Three weeks ago our daughter Bea flew home. As she packs to return to school, I try to recall where the time has gone. The day after she arrived, we told stories at the Black Diamond History Museum for their Hometown Christmas.
The locals were very friendly! 
Black Diamond teems with local history: we found some of it for sale in a great Antique Store next to the museum.
We were treated to the best pizza in the valley at Black Diamond Pizza and Deli. The owner, Mike, told us he was passing through on a trip from Wisconsin, saw the building, originally built as a bank in 1915, and fell in love. The rest is history.
In the days that followed we enjoyed many winter walks, like this one at Green Lake.
They often entail impromptu birdwatching.
We celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas at our house.
But we love sparkle all year long, and welcome any excuse to bring more light into our lives.
More cookies too. There was a flurry of baking…
…for both holidays.
.
Then we drove out of the city…
…to find our tree.
We got a gooder!
This is how you dress for a Northwest Christmas.
We hosted parties for Bea’s NaNoWriMo pals, and the Dungeons and Dragons set. 
We visited friends……and had friends over to play.
On Christmas Eve we broke bread and made joyful music with family and friends.
On Christmas morning some lucky ducks found cool new jammies under the tree.
Very fitting, as we rang in the New Year with a sci-fi party. Our old friend Sargon served as Master of Ceremonies.
Cap’n Tommy wore gold. Rick and Sue were Red Shirts–those ill-fated crewmen doomed to die violent and expected deaths before the first commercial break of each Star Trek episode. Rick painted His ‘n’ Her phaser burns on the front of his shirt and the back of Sue’s. 
Rick and Dorota were smashing as Effie Trinket and Caesar Flickerman from The Hunger Games.
We came as…
Zaphod from Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, T’Pau the Queen Bitch of Vulcan from Classic Trek episode Amok Time, and Doc Brown from Back to the Future. When Back to the Future was made in 1985, the distant future to which Doc travels is set in the year 2015! Yikes! If you think three weeks goes fast, see how fast three decades will sneak up on you.
I thought about that as we toasted the New Year with the traditional Boston Cooler.
Here’s a toast to you.
May the New Year bring you twice the warmth, wisdom, joy, and sparkle!
But don’t wait for the future to come to you. Carpe Futurum, guys, before it carpes you!
All words and images copyright Naomi Baltuck
Click here for more interpretations of The Weekly Photo Challenge: New.
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By Christmas night, my throat was scratchy, and it was all downhill from there. The next day Bea was felled. The day after, Eli. My brother Lew, who spent the holiday with us, left to suffer in the privacy of his own home. A week later, on New Year’s Eve Eve we were still in no shape to host the hobbit party we had planned. I rescheduled with family friends, but Bea asked if she could still have just a small handful of her friends over. I said, yes, but only if they knew they were coming at their own risk. So we did a little decorating, a little shopping, a little food prep, a little dress up, and we were ready to party in quarantine. 
As midnight drew near, there was only one task left to do. Mama hobbit began to prepare the Boston Coolers, an ancient custom practiced by native Detroiters and their offspring, to toast the New Year. 
It is a delicate concoction of Vernors ginger ale, not Canada Dry or any other pale substitute. Only Vernors, aged in wood, and deftly mixed with vanilla ice cream. Try it sometime, but you must promise not to settle for anything less than real Vernors! 
Writing Between the Lines 