ALL I NEED TO BE HAPPY

Martha Stewart I am not, but lacking talents to be an expert in interior design did not stop me from trying to make the house festive by putting scented pine cones into a decorative bowl and placing it next to a ceramic pumpkin.  I bought another bag with larger cones and place them all around the house, near the fireplace, and under the artificial Christmas tree.  The cinnamon scent in the pine cones brings back fond memories of my grandfather's Chinese herbal store.  The traditional medicine consists of different parts of plants such as barks, roots, stems, and flowers.  These ingredients are put together based on the recommendation of the practitioner.  The herbs would be cooked in water to form a decoction.  To ease the bitterness in the medicine, a stick of cinnamon is added when cooking the herbal.  We also sell dried fruits coated in brown sugar to help lessen the bitter taste.  (In future post, I will share the story about my "entrepreneur spirit" by taking items from my grandfather store and selling them on the street, right in front of his business.)
Last Saturday, my husband spent the whole afternoon putting the ornaments on the tree in the family room.  We have enough ornaments for a smaller tree which we began to put up in the basement.  I wonder if QQ still has the Christmas tree from our visit in 2008 and whether he would decorate it for the holiday.

Yesterday we finally finished up the apple pie.  We still have about three slices of the pumpkin pie.  I will try to get extra exercise and more walking before the week of Christmas when we will once again succumb to all the indulging of eating (pierogies, pies, snacks), napping, and sitting around watching football games.  Then again, it is the season of joy - coffee and pie and the sweet fragrance of cinnamon scented pine cones is all I need to be happy!