Preparations

A few weeks ago, when I was on vacation, a friend of mine emailed me to invite me to participate in a fancy cookie baking class/brunch event. There would be wine, giant mixers, and frittata! What could be better? My relaxed, vacation-y self responded that I would be delighted to join in.

Fast forward a few weeks, and I was back to real life and a renewed commitment to avoiding gluten. A few experiments on vacation and over Thanksgiving have led me to conclude that the side effects are just not worth the splurge. As you might imagine, making cookies, no matter how fancy, was no longer tops on my to-do list. Unfortunately, my friend wasn't able to find a replacement for me and the organizers had committed to a minimum number of people. I made up my mind to go anyway, have fun, and give away the cookies.

This morning, E and I stopped at Kopplin's on our way over to the class location. While waiting for my coffee, I got an email that my friend was sick and would have to miss the class. Since she was the only one I would know there, I decided to skip also, and just eat the fee.

With an unexpectedly free day in front of me, I decided to work on some non-cookie-related holiday preparation. Our dining room, which is seldom used for dining, has recently done double duty as bike storage and sewing workroom. Since the dining room is also where we plan to set up the Christmas tree, clearly something had to give. I moved all the bike gear and extra dining chairs to the basement, all the sewing supplies upstairs, and gave the whole room a thorough dusting. Next up, I vacuumed and washed the hardwood floors. With just a little more re-arranging, we'll be ready to bring a tree into our house this week.

It's been several years since we've bothered getting a Christmas tree. The years we spend the holiday in Wisconsin, it doesn't really seem worth it. Two years ago, when we last spent Christmas in Minnesota, we kept putting off the purchase until it was too late. This year, I'm really looking forward to it. I love plugging in the tree early on a dark winter morning and drinking a cup of coffee while enjoying pine scent, the twinkling lights, and the quiet.

Beyond making room for the tree, my other preparations today included doing a little gift shopping and buying some new holiday music. A post about my favorite holiday movies and music is sure to come in the next week or two. Stay tuned!