A dozen stripes.

While out walking during the last few weeks, I found that somebody has been decorating a few of the baby trees in a Charlie Brown manner:

 

And some of the bushes are looking festive:

Today was my last long walk of the year, managed between the overnight storms and the incoming storms.  Sun came out and I was quite warm.

I stopped at my parents' house to pick up leftovers of the vegetables I made to accompany yesterday's soufflé.  I riffed on a holiday recipe I'd seen; since I didn't have rosemary I left it out as well as the maple syrup, since I thought they would balance each other and just maple syrup would make this too sweet:

Butternut squash, brussels sprouts, and onion.
After roasting for 20 minutes or so (stirring halfway)
I added fresh cranberries and pecan halves.

The soufflé was at the top of the dish but of course was deflating by the time it reached the table.  It still tastes quite good.  The vegetables reheated nicely.

I am up to Day 12 of the Advent-Plus-Channukah Shawl I am making up as I go.  I am now doing the stripes for the full half ball, instead of stopping at about two inches, so the stripes are uneven and taking longer than if I cut the yarn after about 2.5 inches:

It will be an "office shawl" so I don't entirely care.  Of course, I've now seen a blanket pattern that I could have done, one strand at a time, but I am not going to pull this apart and start over!  Maybe next year.

As you can see, I finished one of the "pocket hats" or "Zoom hats", and the other is now into the second leftover bit of yarn.  I am going to try to focus on finishing items as the year finishes.