It is a tragedy that last week two of New York's finest were assassinated, finally we New Yorkers are noticing.
I was brought up to respect policemen - they were there to protect us. More than once I have walked up to a policeman to ask for directions and felt safe to do so. I am in awe of any individual who decides to go into this profession - to know that they put their lives on the line on a daily basis for us. I am not sure that most of us would or could do that.
Stop and think of these individuals - thank them for their service and give them the respect they deserve.
I have begun the cleaning and organizing for the New Year.
It is a tradition that my Mother instilled in me, her exact words were, "Never let the New Year catch you dirty". So to that end I clean my house, I organize things and I cull my home of items I no longer need, want or use and donate them.
There is a sense of peace that comes from this process, the order that gets done; it is what I am about: organization, details and cleanliness.
Some may view this as a burden - I view it as a salvation.
It is December 26th - the day after Christmas and many people are at the stores for the after Christmas sales.
Not me - I am home relaxing after two days of cooking and getting ready for Christmas dinner I was not looking to jump out of bed and do much. I didn't even set the alarm - when I wake up, then I will get up - I don't do that very often.
I will put away the dishes and utensils used for Christmas dinner, I will have a relaxing breakfast while I read the newspapers and watch the news. I will then bake some more pumpkin bread, another bread pudding and a couple of more bottles of coquito and call it a day.
This is one day that it is okay to be somewhat lazy.
Let us not forget the reason why we celebrate today.
Merry Christmas to all.
Today I will make the desserts for our Christmas dinner - they will be traditional, rice pudding and bread pudding.
Each takes some time to make - the rice pudding is a 4 hour process while the bread pudding will take me about 2 hours. The nice thing is that after all that time something delicious is made and will be enjoyed by my family.
What I appreciate is that cooking helps me de-stress and since it is precise I focus on what I am doing and not necessarily on what is happening in my life.
Hope that each of you has something that helps you to cope when things aren't all that great.
I don't know which of my neighbors did this - but, thank you.
I walked out yesterday morning to find my windshield wipers lifted up - this is something we all do when we expect that it is going to snow. I didn't think that it was going to snow on Sunday night; but, I guess I didn't hear the weather report. Sure enough we had snow - not a lot enough to cover the ground and the car.
Now it is my turn to be neighborly - two of my neighbors will be away for the holidays and I will watch their homes and make sure all is fine.
Most of us are down to our final Christmas preparations - at least I am.
Last night I made 3 bottles of coquito - 2 which will be given as gifts. After my Gentle Yoga class today I will bake 3 loaves of pumpkin bread - 2 which will join the coquito as gifts.
On Saturday I gave the butcher my Christmas meat order and I will pick it up on Tuesday after my appointment with the other items I need for Christmas dinner. Last night I also ironed the napkins and today I will set the table - all as one less thing to worry about on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.
All of this will keep me sane as I will have Callum on Tuesday and Wednesday - and I will get everything done on time.
