Apologies to anyone who turned up here looking for a real post, a book review, or pictures. I’ve got none of that today. Instead, I’ve got bullets:

• Last week, our handyman fixed our toilet, which broke during our holiday party.
• This week, he put in a new garbage disposal.
• Later this week or early next week, he’ll be back to fix a cracked pipe under the kitchen sink.
• I’d think he was just hankering after a Christmas tip, but we were the ones to call the landlord to ask if Mario could stop by.
• There’s also something wrong with the building’s hot water heater that causes it to make loud screechy noises every five minutes or so.
• The noise is very disconcerting when you’re trying to do other things.
• Mario has ordered a part, but isn’t sure it’ll arrive before the weekend.
• I think the third time is the charm when it comes to yarn selection on my latest knitting project.
• Unfortunately, I didn’t guess correctly at the sizing on the latest attempt, so I will be ripping out again…
• I really like epistolary novels.
• Reading books you really enjoy gets in the way of other important things, like sleeping.
• I have a hard time writing Christmas cards and doing other things at the same time.
• If your last name starts with an “a” or “b” and you’re on my Christmas card list, you’ll be fine.
• If your last name starts with some other letter, how do you feel about Martin Luther King Day cards?
• I’m feeling tired.
• It’s nearly 2 a.m.
• It’s time for bed.
• Good night!

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, Karen and I met up and spent an afternoon exploring the center of Putnam, Connecticut. It being the Christmas season, we were on our best behavior.

Lucky thing. Because who do you think we ran into?

Yup, Santa himself, taking several of his reindeer out for a warm-up ride over the Quinebaug River dam.

This is probably why his nice and naughty lists are so accurate — random spot checks.

Apparently the afterthought portion of last night’s post (the line where I wrote I needed some sleep during the holidays) was an understatement. I didn’t truly appreciate the sentiment until after I woke up this afternoon at nearly two!

I made the most of the rest of the day, though. I dropped off Toys for Tots at the local fire house, stopped by the garden (chard is the only thing left; the peppers that were too small to pick a couple weeks back were still small — and dead, to boot) and the library, and ran by Trader Joe’s for a few supplies.

I came home and baked a batch of brownies that elicited rave reviews, although, as usual with my stove and brownies, I had to add more than 15 extra minutes to the cooking time. (I had a large bar of squares of dark chocolate and used six with the butter. I then opted for semi-sweet chips mixed in with the berries. Oh, and I ran out of white flour and finished the cup off with a few tablespoons of whole wheat.)

And then we headed off to a party, where I got the chance to spend a Saturday night with some of our favorite D.C. folks. It was great!

All in all, a nice way to spend a short Saturday during a busy time of the year.

Two weeks until Christmas. Two weekends before Christmas. I’m trying not to focus too directly on those statements to avoid the freak-out that accompanies them.

I have too much to do. I’m not ready.

Okay, I admit it. I have too much I want to do. There are far fewer things I have to do, short of coming up with a few presents to take up to Connecticut with us, sending off a box to my brother and his boyfriend, and then driving home.

But what I want to do includes so much more.

I want to:

• Attend the parties friends have invited us to, including two this weekend.
• Write and mail Christmas cards. I love this annual ritual and am hoping to spend some of this weekend on it.
• Do some baking. I keep bookmarking new recipes from the blogs I read. And I bought some Christmas cookie cutters last month. Plus, I could bring baked goods in for people at work, who are always appreciative.
• Make a Christmas mix. I have failed at this for so many years now, but am closer than ever before to actually creating one. The problem is that I am a thorough (Rudi would say obsessive) researcher and am having a hard time letting go of that part of the process.
• Watch holiday movies. Rudi and I watched Holiday Inn tonight, but there are still so many others I want to see.
• Get crafty with my gift-giving. Also, do some knitting for me that is holiday-themed or desired to be worn for the holidays. This last bit, particularly, is seeming less and less likely.
• Take advantage of some of the fun things D.C. has to offer at this time of the year. The Botanical Gardens has a model train display that I’d love to see again this year. I hear Union Station has one, too. National Cathedral has creches. The Kennedy Center has a tuba Christmas carol concert on Monday. (Must remember — Monday!) G.W. has a Make We Joy-type event that I know I’m going to miss again. And it’s seeming less and less likely I’ll be able to get over to NoVa to catch GrooveLily’s folk Christmas musical. And there are others…
• Send the Christmas boxes off to friends far away. I am pretty sure Grey Kitten is up to three years worth of presents in my tiny apartment once I finish this year’s shopping… But at least he’s the only one of the three left over from last year…

I’m sure there’s more, but it’s late and I want to go to bed. Sleep. That’s one more of those things I want to do before Christmas…

What are on your lists of must-do’s and would-like-to’s for this season?

On Saturday, it started snowing around 9 a.m. By the time we headed west along 66, this is what the Virginia ‘burbs looked like:

Several inches of wet, sticky snow covered the ground by the time we arrived at Creekview Farm in Aldie (about an hour west of D.C.), and at least another inch fell while we were there:

It felt like we’d stepped onto a movie set. How else do you explain how perfect this scene looks for picking out the perfect Christmas tree?

Happy St. Nicholas Day, everyone!

I hope you all had a nice weekend. Yesterday, Rudi and I spent a wonderful afternoon out in Virginia picking out a tree, before returning home to clean, a process which continued right up to (and slightly past) when our first guest arrived this afternoon. Really. I actually begged poor Mia, who’d travelled down from Maryland just to join us, to give us an extra five minutes. She was a very obliging soul and wandered the neighborhood for close to 20 to give us a chance to do crazy things like put on clothes. (You mean everyone doesn’t vacuum in their underwear?)

The party was great, with people from a broad swath of our D.C. life joining us to pimp our pine. We moved the tree inside, strung it with lights, and hung ornaments. (I still have some more to put up tomorrow, but the tree already looks cheerfully adorned.) We ate and drank and generally had a pleasant evening with some great people.

I know I’ve spent practically the last month talking about cleaning and trying to organize the Burrow, and Rudi and I have had several very discouraging evenings this last week. But it must say something about how important and necessary and lovely this night is to us that we do it every year. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.