Plum Pudding Sunday

It is a perfectly sunny day, and warming up out there very nicely. As I type, my husband's plum pudding is steaming in the kitchen and pretty soon, the entire house will smell like an English bakery.

Last night was A & D's Christmas Open House..... and what a great party! As soon as you walked up to their front door, you could hear tiny bells coming from their courtyard. D had set up a miniature brass band on a small table there and the Christmas songs it played could be heard as soon as you parked your car. It was the perfect thing to get everyone smiling even before they walked into the front door.

A's dining room table was filled with desserts, everything from cookies to cakes to her homemade cheesecake, which is the best. Her kitchen had all sorts of hot foods set out on the counter-tops, and the table in the breakfast room held lots of chippy-dippy foods to pick on. Hot apple cider was simmering in the kitchen and just the aroma of that gave everyone a boost of holiday spirit.

Lots of people there... neighbors from her street and mine, friends from their church and the sub-division. Everyone oohing and aahing over A's collection of Santas, snowmen, and nutcrackers. No matter where you looked, you saw Christmas. Perfect party!

And now that both our party and A's party are happy memories, we can get down to preparing for the next big day... Christmas dinner. So that's what I'll be doing all this week. First things first-- I have got to get to the supermarket and get everything I need for Christmas day. I haven't been to the supermarket since a couple of days before our party. I kept putting it off, and just using whatever I had in the freezer, the fridge and the pantry-closet. Which made for interesting meals.... I had a baked sweet potato for breakfast one day. And there hasn't been a banana in this house since the day after my party.

There was a Christmas story in the Parade Magazine insert of today's Houston Chronicle. Its title is "Make a Holiday For Someone," written by Mitch Albom. (He's the author of Tuesdays With Morrie and The Five People You Meet In Heaven.... books that everyone needs to read!)

The gist of the story is that everyone should get into the holiday spirit and give some Christmas joy to others less fortunate. At the end of this Christmas article, the author writes: "I have always been partial to that Beatles lyric-- And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make." I don't know which Beatles song that was from, and I don't think I've ever heard that line before, but I think it is just the best thing to remember.

On that wonderful note.... today is a gorgeous, beautiful day..... sunny and warm, lots of blue sky. Another day that makes you want to go out and hug a tree.