One down...

First fall of the season: 3 December, 9:48 AM.
The steps in front of my apartment.
Me: Hmm, I think it's just standing water.
Nope. Wrong. Ice sheet.


Down I went--all six steps. Dunt, dunt, dunt, dunt, dunt, dunt. That's the sound I make when I recreate the fall over the phone. (I imagine it's the sound of half a barrel of beer rolling down steps into a dirt-floor cellar.) So, there it is. The cement steps tore my stockings and a couple knuckles, and I'm sure I'll be hard up as hell by the end of the day. But for now, I'm up and around. I don't think there were any witnesses...maybe the squirrel next door. This sort of thing usually happens because I get too cocky. Nature has to take me down a peg. It's the classic Greek hubris situation (except without the sex). Every winter, I tempt the gods by thinking I can walk normally outside. And every winter, they bop me on the head. Now I'll spend the next three months terrified that I'm going to break my face.


I have some bruises coming, but despite what I said in that one post (about dedicating a post to scabs and another various injuries), I won't be putting up pictures of any bruises, welts, scrapes, or swellings. I'll be keeping those to myself--which means that once or twice a day I'll probably dedicate a couple silent moments to staring at my black and blue ankle or shin or ass and scolding myself for being so bold as to put a careless foot outside my door.


Anyway, since there are no pictures of my fall-related deformities forthcoming, I thought I'd continue the countdown to Christmas with another peek at some holiday items I've recently acquired.

Here's the little group! I found them at the Volunteers of America thrift store.
(That's the one I recently re-discovered. So very exciting!)

He seems to be listening intently.
Maybe he's waiting for the cue to play that paper violin.

Most are stamped Japan on the bottom.

There's something jolly yet sinister about this guy.
Probably the black hole eyes.

This one has a secret.

Classic cottony snowman.

If you dig these little guys, Martha Stewart's December issue of Living has a swell article on vintage elves, snowmen, and Santas. Check it out. No pressure, but it does feature a giant (well, relative to the elves) toadstool!