A Bag of Carrots

One of the groups I belong to had its holiday party today, a so-called Yankee Swap where no grab bag gift is safe until the person who draws #1 has his/her say. We had a lot of fun and there were the usual oddly wrapped presents, lottery tickets, coffee mugs and the like. The gift that caused the most comments and funny remarks was a bag of carrots which someone "gifted."

It was a healthy, useful, gift, although the carrots were not organic and must have cost far less than the $5.00 limit. But it was also a comic gift and the good-natured joshing and barbs produced good laughs. We all need good laughs.

Our guest left today, with a suitcase loaded with loot, I mean presents. We roasted the lean pork which so far produced nine servings and there's still two more in the fridge, although the green beans, fruit, gravy and sides are all gone. Ah, the gravy. How savory it was!

I've baked five batches of cookies so far, and the pecan ones are so good I'll have to repeat them. Maybe put the recipe on the blog. I think it's from Bon Appetit. I also have some killer chocolate cookies (decadence incarnte) that are so dark and chocolately they seem a sin.

The snow that fell today and covered up the yucko frozen snow that looked like "topping" is beautiful. Snow before Christmas is cool, and it didn't jam up the roads and traffic too much, although driving past Providence in rush hour was no walk in the park. Hardly anything is a walk in the park, and sometimes even a walk in the park in not a walk in the park. The last park I was in was Central, and the president's motorcade came through, and that was not a walk in the park.

O.K. Cows are cool. Still in the enclosure by the barn. Baby seems to be fine. Old mama is no doubt a solicitious mom, although she's calved so many times she doesn't get too excited about it. She was trying to make the calf stand up. Obviously, it finally did.

Our tree is up and decorated with stuff from Victorian times to the moose I bought this summer in Alaska. Over one hundred years of decorations including Great Grandma's. I love it. It's so nice hearing from old friends. One of the best things about the season.

Be joyous, be generous, and sing some old timey carols. Nothing beats the really old ones.

Grapeshot, who is kind of a new old-fashioned girl