The Day After

A Chautauqua Chrismas With Jim And Barb

7:09

7:21

7:26

7:33

It's 8:30 and it's just me, listening to a podcast on the ten best TV shows of the past decade.  It was a colorful morning sky at first but now it has grayed over for the most part.  The lake is still frozen although the snow is beginning to melt, alas.  Jill and Drew and family arrive later today and I am afraid the snow and ice will have disappeared by the time they arrive, with today's high of 48º.

A Christmas Walk In The Woods

Yesterday was a quiet Christmas for us, no hustle or bustle, no excitement of little ones opening presents.  Instead, it was not much different from most mornings with me up way too early, with Evie following around 8:00.  I wrote the blog, Evie edited the photos and once it was published, I decided to go for a walk in the woods because it was such a beautiful morning, lots of sun and blue skies.  I was out walking the woods by 10:00, seemingly the only one in the neighborhood.  The walk was a good idea, getting my blood moving, the sun, and blue skies always a mood changer.  It was such a nice morning that our neighbors were out enjoying the frozen lake, skating.

Skating To Wells Bay

Evie was tweaking the house and getting things organized for the day.  We were going over to our neighbor's house for Christmas dinner and we were bringing both a salad and potatoes.  So Evie got busy, making onion strings for the salad and her special dressing with tahini, sriracha, vinegar, oil and other goodies, a favorite.  I had the leftover Indian food for lunch, finishing it off and watched my show, then napped, my normal routine.  When I got up, Evie had decided to make a new potato recipe that sounded crazy to make though it was from the Smitten Kitchen.  Basically, you roast potatoes in a 500º oven for 15 minutes, then turn them over, roast them again, then pour chicken broth and garlic over them and roast for another fifteen minutes.  By the time they are done, they look like hockey pucks so we were not sure we wanted to bring them to dinner. 

We gathered our goodies and walked on the icy road carefully over to Barb and Jim's for dinner.  They, like us, have a lovely house on the lake with a striking view of Long Point, like all of us on Woodlawn but each view is different.  We enjoyed appetizers, stuffed mushrooms, some shrimp, wine or beer, waiting to have our turkey dinner. 

Turkey Dinner Ready

Jim carved the turkey as Evie and Barb got the sides ready.  Everything was great, the Brussel sprouts with a horseradish cream sauce, the turkey and stuffing, the salad with onions sticks, and a miracle, everyone liked or said they liked the hockey puck-like potatoes. 

A Lovely Christmas Dinner On Chautauqua Lake

We had ice cream and cookies for dessert and sat at the table talking until 8:30, a fun way to end our Christmas at Chautauqua Lake.  We relaxed and watched some TV, still full from our great dinner, inexplicably tired from doing little if anything during the day and went up to bed early.