The Coziness of Fall

I wrote this neat little entry about how great Thanksgiving was, and it erased! Short story: To me, Thanksgiving is the holiday that’s most strongly associated with family. It’s about coming home or going to another family member’s house, doing everything you can to be together. For some reason Christmas doesn’t quite have that same ring, maybe because more people use it as an excuse to go away, mainly to someplace warmer, if you’re in the Mid-Atlantic as I am. But Thanksgiving is about staying in, eating great food, and being together. Heck, even the networks realize it: This year marks the first one I can think of where they deliberately did new episodes of shows, probably because they know everyone will be so zonked on turkey tryptophan, they won’t want to do anything else. And who wants to? We deliberately ate a nice, slow, four-course meal, talking between delicious dishes. I’ll throw this out to the rest of you; it’s one of the questions we asked:

If you could have dinner with any person from history, living or dead, who would it be? (I always love that one) Any athlete? Any comedian/actor?

For historical figure, I said I’d like to talk to the chambermaid or the advisor of the famous historical person. I figure they have a perspective nobody else has, and probably have an inside take that the history books don’t. Among us we said Stalin, Benjamin Franklin, Idi Amin, and Johnny Appleseed. Pretty varied and interesting bunch we are, I think.

Tonight winter has finally arrived. We had an absurdly warm week—that crazy week in October was much worse. And then, as if someone had flipped a switch, December 1 the temperature drops, the winds blow, and I know the snow’s coming. Even though it happens every year and we know it’ll be cold until the end of March, everyone still gets excited. I admit I have listened to and belted out Christmas carols in my car—although I think it’s massive overkill that the stations began their 24-hour coverage on November 15. Good lord. But now that it’s December, we’re all going to hunker down, pull out the wool sweaters, cheer the Sabres, and enjoy it. There’s something about being in a warm house listening to the wind whipping outside that makes me feel incredibly cozy and content—and grateful that I have what I do!

Sabres are 19-3-2, going for 20 tonight against the Rangers—and I’m sitting here watching Mystery, Alaska to get ready. Go Sabes!