Christmas Open House

Welcome!

Consider this a virtual Open House, and if you'd like to hang around and visit in the comments please feel free. Turn on some Christmas music to help the mood. I have a lot of cds, but I also listen to Christmas music at Spotify. Please feel free to use our selfie prop station idea. (See it in the basket under the tree?) We're getting a kick out of it. If you're in the mood for a Christmas movie, check out my list here. Some of them -especially the older ones and the shorts- are freely available online. There are seasonal books, too, including this copy of Clarence Moore's A Visit from St. Nicholas, which is the copy my Daddy used to read to us on Christmas Eve when I was little:

Perry Como will read the story to you here (with illustrations from a different book):

There are a lot of Christmas stories you can read online if you're in the mood for seasonal reading. I have a list of books that take place during the Christmas season, but few of them are available to read online. Here's a list from AmericanLiterature.org of links to stories online by famous authors from Hans Christian Andersen, Leo Tolstoy, The Brothers Grimm, L. Frank Baum, Willa Cather, Henry Van Dyke, Dylan Thomas, Washington Irving, Mark Twain, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anton Chekhov, Louisa May Alcott, and others.

I have some decorations:

new and old, religious and secular.

The stockings are hung by the stairs in our house:

We have refreshments on offer, with your choice of hot beverage (coffee, varieties of teas, spiced cider, mocha...) and Christmas-themed cups:

Or perhaps you'd prefer something cold? Boiled custard or ginger ale?

We have a couple of breakfast casseroles, plenty to share:

plus fruit (grapes, oranges, pears, bananas, orange juice), nuts, and sweet rolls (store-bought, I'm afraid). If you come by later in the day, we'll have turkey breast and dressing, baked ham, green bean casserole, and various other dishes. We're being informal today, so we can serve anytime folks happen by.

Merry Christmas! and may you enjoy the season. We're just getting started and will be celebrating the 12 Days of Christmas and then Epiphany. There's some sadness mixed in with the joy on any special occasion as we acknowledge our losses, but spending some time in person or "virtually" with friends and family helps me recognize my blessings.