Break for Spirit

I just finished wrapping (almost) the last of the Christmas presents and arranged them artfully under the tiny twinkly tree. Then, with the soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas still playing, I poured myself a glass of egg nog (Straight up--it's a little early for brandy.... I'm not that kind of writer.) and parted the living room blinds to watch snowflakes rush through the blue-gray evening sky past street lamps and bare tree branches and the snow-capped bird feeder Eric erected in our building's front yard.

And now...

Back to dishes and laundry and manic writing.