Amanda shares these free-form posts each Sunday night with the shape of her weekends. I thought this week I might do the same. (Yes, I accept the accusation that it’s a cop-out on composition and narrative.)

loud, upbeat music turns a friday night sulk into a dance party.
saturday is a day in the kitchen:
i find clothilde’s quince recipe
and make applesauce
and roast a pumpkin.
dishes. so. many. dishes.
clean sheets for the bed.
clean towels for the bathroom.
never out of pj’s.
a nice long chat with rudi’s mom.
a supernatural british tv show may be too scary for me.
finish knitting a sock.
start a new book.
today starts with the farmers’ market:
more quince for cheap,
the first rockfish of the season,
beets to go with the cabbage i bought last week.
then out to hyattsville with rudi, john, and sarah:
lunch at franklin’s
followed by a poke around a tangled skein.
secret service at politics and prose. didn’t see the famous politico’s family member.
rudi notices their vanilla syrup for my steamer is hand-made; no wonder it’s so potent.
the grocery store is less crowded than feared, and the cats appreciate being fed.
home in time for an accidental nap on the sofa, then the super bowl.
cast on a hat for a swap gift — pretty purples and quite squishy.
the pats didn’t win, but you couldn’t begrudge the giants their first and fourth quarters.
betty white, darth vader, and clint eastwood had the best commercials. matthew broderick and snoopy did well too.
madonna was okay, but needed shorter heels.
cocoa before bed.

Rudi and I got a new tv for Christmas. We’ve watched some tv shows and some movies on it, but I think this is the nicest thing I’ve seen on it thus far.

And, yes, those were taken back at the beginning of the month. Our tree is not still up.

Today is Russian Christmas and the 12th Day of Christmas in Western Christian religions (also known as Three Kings Day). I did not get twelve drummers, but I did get an Icelandic cd on which there is some drumming (I think…).

I hope your celebrations have been merry and that your upcoming year is one of good fortune.

This week’s Ten on Tuesday list is 10 Things I Want to Do in 2012:

1. Knit myself a sweater this winter. I have two yarn possibilities in contention and about a dozen patterns. You may see more about this later this month. Of course, the rest of my knitting resolutions for this winter would also be nice to get through.
2. Bake — at least once a month. I gave some baked Christmas gifts this year and then made some quick bread (double chocolate cherry) for Rudi and me to eat while watching the Rose Parade. I like doing it. I’m not always good at it, but even when you mess up baking, it’s still usually tasty.
3. Read. I stalled out at just over 40 books for the year, well under last year’s number. I’d like to get back to reading one a week (and then quickly blogging about it).
4. Have people over. I think we fell to an all-time low for entertaining last year. I’d like to get this number back up to once a month. Maybe a potluck? Or a movie night? Or a way to not eat all of those baked goods mentioned above by myself party?
5. Focus our cleaning efforts on one major thing a month. I’d like to keep the Burrow generally tidy, but we have way more than we need, and (I hope) it’s just a state of being overwhelmed that keeps us from dealing with it. If we divvy it up into reasonable chunks — like a month to deal with our two closets — maybe it would seem more manageable.
6. Plan our next big trip. It would be nice to plan another big trip like Iceland for 2012, but it may be that we can’t take it until next year. Either way, I think it would be good to figure out where we might go next.
7. Start going to yoga again. I vowed early this fall that I was going to go to yoga every week and then I didn’t go to a single class.
8. Explore four new-to-me restaurants. We get into a bit of a rut. But given I live two blocks from a plethora of restaurants, it’s a real shame I haven’t explored more of them, no matter how much I love Pete’s.
9. Gain access to the Library of Congress. Apparently the LOC allows people to get a card. It won’t let you take books out, but you can request them and then peruse them in the reading room. I want to be one of those people. Because how cool would that be?!?!
10. Go dancing at Glen Echo Ballroom. Sarah mentioned in her list this afternoon that she wanted to dance more, and that reminded me that several friends and I have thrown around this possibility for years now. 2012 is the year to make it up there and swing dance our feet off for the night.

How about you? What are some things you’d like to do in the next 12 months?

The problem with not being a fully anonymous blog is that it’s impossible to share private details without the possibility of having them made public. As such, know I have a big resolution for 2012 that I can’t share with you right now, but that I will when I’ve made it happen. It will require me to push boundaries and open myself up to uncomfortable possibilities and, frankly, scares the shit out of me, which probably means it’s exactly the right resolution to make here and now. Except that I can’t share it with you — whom I’m sure would mostly be in support of it.

So I shall make some blog-friendly resolutions as well:

1. Attend more concerts. I like listening to music and I don’t do enough of it. The drunk-fest that was the Mumford and Sons concert at Merriweather Post this summer suggests that smaller, less popular venues will probably make me happier, so maybe this will be the year of the house concert.
2. Actively pursue daylight. I’m bad about getting outside, particularly early, which is what’s required to see the sun at this time of year. But daylight is an important part of keeping your mental health in order, so I’m going to take a lunch break outside a couple times a week and walk/bike to work a couple times a week and not dilly-dally until 3 in the afternoon on weekends before getting out of the house.
3. Review books here on the blog within three days of finishing them. I get behind every year and I get irritated with myself, because I like having a record of what I’ve read. Because I have this tendency to get backlogged (like I am right now), the three-day rule ought to just force me to write whatever crappy review will get it out of my queue and into my online records.

Today I’d like to offer you three things to make your Christmas merry:

1. An old favorite Christmas tune

Non-Flash version: The Statler Brothers – “Carols Those Kids Used To Sing”

2. Eskimo Cookies
Un-p.c. name aside, these are great cookies to make with small people and great cookies to have on-hand for Advent-related stress-outs. (C’mon. I can’t be the only one suffering from them, can I?) Your hands will get dirty, but otherwise, they are a one-bowl, non-bake cookie that can be snacked on as you make the rest. I’d suggest doubling the recipe if you’re going to go that route:

In a bowl, combine:

1.5 sticks (12 Tbs) of softened butter (malleable but not drippy)
3/4 c sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 Tbs cocoa powder
2 cups oats (I’d try to avoid instant, because I think they might dissolve in the butter, but any other kind is probably fine, and, really, you could try instant if that’s all you have)

Take a spoonful of the dough and roll it in your hands to make a roughly spherical shape.

Roll the cookie in powdered sugar.

Voila! Eat or put aside for later.

Repeat.

3. A new favorite
Emmy the Great and Tim Wheeler’s Christmas album, This Is Christmas, has been playing non-stop on my various computers and listening devices since Thanksgiving. I share with you their official video from the cd, but suggest you visit their advent calendar to see the acoustic version, which I might like even better.

And, as a bonus for those with a little extra time, I offer you a Christmas memory of mine.

For years, I had a vague memory of a Christmas special I saw as a young kid. I described it to everyone I knew (in the same way I’d describe Davey and Goliath), but no one ever shared my memory. Eventually, though, they invented the internet, and 12 years ago or so, I typed in “Christmas special aliens ice goose” and after sorting through some bad results, came upon the fact that this was not some bad Christmas candy trip I was recalling. Raidergirl3 might be nodding her head knowingly at this moment, because it turns out this was A Cosmic Christmas, a 1977 Christmas special that aired on the CBC and must have been picked up by American tv one Christmas in the late ’70s. It wasn’t until last year that I managed to find a complete stream (rather than one in pieces the way YouTube used to restrict uploads), and today I share it with you. It’s no masterpiece and it certainly looks a little dated, but I still like the sentiment:

This is my slightly tardy entry for the Virtual Advent Tour. My apologies to readers who stopped by earlier in the day expecting a post. And do make sure you visit the others who posted today, too:

• Ramblings of a wRiter
• Grace Elliot
• The Non Reluctant Reader