Advent

We are in the 3rd week of Advent, the New Year's of the Christian calendar, the 12 days of Christmas beginning on the 25th and ending on Epiphany, January 6th. We helped mark it by attending a Lessons and Carols service at a neighborhood church, where the prophetic readings and somber music gave the aesthetic-historical setting - from Genesis to Revelation - of the messiah.

But first things first: the tree

This is a free tree donated by the farm to Michael, as we bought an Oregon delivered Norwood Pine. CA climate is not conducive to the firs and evergreens of the northwest, so these are imported.

Everyone busily went in decorating mode:

The handpainted sailboat is from a Greek toymaker in Athens. his son was Michael's age

Given the hardtimes, we have often wondered how his little store was faring; it barely survived the transition to EU status when we visited. Enormous frustration was evident with every local we spoke with, so I wasn't surprised when the riots began last year.

Michael relishes decorating and festivities in general.

I love this creche ornament Michael made

Ornaments are generally memory devices, so Jack was disappointed at all the "ohs!" and "oohs!" in our "paint by numbers" nostalgia, each loving object connecting a line from a moment in the past to now; his marking-history by-ornament isn't as established yet, so he was overjoyed when finally finding a photo-ornament framing his adoption picture.

The gingerbread cookies are a favorite, although this ready-made dough had a WASPy flavor - less dark and molasses-laden. Carolyn has been rolling out shapes with the boys every year.

I made my Swiss leckerli cookies - bready confections influenced by the Germanic traditions of Basel - with a unique hot honey, candied fruit dough with kirsch glaze that takes days to soften. They are robust flavored, spicy.