We put away the Christmas tree today. That might sound too early in a country where Christmas isn’t over until the Feast of the Three Kings but we needed to put the furniture back in their proper places. And in that spot where the Christmas tree was, we’ve placed a low table flanked by ring lights. Props for taking food photos for the blogs. Still waiting for new backdrops to be delivered to complete the setup. Handsel for me.

Handsel – a gift or token for good luck or as an expression of good wishes, as at the beginning of the new year or when entering upon a new situation or enterprise.

Everyone in the family received something special in 2020. Speedy now has his own home office/workshop. Before the year ended, Alex finally got a cast iron Dutch oven for her sour dough bread baking, and Sam brought home Chicken.

Chicken Joy. That’s how the puppy’s name will appear when he gets his own card at the vet’s.

And me? Working in my home office upstairs turned depressing two months into quarantine. The silence, especially during the wee hours of the morning, often felt unnerving. So I got a new desk and put it in one corner of our bedroom on the ground floor. And I finally did too what I should have done a long time ago. I bought plates, bowls, cups and cutlery for food photography. The ring lights followed and, soon, the backdrops.