Nothing Says Holidays Like A Cheese Log

Thanks go to Ellen Degeneres for the title of this post (thanks go to Ellen Degeneres for a lot of things).

I went through all 10 large Rubbermaid tubs of Christmas ornaments and decorations that were stacked in the garage, and I was relieved to find not one single holiday cheese log.

HERBS OR MOLD?

I had expected (and hoped) that downsizing our Christmas collection would be easy.  It was.  The original 10 tubs have been reduced to only two.  Everything else is going to Goodwill.  Some happy thrift-store shoppers will find, among other things, 75 Hallmark ornaments (in their original boxes), a set of 24 silk penguins, 4 beautiful silk figures that Jerry brought back from China.  (Interesting that those ornaments sound so much more impressive when I say Jerry brought them back from China... as opposed to silk ornaments "made in China.")  There are boxed sets of glass ornaments — not the traditional colored balls, but tinted large tear-drops and other forms.  All beautiful and all surprisingly easy to part with.

JULENISSE.

We've got a collection of carved/cast Santas that stood every year on our fireplace mantel — when we had a fireplace mantel.  These Santas were given to us, one each year, by our nephews (and I will continue to believe that a 5- and 7-year-old came up with the idea and then shopped every year all the way through high school).  Anyway, it doesn't matter, the Santas will always make us think of Ryan and Matt.  We'll find a new home for them (the Santas) in Spain.  All five of our Norwegian Julenisse (Christmas gnomes or Norwegian Santa Clauses) are definitely going with us.  We bought the two shown here on our first trip to Norway.  Another was brought to us as a Christmas gift one year when our cousins Jan Olaf and Inger visited us in Santa Barbara.  And the other two are beautiful hand-crafted Julenisse made for us by our cousin Ellen.  (They're too carefully wrapped to photograph right now.)

THE DRAWING IMMEDIATELY BECAME AN ORNAMENT.

We kept special gifts given to us over the years, unusual blown-glass ornaments, one-of-a-kinds, Jerry's baby rattle, a sweet drawing of "Annie" given to us in 1983 by a little girl named Sarah — our friends' daughter who has remained our friend herself.  At that time, Sarah was a bit obsessed with "Annie" the musical (her sister Anne, born in 1984, is living proof).  Now, Sarah is a 30-something mother of two and Anne travels the world.  Time flies like an arrow (fruit flies like a banana).

A KEEPER.  I DON'T THINK WE'LL BE ABLE TO FIND ONE IN SPAIN.