A Merry Little Winter

Hi folks- are you as glad as I am that the winter solstice has come and gone and now we are slowly climbing out of the darkness?!  The days will grow exponentially longer, beginning with just a few seconds a night, but those seconds will be doubled and doubled and doubled again until the balance of daylight returns!  

'Twas Mr. Mersy's birthday this month, and he requested the legendary "bete noire" as his birthday cake.  I baked it into a heart with whipped cream on top, which seemed like a great idea until Mama Mersy pointed out that I might have caused him to lose some serious street cred when he took into work to share with colleagues- oops.  But hey, now they know I love him!

We also had a warm and cozy little Chanukah.  I tell 'ya- there's nothing like burning lights to warm up even the chilliest, dampest, greyest evening.  There must be something instinctual buried in our souls that is comforted.  Somewhere throughout the week, though, I somehow managed to fall one candle behind.  I have a sneaking suspicion that I celebrated to fifth night twice... 

And to get the house smelling festive, we boiled cinnamon sticks, cloves, bay leaves, and oranges on the stove:

Outside on the lean, mean streets of Queens, there was even an occasional whiff of pine as the Christmas tree sellers set up urban forests on the street corners.  It's felt good recently to get out for afternoon walks.  Our super has decided to quit regulating the boiler temperatures in the basement, so our radiators are always on, and chocolate melts if not kept in the fridge.  I'm grateful to be warm, no doubt, but with the windows constantly open, we hear and smell more of the neighborhood than we want.   Opera, urban skunks, cries for the police, horns.  

But at least inside it smells of bee's wax and oranges, cinnamon and pine!  

~Mersydotes