Distinctly December.

While Autumn still reigns officially until this Saturday, the transition to Winter has most surely come to New England.  This is my first winter in the city: all the winters I was growing up were spent in deep, rural, woodsy New England.  The sort of place where you brought firewood in from the shed before a big storm, where the cardinals flocked in pine boughs and you could follow deer tracks in the snow.  My college winters were spent in a small college town, and the month of December always meant the trip back further North to the rural homestead: I'd split my time between there and Boyfriend's family home, on the rocky, grey, rugged, homey New England Coast.  While some part of me misses that month long reprieve that was winter break during undergrad (despite always working winter breaks, I still had days off, snow days, time to bake and read and christmas shop, and sleep sleep sleeeeeeepp) I am adjusting well enough, I think, to my first December on my own.  Below are some of the things that to me are in some way distinctly winter, distinctly Christmas, or otherwise distinctly December.

Ginger-Honey-Lemon-Kick-Ass-Immuune-Booster

{Image from here}

There are dozens of variations on this recipe: I tweak my own basic one depending on my symptoms.  The basic idea, though, is to make a tea out of ginger, cayenne pepper (just a few dashes!  no more than two or three for me and I have a very high tolerance for spice. when making it for roommates, I add maybe a dash!), cinnamon, raw honey, and lemon.  Pro tips: add the raw honey second to last, after the water has come down from a boil and add the lemon by just sticking it in your cup and pouring the no-longer boiling water on it.  That way you don't boil out any enzymes, yay!

Homemade Chicken Soup

{Image from martinturzak/Photos.com}

Earlier in the fall I bought two free-range, humanely slaughtered rotisserie chickens.  One I turned in to a bunch of soup, the other I ate from for a few days and then turned the carcass in to a kick-ass mass of stock.  I've been busting both out of the freezer generously as the weather has hovered below zero for days at a time.

The Nutcracker

{Image is the property of Boston Ballet}

It isn't the holidays for me without a trip to the Nutcracker, a tradition that was started when I was a little girl - and then a big girl, all the way through high school senior - when I danced in the Nutcracker.  Now if I'm not part of a production, I simply have to go see one.  Being a staff member with BB allows me discount tickets to see one of the best versions out there!  Taking Mum and Sissy to see it was a highlight of my post-grad life so far, and the kick off to my Christmas.

    

                        

Books!  While it's frustrating to not have a million and one arts-based projects on my plate for three or four weeks, it is undeniably nice to have time to "refresh the creative well," by re-engaging in my other passions and hobbies.  Nurturing my brain, curiosity, and language skills.  Plus, nothing screams "December," to me quite like snuggling up under my softest brown blanket (a gift from Boyfriend) with my fuzzy socks mug of tea, and a just-for-fun book to read beneath the Christmas lights.

SNOW.

{Image from jetsetter.com}

Because obviously snow = winter.  First snow on the same night as Nutcracker = proper December.

Honorable Distinctly December Mentions:

*Chocolate chip cookies 

*Pandora Christmas Station

*Fuzzy socks

*This nifty cold I've got that's making me so tired I'm in bed by ten but can't for the desperate life of me actually fall asleep.  Cue more immune-boosting tea.  

*Christmas budgeting, Christmas shopping's more practical cousin.

She Said I Think I'll Go To Boston. . .

. . . I think I'll start a new life, I think I'll start it over, where no one knows my name.

-"Boston," by Augustana

So that's exactly what she did.  Hello there, friends.  I know, I know.  It's been awhile - months, on fact.  If you've ever read my blog before and are here now, faithfully checking in, I thank you.  Deeply and truly from the bottom of my heart for your loyalty to me and my little corner of the internet.  And if you're new, welcome!  I hope you'll stay around and share in the adventure.  I also think if you're a long time follower, it is time to be candid - and if you're new, it's always a good idea to start a relationship of any kind with real honesty, right?

So.  Where have I been?  What have I been doing for the past season, an entire summer, where I was silent?  And why didn't I blog?  Well, in case the lyrics weren't a give away, I was in Boston. Back in January I received an award at KCACTF (Region 1) for those who don't know, KCACTF is a  national College Theatre Festival, and the particular award I received was a scholarship that allowed me to train with Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, a renown company who I deeply admire.  To train, perform, and work with them for the summer was something I hoped for but didn't anticipate being able to actually do - and the second I realized I would be able to, I was elated.  The only downside was I knew I couldn't share too much of my experience here.

You see, blogs are public access things by their nature - and I have had to be very careful with what information I post publicly because of my "relationship," with my father, a topic I have hinted at on this blog before.  Simply put he was and is abusive, and it is always in my best interest (emotionally, mentally, and physically) for him not to know where I am located.  There was no way to talk about my apprenticeship, which was six or seven days a week, all day and all night, and even had me traveling around Boston, without talking about my exact location - our shows on the Common draw ten thousand people a night, so we're hardly small or unknown.  Which is exactly how he found me anyway.  And once he did, the court battle began, as I attempt to win legal protection from his harassment and stalking, something I knew I couldn't do if I made all of my information public.  I now have enough legal protection to feel comfortable sharing some of my information again. . . and to be honest, I missed this space.  I love to write and I love my blog and I am certainly resentful I had to be pulled away from it.  So expect me back!

Now about this summer - it was amazing.  There was some rough stuff for sure, but it was the most wonderful summer of my entire life. I trained intensively in my craft, performed for tens of thousands of people on the Boston Common, worked with actors from plays like London and Hollywood (we're talkin' an actor on NCIS LA here people!), got to tour Boston performing with the other Apprentices everywhere from a YMCA to George's Island, went to a ton of Sox games, couch surfed like a professional, saw Boston's first Pride Parade, participated in a major arts festival, had a crash course in all things outdoor theatre, grew immeasurably as an artist, learned to really stand on my own two feet, made friendships faster and more deeply than I imagined possible, worked with two dozen inspiring peers, and managed through the grace of God to parlay all of that in to job opportunities as an artist.  

More on those topics to follow! I hope you're all ready to read.