Another Day is Done

Our guests left about 45 minutes ago.  We cleaned up the dishes and I went down the driveway to check the mail.  The sky was going pink in the west as the sun went down at about 4:30.  I caught this glimpse from the front porch. 

Today was colder and mostly clear, a good dry day, but I didn't get out for a walk.  I was busy entertaining.

We had lunch today for some of the people who couldn't come to the dinner party we had to cancel.  They are all well now, and three of the four were free today.

I started the turkey soup yesterday, cooking the Christmas turkey carcass with onion and celery and herbs.  When it cooled I picked the meat off the bones. So today all I had to do was heat up the stock, add the vegetables, rotini pasta and the meat and cook it up.  Along with that we served corn bread hot out of the oven and a salad of greens, avocado, mandarin oranges and dried cranberries.  Dessert was candy cane ice cream and cookies.

But the food was just the vehicle for a fun four hours of visiting, mostly around the dining room table, still decked out in holiday finery.  We have breakfast with these same people every Friday morning, but we never run out of things to talk about.  And these dear friends do so love coming to our house at Christmas time.  It is lovely for me to have such appreciative guests!

I'm not sure what has happened to the days since Christmas. There was picking up and putting away, and house cleaning and grocery shopping.  I have tried to walk 3 miles each day.  There is still too much eating, with left overs and lots of candy in the house. Chocolate and nuts are my downfall.

Saturday I crashed and took a two hour nap, and I never take naps.  That evening we went to see the movie Wild, Cheryl Strayed's memoir of her healing while walking 1000 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail.  It was very good, and true to the book.

Yesterday afternoon we watched the Seahawks win their last game of the regular season, which clinched the division title and means they have home field advantage through the playoffs.  There is a good possibility that they will be back in the Super Bowl again this year.  If that happens it will make for an exciting month of January.  January needs all the help it can get around here in the dark of winter. 

Now it's time to settle in for the evening.  Dinner will be easy - more soup!