Sunday Snippets 12/24/23

Well, first of all a Merry Christmas to you all!

I’m sure most of you have plans. I don’t care much for plans. I like to just mosey along and go with the flow right here at home.

I just put a Butterball turkey breast in the tabletop convection oven. This is one you can cook frozen if you so wish, and that’s what I’m doing.

But I like to never pried that gravy packet out of the frozen turkey. I had to soak it in water and pry it out with the sharp end of a pair of scissors. That wasn’t much fun.

If I’m up to it, I’d like to make Paula Deen’s corn casserole and a sweet potato casserole.

What I really love is cornbread dressing. But if I don’t get around to it, there should still be plenty to eat and lots of leftovers.

I’m not in any hurry. If everything isn’t baked before Christmas, then so be it. It should just be me, and I don’t much care about when it’s all ready!

The Weather Here:

It’s raining outside. Of course I love the rain. I don’t think I’d get tired of it if it rained every day. But then I don’t have to go out in it.

I feel the coziest in my home when it’s raining.

It goes back to my childhood.

When the old ladies nearby heard there was going to be a possible tornado, here they’d come to our place. We had a cellar. If it got bad enough we’d go out and climb down into the dank-smelling cellar.

I don’t think there’s an equivalent smell to what a closed up cellar smells like when you pull up the door.

If the storm hadn’t blown over, the old ladies stayed the night with us.

It wasn’t exactly a party atmosphere, but it was about as close to one as it got in our house.

So my loving the rain probably has much to do with those memories stored away.

I never really have been afraid of storms. Probably should be. The weathermen can take over the TV all night for all I care because I don’t have cable and I stream what I watch.

If it blows me away then it blows me away. I don’t think you can grow up in Oklahoma and still be mighty terrified of storms.

What I’m Watching:

I’ve been rewatching “The Gulf.” It’s a show set in New Zealand. I know I’ve watched the first season some time in the past. But the second season doesn’t seem familiar to me.

It was filmed in Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city. The scenery is pretty. But mostly what you see is water.

Auckland is in a bay on the North Island, with the city facing the Pacific Ocean on one side and the Tasman Sea on the other.

New Zealand itself is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean.

It’s a crime series, the kind I most like to watch. It’s very suspenseful.

Detective Jess Savage (Kate Elliot) investigates crimes on her home of Waiheke Island, New Zealand; after losing her memory in a car crash that killed her husband.

What I’m Reading:

I finished reading “The Grapes Of Wrath” last night.

The Grapes Of Wrath was written by John Steinbeck in 1939, and the message then was similar to the message now. It’s a political atmosphere and people are sharply divided.

The Grapes of Wrath draws its title from both the song ”The Battle Hymn of the Republic” and the Book of Revelations in the Bible.

It’s the rich against the poor. The haves against the have-nots, which is the story of the ages. And largely symbolic.

I’ve never understood the intense anger of some people so against other people.

Just because other people aren’t familiar doesn’t give anyone a reason to treat them badly.

I’m not sure what I’ll read next. I’ll go back to the bedroom after watching my usual hour or so of TV tonight. And then decide what to read before I get under the covers.

And here is the week’s photo of Ivy, who looks like she’s been poured over the chair arm.

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I'm Brenda, creator of Cozy Little House. I live with my cat, Ivy, who keeps me laughing. I graduated from journalism school with a degree in professional writing and won awards for feature writing. I practice gratitude and enjoy my solitude. The glass is always half-full.

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37 Comments

  1. I’ve gotten a little attached to Stove Top. There it is on the shelf when I have a craving.
    Merry Christmas!

  2. Merry Christmas to you & Ivy!
    There’s a new episode of Vera on Britbox… The Rising Tide.
    It’s listed as episode 5 of season 12 and as a Vera Christmas special.
    Season 13 is due to begin in January 2024.

  3. Merry Christmas Brenda and to everyone who comes here. Nixed driving 200 miles to be with family this year, wanted a quiet holiday this go-seems to be a bit of a theme. Temp hit 55 here in SW Ohio so hubs and I did a nice hike at Stillwater Prairie Preserve. Felt need to get close w/ nature today & it was lovely. Not familiar with The Gulf (will be checking it out) but 800 Words or Less filmed in NZ too. It was only 3 seasons but an enjoyable little series. Praying for all to know the power of hope, faith and peace during this time and into the new year and beyond.

  4. Merry Christmas to you and Ivy! And many wishes for a happy, healthy, and peaceful 2024!

  5. Merry Christmas Brenda! I too am enjoying the luxury of not leaving home for Christmas. I love spending time with my aunts and cousins, but it’s a bit of a drive to see them, so I’m just hanging out with my sweet babies. I have on a new pair of flannel lined leggings that feel amazing, got my little fireplace heater going, and we’re all happy campers. I made a huge pot of chicken tortilla soup this morning, added rice this time, and now I’m wondering why I didn’t think of this sooner. I’ll have soup in the freezer now and I’ll be making more other kinds. One dish meals are my thing! I love your picture of Ivy and I’m so glad you and that girl are so comfortable in your lovely home.

  6. Merry Christmas to you, Brenda and Ivy. Thank you ever so much for your blog and your many postings. Wishing you a most Healthy and Happy New Year!

  7. Merry Christmas to you Brenda and Ivy and to all your readers. I wish everyone a year ahead of good health and happiness.

  8. Merry Christmas, Brenda. Thank you for the gift of your blog. I enjoy reading everyone. I agree that my home is cozy and I am grateful I don’t have to run out in the bad weather most of the time!

  9. Joyeux Noël Brenda !
    Merci pour ce blog qui m’accompagne tous les jours.

  10. Merry Christmas, Brenda. I look forward to reading your posts each day.

  11. Have a wonderful holiday! I truly hope the New Year brings more love, peace and understanding to everyone.
    Bernardine

  12. Ivy looks like she is reading the titles to your books to see which one is the best. lol I remember a cellar from my childhood with stone walls and always that cellar smell. My mom kept her canned goods down there and that is also where the coal was kept in the winter for the “cook stove.” Merry Christmas to you and Ivy. We will have a very quiet Christmas but I will make a nice meal and a pumpkin pie. It started raining last night and still is coming down off and on, nice and slow so it soaks into the ground really well. I don’t mind not having snow.

  13. Merry Christmas to you and Ivy. We had a little snow here in Colorado Springs, Co, just enough to make it pretty. I’ll be going to my daughter’s for Christmas. All I have to do is show up with gifts and my dog! All good.

  14. It’s a rainy, cloudy day here. But it’s a joyful season! I’m so grateful to have a warm home to be in on rainy or cold winter days. Really like that little jar you have the berrys in. Ivy is so cute. Cats can get in the funniest positions. Nice to have a pet companion inside with you any time, but especially when it’s cold outside. They are company. Have a wonderful Christmas.

  16. Happy Holidays to all and thanks, Brenda, for bringing us “Cozy Little House.” I’m by myself on Christmas Day and I prefer it that way, it’s peaceful and quiet, I can snuggle under a fluffy throw blanket in my PJs when the sun goes down. Family get-togethers have been done ahead of Christmas, I’ve had my get-togethers with friends, the latest being yesterday afternoon. I’ve been watching old Christmas specials on YouTube from the likes of Dean Martin’s, Andy Williams’ and Perry Como’s TV shows, it’s been a hoot and filled with memories. Until this year I didn’t realize such videos were available on YouTube for free. I’ve also watched five different movie versions of “A Christmas Carol” – none of them animated or comedic (like “Scrooged”) and all for free on YouTube: 1935, 1938, 1951, 1984, 1999, and also watched “An American Christmas Carol” which is #6, and an old video of a youngish Vincent Price reading “A Christmas Carol” with vignettes of actors performing the most important parts of the story, #7. It is just not Christmas for me if I don’t watch at least one Scrooge movie. Friday night I watched one of my favorite Christmas movies “The Last Holiday” with Queen Latifah. Last night I watched the black and white version of “Holiday Inn” also for free, somehow it popped up via Microsoft when I did a search for it online. A lot of streaming services make you pay at least a few dollars to watch it, which I find outrageous! This afternoon I’ll watch “White Christmas” on Philo and Tonight I’ll watch “The Holiday” which is a modern Christmas romance favorite must watch. I baked my version of a Shepherd’s Pie casserole and have plenty to eat, stocked up on my favorite inexpensive pink wine, and have plenty of battery operated and real candles to light up the house tonight. I’ll have a (gel fuel/ethanol) fire in the fireplace even though it isn’t cold out. We may break a temperature record tomorrow, it may pass 50 degrees F, and rain is expected. It’s been raining off and on the past 2 days, no threatening storms or strong winds to knock out the power, certainly not the kind of December I remember as a kid when we nearly always had snow and cold temperatures. But I’ll take rain and mild any day. Happy Holidays to all.

  18. Merry Christmas to you Brenda. We will have a quiet day today, just the two of us. Rainy here too, and foggy, so we are content to be home. Probably watch football on TV, and have pulled pork on fat buns, for dinner tonight. Just a cozy night.
    We had our Christmas party for the family, our two boys, each with their wife, and 6 of the grand kids, last Saturday, the 16th. We like to have it a week before the 25th, when everybody can make it, and still have their Christmas day plans, at their own home.
    Love the photo of Ivy. Looks like she is trying to decide which book to read. So cute…
    Merry Christmas to you and Ivy. Hugs from Wisconsin

    1. Don’t we now depend on those quiet days? I can only take so much of people and then I’ve got to retreat into my apartment.

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