Even though we have no snow and my cookies turned out like dog biscuits, this Christmas season has really been quite lovely. I love our tree and all the decorations around the house and dread taking them all down, which means the return to a normal, un-festive house. Well, that’s not entirely true. We like the way some lights look (large round bulbs from Target), so I think they’ll be staying up. The fish in the above picture will be wrapped in tissue paper and placed back in a large Rubbermaid tub to await the Christmas season of 2005. He looks happy swimming in our tree, I think.

Not truly a Christmas wish (hey, I needed a rhyming word), this sunset was a bold and beautiful red a week ago. My camera ended up with ziggy lines, not the way I normally like photos, but the color more than makes up for it. I’m grateful for a house perched on a small hill in front of a park so we can see more of the skyline on nights like this.

Finally, a Christmas dish. This salad beautifully decorated the Lawton table on Christmas Day. I get hungry just looking at this dish that Andrew created. Every once in a while we get to see how his days as a cook have paid off… Mm, mm good.