bear

Almost into February, I should try to post about the first half of December before it's all out of my head.

* My birthday overlapped with Chanukah this year, so after starting off the morning with a ride to Kinfolx and breakfast on the patio, we headed over to Masse's to pick up my birthday cake (a chocolate ruffle torte), and they also had sufganiyot, twist my arm. Saul's had their giant latke frying stage set up outside, ready for the dinner crowds. And of course, walking right by Books Inc, we stopped in and walked out with an armload of books. On our way out, luck was on our side - the line at Cheeseboard was stunningly short, so we grabbed a half-baked mushroom pizza from them, and that and cake and candles accompanied our Friday zoom with faraway friends.

* The next day, one of my favorite popup bakeries was having a popup an easy bike ride away, so of course I popped down and picked up some croissants. (My favorite, her urfa snails, croissant dough studded with urfa pepper and rolled into a spiral, then topped with garlic labneh and an herby salad I could happily eat on its own.) Heading up the street, I passed the Christmas tree lot and realized they had tabletop-size trees. Ten minutes later, a burly guy was attaching one of said trees to the back rack of my bike with a spiderweb of twine. Baby's first ever Tree By Bike, hashtag, what, I've only been biking for transportation for how many years now?

* The day after that, we survived the very long day for the winter concert, leaving the house at 9 am for 10 am call time and not getting home until 8 pm, BeReal chimes and all. I loved singing Ešenvalds' Stars, but it was really hard to tell what the audience was hearing of it, especially the wineglasses, in the relative cavern of the Paramount. But the audience was there for the Tina Turner tribute songs and the holiday songs, and also many proud parents watching their babies performing with the grown-up choirs (and teenagers trying to pretend they were jaded and worldly but bursting with excitement at being on the big stage with the adults). And more importantly, despite adding choreo to the African Noel, nobody fell off the risers!

* The day after *that*, the Al Gore Rhythms told me Sarah McLachlan was going to perform at the Greek in May, and I snagged tickets; I guess this is becoming an annual tradition, shelling out for a big concert of someone I've never seen live but been meaning to. She's going to be performing everything off Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, so this is clearly a 30-years-belated present to my teenage self the way the DCFC/TPS concert was a 20-years-belated present to my mid-twenties self. I wonder who will be performing at the Greek in 2025 that would be a present to my elementary school self. Raffi?

(Also, I was joking with a friend that she was going to partner with the local humane society at each stop, perform Angel as an encore (I know, it was on Surfacing, not FTE), and get everyone in the audience to take home a shelter pet.)

* Later that week, we had our choir potluck banquet to celebrate making it through the first half of the season. I screwed up making orange blossom chocolate crinkles, they emphatically did not crinkle. But one of the new recruit choir aunties (literally, one of the tenors brought his aunt, and she's an alto, and we're in recruiting mode) LOVED them, so I packed her home with a box of the last half dozen. You compliment my baking, I am putty in your hands!

* And then we STAYED THE FUCK HOME because oh my god low social battery, knowing H's family was coming to town for Christmas ten days later.