O By Gosh, By Golly...

... it's time for mistletoe and holly, y'all!

Or... if you're a visitor at Freeman House... it's time for sugared cranberries dunked in fizzy, sparkly drinks or straddled atop steaming, frothy mugs. And how happy are we? How happy are we to swirl our sugared cranberry sticks and watch candles burn and snuggle close as the stars come out?

I should tell you: I'm a big proponent of sticking ordinary things on a stick, dusting them with sugar, and passing it off as tremendous creative kitchen effort. Like the weekends I make golden cubes of french toast, thread them on wooden skewers with whole strawberries and slices of banana, and dust it all with powdered sugar and serve over a pool of Blackburn's Syrup. Pretty things just taste better, don't they? Especially when they have their sugar coats on.

Anyway. After putting another 1300 miles on my Jeep, I'm back in snowman's land. And you should hear (and feel) the wind. I keep telling myself, as I button up my cranberry red coat and head outdoors, that I'm walking into a world of blowing, wet sugar flakes and will be as wonderful as a sugared cranberry stick in a world of champagne. But the truth is, I already miss Freeman House and her pretty delights and sweet moments.

But o by gosh, by golly: it's Christmas time no matter where we are! It's time for mistletoe and holly! And as the wind wails and whistles outside this cold, cold window, you can hear me, right? You can hear me as I whisper "Merry Christmas"... to you...?

Christmas is not a time nor a season,
but a state of mind.
-Calvin Coolidge