Hello All!

It’s that time of year again, and I’m so excited I can hardly contain myself. However, December arrived before I knew it. Engrossed in writing the newest Harrigan book, time has flown. One evening, shortly before Thanksgiving, Sid and I were headed home from town. While searching for country music on the radio, we were surprised to hear holiday music playing on several stations. Each year, it seems to play sooner and sooner. I looked over at Sid and said “Wow, it can’t be time for Christmas yet.” Then he reminded me how close it was to Thanksgiving, and I realized it truly is almost Christmas. How did that happen?

While I don’t go out to Black Friday events anymore, both family and close friends were overjoyed to see huge discounts on merchandise that day. Then it was Cyber Monday, which is actually more my speed. I hopped online and secured some great deals for my loved ones. Living in a remote area, it is just too convenient to greet the UPS or FED EX driver as they deliver packages directly to my doorstep. In my estimation, bargains will abound throughout the rest of the year. If you are comfortable shopping online, don’t forget about the coupon sites. There’s a lot of money to be saved, and new coupons pop up daily for most big box retailers as well. Just do a Google for the store name and the word coupon, promotional code, or discount code. Years ago there were only a few sites. Now, there’s at least a dozen for your choosing.

Our Thanksgiving this year was marvelous. All in all, we had a joyous day. John arrived early in the morning, sans Joshua, so it was only the three of us for dinner. We had a wonderful ham and a smoked turkey that John brought. Sid made his famous cornbread and sausage stuffing. All of us ate too much! Around five, Jennifer and Toby Wilson came over. I had made some fabulous low-fat, sugar free eggnog, two half gallons. Everyone loved it. So we had drinks, finger food, and unearthed the karaoke machine. Toby and I blasted everyone out, singing oldie but goodies off key. The Wilsons left early—around nine. I was sorry to see the evening end, but truthfully, I was as tired as they were. Since I had gotten up early that morning, I was beat. So we snuggled down for the evening while I worried about cleaning up the next morning. Really it was for naught, because Sid pitched in and we were done in no time.

Now, we’re gearing up for the Christmas season. You may recall at this time last year, I wrote that Cinnamon Ridge would be an awesome home for entertaining large groups of people upon completion of the renovations. We are having a large gathering here at Cinnamon Ridge—thirty-some-odd people—for a semi-potluck dinner, casual dress. Our dining table only seats ten comfortably, so we’re bringing in our extra tables and chairs, sturdy molded plastic things, which we’ve used for large holiday gatherings before. The main dining table will be covered with a hunter green tablecloth, and the settings will be Royal Albert china, an old English tea rose pattern, with gold flatware and artfully folded plum napkins on each plate. Down the center of the table, we’ll design a slender swag of pine boughs, interlaced with ribbon and plum pillar candles, encircled by holly and berries. The extra tables will be covered in white with everyday stoneware dishes, a rich gold and brown pattern. Flatware will be inside little Christmas stockings at the side of each plate, and artfully folded napkins of varying colors will sit at the center of each. We’ll have one very long extra banquet table that seats twenty, and an extra round table that seats four. Down the center of the banquet table, we’ll create another swag to match the one on the main table, only it will have cranberry votive goblets inserted here and there among the boughs. We will carry that theme to the round table as well.

In the entry hall, we have three shelves high on the greeting wall with electrical outlets, the center one higher than the two flanking it. On the center shelf, we arranged pine garland with fairy lights around two gold papier-mâché reindeer with magnolia blossoms encircling their necks. The flanking shelf to the right holds a small lighted Christmas tree surrounded by gaily wrapped boxes. The flanking shelf to the left displays a gold sleigh filled with greenery, apple picks, and poinsettia and beside it is a tall cranberry vase filled with pine boughs and winter berries. The fig tree in the corner of the hall is also strung with fairy lights and has Christmas picks inserted in the pot amongst the greenery to make it more festive. The wet bar is gorgeous with lighted evergreen garland looped around the facial beams and unlighted evergreen garland spiraling up the support logs. A nativity will be displayed on the hutch. A darling bear nativity will be opposite an angel display in the entertainment center. We will probably have a few lights outside on the portico log beams, too.

So, as you can see, we have done lots of decorating and still have more to do! Sid and John retrieved the Christmas decorations from storage, and hung some outdoor lighting. We’re now off and running. We’ll be waiting to put up a tree until our Kiwis arrive, though. We’re planning to spend one afternoon looking for a tree, possibly at a lot, or with a permit in the forest behind the ridge. Perhaps we’ll just don snow gear and go traipsing through our own woods to find a tree. Once said tree is procured, we will have a family tree trimming party complete with eggnog, mulled wine, spiced hot cider and other goodies.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day will be spent as a family on Cinnamon Ridge. When we have little ones, (Liam’s five years old this year, and Jonas is two,) we have a fabulous Christmas Eve tradition. When it gets dark and is nearly little-guy bedtime, we pile into four-wheel drive vehicles and hit the back roads on and around the ridge, searching for reindeer tracks in the snow. It is very exciting, with flashlights and headlights bobbing through the trees. And we always find reindeer tracks, visible proof that Santa is out there, just waiting for us to fall asleep so he can steal down our chimney and leave gifts. Thank goodness for all our resident deer! When Joshua was Liam’s age, he came home with eyes as round as flapjacks because his daddy even found sleigh-runner tracks in the snow. (Snowmobile tracks. ) After the little one eagerly jumps into bed, has a Christmas story read aloud, and falls asleep, Santa frantically goes to work! And he mustn’t forget to nibble on the plate of cookies left for him by the fire. We will also be putting out food for the reindeer, which I’m sure will be rapidly consumed by my regular deer who visit nightly.

It is also a family tradition to attend Midnight Mass. One adult remains at home with children too young to attend. The celebration is beautiful beyond description, so beautiful that the church is overflowing with people, many of them non-Catholics who simply yearn for that religious experience to make their Christmas feel holy and complete. Everyone in the church has a lighted candle, and all the lights are turned out. It is my favorite liturgy of the year, except for the Easter Vigil Mass.

We are presently hoping to get together with a church friend, Jennifer Wilson, to celebrate a traditional Boxing Day on the 26th. Jennifer’s father is British, and she grew up celebrating Boxing Day, and my daughter-in-law Mary, also from the UK, celebrates it every year. Mary’s going to snitch some of her mom’s traditional Boxing Day recipes. I believe the celebration will be at Jennifer’s house, with friends dropping by all day for buffet treats and good company. John will also be picking Joshua up on the 26th, and we’ll have a second gift opening by our tree at some point during the day.

On the 29th and 30th, Andy and Mary’s friends from Portland will be here. We’ll have another large dinner the evening of the 29th and just visit with them. They may spend the night here, versus a motel, so we’ll be juggling kids and adults to have enough sleeping accommodations.

For New Year’s Eve, my niece Gerry and her husband David will arrive to celebrate and ring in 2010 with us. They are bringing a blow-up air mattress. We will have quite a group here, I’m sure, Andy, Mary, Liam, Jonas, John, Joshua, Gerry, and David, the Wilson family, numbering 5, and Sid and I, plus whoever else decides to wander over. If people consume alcohol they are strongly encouraged to spend the night, and most welcome the invitation. We end up with people asleep in strange places, but it is a safety thing, and a lot of fun, besides. Over July 4th, we had so many overnighters that we ran out of extra blankets and afghans, so I found guests covered with bath towels!

All in all, New Year’s Day will be a family affair, with good food, football, and visiting. It will be my day to put my feet up and relax.

Just reviewing my upcoming events has my head spinning! I’m sure you, too, are making great plans for the holiday season. If you have a moment, I’d love to hear about them at www.catherineanderson.com, cthrnandrsn@aol.com, MySpace, and/or Facebook. In addition, I’ll be posting many holiday ‘tweets’ to my followers at www.twitter.com/cthrnandrsn. If you haven’t yet signed up to follow me, I can’t think of a better time. Above all, be merry and safe!

Best Wishes,

Catherine Anderson