the grumpy and the smiling

Happy December!

What, you think that this is completely inappropriate, given that the world is falling apart around us and everything is crashing into an abyss of horror? Well, all true. Nonetheless, let me put it out there: let's aim for a happy December.

Here, at the farmette, we are working on just that. With some success some of the time. For example when we are not reading the news or when I am not playing Christmas music without earbuds.

No sooner had I written here, on Ocean, that Ed was an utter angel with respect to the holidays, than I noticed the slow crawl toward the grumps on his part. It may have been the result of me launching the Great Christmas Wrapping Project. Stuff covering the floor, chaos everywhere. And of course, I need music to wrap. (Though I did use headphones so no complaints allowed!) Or maybe it was that I asked his advice on scheduling the next surgical dental procedure. We don't tend to ask for, or offer advice, so he got a little discombobulated over that one. Or maybe it was that I did not want to go for a long hike. I have too much to do here. I can't take the time to go to Brooklyn Wildlife. (Instead, we did walk locally, in a city park. It was too close to the highway. So -- loud.) 

Or maybe it was that I got grumpy first. Momentarily. But he caught me at it and said -- take a deep breath. I know this time of the year can be stressful. Then he went back to idly browsing his computer.

The fact is, that December is not stressful, it is beautiful. I then made the mistake of trying to convince him of it. There is Ed, with his very idiosyncratic belief systems and then, additionally, there is a type -- a species of human that refuses to feel joyful in the weeks leading up to the holidays. This type will come back to work after Christmas and say things like -- I'm sure glad that's behind us! All that work!  Even as they are rarely that household member who does most (any?) of the holiday work. 

So we had to put in a little effort to combat grumpiness. Starting right at breakfast time.  

 

Dance, please! Do not disturb the puzzle! I'm just getting the border finished!

In the afternoon, any dumb irritants faded. I got my box of glass ornaments from 32 North and they were beautiful! Here, I'll show you some tree improvements! Scandinavia meets central Europe.

Now of course, the tree, to me, feels very underlit. I'll redo the lights on Friday! (Insert either smile or eye roll emoji here, depending...)

Still, it is very very beautiful. 

 

 

 

And here, in case you too are fighting a wave of no-good-reason grumpiness, throw a glance at this article in the New Yorker. I did not get all the subtexts in it, but most of them did make me smile. It has come to this: the pandemic has been with us for so long, that we are already able to laugh at ourselves within it. Not at everything, but at least around the edges. And I think that is probably a good thing.

Now, back to my wrapping. With a smile and with love.