Happy December!

Christmas is here!  Well, the Christmas season, at least.  I know, stores have had Christmas decorations since mid-September, but I ignored them all until now.
Now it is the real Christmas season, not that faux one where you buy your plastic light-up reindeer from Wal-mart with the air conditioner blowing down on your freshly highlighted hair.

No, now it is Christmas - real Christmas.  The one with the snow (hopefully), the lights, the coziness of scrunching the walls of your house in a little tighter as you add cheery knick-knacks to every corner, every shelf, every countertop. Now it is Christmas.

At my house, Christmas means German cookies, advent, incense cones streaming smoke from wooden faces, candles spinning pyramid blades,  and peppermint tea.  I love German  Christmas!  I love every bit of it, especially  that little extra holiday we get to slip in there on December 6.

Though I love Christmas, and the holiday season being full on upon us, I am still missing my favorite holiday of all.  It came and went so quickly this year that I hardly missed it until long after the fact.  But while reading a paragraph of Ray Bradbury, I suddenly found myself visualizing a snapshot of standing in a corn maze with a full moon above, and the sounds of dry husks rasping in my ears.  I got that weird nostalgic feeling where you're equally happy and distraught about things remembered.  Thank heavens for Christmas, otherwise I don't think I'd be able to survive!

And thank heavens for this kitty too!