Deck the Halls With Instagrammable Holly

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: It's the first day after the start of Advent, the second day of Hanukkah, the third day of December. However you count it, the holiday season is upon us, and you know what that means: time to drag those cardboard boxes out of the basement/attic/garage/back of the closet and begin turning your house into a winter wonderland.
This year is the first time I'm 100% in charge of the decorating. As you might imagine, last year was pretty subdued, although even in the depth of grief I still felt a small burst of joy at the realization that I didn't have to put Ross's Santa's Marching Band on the mantle, where it would give me seasonal headaches with ear-splitting electronic music. It's staying in the attic again this year; kids, if you want it, come and get it.



For many years, once the Smithie was old enough, I put her in charge of the non-tree decorations, with the command, "Make it look like Christmas barfed all over the house." Let's face it, when you have three kids in high school and middle school in December, you are WAY too busy to do any holiday job you can reasonably delegate. Still, I've always enjoyed having the place done up, and every year I would buy new ornaments or wreaths or brush bottle trees on December 26th or 27th (also the best time to buy seasonal cards, btw.)

Over the years, a certain decorative rigidity set in, a combination of efficiency - it's quicker to put the same swags, balls and stockings up in the same spot as last year - and tradition. I managed to winnow out a few of the ugly decorations Ross received as presents from the parents of his students -

PUBLIC AFFAIRS ANNOUNCEMENT: Parents, your kids' teacher does NOT want another apple ornament for Christmas. Give him or her a gift card to Target or Walmart. Really.

- and to toss some of the oldest, dog-gnawed plastic balls that exclusively adorned our trees during the toddler years. But mostly, we kept bringing out the same decor season after season.

But this year is different. The Smithie doesn't live here any more. The Sailor is arriving on leave on the 15th, and Youngest finishes up the semester on the 21st. Essentially, I'm running a very, very cheap B&B, which means I can do it up however I want to. The freedom is staggering. I'm thinking of all aqua and red ornaments in the kitchen, and an exclusively gold and green theme in the parlor. The living room, home of the traditional red plaid everything? Olive and pink. MILLENNIAL pink! I'm going to take all those color-coordinated looks I see in HGTV Magazine and recreate them in my house. Yes, I know it's Basic White Mom, but it'll be fresh and pretty and new.

How about you, Reds? Are you going to be putting up decade-old decorations? Or are you going for novelty? Sentimental? Sophisticated? Or a mix?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Oh, um, er. We got nothing. At all. But fantasy?  I'd adore plaid, I'd do the whole house in plaid if I could. Bows, and pillows and wreaths with, um, bows. OR-white! All all white and silver. With red bows. And candles. And candy canes.  Not gonna happen, though.  I do get several amaryllises. Amarylli?  But that's not decorating. That's scraping the bottom.
You're inspiring me, though.


LUCY BURDETTE: Since we're in Key West where we won't have a big tree, we're not putting up the hodge-podge collection of ornaments accumulated over the years. (My rule of thumb is anything growing mold can be secretly trashed. John is very sentimental about things the kids made in the ancient past LOL.)

 We'll do white lights on the balcony and Christmas pillows on the couch and I did buy a new Christmas cactus for the coffee table which is blooming nicely. Key West does such a good job of decorating with lights, that we don't need to go too crazy.


HALLIE EPHRON: When houses in our neighborhood go for sale, they're listed as in "St. Agatha's Parish" - as you might imagine, Christmas decorating is a big deal here. We love to drive around and look at other people's lights. I did buy an Amaryllis and have potted it, hoping it will be blooming when our kids and grandkids get here a few days before for Christmas. I'm going to Staples to get oak tag and markers and sequins so Franny and Jody can make some 'ornaments' for my glorious little Norfolk pine. We open presents Christmas morning and eat potato latkes for dinner.

Though I won't be decorating before everyone gets here, I will be making candy and cookies. Lots of chocolate-covered orange rind. Mandelbrot. And hopefully batches of Christmas cookies (I've been saving recipes including one for orange macaroons.)



DEBORAH CROMBIE: Last year I redid quite a bit of my Christmas decorations, including an entirely new and entirely Instagramable Christmas table! I loved it so much I'm doing exactly the same thing this year. I just sort of tidied up overall, less stuff, and threw out some of the rattiest things. We have a Santa collection that goes on the writing desk in the living room, and a display for the mantel, and needlepoint stockings. The best addition last year was the fabulous little battery powered lights for the table, the mantel, and the buffet. I'm sure you can get them lots of places, but ours were from Crate and Barrel.

Hallie, I wish we lived closed enough to share in your holiday bounty!





RHYS BOWEN:  we never do outside decorations. ( not quite British, you know, according to my husband). But I decorate living and dining rooms... Great big tree with ornaments limited to Angels, stars, hearts and glass balls, many from Europe.
In the fireplace are two large caroling bears from my dear friend who passed away. 




And I do host a big holiday lunch for friends so the table has to be perfect! I love decorating, put on Christmas music, light a fire and sip mulled wine.  John not at all interested and probably doesn't notice until he goes to the desk in the corner and finds a tree there instead!

 







JENN McKINLAY: The year before I turned forty, I went shopping for a fake tree because I felt environmentally terrible about cutting down real trees even if they came from a tree farm. I was immediately besotted by this gloriously dazzlingly brilliant white tree. My friend, Travis, happened by as I was staring and I asked his opinion. My mom who was buying the tree for me as a present was a hard no on the white tree. I asked Travis's opinion - he's an architect and a snappy dresser so I figured he wouldn't steer me wrong - and he said, "Sweetie, it's Christmas, go crazy!" 

So I did. I love that tree even though I have to wear sunglasses to look at it straight on. I put it up every year we're in town and I love, love, love it. Oh, and Hub does the outside lights on the house which are solar powered because that's how we roll!

JULIA: 'Gram-ready AND green! Yay, Jenn! How about you, dear readers? Do you do it up big? Or Charlie-Brown-Tree style? And when, oh when is Hallie going to write a cookbook for the rest of us?!?

For readers wondering: the first picture by my name, the tablescape by Debs and the two pictures illustrating Rhys's comments, ad of course Jenn's tree (with optional Hooligans) are from our own houses. All the rest are eye candy suggestions...

Your Perfect Snow Day

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I know some of you have already had more snow than you wanted to see this early in the year!! But we just got some of our firewood delivered, a cold front came through last night, and I'm thinking about how nice it would be if it snowed and I could curl up on the sofa in front of a roaring fire, with a good book and some hot chocolate. (If I didn't have to work, but this is pretend.) 

Snow days are a big deal for us in north Texas so we always try to make the most of them--a couple of inches and we don't venture out of the house! We got snowed in on Christmas Day a few years ago and it was the best Christmas ever.

Unfortunately, there's no snow in our immediate future, but I can dream! The fire, the books, maybe some movies with my hubs. Cuddles with the dogs and the cats. Hot chocolate, yum, a special treat! Popcorn. A good soup staying warm on the stove. I'd even listen to "Let It Snow." PS the photo above is somebody's else cabin in Austria. I can only wish...

What's your dream snow day? (No shoveling allowed!)

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  For  the past forty or so years, snow has meant I have to work grueling and freezing hours doing live shots as a reporter, eating granola bars and trying to keep my fingers warm. Now it's less likely, crossing (still warm) fingers. And I remember so well the very first day we had a huge storm and I thought--oh no! And then I realized: I can stay home! YAAY! 
So I'm easy:  my idea of a perfect snow day is when the power stays on, frankly.   When it's all pretty and snowy, that's great, but when you are freezing in the dark and fear to open the fridge so the food won;t spoil and you count the hours until your freezer self-defrosts, that's no fun.  So, yay. Electricity.

DEBS: Hank, our scary thing is ice. We seldom get enough snow to cause a power outage (although even half an inch can shut down our roads) but we get sleet and freezing rain. If enough ice coats the power lines, we're in big trouble. Hence, the newly delivered firewood. Always good to have, just in case.

RHYS BOWEN: Snow? Wait a minute--Oh, it's that white stuff that I see on top of mountains. But doesn't exist where I live, either in Northern California (unless I drive up to the Sierra to ski) or in Arizona. I have a confession. I don't like to be cold. I didn't mind when I still skied, which burns zillions of calories, but now that my pace is slower I'll look at snow from a distance. But I presume we'll have some rain days in Marin County where I've just arrived home for December. Rain days will probably involve putting on Christmas music and wrapping presents.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Rhys, I'm coming to stay with you in your Arizona guest house ALL WINTER. It's just the beginning of December, and I've already had to have my driveway plowed three times. I like a white Christmas, but a white week-before-Thanksgiving is a bit much.

That being said, I do love being cozy at home in a snowstorm (with Hank's caveat that the power stay on.) It's not quite a thrilling as it was when I had three schoolchildren and a teacher at home - then, snowdays felt like national holidays! It's the perfect opportunity to take things slow - no one is running any errands, you don't have to return local calls because no one's in any of the offices, and it's the perfect time to simmer stew for hours on top of the woodstove, which will come in handy if the power DOES go out!

HALLIE EPHRON: My ideal snow day is someone else shoveling my walk. The garden looks so beautiful with a gloppy wet snow clinging to everything. But it's a slippery dangerous mess and I do hate dealing with it. And being cold is not fun, either. First-world problems in an era when it's still cold enough to have snow. I'll stop complaining now.

JENN McKINLAY: Living in central AZ, this is not really a thing for me. But if I had a snow day, I would want a fire in the fireplace, soup in the crockpot and a loaf of bread in the oven, a pile of books by my elbow, and my family all safe and sound while making a ruckus bangoing in and out of the house for snowball fights, sledding, and, of course, building a snow family. Perfection.

HANK: WITH electricity, Jenn. Trust me. 

READERS, snowed in yet, wherever you are? Everyone okay out there? And the big questions--Hot chocolate, or mulled cider?

And just as a reminder that not every perfect snow day needs to be in a cabin in the woods, one of my favorite books.

And if you've never read THE SNOWY DAY, don't wait for snow, go do it now!
 

What's On Your Radio

DEBORAH CROMBIE: One of the things that always strikes me in the UK is how different radio is from the US. Radio in the US has always seemed very age and genre segregated. Country music fans listen to their country station, rock music fans their rock station, old hippies like me, the Oldies station, etc, etc. And I have to admit that the only thing I listen to in the car or at home is usually NPR. (For which I am very grateful!) But I think this segregation encourages us to live in our own little bubbles.

In the UK, everyone listens to the radio. Most people have radios in their kitchens. And most people still listen to the four main BBC stations. 

Here's an example of the retro-type radios people tend to have in their kitchens (many are digital and bluetooth!)

BBC 1 skews a little younger music-wise. BBC 2 is the most mid-range--they play everything from oldies to the most current music. BBC 3 is mostly classical but they play jazz and other interesting stuff, too. All the stations have some news and talk programs, but  BBC 4 is all talk (don't even THINK about equating this with American talk radio!) There are plays and books and dramas written just for radio, news, current affairs, comedy, games, science documentaries, just about anything you can talk about, really.

I know we can get  a lot of varied programs like this now on podcasts, but that's not the same as having everyone sipping from the same cultural bowl, talking about the new band that debuted on Radio 1 or the latest Radio 4 drama over the water cooler.

I love the idea of radio being a way for us to be more connected, rather than less.

Reds and readers, do you still listen to the radio?

JENN McKINLAY: I love BBC radio and it's sad that we don't have something similar here. I am a hardcore NPR listener. In the car and I keep a radio on my desk that I flick on when the words won't flow and I need to hear other grownups thinking big things. Otherwise, I listen mostly to classic rock since the punk rock of my youth is now classic. When exactly did that happen???

HALLIE EPHRON: When I'm in the car I listen to NPR - we have two stations that are talk, though I get tired of listening to the voices of the same commentators over and over again - and one station that's classical music. I alternate. LOVE it when it's the weekend and I can hear Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me or Celtic music on A Celtic Sojourn. And when I'm home alone, cooking dinner, the radio is my companion. (Funny, I don't need it when Jerry's home.)

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: We listen to Celtic Sojourn too! And love Wait, Wait. And Fresh Air. There's a show on a local college station that's all Broadway music, and I love that, too. But when I am in the car, it is usually with Jonathan, so we don't listen to the radio. On road trips, it's Sirius with classical, or politics, or folk music, on, when I get my hands on the controls, I choose Broadway music, or oldies (Jenn, agreed!)  or Frank Sinatra channel. I get to hear new stuff, thank goodness, when I am in the car with my news photographers. So I remain a tiny bit--and I mean TINY--not completely out of it. Sunday mornings we listen to classical radio until Meet the Press is on.

Whoa. I remember when the radio was on ALL the time, my little transistor plugged into my ear. 


DEBS: I LOVE Wait, Wait!! I'll bet we all do. 

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I do! Like the rest of you, I'm an NPR junkie, and listen to many of the shows on my local station, MPBN. I'm also grateful they introduced the wonderful Maine Public Classical last year, and that tends to be on all the time at my house. Interestingly, though I get most of my music from "the radio," several of the stations I love I tune into by streaming from my Alexa. It's wonderful that living out in the country, I can have any station I want crystal clear. I told you I love Alexa!

I also have certain types of music I enjoy listening to depending on what I'm up to. Housework - oldies on 100.9. Cooking and puttering in the kitchen - adult contemporary on 98.9, Country music in the car - we now have at least three stations in our area playing country.

LUCY BURDETTE: Hallie, I'm just like you--if John's not home and I'm cooking, I always turn on NPR. And that's what I listen to in the car too. Unfortunately in our building in Key West, the reception is AWFUL. You have to practically stand by the window holding the antennae to avoid static. My favorite show on Saturdays is the Moth radio hour (storytelling) and on Sundays, love the baroque music.
 
RHYS BOWEN: As one who started out working for BBC radio, I regret that only NPR comes close in the US. I worked in radio drama and our plays got as much rehearsal as a TV plays. The most distinguished actors in England were in our casts. And the first piece of writing I sold was a radio play. But also comedy, quiz shows, talk on the arts. I only listen to radio when I'm driving. Usually NPR.

DEBS: Rhys, I love that your first piece of professional drama was a radio play. Don't you miss those here?

I manage to keep up with what's current a little bit because I watch The Voice. Thinking about it, maybe that's the biggest exposure we get nationally to a lot of different styles of music and performers.

Readers, tell us what you tune in?