Christmas 2023

 

This morning Travalon and I went to visit his mom, brother, and sister-in-law, then I finished making the cassata I had started yesterday. We went for a walk at Governor Nelson State Park but didn't see or hear any swans. It was a very warm day for this time of year, but rainy. We also went to see Mao, the calico cat we are taking care of while her owners are visiting family. She lives in our neighborhood, so it isn't hard to stop in to see her. 

In the late afternoon we went to Rich's house for his usual Christmas dinner. Today there were only ten people, which made for very pleasant conversation except when the one odd person would say something irrelevant and repeat it five times, or say something that nobody understood. We reminisced quite a bit, and they were all duly impressed that Jolly Bob had bloomed. R Van the Terrible said she had a dracaena bloom years ago, and she agreed that the smell is divine. (I have several other dracaenas, so they can feel free to bloom any time.) The person who makes fabulous desserts is in Florida visiting his newborn grandson, so there was nothing to overshadow my cassata; Rich had made chocolate mousse, but nobody wanted any after the cassata. When the organist took the top off my cake carrier, it made a crack in the cassata, so Cecil Markovitch immediately stuck a spoon in there and made the cassata "talk." I should have made a video - it was hilarious! 

Here are some more photos, from Travalon's good camera and from my phone that didn't download yesterday. First, an example of the buildings in downtown Chicago lit up red and green for Christmas. Tonight the photos are loading very slowly, so I'll post more tomorrow.

Here is the Olbrich Conservatory lit up red and green for Christmas.

Here are the presents we gave each other yesterday. I gave Travalon this personalized Wolverhampton towel.

And also this mug.

He gave me this mug, which only makes sense if you know the song "Kid Charlemagne" by Steely Dan.

He gave me this hand-crocheted pillow of an evil eye protector made in Ukraine, which we have dubbed Mega-Niko.

The woman who made it also sent this little Christmas tree ornament in Ukrainian colors.

Here Niko and Mega-Niko are looking at each other.

Someone (and I can't remember who, but it was a woman) told me that there was a spectacularly decorated house on Lacy Road west of Fish Hatchery Road, so after we left Rich's house, Travalon and I went to find it. And we did!

Can you imagine how much work that must have taken? The neighbor across the street got in on the act.

And this is the house in a neighborhood near ours with approximately six thousand light-up snowmen in the yard. There seem to be even more than last year. Where do they store them in the off season??

Watch for more photos in the next few days, when hopefully things won't upload so slowly.

Famous Hat