It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like, Oh Forget It

We've had ten straight clear (and some quite cold) days in Vancouver, which upholds my husband's two favorite adages about Vancouver weather, the first being "You can expect any type of weather at any time of year here" and the second being "If you don't like the weather, wait ten minutes." But as of today the rain has returned, and it's expected to hang around at least through the weekend.

While I like to get outdoors in the nice weather as much as the next gal, my personality fits in exceptionally well with the gray days. I am the kind of person who likes nothing better than to be stuck in the house with a book or a knitting project (or both -- I've finally trained myself to knit and read at the same time). And cooking. Cooking is a great thing to do on a dreary day. I've even gotten used to traipsing around the neighborhood in the rain collecting ingredients (proving yet another husbandly adage having to do with what you can accomplish as long as you are possessed of adequate rain gear).

So with the drizzle coming down and an online conversation about gingerbread pinging around in my head, it suddenly occurred to me that I needed to make gingerbread cupcakes. I happened to have a container of leftover cream cheese frosting in the fridge from Young Master Gateau's most recent effort at red velvet cupcakes, so we couldn't let that go to waste.

We're getting flyers home from school about the upcoming Holiday Fair with wreath-ordering instructions, Solly's has Hanukkah candles in the window, and Starbucks has been handing out red cups, but what tipped me over the edge into full-fledged holiday season anticipation is the smell of gingerbread in the oven wafting through the house.

Please remind me of all this goodwill a few weeks from now, when I've lost the Little Drummer Boy Challenge, I'm frantic that we won't have enough chairs to host Christmas Eve dinner, my fingers are riddled with paper cuts from present wrapping for the annual Orgy of Gift Giving (we celebrate Hanukkah, Yule, Christmas, and two birthdays before January 5th), and I'm considering sucking candy canes until their sharp points can be used as weapons.