Wednesday Hodgepodge: Happy Sunny Places

1. Many families have a story they love to tell every year around a holiday. Does your family have one? Are you the star of that story, or does another family member take center stage? Share your story if you want.  

It's not a specific story...but Mr. Fixit and his side of the family like to remember their grandparents' large family gatherings, with equally large amounts of Schwabian-Canadian food. These stories go better if you have someone else there who remembers with you. I have family memories too but most of the other people are gone, so I have to sort through them on my own, and I have to admit that my own memories are fuzzier than they used to be.

"Forgive us, Lord, if we forgetful be, For time alone can cloud our memory." 
(George Chandler, "Remembrance")

2. Are you afraid to speak your own opinion? 

Not usually.

 3. Pantone has announced the color of the year for 2016, and for the first time have chosen two shades-rose quartz and serenity. 

"Colors this season transport us to a happier, sunnier place where we feel free to express a wittier version of our real selves," Pantone Color Institute executive director Leatrice Eiseman said in a statement. "With our culture still surrounded by so much uncertainty, we are continuing to yearn for those softer shades that offer a sense of calm and relaxation."

Hmmm...did you know serenity was a color? You can read the thought behind their selection here, but essentially it's blending the warmth of rose quartz with the tranquility of a very soft shade of blue. So what do you think? Are these colors I'd find in your home or wardrobe? Will you add something in these shades to either place in the new year?

I think those colours are very pretty...I like the idea of a colour called "serenity."

4. If you could be in a Christmas carol, which one would you choose? Why? 

In a Christmas carol? That's an unusual question.

When I was in elementary school choir, we learned Frances Chesterton's "How Far is it to Bethlehem?" That's an easy one to think of being in.

5. December 9th is National Pastry Day. Will you celebrate? When did you last purchase something from a bakery? What's your favorite treat that falls under the heading of pastry? Do you make it yourself or buy from the professionals? 

The closest I'm getting is maybe making a batch of sugar cookies for Christmas, unless Mr. Fixit and I go out for some Tim Horton's.

I gleaned an easy sugar cookie recipe from frugal blogger Meredith (Like Merchant Ships) a few years ago, and it's one that we've used other times for Christmas baking. These aren't roll-out cookies, so you have to be creative in other ways if you want them to look pretty. This year I was flipping through a magazine and saw a photo of cookies flattened with the bottom of a glass (really old idea)--but this time the glass they used had decorative indentations. I have a vintage creamer that also has a fancy base, so that's what I'm going to use.

 6. When it comes to holiday decorating_____________________________. 

"Less is more." I have been using mostly things we already have, just arranging them differently. Next weekend our Apprentice (oldest) will be here for a visit, and we'll put the tree up then and bring out a few extra things.

7. When did you last laugh so much it hurt? Explain. 

It might have been an Uncle Billy joke in one of the Mitford books.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

There are points in our lives when Christmas seems like the best day of the year, and there are other times when it seems like it would be better saved as a sort of occasional treat, or maybe put in one of those glass boxes like fire tools, "to be broken only in emergency." One could ask with only a bit of cynicism, do we need Christmas? But on the other hand...maybe now is the time.

This post is linked from Stories from the Hodgepodge at This Side of the Pond.