Winter's a-comin'

It's finally starting to feel like winter here. Funny how all of a sudden, in the span of a few days, the weather goes from pleasant, I-can-walk-home-without-a-jacket weather to the-wind-makes-my-cheeks-hurt bitter cold. A couple weeks ago we'd come home from work and open the windows because our apartment was so warm from the radiators; now we have our space heater on and the radiators just can't keep up!

Brooklyn had its first snow last night (only a tiny bit). Snow in New York is funny. It's only pretty for about ten minutes. Then everyone walks all over it, it gets quite compacted into the sidewalk, and you pray you have good boots and don't fall on your face.

Nevertheless, the snow did make duckduck's annual Christmas party even more picturesque. There was eggnog, chocolate covered pretzels, a Christmas tree, and even SANTA CLAUS, carrying a bottle of brandy and getting his picture taken with all the little girls and boys. It definitely helped me get into the Christmas spirit, which I haven't been feeling lately.

I went Christmas shopping though, and that helped.

I spent a lot of money.

But I got it all done in one go at least.

Now I'm watching Christmas Classics Volume 1 -- cartoons from the 1950s and earlier. It's on Netflix, where I've watched at least one movie a day and which has hindered my book reading dramatically. Most of the old Chritmas movies are pretty tame, but let me tell you, "The Shanty Where Santy Claus Lives" is extremely racist.