So, we're here at the last month of the year. I can't help but feel a little melancholy, especially since I spent the month of November mostly being sick. Nothing like that to get you down, and now I've sailed seamlessly into another cold...so December might be sick month too. Them little kids be germ beasts. As I searched through the pictures from my phone to remember exactly what I did, I didn't find a whole lot.

Meet Cordelia Amelia Bedelia Drexel Biddle...or you know, Cordy. First, right up, I'd like to say, she is not mine. Definitely, most absolutely, not mine. However, I'm the person who takes care of her...99% of the time. She is the bane of my existence. What can you expect, though? She is 100% lab. It kinda goes without saying that her energy level means she's jumping off walls all the time.  She's giving me 'the look'  here because I happen to have the tennis ball, and tennis balls are her absolute favoritest things in the world. Want her complete attention? Just show her a ball. If I break any bones, it will be because I've gotten between her and ball.

"Hello, mountain majestic, you old friend of mine. You are not so fearsome to me for you are the familiar shape in the corner of my sky."  (Thought this was so beautiful. Pardon the telephone in front of Mt. Adams.)

Ta-da! Not perfect, obviously, but I did finish. So, points for that.

Gotta talk about Thanksgiving and pies. Definitely pies. My mom made the crust then I made the innards and rolled the dough out. Despite popular belief, this is a sweet potato pie, not pumpkin. I'm kinda happy with how it looked.

Granny Smith apple pie! We went the day before into the neighbor's orchard and gleaned the apples off the tree ourselves. We've been doing it for a few years now. Mostly we dry the apples or make them into applesauce, but they weren't too sour for a pie. Mom said it was the most beautifullest/prettiest pies she's ever seen. I rolled this one out and made the topping. I also ate it for about three breakfasts afterwards. Pie + cheese for breakfast = awesomeness.

I made these overnight rolls. Bread is one of my favorite things to make. It's so satisfying. And fills the house with warmth and good smells. Thanksgiving itself was a bit of a let down. This is the first Thanksgiving that my grandma would be included; so we were actually going to do the whole caboodle (we usually just wait and have the 'caboodle' with my mom's extended family). The morning came. My mom was coming down with a cold. We spent all day baking and making. My grandma called and said she felt terrible because she had come down with the sickness too, and my sis was dogsitting an old dog she couldn't leave. So it was just my aunt, my parents, and me. Still tasted good. Still ate way too much (gee, don't you think after sixteen years of eating with my own judgement, I might actually not eat too much at Thanksgiving? Evidently the answer is no), but it was still disappointing.

These were suppose to be 'quick' rolls. These were not quick rolls. Still took about two hours and thirty minutes, but they were good. I'm trying to do better with meal planning and stuff, and if I make soup, I always want to make bread to go with it.

It was cold. I didn't feel good (didn't know I was getting sick again). It was going to get colder, and I needed to finish covering plants with leaves, but I stayed in and made these instead. A type of French Baguette. Forgot the slits, but it was so good...

Last night, armed with a good supply of cough drops, I went to the Symphony's Christmas Concert. It was really lovely. They did a good combination of religious music and 'Winter Wonderland' type stuff. It's a rather lovely thing for them to be funded by donation rather than by the city because then they have more freedom to choose what they do. Last Christmas I went to the Marine Corps' Band's concert in Hawaii, and they had to keep all their music strictly secular. It was still a real fun concert, but I missed the good ol' Christmas carols.

The concert was at the Capitol Theater - a building I've always been in awe of. It's elegance is completely out of place. I've gone to two rock concerts here...talk about strange. Heh. The symphony played the Hallelujah chorus, and everyone stood up. I didn't quite understand the 'why' but followed suit. Evidently (do any of you know this? Please say you didn't. Make me feel better :P ), when this piece of music was first ever played, the King of England was so moved by it that he stood up, and everyone else had to also. Now it's a tradition, and people carry it on...whether they know why or not...

I've always loved watching live music, especially at these types of things. I never tire of watching the different people play all the different instruments. It's just so glorious. They also had two choirs join them which is also something I enjoy listening to. And the city's jazz sextet (and I loveeeee Jazz). The church I attend is fairly small, so sometimes I forget the feeling of being entirely immersed in singing voices. At the end of the concert, they had the audience sing along as they went through a medley of different songs. My favorite was when everyone sang 'Joy to the World'. It was so full, and to think, Heaven will be like that. Every voice joining together in perfect unity to sing praises to God. Now it's finally beginning to feel like Christmas.

So many of the traditions that my parents made when we were growing up are no longer, and it's sometimes hard to make Christmas still feel like Christmas, but I try. What about you, gals and guys? Have you found that to be true? Or are traditions traditions, come hell or high water? What time of activities do you do?

I wanted to share some music with you, but I was having a hard time deciding what. Finally made the decision to share one of my favorite Christmas songs from my favorite Christmas album of all time. The Roger Whittaker Christmas Album. Most of the songs are original or very little heard elsewhere so you haven't grown sick and tired of them, if you feel that way about most Christmas music. I just think his album holds all the things I love most about Christmas time. Please listen, and if you like the song here, go check out the rest of his album and tell me what you think!