I thought I’d take you on a little tour of some of the Christmas decorations around my house. Just a few, don’t want to bore you. I tried to keep it simple this year with fresh boughs and minimal clutter. I have a lovely and very extensive collection of Santas that are not making an appearance this year. Once in awhile you have to change up tradition.

Here is the (or was) the view out my dining room window a week ago after our lovely snow (which is pretty much gone now thanks to the rain we had on Sunday). I know it’s not current, but I like the photo. Note: you can see the lighted garland around the doorway into the sun room reflected in the window.

A welcoming and cozy front entry.

Fresh boughs, white lights, and a whimsical sleigh and reindeer on the dining room sideboard.

The living room.

The bears we bought during the Autumn Light Festival here in town (like a big street fair).  They are really supposed to be a foot stool, but I decided to make them focus of our side table in the living room.

Take a closer look and see how cute they are!

As for the snow part of this entry, well, we shall see. Right now we are under a winter storm watch with around 6-8 inches predicted. Truth is, they really don’t know what this storm is going to do until it gets closer. Right now it’s looking pretty good for some white stuff on the ground for Christmas. Snow totals will probably be higher around New York City and not as much “up North” where we live. I’m hoping to get snowed in but that probably won’t happen. I’d be happy with just some new snow. Wish along with me, will you? Thanks!

We’ve tried some new recipes over the the past week that have really turned out great. This one, Honey Mustard Pork Roast with Bacon I mentioned the other day. We got the recipe from the Giada on the Food Network. We are so totally Food Network junkies! When in doubt of what to watch we inevitably tune to food. Well, with one exception and that would be Paula Deen. I am sure she must have some good recipes but I can’t get around her affected accent. (Although she would probably heartily approve of this dish.) But I am digressing here. I didn’t really want to go down the Paula-Deen-you-drive-me-crazy-I-can’t-listen-to-you road. It’s supposed to be all about the food. So ...

Here is the pork before cooking in its blanket of bacon:

We paired it with a recipe out of Cooking Light that my sister told she had tried for Thanksgiving and everyone at her table raved about. Cipollini with Apples and Bacon. Yes, we had our bacon fix for the entire week with this meal but it was worth it! Cipollini are small white (Italian) onions. Unlike the tiny pearl onions, cipollini are fat and squat but just as hard to prep for cooking. Here they are still in the pan looking all caramelized. Yum! Delicious!

And here is the completed meal. We served the pork on a bed of lightly dressed arugula.

We also tried to reinvent a recipe we had while in the Finger Lakes. A crab cake on top of a grilled portabello mushroom. We tried a new crab cake recipe from Cooking Light that also included chopped up shrimp. It was very tasty but I think I would have preferred a normal old-style crab cake for this particular recipe. The crab cake gets lightly molded and bakes right in the mushroom cap. We served it with a crunchy and fresh pickled cucumber salad.

Are you getting hungry yet?

Being the foodies that we are, we are going to Sunday Lunch at Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Westchester County, New York this weekend. I had to make the reservation two months in advance! Neighbors Kim and Mark are joining us in this culinary adventure. It truly is an adventure since there are no menus at Blue Hill. Whatever is fresh that day is what you eat. We’ve been once before and you can read about it here. Elegant and upscale, gentlemen must wear a jacket and tie; ladies should be dressed equally so. Oh, dear. Must we go through what (not) to wear again? No, no, not to worry. I think it has to be the little basic black dress sans ruffles. Can’t wait!

I knew we were in trouble when I heard the plow scraping our road at 4:30 a.m. That meant it had snowed enough to plow. I didn’t even bother to get out of bed to see what it was doing, I just went back to sleep. Here is what I saw when I got up:

Now mind you, it got up to the low 40’s yesterday so there was no snow left on the table and chairs, nor on the deck railing. I figure somewhere between 4-6 inches of heavy, wet snow. I didn’t go out to measure because it was pouring rain. Yep, you heard right. Rain. On top of snow=slush. Heavy slush. No, more like sludge. So heavy it would appear that our forsythia hedge has suffered some breakage, as have some bushes against the garage. I need to go out and see if I can shake the heavy slush/sludge off the branches and see if some of them spring back. Rick was able to use the snowblower on the driveway, but only just. At least it wasn’t an ice storm!

When I got out of bed yesterday morning and tweaked the curtains open, what a sight lay before my eyes. The snow (all four+ inches of it) had stuck to the everything in sight and turned my yard into a Winter Wonderland. It was cold though, so we started a fire in the stove to ward off the below freezing chill. eBay can attest to how cozy the fire made the sun room.

As the sun made its way up I grabbed my camera and headed outside.

The wet snow had fallen without the aid of wind or even a breeze, allowing it to stick to and pile up on everything. Even our clothesline!

As the sun rose higher, the sky turned a brilliant blue.

And the moon shared the sky with the sun.

Before the snow, our weather had really been warm for quite some time so the snow didn’t stick as much to our driveway and we didn’t even have to use the snowblower. Rick did move some snow that had stuck right in front of our garage and I did have to shovel the front steps, but all-in-all it was a lovely first snow without much impact. It didn’t get warm enough yesterday to do much melting and the trees are still wearing most of their winter white clothing this morning. Today’s temperature is predicted for mid 30’s and by Wednesday we may get rain, so our snow won’t last much longer. I’m certainly enjoying it while it’s here!

Look what’s going on at my house today.

SNOW! Okay, it’s not too exciting in the amount department right now. We might get three inches, but I am not complaining. Oh no. I am ecstatic! An doubly so because today was the day we designated for getting the tree and decorating the inside of the house. How more perfect could it be? For once the weather forecast was spot on!

This morning we had to get up early to go to Goshen, New York to pick up Johnny’s tire. The other day when the traveling John Deere Spa came to our house to service Johnny and change out the mowing deck for the snow blower (what great timing!) they were supposed to bring a new inner tube for the tire but they forgot. They took the tire back up with them to fix it, and really, what good is a tractor without four wheels?

After that we did our grocery shopping for the weekend so we wouldn’t have to go back out. A few members of the local high school band were playing Christmas Carols outside the store. Festive! When we have no plans to go anywhere we just like to get everything done so we can just chill out for the rest of the weekend. It’s so peaceful and restful that way without any running around to do. We’re trying out a new recipe we saw on Food Network last week from Giada: Honey-Mustard Pork Roast wrapped in bacon. We’ll see how that goes a bit later!

Then we went to our favorite tree lot at Bear Swamp Farm (the same place where the CSA is), run by the Hosford family. (Allison Hosford also does our mushroom forays.) It was cold and damp and just starting to spit little fitful flakes of snow. The parking lot was jammed with cars; some already loaded with a tree strapped to the top while other still awaited their “topper.” They sell already cut trees fresh from Pennsylvania, or you can cut your own from the 15 acres available. No chain saws are allowed and they have a good supply of hand saws to take with you on your search for the perfect tree. People were singing carols as they searched, taking photos of getting ready to cut their tree, and just having a great time. Rick and I have cut trees from the same little spot for two years now, and after looking over some different areas decided to go back to “our” spot where there are mostly spruce trees.

Have you ever noticed that they look much smaller growing in the forest? We never learn. Anyway, after much deliberation between two trees, we selected our tree and carried it back to be wrapped up for transport. I couldn’t believe that they were selling big bundles of cut boughs for $1! I also bought a 20’ garland. Not sure just yet how I am going to use them. Neighbor Kim and I went back to Jungle Habitat and cut some fresh bittersweet the other day, so I plan to incorporate that into it somehow.

We get the tree home and into the house. We set it up still bundled in its netting. We unclip the netting, let down the boughs and ... it slightly overwhelms the space. It’s really too big. Not only that but in the forest the tree was gorgeous and perfectly straight up and down. This tree is, well, shall we say, a bit wonky? It grows straight from the trunk but something goes wrong about half way up. It’s totally crooked!!! Leaning like a drunkard, our tree is. Oh my. How could one tree look so different? Poor Rick twisted and turned the tree with me giving directions ... no, a little left ... maybe a bit more to the right ... trying to get it to look less crooked. I think we succeeded, finally. It will be beautiful once it’s decorated. Right now only the lights are on or I would should you a pic. Wait. I’ll get the camera. Hold on a minute. Now, remember, so far it’s just the lights.

See? You can’t tell it’s crooked, can you? I think it’s going to be lovely! (Note the snowy visage out the window!) A pic of the fully decorated tree in all its wonkyness will soon be posted. Right now I am going to pour myself a glass of nicely chilled Chardonnay and watch the snow drift past my window.

Have a peaceful night.

Addendum: Oh my goodness! I forgot our snowy visitors. They wanted to be included and I forgot them. They are too late for Thanksgiving, however.

Also, have you noticed the “On this day ...” in the right hand column of my blog? It shows blog entries posted on this day in previous years. This is today’s in case you missed it. Bella hasn’t changed too much ... except she’s much bigger. The attitude remains the same. But look at all the leaves in the yard! No snow yet!