Dare

So you wish to hear a little more about my word for the year. Dare is the word and, just because I am so timid and fearful about many things, I am afraid to tell you how I hope to use the word; therefore, I am going to do it anyway.

I have shared briefly and from time to time that I have been writing. I have always written. My mother packed my construction paper bound stories away in a wee trunk. Funny little stories that are mostly reworkings of Wagon Train scripts. I do crack myself up. In adulthood, I've continued to write essays and short stories.

As most of you know, any first novel (written by anyone) is largely autobiographical. I have been working on such a book for years. It gets put away and I can't find it for years and then I find it again and it all begins over again. To put an end to my torment of never finishing anything I start, I have decided/dared to post it here. It will be on a separate page. I'll probably post it one chapter/portion at a time and it will be your choice to read or not. There will be no comments removing any difficulty one might have of not knowing how to tell me that it's all drivel. I am not selling it. I am not planning to ever publish it elsewhere. It's just a way to get it off my chest. [Edited to Add: "Off my chest" as in the not finishing of a thing and not any angst that might be associated with my life. Though this little book is autobiographical, it is most definitely not an autobiography.] Since these portions do not exist on a disk or on my computer, I must retype them. The first chapter should be up sometime next week. I'll mention it that day and then I'll not be mentioning it further.

There are a great many other ways that I hope to use the word and I may share them as we go. It's already begun today. For example, I wanted to go to "the city" and enlisted John's going along. I really dislike going anywhere alone. I can do it, though only with great effort. Now that I see how cold and windy it is out there, I'm talking myself completely out of it. And so it goes... I can become one very happy cabin queer gal in winter perfectly content in my own little realm.

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Tomorrow is the final day of Christmas until next December. Do you love, as I do, that a year begins and ends with Christmas?

I hope that not all of you have put away your Nativity Sets. Epiphany is the perfect day to bring the Nativity set to the table using it as the focal point.

Yes, I do appreciate symbolism — metaphor, simile, motif — it's all good. 

I'm almost ready to pack Christmas away, though if you decide to read here, there are at least two more Christmas posts in the wings. Yup, I dare to do it.

Tea and Cookies

I don't feel very much like Pooh today, said Pooh. There, there, said Piglet, I'll bring you tea and honey until you do.

A good pot of tea can set a great many things to rights and that's the truth. This is my new Christmas tea pot, which I will use all year through because it pours so nicely. Until now, all I've owned have leaky spouts. Not fun. Some of them are going to be donated very soon and I will be so kind as to put a small card in that says "spout leaks." 

This pot is so very new that I tempered it again by sticking a long handled tea spoon in the pot and very carefully pouring the hot water on the spoon rather than directly into the tea pot.

Isn't she lovely? I do think so. I ordered mine online through Amazon using a dear friend's Amazon widget. If you have a blogging buddy who has one, you might like to order that way, too, so that she may get points. It's easy and just one minor extra step of going to visit your friend and gaining access that way.

I don't usually select a word for the year, but when you are looking smack dab at a great word perhaps the Lord is speaking. Which word do you think I may have chosen? These are the last of the cookies, Niki. I will savor them. (I'm actually down to the last one now. I am taking wee mousy bites.)

When I found two more little gift boxes in the Christmas stationery this morning, I decided to decorate the tree some more. (John is already asking, "How many more days now will the tree be up? ☺)

And in so decorating the tree found a little package for my daughter. I have no idea what is in it so it's kind of exciting. It can't be much because I know that she got her larger gifts. It reminds me of a great post I read just yesterday titled Happy New Year and The One Good Thing About the Aging Process. So funny! And so odd that it has already happened to me this morning!

Off to refresh the cedar. It's getting a bit crispy. Since my Beloved is off for the day, I have much to do...I'll catch you later. I promise!