The sky is the color of watered silk and the leafless trees throw their stark silhouettes up, looking for snow to cover their bare arms. Temperatures have made ice crackle across the sidewalks and the furnace labors to keep up with our demands. Suddenly, the felt snowflakes in the window seem less cheery than mocking as we know another storm is predicted for a few days hence. But who can complain when December acts like December and a white Christmas is guaranteed for all?

The house is toasty with the aroma of gingerbread: allspice, cloves, ginger, and cinnamon. Sheets of silly stars and hearts and angels and snowmen slide in and out of the oven under the watchful eyes of The Teen, the gingerbread connoisseur and devotee for whom all this fuss is generated. There's some wrapping to do, a crinkle of paper and threads of shiny ribbons to adorn The Princess's gifts before she gets home from school. She is the legendary family snoop and gaily admits to her propensity so we all beware of her return and the safety of packages resting peacefully in their shopping bags.

Nothing is better than sitting under my fleece throw watching the sunset watercolor the sky like wet on wet and eating a plate of Italian  toast with butter. My neighbor's Christmas lights spring on and his yard is now illuminated by fairy lights that compete with the last breaths of dusk.  My raw throat and aching sinuses are quiet as long as I remain in repose - perhaps for the next two weeks? But no, work is piling up while I indulge an afternoon of feeling poorly and I will pay tomorrow but for now, I munch on toast and drink tea and watch The Darling Buds of May.

Everyone needs an afternoon once a year of sick leave, transforming his or herself into a convalescent, knitting by the bed, nightstand full of pill bottles, treating the sweats and shivers with a few Christmas cookies dipped in chocolate. If I manage to ease off this bed before sleep, I have in mind some stars cut from sheet music and the finishing touches on the round robin journal. This month's theme is "frivolity" ~ how best to describe the season?