A.M. Offenwanger's Blog, page 19

#TheTwelveDaysOfChristmas: The Fourth Day

The Twelve Days of Christmas: A Christmastide Tale in Twelve Instalments. With Elves.

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The Fourth Day of Christmas

I couldn’t get through to Tom. None of my texts got a response. I had to go back to work on the 28th, so I didn’t have time to go running around looking for him. I’d stopped in at the police station on the way home from Mary-Lou’s to at least ask what it takes to file a missing persons report, but they’d already shut up shop for the weekend.

And besides, Tom was supposed to be...

#TheTwelveDaysOfChristmas: The Third Day

The Twelve Days of Christmas: A Christmastide Tale in Twelve Instalments. With Elves.

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The Third Day of Christmas

Mary-Lou didn’t think so either when I talked to her. We have an affinity—we bonded over both of us being named Mary-Something. My full name is Mary-Claire, which I think makes me sound like either a Southern belle or a Catholic nun. Fortunately nobody but my grandmother has ever called me anything but the short version.

“No, Mac,” said Mary-Lou, who had known Tom all his life. “...

#TheTwelveDaysOfChristmas: The Second Day

The Twelve Days of Christmas: A Christmastide Tale in Twelve Instalments. With Elves.

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The Second Day of Christmas

I went over to Tom’s house first thing in the morning on Boxing Day, before it was even light—not that that means much this time of year; sunrise doesn’t come until almost nine o’clock. His truck wasn’t parked at the curb where he usually leaves it. I used the key he’d hidden on top of the lintel—he figured that was safer than under the door mat—and let myself into his basement...

#TheTwelveDaysOfChristmas: The First Day

The Twelve Days of Christmas: A Christmastide Tale in Twelve Instalments. With Elves.

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The First Day of Christmas

If you think that elves are small, cute, cheerful creatures with pointy ears, green hats, and jingle bells on the hems of their shirts, do yourself a favour: think again. Mind you, I can understand how you would come to such a conclusion, especially at this time of year—even our small town has a Santa in front of the grocery store with those little green guys flocking around him,...

The Twelve Days of Christmas…

…start tomorrow, Christmas Day. Twelfth Night,which is one of my favourite of Shakespeare’s plays (especially the 1996 film version with Imogen Stubbs, Helena Bonham Carter and Ben Kingsley), was written for a Twelfth Night party, the celebration to mark the end of the twelve days of jollification that in Ye Olde England(e) was the true period of Christmas.

Incidentally, I was just listening to Dickens’Christmas Carol, and he mentions the Twelfth Night party, too, when the Ghost of Christmas...

Two More Days!

Two more days to the Christmas Surprise! On Christmas Day, there’ll be something coming your way… [humming a well-known song]

Meanwhile, here’s a picture of this year’s Christmas bush (note the treetop star in the middle, cause that’s where the top of the trunk is). Move over, Charlie Brown, you had nothing on us.

Two more sleeps!

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#SweetSaturday: Springerle

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We finally got around to baking this year’s Springerle(Shpring-er-la) – “Little Jumpers”. It wouldn’t be Christmas without them.

They’re a cookie that’s unique to Swabia, the South-Western region of Germany around Stuttgart. The dough consists of eggs, flour, icing sugar and just a pinch of hartshorn salt (ammonium carbonate)*, and the cookies are made by pressing the dough into carved wooden molds, letting them dry overnight, then in the morning brushing the bottoms with water and baking...

Surprise…

Pssst – guess what? There’s a surprise coming your way on Christmas Day! I’m not telling what it is – it may or may not involve elves and a well-known Christmas carol – but keep an eye on this spot.

It’s a-comin’… Just five more days…

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Picture of two Steller’s jays at my feeder that has nothing to do with the surprise – or does it??

#WordlessWednesday: Zeppelin Spekulatius

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#FridayFragment: 06.12.2019

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The monster stared her in the face.
“I’m going to eat you up!” it growled.
She wrinkled her forehead.
“Why would you want to do that?”
The monster blinked. It took a deep breath.
“I’m going to eat you up!!” it roared.
“Yes, you mentioned,” the girl said. “But you’re not answering my question: Why?”
The monster rapidly batted its eyelashes. They were quite long, thick, and silky, the girl noticed. It opened its mouth.
“Don’t!” the girl said, holding up her hand. “If you’re going to say you’ll...