Christmas must be closing in. The Star Trees are now all lit up when I arrive at campus in the dim morning, and when I arrived today, I discovered that campus had been further decorated for the season with tinsel garlands on railings and ornaments and stockings on bare tree branches.
At lunchtime today I will be participating in the Lessons and Carols choir for the second time. As an announcement for the event states, Lessons and Carols is “based on a service from Kings College, Cambridge, alternating nine biblical passages (read by representatives of various parts of the campus and community), congregational singing of familiar carols, and anthems sung by an ad hoc choir of faculty, staff, and students.” The music was once sung by formal WU choirs, but a few years back, they decided to make an evening event of it and charge for admission. Now the Lessons and Carols service at convocation is manned with a volunteer choir instead, on only about four hours of practice time.
Last night (after choir practice, yoga, and a trip to the store for about 25 lbs of baking supplies to lug home on foot), I was up until midnight getting a start on baking Christmas cookies, and will be revisiting the same project tonight. The cookies I baked last night were a new recipe to me, and I think they’ll go into the regular rotation—ultra-fudgy and not difficult to make. The recipe is here. They don’t really rise or spread, and they definitely need a few minutes to cool on the cookie sheet before attempting to remove them; otherwise you end up with a delicious, fudgy MESS.
Tonight I bake loaves of eggnog bread and pumpkin bread for a holiday party at the library, and hopefully a few batches of the Russian teacakes and date-nut pinwheels chilling patiently in the frig.
PS: 9 days and counting…