sides for easy handling with oven mitts; the smooth edge closest to us, so delicate creations can be gently scootched off, rather than manhandled over the rim...genius! And the size! 25 large cookies on one sheet!)
After the Peanuts were in bed, we put on the special extended version of Lord of the Rings. The story seems perfectly in keeping with this time of year. Tolkien didn't set out deliberately to write a Christian allegory, but as a devout Catholic, his imagination, creativity and craft were undeniably informed by his faith. LOTR is a story about struggle, journey, enduring, hope, and ultimately, victory of good over evil. Sound familiar? We only made it to the end of the Council of Elrond...a mere 1/6 of the way through the whole saga. We are sadly out of movie marathoning practice!
And, to top it off, there was wonderful football news. While my beloved United lost their game on Saturday (a great upset, as all the stats pointed to a sure win... goes to show, numbers lie threfore math is pointless) my bestest player of all, Ryan Giggs - he of the Welsh national team, and 20 years of devoted Unitedness - has won the BBC sports personality of the year award. With all the awards and accolades he's received over the years, this is nowhere near the top in terms of prestige, but reading headlines about it today, nearly all mention something about "Humble Giggs" or "Modest Ryan". They also go on to mention something about declining years, swan songs or other such blather. He's 36 years and one week old, which may be 85 in footballer years, but he's showing no signs of needing to hang up his boots. I think he's got a lot of beautiful football left in him. Congratulations, Mr. Giggs.
I wish you all a week of joy.
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