Christmas Senses

“I wonder whether the Christmas feeling has anything to do with the sixth sense. Perhaps we're a little more the angels at Christmas than we are during the rest of the year. And Christmas is about all the other senses. I can smell Christmas, I can taste Christmas, and I can see and hear it.” 

Jostein Gaarder, Norwegian author in Through a Glass, Darkly 

I planned to title this post "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" because I put up some lights in my window and the kitchen was looking a little 'snowy'. Then I realized that the scent of sweets baking in the oven is making my little abode smell a lot like Christmas and with the Carols from Clare playing in the background it sounds a lot like Christmas too. You can probably guess that a nibble from the corner of "Sweetie Pie's Gingerbread Cookie Bar" (oh man!) is making it taste a lot like Christmas. And for the final sense: well, I'm having such a fun time that I'm feeling very warm and very happy.

As for Jostein Gaarder's sixth sense of Christmas, I am intuiting a very good year ahead, full of hope, peace, joy and love. May it be so. Amen.

Imbibing Sunlight

Wine is sunlight held together by water.

Galileo Galilei, Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher (1564-1642)

Sunlight sparkled on the vines on this November day as the 3 winos headed with our "passports" to Twenty Valley for its Wrapped Up in the Valley event. Our cousin was able to join us for this season's tour and added further dazzle to the day.

A few wineries offered new releases and all provided very creative pairings. We faithfully collected the recipes at each location with the intention to re-create some of these delicious edibles at home. I certainly see a pot of clam chowder in my future and I believe that have the perfect bit of sunlight to accompany it on a chilly winter evening. Stay tuned. ;-)