First Saturday in Advent

I am reading posts about people's holiday ramblings:  craft fairs, breweries, cookie exchanges.  While my life is not quite as glamorous, let me record what the first Saturday in December held for me yesterday:

--I went for a walk early in the morning.  I am noticing pelicans around North Lake, which I've never seen before.  Have some of them set up a homestead?

--I was grumpy for a variety of reasons.  Happily, I was able to talk to my spouse and strategize.  This morning, I am less grumpy.

--I tried to set up a photo that captures my Advent/holiday frame of mind:

--I had a Zoom call with my quilt group.  Should I still call us a quilt group?  That's how I think about us, so I will continue.  It was good to catch up, even though not much has changed for any of us.  There's a tiredness that I'm sensing, a tiredness born of this pandemic, about the fact that we're all working in higher ed at the end of a semester, and about the Zoom call itself.  Or maybe it's just me that has a weariness borne out of a semester of looking at more screens than usual, with my virtual classes that I'm taking for seminary.

--I got off that call and then had another Zoom call with my small group for my certificate in spiritual direction program.  This time the primary purpose for the call was to check in before our in-person intensive in January.  With this new variant, we may not be meeting in person.  Sigh.

--My spouse and I went to the grocery store to get a few provisions:  wine, broccoli, and powdered sugar.  As we walked back, my spouse carrying the 2 wine bags, me carrying broccoli and powdered sugar which I didn't have them put in a bag.  I wondered if people saw us and said, "What recipe are they making?"

--We got back and strung lights on the top rail of our balcony railing.  We plugged them in and played Yahtzee on the balcony to enjoy the lights.

--I also strung some fairy lights on the giant poinsettia:

--We came in and had some cheese and crackers to go with our wine.  The broccoli is for today's late lunch/early dinner of turkey tetrazzini and baked sweet potatoes.  The powdered sugar was just in case we wanted to make Christmas cookies with powdered sugar frosting.  

--We watched some stand up comedy on TV, and I did some sketching.  This morning, I was delighted by the sketch that I did:

--I went to bed super early, at 7.  I hadn't gotten good sleep from Friday night to Saturday morning, so I was glad for a chance to catch up.