It's beginning to smell a lot like Christmas

[desperance]

Cinnamon and allspice predominate in my kitchen this afternoon, and all I'm doing is making cranberry sauce, first step towards a Thanksgiving dinner. Actually, maybe it's cinnamon and allspice and red wine, for there's a cup of Cab in with the berries - but whatever it is, it is that moment that I first think "Ahhh..." and breathe deeply and make a big internal seasonal adjustment. When I was a kid, it was always a moment in town, stepping out of a shop in mid-afternoon to find the sky unexpectedly dark and the street bright with colour; but Christmas has shifted to a food-holiday, and I've shifted to a place that doesn't have such significantly early sunsets, so now it's a moment in my own kitchen. Every year.

(And now I'm wondering what the cranberry sauce would be like if I mixed in some pomegranate seeds. Because California, y'know?)