Reader, it is not snowing.
Dora and I have been out in the rain already, and soon I'll need to make another trip, to hunt down some more soup spoons, so that ten people can eat salmon chowder on Christmas Eve. I wish I'd thought of this several days ago, because I could have ordered some cheap stainless ones on Amazon and get them in time, but not now.
The rest of the progeny, plus significant others, came rolling in after midnight last night. We were already in bed and half asleep, so did not get up to greet them, but the party raged on for a good while before at last they went to bed. I'm not complaining, mind you. Didn't really bother me, and I'm happy that there is a party to rage on. Relatedly, I haven't yet seen any of their faces, though I've been up since 8.
Our plan for the evening is to go to the pub for trivia night (we might actually play this time, since we have a whole team) and brisket tacos. Between now and then, I have silver to polish and menus to think about, and maybe some baking to do. I need to look at the Christmas table linens and discern what needs ironing. I need to make sure of place settings for the table, since we have ten people, which is one more than we've normally had for Christmas breakfast and dinner.
Menu plans:
Breakfast and lunch in this house are catch as catch can. I make no plan, other than to have . . . food . . . available.
Tonight's dinner: pub
Tomorrow (Friday):
My mother and brother have opted to wait until Christmas Eve to arrive, so there will be eight of us again, and it will be more laid back than I had previously thought. I think I'll just make cheese quiches and arugula salad and maybe some other side . . . I'd do soup, but that's the Christmas Eve plan.
Christmas Eve:
salmon chowder, macaroni and cheese, maybe a bean soup, too, for variety's sake. I have makings for all these things, so why not?
Christmas Day:
Brunch:
French toast (sourdough and raisin-bread)
sausage-egg casserole
stewed fruit (peaches and pears)
Dinner:
ham
baked apples with cranberries
roasted baby potatoes
roasted brussels sprouts
roasted carrots
sauteed green beans
apple pie
cookies
egg nog, if I get around to making it
Girding myself to hit the store again. I knew that if I said I wasn't going back I'd jinx myself, and sure enough, I have. But maybe this time . . . maybe, maybe . . . and from here on out I can send progeny to run errands.
Wearing, on this dreary cold wet day:
A repeat of what is fast becoming a favorite outfit. Amazing how I never wore these boots until I had a dress to wear them with. A couple of years ago I would have thought that this was too weird. Now I think it's the best. That is one advantage of staying in the Wool& Facebook group, even though it tempts me to want to buy more things --- I see what other people are wearing, think, "Oh, that's cute," and realize that I'd have been nervous about wearing it if I hadn't seen someone else go there.
So: these chronically underworn boots that I bought on Amazon about six years ago for the winter, plus my trusty Sierra dress, my quickly-becoming-a-favorite merino base-layer tee, my thrifted bamboo-cotton marble-print leggings, and unseen Boody bamboo socks, which are so soft and warm. Over this I wore my ragg-wool me-crocheted scarf and my usual gray puffer jacket, and I was warm and dry and comfortable, even in the rain.
Looking at this picture makes me think how pink shirts/dresses are good for revealing your skin tone. If you didn't look carefully, you'd think I was wearing a sleeveless dress with nothing under it. My shirt is a tad brighter and bluer than my skin, but not by much. It's right in harmony with my cheeks and lips.
As always, I think things like this are a far more helpful metric for choosing your best colors than are concepts like "warm" or "cool." Once again I've seen a discussion recently about whether Wool&'s marine blue was a "warm" blue or not, and I thought --- is this like asking whether ice is hot or cold? "Yeah, but how cold is the ice?" There's just a point where these terms become completely meaningless and unhelpful. I like the seasonal color palettes --- I have a whole list of "summer" ones in my sidebar --- insofar as they correspond to something actual about a person's coloring.
I do seem to fit the "summer" category, but it's because my eyes are a particular color, my skin is a particular color, my hair is a particular color, my lips are a particular color. When I know what those colors are, and what colors harmonize with those colors, instead of clashing, then that helps me. Knowing that there's no brown or orange in my lip color, for example (even though I have brown hair), helps me to know that I don't need to waste my money on colors like cinnamon or ochre. That's more useful to me than trying to figure out whether something is "warm" or "cool."
Knowing whether your coloring is high or low contrast, and paying attention to what feels in sync with your personality: all of that helps, too. I feel deeply uncomfortable in loud colors or patterns that make me too visible. Another personality might feel over-restrained in the muted colors that I feel good in --- like a voice in her head telling her she's too loud, or too much. That's as important as the color families themselves: how much contrast, how much brightness, how much saturation. I can do low-to-medium contrast, a good bit of saturation, but not super-bright. I can do subtle prints with soft lines (florals, mainly, or paisleys), but not bold geometric patterns with a lot of contrast. Again, just the thought of those patterns makes me uncomfortable, like being put on the spot in a crowded room when I'm not prepared.
Anyway, what I'm wearing today feels great. I love gray and pink together. I love this particular pink and this particular gray. I love the muted pattern of my leggings, as well as how soft they are. I love how I can be wearing a dress and still look and be outdoorsy.
I love how I can put off a dreaded task indefinitely by choosing to ruminate on things I've already ruminated on a thousand times before.
LATER:
OK, no soup spoons, but no worries. I did buy two red checked tablecloths (because my dining-room table is so long) for Christmas morning and hopefully dinner, too, depending on what does or does not get spilled at breakfast. I thought red gingham would be fun and bright and Christmasy, but useful year-round. I can use a single cloth on the kitchen table.
*have counted napkins for three meals (Christmas Eve, breakfast, dinner)
*have determined that the little Christmas tablecloth my grandmother gave my mother in 1963 does not need ironing. It's way too small for the dining-room table, but I use it as kind of a wide runner over another cloth, or by itself with placemats.
*have polished all the everyday silverplate cutlery, which only gets this kind of attention once a year.
*have . . . thought about? . . . cooking something? The kitchen has been a hub of activity all day, though, so I haven't thought too hard about trying to do something in there.
THINGS I MUST REMEMBER:
*that I bought Christmas crackers to put at everyone's place for Christmas dinner
*that I bought this nice fig spread to make tartlets with
*to make egg nog