Savoring The Last Days of Christmastide

Though New Year's day has come and gone, the season of Christmastide lingers, and I'm here for it. With the exception of those tasks which always need attending to, I've set aside any thought of resuming "life as usual", at least for a few more days.

We brought in the New Year quietly, just myself, my daughter and her sweet pup, who was well past ready for bed when I snapped this picture just a little after midnight. I've never known a dog to follow such a routine, but he definitely has his preferences.

My husband retired early, and so we celebrated earlier in the day, continuing our tradition of watching The Hobbit trilogy, which is something I look forward to every year. My daughter requested jalapeno poppers for our celebratory New Year's eve feast, which I paired with queso, guacamole and cowboy caviar for good luck!

On New Year's Day we had our traditional feast of ham, scalloped potatoes, cabbage with bacon and onions and of course, black eyed peas! I think of the three traditional meals I prepare during the holidays, this one is by far my favorite. This year I made the same meal for Thanksgiving and Christmas. We all came down with the flu, and since I still had some of the ingredients on hand, I thought it easier to just repeat it. And while I appreciated the ease, we tired of the leftovers quickly and ended up with a significant amount of waste, a note for the coming year!

On New Year's Day, my husband and I had planned to go on our first hike, but as I am s-l-o-w-l-y moving back into hiking due to sciatic nerve pain, we decided it was too windy to risk it as extreme cold can cause a flair. The low temperature itself would not have posed a problem, since I would have dressed appropriately and once you get your body moving you warm up quickly. But the winds have been fierce in our area for close to a week now, making what has already been a colder than usual winter down right frigid! And so we opted instead for our first country drive. The valley of the Blue Ridge mountains is, to me, one of the most beautiful places on earth, and I feel so blessed to live here. The side roads that meander through the countryside often beckon, and we are prone to follow. This has led to many deleightful discoveries over the years, including a number of small, quaint churches. They are so charming, and this time of year, especially, with their doors adorned with festive wreaths, they are quite picturesque.

On Thursday we had planned to stay at home, but they're predicting some extreme temperatures to move in this weekend along with a bit of snow, freezing rain and ice, so we opted instead to make a quick trip into town to stock up with all the necessities. I'm implementing a little plan beginning this weekend, Souper Sunday, and making up a big pot of soup, which will more likely feed us through the weekend. But my plan is to elevate out Sunday supper by setting a pretty table, lighting candles, and hopefully setting the stage to put away our devices and linger around the table in conversation, a pause, I suppose, before the demands of the week come calling. I have a number of recipes saved on my Pinterest board and I've made note of a few I want to try, but we're going to start off with a recipe we all know and love, Grammy's Cabbage Soup. I've shared it here with you before, but I think it's currently tucked away in the archives, so if you're interested, be looking for it early next week. 

The picture you see at the top of this post and the one here to the right and below are of a group of buildings in our town. They caught my eye while we were out shopping yesterday. We went for breakfast at a cute little coffee shop we'd had plans to visit (more on that in another post), and after, as we were driving on our way to the market, I caught glimpse of them and immediately turned around!  I've seen them before, but the added touch of greenery just made them all the lovelier! The green building is actually another coffee shop that we have plans to visit, but the combination of the green against the red and the white, well, if you've been visiting here for awhile you know they are my favorite colors, as is vintage architecture, so when you combine the two? It's perfection!

And with that my friends, I'll close. I have a busy day ahead, cleaning out holiday leftovers and prepping food for the weekend. We are set with everything we need in the event of a power outage, we'd be good for a week or more. But any time there is a threat of weather, I like to be prepared. Meals made that can easily be re-heated on our propane stove, laundry caught up, candles and matches at the ready. Maybe it's just me, but honestly, the thought of losing power seems almost cozy! It's the perfect excuse to slow the pace of life, and just, perhaps, a lovely start to the New Year!

Until then!

❊