We had a little snow over the weekend, which was nice as we had just decorated the tree.

I found some photos of our place last year after a snowstorm, so I thought I’d post them to get everyone in the holiday spirit.

Here’s our little tree sprite, Coco, standing on a woodpile:

Well, it was a great weekend. Denis was home, exhausted but very pleased with the success of his book, which will be #6 on the NY Times bestseller list this coming Sunday! He had so many great stories, as he always does. Very funny green room tales of nervous celebrities at talk shows, a hilarious story about a famous person who sat next to him on a flight. But most of all, he was quite touched by the number of people who stood out in the freezing cold for hours, waiting to have their books signed. He really, really enjoyed meeting his fans. Now he’s got two more weeks of Rescue Me shooting and then a month off!

Today I bought our Christmas tree. I bought a small tree this year, as our lanky six foot fiver is not here to put on the star, but also because we have decided to have everything smaller this Christmas, because of the economy and everything. Denis was flying back from Chicago – the final leg of his book tour and Dev was at school. So I picked out the tree myself, and felt a little sad watching the excited little ones choosing their trees with their families. Kids were jumping up and down, they were so thrilled about Christmas!

We still have big fires – that’s Daphne warming her paws by the hearth. She loves that fireplace (and I LOVE that dog.)
All the way to the tree farm and back I listened to Christmas carols, and I wept, as I always do when I hear the carols for the first time of the season. I love Christmas – what’s not to love? A sweet baby, a cozy manger, farm animals. A miracle. I’m sickly sentimental about Christmas and nobody in my family will sit next to me in church because I get so emotional singing the carols on Christmas Eve.

Today I listened to a mix of my favorite carols, beginning with Nat King Cole singing, “O Holy Night.” This is the part that made me start sniffling a little:

Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
‘Til He appear’d and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! O, hear the angels’ voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born;

The thrill of hope, weary world line, made me think of our recent election. Tear. Then I heard Judy Garland sing “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”. There are so many versions of that song, but I like hers the best because it’s the saddest and because I recall that my mother told me once, when I was little, that it was her favorite carol. Tear. Then I recalled watching a montage on the evening news when I was little – it was during the Vietnam war – and they played, “I’ll Be Home For Christmas.” (it must have been Bing Crosby singing it), while showing footage of soldiers in the jungle – and my mother was explaining to me why it was so sad. Tears.

There’s a carol that is sung around the holidays at the Congregational Church that we attend, really, only at Christmas time (shameful lapsed Catholics that we are) and I actually have to close my eyes and completely disassociate myself while it is being sung for fear that I will collapse in sobs. It is a carol made from a poem written in the 1870s by English poet Christina Rossetti. There are different versions of the carol, but here is the original poem.

In The Bleak Midwinter

In the bleak midwinter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen,
Snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter,
Long ago.
Our God, heaven cannot hold him,
Nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away
When he comes to reign;
In the bleak midwinter
A stable place sufficed
The Lord God incarnate,
Jesus Christ.
Enough for him, whom Cherubim
Worship night and day
A breast full of milk
And a manger full of hay.
Enough for him, whom angels
Fall down before,
The ox and ass and camel
which adore.
Angels and archangels
May have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim
Thronged the air;
But his mother only,
In her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the Beloved
With a kiss.
What can I give him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd
I would bring a lamb,
If I were a wise man
I would do my part,
Yet what can I give Him —
Give my heart.

I was just visiting my friend Fran Keilty at the Hickory Stick Bookshop here in Washington Depot, CT and we discussed, once again, how difficult it is for the independently owned businesses like the Hickory Stick and another favorite of mine, the Bank Street Book Nook, owned by my friend Janet Ryan in New Milford, to compete with the major chain retailers.

I think people don’t understand that many of the conveniences such as online shopping and gift card ordering are available through independent retailers, not just the major chain stores. For example, I can order a gift card, on the Hickory Stick or the Book Nook websites, and my niece Annie, the bookworm, can use it at the Spirit of ‘76 Bookstore in Marblehead, MA, where she lives. That way she can ride her bike to the book store and pick out a book, rather than have my sister drive her all the way to the nearest mall (though there’s nothing my sister loves more than driving children, don’t get me wrong).

According to Indie Bound, an organization that promotes independent booksellers, when you shop at an independently owned business, your entire community benefits in the following ways:

The Economy
Spend $100 at a local and $68 of that stays in your community. Spend the same $100 at a national chain, and your community only sees $43.
Local businesses create higher-paying jobs for our neighbors.
More of your taxes are reinvested in your community–where they belong.

The Environment
Buying local means less packaging, less transportation, and a smaller carbon footprint. Shopping in a local business district means less infrastructure, less maintenance, and more money to beautify your community.

The Community
Local retailers are your friends and neighbors—support them and they’ll support you.
Local businesses donate to charities at more than twice the rate of national chains.
More independents means more choice, more diversity, and a truly unique community.

Finally, since these are tough times and we’re all tightening our belts a little, consider buying books for everyone on your holiday gift list this year. A collection of love poems by Pablo Neruda for your beloved, a book of beautiful photographs, how-to books, travel books, even books like these, or this masterpiece make great gifts.

I know I spend a lot of time on this blog griping about country life, but in all honesty I love where I live. Today, I had to go into the city, and on the way home I was feeling very melancholy (because I’m perverse and deranged, nobody as blessed and lucky as me should ever be sad but there you have it) but as soon as I reached this bridge, I felt better, as I always do.

I cross this bridge many times a week. I will never tire of it, and often exclaim out loud about the view, even if it’s just my dogs in the car with me. I’ve seen the sun rising on one side and setting on the other, many times. I’ve seen the lake below filled with waterskiers and frozen solid.

It’s called Lake Lillinonah, which always makes me think Peter Pan should be living on its shores.

Today, because the light was so perfect, I parked my car and got out to take some photos.

The air was cool and fragrant and and the lake was as still as glass. The afternoon light is quite stark and beautiful this time of year because the leaves have all gone and there’s just so much of it – so much light – on a day like today, with the sky so clear and so blue. And you can see the landscape in a way you couldn’t a few weeks ago.

Today, standing on the shore of this lake, I felt that I make my life very complicated and if I strip away all the rot, the dead foliage of my mind (and soul), things are very simple and clear and good.

I spent the day holed up in my office and made the mistake, once again, of working until it was dark. It just gets dark so early now. I hate going up to our horse barn to feed the beasts at night because the barn is so dimly lit and I keep seeing mice flitting about. One ran up the wall of a stall that I was leaning against the other night! I have to get a new barn cat.

It wasn’t completely dark when I got up there tonight and I was able to get this shot of the sunset.

My internet ramblings have led me to some great leads in the barn cat search. Right now, this cat “Burger” is my top choice. I think he’d have my barn rodent free in no time. What do you think?

What is it about male orange cats? Our poor departed Sneakers was a very angry fellow as well. But he was a great, great mouser.

My daughter Devin and I are in Boston this morning. We drove Jack to school here, yesterday. We did some Christmas shopping and had dinner with my mother, sister and niece and we stayed overnight in a beautiful hotel room with this view of the Public Gardens:

Sorry, the window and rain make everything a bit blurry.

I told Devin that I remembered when they built this hotel. She asked if I thought, then, that I would ever stay here. I said that I never thought, then, that I’d be able to afford to eat here. But here we are!

I don’t know why there are still leaves on the trees here. Boston is farther north than where we are in Connecticut, but perhaps being so close to the water makes it a little warmer.

I always feel a little nostalgic when I visit Boston, but only a little because the city has changed so drastically since we lived here, now over 18 years ago. It’s so clean and polished now. I get all lost with the Southeast Expressway (do they even call it that now) being underground.

Well, It’s like New York. It’s cleaner and refreshed but has lost some of it’s original color that made it so great. It feels safer and less safe somehow. There’s no Combat Zone. Where did it go? But I will drag Dev around before we leave and say, “that’s where Daddy and I met. There’s our first apartment building. That used to be a comedy club. That used to be where prostitutes worked.” I’ll be thinking, there’s where I was young, and there, and there….