winter's a bit different this year. everywhere, apparently. it's strange to read the news about all the extreme weather elsewhere, when here it's so meh. damp and dim when it's not drab and dark. it's really starting to get to me. if only it would freeze, at least. i'd be a whole new me. alder buds are having the winter blues, too. i adore the colour on them.
due to the all-permeating darkness i am having trouble letting go of the yule tree. i figured, since i'm not christian, i can skip the epiphany rule and wait until the evil nuutti comes to take it all away on the thirteenth. the tree is only a scrawny, tiny thing and the string of lights is its sole decoration, but it feels like the only thing that is shiny and bright right now.
i didn't do much over the holidays but i did bake gingerbread. i bought pre-made, gluten-free doughand it was surprisingly good, but it was hard to tell when the cookies were done, because they were lighter in colour than normal. but for the first time ever, i didn't burn the first batch in the oven! i made the white icing too runny, which was a disaster, but i really liked the vintage hue of green that i got from using spirulina powder instead of food colouring.
