Tis the season

 

You know how I know? This happens every year. I put my work aside to prepare for Christmas and then find myself, a week or so before Christmas, all ready for the holiday and even more ready to get on with my daily work. This year is no exception. I’d been feeling a bit down—my first time in this long slog of quarantine—and I attributed it to no work on my desk. Then I realized it may well have been the spicy beef on my taco salad from a local Mexican chain over the weekend.

At any rate, today I am feeling brighter—and I have lots of my desk—Christmas cards from cherished friends which I will answer by email because my handwriting has gone too far south for cards and, besides, today Jordan discovered the local post office is sold out of stamps—which may be why the stamps I ordered three weeks ago haven’t arrived yet.

And then there’s a new assignment from the Handbook of Texas: a profile of Electra Waggoner Biggs. I’ve studied Mrs. Biggs—Texas ranch heiress, international celebrity, and sculptor of note—off and on for years and have a forthcoming book (due next fall) on the Waggoner family. So that one should be a fairly easy project, but it will take some time. But now, my entry on Helen Corbitt, doyenne of food at Neiman Marcus, is one of the newer entries in the ongoing online Handbook project.

I’m particularly pleased to have been part of a project titled MysteryLovesGeorgia in which mystery writers pooled their talents to raise money to support the election of Reverend Warnock and Jon Ossoff in the Georgia senatorial runoff. As I mentioned before, I lowballed my prices for what I offered, but I was still pleased that I had takers on a signed copy of Saving Irene, a critique of a thirty-page sample of a manuscript, and the naming of a character in a forthcoming novel. I have sent off the autographed copy and made notes for the named character, but I will have to settle down and study the sample for critique.

And then there’s that ongoing novel, Irene in Danger. Perhaps it’s because I am now committed to naming a character for a reader, but I did move ahead on it today—wrote a thousand words for the first time in a couple of weeks and felt fairly good about them. Feeling really good will depend on tomorrow’s re-reading. I now have a whopping two-and-a half chapters. Long way to go.

Meantime, Jordan and I are making Christmas plans. Most of my Christmas gift-giving this year is either online or by mail, and Jordan mailed off a bunch of things for me today. But still, we’re deep in menu planning. Since we’re having a smoked turkey and not fresh for Christmas, we’re trying to come up with different sides. Today Jordan suggested Paula Deen’s corn casserole but was astounded when she looked at the calorie count—something like 208 per serving. I said, “Hey, it’s Christmas, and we’ll have small servings.” She is counting all the dishes we’ll have with cheese in them. And I’ve ordered something special for Christmas Eve, but it too is rich. We shall roll our way into 2021 and diet thereafter.

Why not? 2020 has been a real bitch of a year, and we can only hope for better in 2021. At least, we can see 2020 out with some really good food. In lieu of sharing the holiday with family, an absence which still makes me sad. Still, I like Jordan’s attitude—when I asked tonight If she missed the excitement of Christmas that she knew as a child, she said thoughtfully, “Well, we all have to grow up. It’s just different. We’ve tried to recreate that excitement for Jacob, and now he’s too big for Santa, so we’ll wait for grandchildren. We just have to make the best of what we have.”

When she turned the tables and asked me what I missed, I confessed I miss the days of shared Hanukkah and Christmas when my four were young and excited. But I am grateful for the love and sharing we have today.

Happy Holidays. Stay safe, healthy, and warm—it is really cold out there tonight. Jordan wanted to have our regular Tuesday neighbors for wine by firelight, but I said I refused to sit out and freeze. Next Tuesday will be in the sixties—we’re looking forward to it.