I had never eaten Welsh cookies before I met my ex-husband. I think the first time I tasted them was from a care package his mother sent to Texas around the holidays. Petite, tender with butter, redolent of nutmeg and studded with chewy little currents, they charmed me. I liked how they were fried, likeContinue reading “Wednesday’s Child: Welsh Cookies”
Tag Archives: Christmas
Living In: Victorian Christmas
So, I usually don’t pick my Christmas theme out this far in advance, but I was leafing through one of my old holiday issues of Victoria Magazine that I’ve saved since forever, and it reminded me of how long it’s been since I did a full-on, over-the-top Victorian Christmas. I’d better start aging that figgyContinue reading “Living In: Victorian Christmas”
Merry Grinchmas!
OK, it’s a little late, but that’s how I roll these days. Here are a couple of snaps from my Grinch-themed Christmas decorations. It all started with the animatronic singing Grinch doll my mom gave me this fall (ogling the ninjabread men there…), and then it mushroomed from there. Turns out there are websites willingContinue reading “Merry Grinchmas!”
Advent Calendar Story: Day 25 (Epilogue)
“Verbum caro factum est….” Ursula had always thought of the Christmas hymn as far too glum for the happy news it bore: The Word has become flesh and dwelt among us. But today to her ears the music sounded joyful. It was funny how that worked, she thought with a smile: if you were sad,Continue reading “Advent Calendar Story: Day 25 (Epilogue)”
Advent Calendar Story: Day 24
Mother and Child Leo. Wake up! Leopold sat bolt upright in his bed with a gasp. He looked out the window. Snow was falling; he could see it in the light from the castle bonfires, lit for Christmas. It was sometime in the night before the first day of the holiday. For a moment heContinue reading “Advent Calendar Story: Day 24”
Advent Calendar Story: Day 23
The Birdcage It happened so fast: Sidonie’s feet slipped out from under her, and she went down in a flurry of skirts. The gilded birdcage she had been carrying flew out of her gloved hand, bounced, rolled on the icy cobblestones in the square. The door popped open. Two of the finches stayed where theyContinue reading “Advent Calendar Story: Day 23”
Advent Calendar Story: Day 22
A Lord at His Dinner Leopold pushed his lamb tagine around his plate with his spoon. It was one of his father’s favorites: Graf Friedrich von Regensburg had hefted home trunksful of brightly glazed crockery and sacks of spices from his stint in North Africa during the Crusades, and Leopold always had the cooks prepareContinue reading “Advent Calendar Story: Day 22”
Advent Calendar Story: Day 21
Stars Sidonie von Neubeuern sat in her family’s chapel in Saint Hildegarde’s and looked up at the ceiling, where an artist hired by her grandfather had painted the Virgin coming down from heaven surrounded by clouds and stars. The stars had been painted in real gold, and they glittered in the late light streaming throughContinue reading “Advent Calendar Story: Day 21”
Advent Calendar Story: Day 20
The Man in the Moon “I’m surprised how few patients you have now compared to when we returned from the battlefield,” Leopold said quietly to Ursula as they finished the rounds of the ward and stood by the fire watching the patients getting their soup before settling in for the night. “Is it true thatContinue reading “Advent Calendar Story: Day 20”
The Rookery 