The Preparations Begin

What a year it's been. For the most part, not a very good, or a very nice year. There's the obvious of this past week--the election.

Five weeks ago I cut my finger badly while working in the kitchen (two ER visits)...not a lot of fun, that. It's going to be weeks or months before I can go without a dressing on the wound, but it is beginning to heal nicely.

We've had colds, bronchitis, food poisoning...yikes.

Well, enough of that. Thanksgiving is in a couple of weeks. Before that, there's a lovely vintage market to attend in Boston, and on the following day, I've organized a group to dress up in 20s garb and go to see Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

It's really been a funny year. For one reason and another, I have done very little canning. Only one batch of jelly, one of marmalade, and a few pints of pickles. Good thing that past couple of years have been so productive! I count on those things for Christmas presents, and use them as hostess gifts.

Finally, this past week I made mincemeat. Not the traditional stuff, but a cranberry mincemeat. It's good, but rather tart, and not as rich as the green tomato mincemeat I've made in the past. I am considering my first batch of real mincemeat, too.

Two fruitcakes are maturing in the cellar; a white one, a light one, and a third (dark) is in the works; the fruit and nuts are soaking in brandy now.

There will be little or no Christmas knitting. What with all the weirdness, and then the hand injury, it's just not going to happen. I can knit, but not marathon style, and as I'm so far behind, that's the only way I'd manage it!

For Thanksgiving my husband and I are going out to dinner with a friend who lives in the area; we'll be dining at one of the old, traditional New England restaurants we're so lucky to have here.

I just might make a Thanksgiving dessert, though. Possibly. We'll see...but it would be a lovely excuse to come back here, light a fire, and have dessert, tea, coffee, and brandy at our leisure.