One of the many gifts I received from Nicolai for Christmas was a coupon for a pancake breakfast. Today, the entire family, plus Teddy, gathered to help me enjoy the feast. Should Nico ever tire of being an educator, he has a certain future as a chef. At the risk of getting in trouble with Jeanine, I must confess that these were the best buttermilk pancakes I have ever eaten. I was offered the first batch off the griddle and could not be made to wait for the accompanying bacon and fruit before making short work of this short stack. There was considerable discussion at the breakfast table about making this event a permanent New Year’s Day tradition going forward.

Our entire neighborhood was covered with a thin layer of ice this morning, making for treacherous walking and driving conditions. Nevertheless, tomorrow is trash collection day, and it was necessary to roll our garbage and recycling bins out to the street. Laden with holiday packaging and other waste, the wheels left distinctive tracks in the black ice, making for what I deemed an interesting photo.

Our perfect tree, once a shimmering tower of balsam and light, stood naked and skeletal against the window. With Christmas behind us, I worked methodically with my electric shears, cutting through every green bough until only a bare, tapering spine remained. What was once the centerpiece of our living room now lay in a neat heap on the floor. These salvaged branches, still fragrant with the scent of pine, are destined for the porch fire pit; soon, the very tree that warmed our spirits inside will be warming our faces under the cold starlight of a future evening.

A pristine blanket of fresh snow softens every edge of our patio furniture. Beyond this silent space, the world shifts from soft to solid. The river has ceased its flow, an icy reflection of the gray sky. Framing the view are bare branches, each encased in clear ice acting like tiny prisms to catch the weak rays of the morning light.

It is virtually impossible for me to part with even the smallest scraps of wood. I know that I will eventually find a use for each and every piece. The problem is how to store them in the meantime. Today, I began to address that challenge by constructing two racks to store plywood remnants, sorted by width to make finding the right piece easy. In the coming days or weeks, I hope to do the same for my solid wood off cuts.

Despite being short on proper beds, we were thrilled that the kids chose to spend another night with us. It was late morning before everyone rolled out of bed, and coffee was the first order of business. When I noticed Jeanine’s shadow on the cabinets in our great room, I encouraged Nico to lean into the scene and captured this photo of them. I really like the way it turned out.

Jeanine shows off her famous popovers, and Maya her new hiking boots.

Nico and Teddy model their matching bear sweaters.

Kyle is ready for some exercise in his new running glasses.

I was in charge of cooking a rib roast for dinner. It was not a half-bad effort for my first time. Food and game playing consumed most of the day.

Maya arrived this afternoon with a Peace Dove to top our Christmas tree, a change from the angel or star we usually use. In these times, it seemed most appropriate. Her father ensured she did not fall from the ladder as she placed the ornament, a white dove with an olive branch in its beak. The photo was taken by Jeanine’s sister, Susan, who is staying with us for several days, along with her friend Jean. The kids are all here, as well as Nicolai’s girlfriend, Nicole, whom I will refer to as Teddy going forward.

We enjoyed Raclette for dinner, a communal meal centered around melting and scraping cheese, traditionally over boiled potatoes, cured meats, and pickled vegetables like cornichons. It has been our traditional Christmas Eve dinner ever since our local Chinese restaurant closed. We used to dine there with the Budris family.

‘Twas two nights before Christmas, and all through the house, the air smelled of baking, no doubt by my spouse. The tree lights were twinkling, the stockings hung tight, each ribbon and bauble reflecting the light. I poured us some glögg, the cinnamon bold, and marveled at memories—new ones and old. Then, out in the yard, came a rustling sound; the recycling bin had been knocked to the ground! But wait—through the shadows, a scuttling thunk. No raccoon at all, but that flowerbed punk! The woodchuck—my rival, my furry torment— Had come back for vengeance, or maybe just scent. He snorted and waddled, as bold as could be, then looked in my eyes, quite unbothered by me. The cone flowers he’d leveled flashed back in my mind— last spring’s devastation of the botanical kind. I dashed to the closet, adrenaline high, my trusty air rifle glinting close by. I pumped it up twice, then three times—no fear— and crept through the moonlight, my quarry quite near. He froze by the trash can, then vanished from sight— a ghost in the snow, a brown blur in the night. I fired! It ricocheted straight off the bin, and startled the neighbors (and probably him). Now back in my slippers, my pride slightly dented, I pondered the duel that fate had fermented. The beast lives to burrow, to mock, and to feast— and I, the defeated, salute the fat beast.

For many years, I have eschewed wrapping Christmas gifts in fancy paper just to have it discarded in the trash. Saved paper grocery bags have been my go-to substitute. This year, I have turned my recycling efforts in a new direction. For many presents, I utilized leftovers from my shop to fashion custom “gift enclosures.” Unlike wrapping paper, opening these gifts will take some time and may require the use of tools. In the case of the one pictured above, the post “unwrapping” remnants might make an interesting toy for Maya’s cats. For the record, Jeanine fails to see the humor or Christmas spirit in my conservation efforts. Just wait till she sees how I “wrapped” her present this year!

For the second consecutive year, our kids invited their friends over for a holiday brunch. This year we had 38 guests, including a few parents who were also friends of ours. The multigenerational party lasted from noon until sunset with a menu that included overnight brioche praline French toast, mini frittata muffins, a spiral ham, fresh fruit, and an array of desserts.

Relatively mild weather allowed guests to spend time outdoors for a fire ceremony organized by Maya. This ritual involves writing down thoughts or intentions and burning them to release the past, let go of negative emotions, set intentions, or manifest desires.

How do you move a 220-pound headboard from your basement shop to a first-floor bedroom without a team of strong movers? Answer: You turn it into a bus. Using the resources available to me, I added wheels to the front and back of my woodworking creation. Doing so allowed me to single-handedly move it from my shop, out the shop door, around the outside of the house, and up to the steps of the front door. At this point, I enlisted the help of Maya to get it up the stairs and through the door. Jeanine assisted by standing on the cantilevered plywood at the top of the stairs to make sure it did not move under the weight of the metal ramp’s top lip. Due to the very low ground clearance of the “bus,” it was necessary to lift the entire back end to the level of the entry as soon as the front wheels cleared the ramp. Maya, despite her diminutive stature, proved quite a mighty assistant, and together we managed the lift. Once inside the house, I swapped the wheels for a dolly, which made steering through the hallways to the bedroom a breeze. Once there, Jeanine, Nico, Maya, and I rotated it into place atop the nightstands to complete the project. I am very pleased with the final product and, more importantly, so is Jeanine.

High winds today brought down trees and power lines throughout Concord. I had to take a significant detour while returning from a consulting gig as the main road through downtown was completely blocked. When I arrived, the power was out in our neighborhood, but not at our house, where our backup battery system was online. As is always the case, our municipal power company had electrical service restored in short order, just over twenty minutes. The story was not as rosy for our fiber optic broadband service, which was out of commission for more than 30 hours after the top of a utility pole snapped off (pictured above). The repair required a new pole and the replacement of 700 feet of 96-strand fiber.

Today, I completed the bookshelf headboard, the last component for our new bedroom suite. It is shown clamped upside down to a dolly, which has allowed me to move it around the shop. It is, no doubt, the largest piece of furniture I have ever built, and the main construction challenge has been dealing with the weight of over 200 pounds while working alone. When the kids visit next weekend, I will enlist their help to move this behemoth from my shop to our main bedroom and set it on the nightstands that will support it. All that remains to be done is to connect the built-in reading lights to their respective controls and power supply.

Most stone sculptures are created using a subtractive process. Material is slowly removed to reveal the artist’s vision. I made the piece featured above using an additive process. Over a period of years, I added one layer of calcium oxalate at a time to form the final contours. My previous attempts did not have the same surface texture or symmetry that I find so interesting in this one. I have added it to my collection and hope to display it along with some of my other creations at a future exhibit. Unlike some of my other endeavors, work on this project involves a chemical process that takes place in the background, requiring minimal time and attention from me. The only difficult part, which can be a real pain, is removing the artifact from the chemical reactor in which it was formed, especially if permitted to grow beyond the dimensions of the outlet line.

The pictured nightstands will serve as the base for a large bookshelf-style headboard to complement the platform bed I recently completed. I would have finished the project yesterday when the drawer slide hardware arrived if not for the fact that I had fabricated all 6 drawer boxes to the wrong depth. The nightstands are 18 inches deep, and that was the depth I used for the drawer boxes rather than the 15-inch depth of the drawer slides. Fortunately, I devised a rather clever way to slice 3 inches out of the drawers without compromising their integrity or appearance. Incidentally, these 6 drawers bring the total number I have built for our house to 120. I think I can safely say that we do not need any more and that these will be the last ones.

Back in October, Jeanine and I joined a local fitness facility and have been going together regularly. As I walked past her on the elliptical machine today, she had the biggest grin I have ever seen on anyone working out. I have little doubt that she was listening to a humorous podcast and must be sure to ask her about it. I listen to the news on NPR, which tends to have the opposite effect on me.

We were graced by about an inch of snow today. High winds prevented it from accumulating on tree limbs but it was happy to settle on the iced-over sections of the river and distant Fairhaven Bay. I opted to fly from the comfort of our living room (although it may be difficult to see me through the window) rather than venturing outdoors for a second time, the first to clear snow from the driveway.

I used the pink slab of insulation as a takeoff and landing pad to keep my drone from getting wet.

As part of a Conantum community tradition, we hosted a holiday potluck open house for our neighbors this evening for the second time in a row. Each year, ~10 residents host a party attended by ~20 neighbors. Our oldest guest was 90, and our youngest was 2. As always seems to be the case, most folks congregated in the kitchen area despite comfortable seating only steps away. Our kitchen was designed to handle multiple cooks, but the wide aisles also facilitate gathering around the island.

Of the recent gatherings we have hosted, preparation for this one seemed easy by comparison. I steam-roasted a large turkey breast, and Jeanine added holiday decorations throughout the house. She called me to the front hallway to photograph our digital picture frame, which was displaying a picture of young Maya in a tasseled winter hat. This, only moments after she had placed a Santa Claus hat on one of my mother’s sculptures, creating an admittedly humorous juxtaposition.

Last weekend, Jeanine and I drove downtown for the Concord holiday parade and tree lighting ceremony. Having forgotten the start time, we were late to the festivities. While this made finding a parking spot easy, we missed all but the carolers who performed in colonial period attire to end the event. Also forgotten was that I had taken this picture, but hadn’t downloaded it until today.

I completed the bed platform I started building last week today. I added horizontal slats, which serve two functions. The spacing allows the mattress to “breathe” while the 1/2″ thickness permits them to flex, adding a modest amount of give to the foundation. The slats are floating to allow them to bend. Fixed spacers provide permanent alignment. I can’t wait to test the feel of our mattress on the new frame. If it needs to be firmer, I can replace the slats with thicker ones, and should it be too firm, with thinner ones. I will probably need to wax the slat support surfaces to prevent squeaking during vigorous activity on the mattress. I am looking forward to that aspect of testing.

During the winter months, I tend to spend more time in my shop building projects of one type or another. Jeanine finds more time for baking, especially in the run-up to Christmas. Pictured above are some of her recent creations from the kitchen. As I type this entry, there is the aroma of lemon nut bread in the air and a batch of Jeanine’s special granola in the oven.

A slight break from sub-freezing temperatures encouraged me to install new driveway lighting today. I lined one side of the driveway with a 200-foot LED rope light, replacing the one I placed 2 years ago. Its control box was run over, allowing water to enter and damage the electronics. The animated lights provide a welcoming path to our house. Don’t be surprised to see an aerial video of the lights at night in a future post.

The motorized blinds for Jeanine’s office arrived yesterday, and I installed them this afternoon. The fit and color matched the walls perfectly. Unfortunately, one of four units appears to be dead-on-arrival. The other three are working as expected. While trying to debug the problem, I spotted a Bald Eagle hunting over the partially frozen river. It eventually landed on the edge of the ice, where it lingered for a few minutes, likely on the lookout for dinner. This month has produced a good number of really nice animal sightings.

With the river partially frozen, we have had several furry visitors over the last few days. We see beavers all the time, but rarely out of the water. This pair spent at least an hour enjoying their meal and grooming before slipping back into the water. River otters, on the other hand, are relatively rare to see. We saw this one yesterday, and he returned today for a little fishing.

I spent the better part of the day finishing my plans for the headboard that will complement the platform bed I recently completed. The design will include integrated 3-drawer nightstands, built-in reading lights, and shelving intended for the display of framed photographs. The shelving unit will sit atop the nightstands and flush to the wall, weighing slightly more than 200 pounds.

Kyle spent the weekend in New York City celebrating a co-workers 30th birthday and chose the middle of a 10K to propose in front of the Brooklyn Bridge. We know next to nothing about the woman, but we could not be more excited. We can’t wait to learn more details from Kyle when he returns this evening. Stay tuned for updates.

UPDATE 1: Even though she said YES, there will be no wedding. Apparently, the 10K run was also a scavenger hunt during which Kyle was required to propose marriage to a complete stranger. At least he got some good practice in.

UPDATE 2: I was aware of the full story when I made the initial post and was careful not to make any inaccurate statements. I wanted to see how many relatives would reach out to congratulate us. The answer: two.

Since we moved to Concord 22 years ago, I have been a member of the Concord United Soccer Club. This evening, we celebrated the club’s 30th anniversary at our traditional year-end party. The club includes an over-30, over-40, over-48, over-55, and over-62 teams. We represent something of a dynasty in Massachusetts. My team has won our Division 14 times and won our League 8 times.

By the time interest turned to a group photo, many had already left. Even so, it was impossible to get everyone into a single frame, and I had to composite 5 images to make this portrait. It turned out better than I would have expected, given the state of inebriation of most subjects and their inability to remain motionless while I captured the images. I have little doubt this will become an iconic club photo, and I must admit that I am sad that I was on the other side of the camera for this one.

The event took place at Bandoleros, a very popular local Mexican restaurant. The owner is a friend of the team and closed the restaurant for our celebration. I arrived early to set up a large screen TV, where a slide show of club photos looped throughout the evening.

The Concord Bridge, our local newspaper, featured a new section in this week’s edition. It is called “My Concord” and includes a photo essay and story about town residents sharing what it means for them to call Concord home. It has been something like a year since we submitted our narrative and images, and we had all but forgotten doing so. It was a nice surprise to learn that our family had been featured in the inaugural installment.

Jeanine had a play date with her friend Barbara today. The two could be heard laughing in the kitchen while baking an exotic holiday treat. The  Kransekake (Norwegian) or Kransekage (Danish) is a traditional Scandinavian “wreath cake” or “tower cake” consisting of a stack of eighteen or more concentric almond cookie rings.

Meanwhile, I spent a good portion of the day in my shop building a bed frame. Given the simplicity of the design, I completed the fabrication work in a few hours, and now all that remains is to varnish the pieces before assembling them. Once moved to our bedroom, I will install the mattress support slats that will provide ventilation and a measure of suspension for the mattress.

Today, I completed the final component of Jeanine’s office furniture. The set now includes an 80″ x 28″ desktop supported by a three-drawer cabinet on the left side and a two-shelf under-desk storage area on the right. A six-drawer filing cabinet creates an L-shaped return, and a 90″ wide, 18″ deep horizontal bookcase completes the ensemble. In total, the contiguous work surface area exceeds 30 square feet, something Jeanine wanted a lot of.

Jeanine’s office will double as her sanctuary, with almost half the floor space devoted to a carpeted lounge area that will include a queen-size sofa sleeper and a comfy swivel chair for reading. The sofa creates a nice delineation between the spaces and offers a great view of the river.

I am very pleased with the way the furniture turned out and happy that Jeanine no longer has to deal with a temporary office setup. Next, I plan to tackle a new bedroom suite.

Much of western and northern Massachusetts received the first snowfall of the season this evening. Here in Concord, we are right on the snow-rain line with the temperature hovering right around 32°F. Even though the forecast indicates that precipitation will continue through the night, it is anyone’s guess what form it will take. I decided to clear the inch of accumulated icy slush at 10 pm as a hedge against it turning into a frozen mess by morning. I have learned from experience that snow blowers work well on fluffy snow, passably with slush, and are of no use against ice. If the temperature remains above freezing throughout the night, then my work will have been for naught. If it dips below, I will be happy for the preemptive effort.

Followers of this blog are aware that I am a big fan of Chipotle and that I have lunch there most days of the week. While the food is generally considered healthy, it is high in sodium, and the serving sizes are generous to a fault. In order to help me reduce my blood pressure, per my doctor’s advice, Jeanine reverse-engineered the Chipotle recipe to prepare a version that is low in sodium and packaged in calorie-appropriate servings. I call this food Jepotle in honor of the chef. The plan is to prepare a sufficient amount at a time to last for the week. I am enjoying such a meal as I type, and I am filled with gratitude for a partner who cares for me in such a meaningful way.