Holiday Inspiration

I was so excited to have this beautiful house to decorate for the holidays, and have found myself plumb out of energy this December. I'm not sure why the December dark is getting to me worse than in years past, but by the time I get home, I'm too tired to do more than a little cleaning/household chores. We bought two strands of little ball-shaped LED lights and two long pine garlands and are twisting the lights through the garland to look like berries. The plan is to drape these on the front porch railings. We also bought two strands of frost blue LED lights to wind up the posts on either side of the front stairs. That will be the extent of our yard illumination this year and we plan to just add a little bit each year.

Our tree is up but only about 2/3 decorated (thanks mostly to J's energy last night and putting most of the ornaments on). Our stockings ARE hung on our mantel but the rest of the mantel decorations are a little chaotic and in much need of finishing. At least all the present shopping is about 2/3 done!

However, thanks to watching an episode of Cupcake Wars the other night, and since then, I've been struck with a sudden desire to make truffles...and do them on a Nutcracker theme. Due to the aforementioned energy, I'll just stick right now to imagining flavors. I would see the "Nutracker Truffle Suite" as needing to incorporate these characters:

• Marie (Clara in the ballet)
• Nutcracker
• Mouse King
• Godpapa Drosselmeier
• Clock/Owl
• Sugar Plum Fairy
• Spanish Couple (chocolate)
• Chinese Dance (tea)
• Russian Dance (peppermints)
• Arabian Dance (coffee)
• Mother Ginger
• Danish Marzipan Shepherdesses
• Waltz of the Flowers
• Fritz

I had fun discussing and plotting flavors for each of these with one of my friends in another country. Too ambitious for this year, but I'm hoping maybe I will make and gift one of the flavors each year to friends and family, along with a card-sized print of an original painting of that character.