By William Shakespeare
From As You Like It, Act 2, Scene 7
Blow, blow, thou winter wind.
Thou art not so unkind
As man's ingratitude;
Thy tooth is not so keen,
Because thou art not seen,
Although thy breath be rude.
Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly:
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:
Then, heigh-ho, the holly!
This life is most jolly.
Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky,
That dost not bite so nigh
As benefits forgot:
Though thou the waters warp,
Thy sting is not so sharp
As friend remember'd not.
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We're at Paul's parents' house in Hanover, Pennsylvania, where there is plenty of snow on the ground for a white Christmas. We had a pretty quiet morning getting ready to go, then drove up in moderate traffic in the afternoon. We brought in Red Lobster for dinner and had far too many desserts -- we brought half of the Prinsesstarta from St. Lucia's Day, Cinda had baked many kinds of cookie, there were Utz chocolate covered pretzels in the house...mmmmm! In the evening I went to church with Clair and Cinda; Paul and the kids did not go, having no interest, but the music there is wonderful -- they have a famous 80-year-old great organ that is one of the largest in the world -- and listening to several hundred people pray for peace cannot be a bad thing no matter whose name the prayers are in.
A tree with hundreds of holiday lights decorating its branches in Hanover.
This is my in-laws' small tabletop tree...
...decorated with lots of angels, which my mother-in-law collects (I got her the paper Victorian one on the left)...
...and lots of glass, so it's very twinkly.
This is my favorite of their ornaments -- scrimshaw ships from Scandinavia -- though it is not hanging up yet this year; this photo is from 2005.
These ornaments are hanging on the enormous Christmas tree...
...at St. Matthew Lutheran Church, where I attended Christmas Eve services.
My parents were supposed to join us tomorrow, but given the emergency weather alerts we've been receiving all day, I think they are not going to risk driving in an ice storm, so it'll be just us and my in-laws. There's so much food here that I'm going to need a personal trainer by Saturday. Merry Christmas if you celebrate, and if not, have a lovely weekend!
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