The Roll Up

... to the social season. In preparation for the whirlwind of activity
for the next 2 weeks ,said tongue in cheek b/c our load is light ( no children , no siblings ) , we ( M ) made cornmeal surprises.
The surprise and it is , is a hotdog in the middle of a cornmeal cupcake.
I'm a Pogo fan , or a dog on a stick guy. Right , cornmeal coated , deep fried on a stick weiner. That are not good for me.
The Loop ( the homepage that I rag on b/c it is so useless ) had 20 recipes for the holiday season.
A cornmeal muffin avec ' dog ' bit was one. People have said w/ astonishment ' was there a hotdog in there ? " We should warn them, I suppose. Well , I love them. I suggested Xmas theme muffin papers and the little suckers are festive.
We had to buy mini muffin tins b/c these guys are one bite wonders but I would say a success.
I lied , our social season started w/ a cancellation as the other couple reported stomach trouble. The season starts to - day w/ a pre - Xmas present opening , its tradition.
We get 3 days off and then go Xmas dinner / Boxing Day 5 days off ( maybe ) and then New Years Day itself. That last one is traditional oriental type celebration.
I've been doing the NYD thing my whole life w/ 3 times off while away in the islands.
We cheat big time. We order in sushi and Chinese food. My Mom and aunts used to cook 2 days straight. My Mom might have 3 sittings during NYD.
I decided , nuts ! to cooking --- thats not fun
We do one sitting and keep the guest list small - ish. It expanded once and now has fallen off but will likely expand w/ significant others being added.

Weather : crisp and partly sunny , a pregnant lull , we are getting rain and wind in 2 days or so. Correction at 10:40 AM - its a great day out there.
Ran out for last minute entertaining thingies , moderate and mostly dry a little wind

Last night , on YouTube we watched ' flash mob ' ing around the world. E.g. in Sydney , Australia , a lone figure in black walks to the concourse centre of the train station - hops up on his toes and starts 
hard shoe dancing. followed by ' strangers ' out of the throng and within 3 minutes , 200 dancers are flinging their feet to the strains of the themes from ' Riverdance ' , the Irish dance extravaganza. Minutes later , the dancers melt away into the audience.
Neato , eh , what ?

Happy winter Solstice - the longest night of the year. However , the days get longer from here on in ( official kick off is 6:03 PM EST )