Holiday Chronicles #1

As we draw near the final holidays of the year, many of us are stressing for a variety of reasons. Some are personal; others may be related to the pandemic, jobs, children and more. So, what do we do? If I think about the Danish attitude of "hygge" and their beliefs in how to deal with winter, I'm finding some comfort in that set of beliefs. That we should embrace winter and, to the best of our abilities, find solace and comfort in the quiet winter months.

Easy for some; more difficult for others.

Let's start with the simple things we can control. The small details of daily life. One thing. One day at a time.

Here's my first effort. Comfort. I'm all about comfort -- to stay snug, to enjoy a good book and a glass of wine by the fire. No fireplace? Lots of candles, then! My daughter has been recycling old, used candles, melting down the wax, adding store-bought wax melts and a wick. We've all been saving empty jam jars, salsa jars and such so she can do her magic. And some of her mixes have been quite amazing! But light is important. Whether it's a fireplace or a bank of candles on your coffee table, it helps. The glow of a single candle flame makes a difference, symbolizing hope and home, I believe. But now that the sun sets at about 4:30pm, light makes a difference. Experiment. Add a mirror or two throughout your rooms as they reflect more light.

And what's the recipe for today's posting? The dreaded mince pie! So many people still think that mince pies include meat. Ugh. That was the case years and years ago, but today mince pie is somewhat like fruitcake (without the weight). Here's a quick history of mince pie:

For us here in the states, the mince pie probably came over with our ancestors, predominately from northern European countries. But where did it originate? Best theory is that the European crusaders brought back many of the cooking traditions from the Middle East where meat, spices and fruit were often cooked together. Today in the UK, over 3 million mince pies are consumed yearly. But here on this side of the Great Pond, they're harder to find. This year I could not find a mince pie to save my life, which made me sad. My dad and I always looked forward to that spicy concoction at Thanksgiving, eschewing the more popular pumpkin pie. My dad was of Scottish and Irish descent, so I suppose that's where his love of minc pie came from.

Possible Recipes to try:

SpruceEats:

BBC Good Food:

*Pillsbury: This one cuts the time with prepared pie crusts!

Happy Hygge Eating!

Comments

Oh, dear! My bad . . .

Just getting back on track with social media and such -- summertime is such a suck-you-away-from-the-computer time, isn't it? What's been happening? Been working on At Long Last , the fourth and final romance in my School for Sophistication series, and it should be released in late July / early August. If you're on my newsletter email list, I just sent out a sneak peek of the cover. Not signed up yet? No sweat. Here's the link . Also, a freebie sale is going on as I type this entry. Another incentive to sign up! A Peek into Straight from the Heart I promised this in my last blog entry, so here we go . . . Ryan Cassidy, deputy sheriff, a muscular hunk of a guy, who's low-key, funny, sexy and falling for Giana Linstrom despite his fears of marriage. He's seen too many marriages go bad, including his own mother's. And now for Giana -- bubbly, enthusiastic, a dreamer whose dreams never seem to come to fruition. She's at a crossroads in her

Take a hint from Mr. Bradbury:

Don’t start out writing novels. They take too long. Begin your writing life instead by cranking out “a hell of a lot of short stories,” as many as one per week. Take a year to do it; he claims that it simply isn’t possible to write 52 bad short stories in a row. He waited until the age of 30 to write his first novel, Fahrenheit 451 . Stuff your head. To accumulate the intellectual building blocks of these metaphors, he suggests a course of bedtime reading: one short story, one poem and one essay. These essays should come from a diversity of fields, including archaeology, zoology, biology, philosophy, politics, and literature. “At the end of a thousand nights,” so he sums it up, “you’ll be full of stuff!” I'm going to try some of these tips -- write swift, write short; diverse reading to expand the old gray cells. Works for me! Ray Bradbury, recipient of the 2000 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, the 2004 Nati

Claire Hadleigh

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