A Quiet Sunday. . .

Yet another old-fashioned image of St. Nick, this time in the more usual red that we typically associate with him.

Not a whole lot to report for this, the 700th posting to the Grand Duchy of Stollen blog. It's a cold, quiet Sunday morning, and we have about 1" (25mm) of snow on the ground -- NOT part of the massive storm that hit the northeastern United States yesterday. So, it feels suitably Christmasy today. I accomplished nothing yesterday. Nada. Zip. Zilch. And it felt great. The Grand Duchess did finish a few real-life things in her office on the second floor of the house, and she later bundled up and went running, but yours truly managed to let the entire day slip by with nary a paintbrush applied to figures or anything else of consequence achieved. Of course, I'd intended to work on some painting after dinner, but I felt so pleasantly tired and full of nice food that those plans went by the wayside. Ah well! Maybe this afternoon or evening? In the meantime, here are a few more suitably seasonal images for your viewing pleasure. I'm off to make a big Sunday breakfast for us!

Here is a photograph of our slightly smaller Christmas tree in the dining room on which the Grand Duchess has hung many family ornaments from her childhood along with a few newer ornaments from yours truly, given to her during more recent Christmastimes.

And last, but not least, here is the big Christmas tree right next door in the library (A bit pretentious, yes. We Actually have more books on shelves in the living room). This tree features an array of shiny, colorful, and even quirky ornaments and docorations, for instance the red jalpeno pepper, a Mexican cat wearing a sombrero, and the German pickle, which you can see more easily if you click on the photo.