The stockings are hung by the chimney in some semblance of order (the Texasgirl is bringing her husband's stocking, which lives at their house all year). No, they don't all match. Nothing about our Christmas really matches. There is no coordination. The package of cup hooks in the manger is indicative of our state of affairs.
The house does look nice, though, inside and out.
I had to magic-erase the house numbers --- the porch support holding the mailbox doesn't really have a bite taken out of it. There's nothing I can do at this point about the rusty metal shingles or the dog scratches on the front door ---
--- but this is reality nice, not some kind of influencer shoot. Inside, yeah, the wood floors are really banged and scratched, and I didn't get around to waxing the unfinished ones, but whatever. Again: reality nice. We have clean bathrooms. We have comfortable beds. We have food. We have, in increasing proportions, conviviality.
A lot of conviviality will turn up in the small hours of the night: the Texascouple driving in from Dallas, Anastasia (I really need to come up with more nicknames here) flying from Missoula. Everyone else, I think, is coming Monday, though it occurs to me that I should check in with my mother today, just to be sure I'm not caught out tomorrow night, without enough dinner or places set.
Right now, I'm going to wash my hair and contemplate the day. I know what's for dinner Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights, but not what's for dinner tonight or tomorrow. So I need to think about that kind of thing. Also, it's cold --- the mountains are receiving an "Arctic blast" and some snow. Here, we have lows in the 20s Farenheit, but highs above freezing, which is okay with me. Still, it's not balmy. Not a t-shirt Christmas. So I need to think about layers.
*
*
*
OK, hair washed, body cleansed, clothes on.
Wearing:
*Wool& Willow dress (M/Long) in Ocean Teal, bought October 2023, last worn December 7. Total wears this year to date: 22
*Secondhand Icebreaker Dusty Rose merino base-layer tee, bought January 2023, I think (???).
*Secondhand Talbots merino blazer cardigan, bought January 2023 (that I do know!)
*Snag cashmere footless tights, bought summer 2024, first season of wear
*Darn Tough Socks, bought summer 2023, second season of wear
*Secondhand Keens Baby Bern boots, bought December 2024, first wear.
I feel perhaps a little overdressed for a standard Saturday, but then . . . what I'm wearing is just as comfortable as leggings and a sweatshirt, and miles more comfortable than jeans, so why not? Going to give these new-to-me boots the dog-walk test, but I think they'll be fine. The leather needs to give some to mold to my feet, but it will --- that's what leather does.
Trying to think what needs doing today. Not actually that much . . . I might make chili for tonight, since it's cold. And I need to switch over some laundry and run another load, all bedding and towels and kitchen linens. Gotta stay on top of that.
But now it's dog-walk time. My hair is about 3/4 dry, so I suppose I won't freeze, especially now that the sun is shining.
And I see that in today's Prufrock (paywalled, alas for those who have not subscribed), my friend and Christian Poetry in America co-editor Micah Mattix has featured my poem "Cul-de-Sac" from the New Verse Review Halloween mini-issue (not paywalled). So that's a nice little spirit-lifter amid all the Christmas hustle.