Today is Santa Lucia Day . A young woman or girl wearing a crown of candles and lingonberries is supposed to be here bearing coffee and saffron buns. It never does happen that way. It never happens at all. I'm not willing to move to Sweden to make it happen, but it sounds really nice, except for the fire hazard of course.

You are about to find out what a complete sap I can be. Every year in the days before Christmas I read several books or parts of books about Christmas. Right now on the night table are:

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson (This takes about an hour to read. I always cry at the end when Imogene Herdman gets it.)

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens of course. (Takes longer to read so I stretch it out over several days. I always cry at the part where Scrooge gets it.)

The Little House Books (Laura Ingalls Wilder of course) They all have at least one Christmas episode, but right now on the table are:
On The Banks of Plum Creek ("Look Caroline, how Laura's eyes are shining")
The Long Winter (in this one they celebrate twice in one year, but the first time, on Christmas day, it's not very jolly because they're half starved since the trains aren't running. They celebrate again in May after the trains get through.)

Mrs. Coverlet's Magicians by Mary Nash. This is really a children's book and not a really great one and not the kind that is likely to enchant an adult, except that I first read it when I was about 8 and fell in love with it. About a family of three kids who have to take care of themselves in the month before Christmas.

So there you have it. I'm a sap for Christmas. Anyone have any recommendations for me?

As of 9:00 p.m. today
On top:
A new, larger lamp with a three-way bulb (brass-look, contour shade with braid but not too girlie)
The beige clock radio
The small 1979 Book of Common Prayer with red, green and white ribbons to which are attached charms in the form of a cross, an anchor, and a heart.
The lavender hairbrush with cat hair in it

Library books-
The Liars' Club by Mary Karr
Sinners Welcome by Mary Karr
The Last Flight of Jose Luis Balboa: stories by Gonzalo Barr

The reading glasses
A bubble-wrapped tablet of Prilosec

On the shelf in the middle:
The paperback copy of A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis
The paperback copy of Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton
The copy of Why I Am Not A Roman Catholic by Norman Ross
A paperback copy of The Jewel That Was Ours by Colin Dexter
The Shape Shifter by Tony Hillerman
Stretching by Bob Anderson
The 1975 Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary

In the drawer beneath the shelf:
The flashlight
One tube of Benadryl cream, mostly empty
1 tube of cortisone cream
The small scissors
3 pads yellow and one pad pink Post-It Notes, somewhat diminished in thickness
A small piece of paper, upon which is written "CROATOAN"

On the floor next to the night table:
The latest two issues of The New Yorker
The latest local gardening newspaper, full of ads for gardening centers wanting to sell me Christmas ornaments

Here it comes! We are in the season before Christmas. As an early Advent gift to my readers, I am pasting in below a prayer from The Carmina Gadelica .
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HEY THE GIFT

Hey the Gift, ho the Gift
Hey the Gift on the living.

The fair Mary went upon her knee,
It was the King of glory who was on her breast.

The side of the sack
The hide is struck upon the spar.

To tell to us that Christ is born,
The King of kings of the land of salvation.

I see the hills, I see the strand,
I see the host upon the wing.

I see angels on clouds,
Coming with speech and friendship to us.

While I'm grateful for the almost summery weather we had Thanksgiving week, winter is here now and making up for lost time. It took me two hours to drive home tonight in the blowing snow, slipping all the way. By the time I pulled into the driveway my mouth was dry, my neck was stiff, and I really had to pee. Thank God for a warm home! With a toilet! But here's the thing. I'd really like just to stay in the warm home until, say, Palm Sunday. Could that be arranged? My mother often said (when fed up with her job) that she wanted to get a grant to study the effects of unlimited leisure on middle aged women. She never could find anyone to fund her, but I'm not sure how hard she tried. I'm thinking maybe this is right up the Kellogg Foundation's alley.