Yes and No

• Yes, the snow is very pretty.
  
• No, the tree is not yet decorated.
  
• Yes, it really is going to sit in the middle of our entryway. The remodeling took away our usual spot.
  
• No, I do not enjoy the cold. It's going to be twenty degrees below zero tonight: the dog can pee in the bed for all I care.
  
• Yes, I am feeling relieved to have the hard work of school and Festival of Lessons & Carols behind me.
  
• No, I am not on vacation: I worked most of the day and evening on freelance jobs.
  
• Yes, I have to go back to campus. I have two meetings tomorrow: one to secure my graduating future, and one to enhance my co-curricular street cred.
  
• No, I do not think Caroline Kennedy should be the next senator from New York.
  
• Yes, I still plan on baking many kinds of holiday cookies. Maybe that will start tomorrow. Or Wednesday.
  
• No, I do not know what to buy with the crisp hundred dollar bill Eric just handed me, a sharing of his holiday bonus. It is tempting to pay bills or buy presents, but it feels like more of an event. Perhaps yarn. Which, in the end, would probably be gifts.
  
• Yes, I already have plenty of yarn and things to knit already. Thanks for checking.
  
• No, I can't believe the rest of his bonus—several more of those crisp bills—went for One. Pair. Of. Ski. Boots.
  
• Yes, I want to know all my final grades.
• No, I do not know all my final grades.
• Yes, this woodcut looks familiar, if you know my good friend and college roommate, Kevin. The work is by Minnesota artist Charles Beck, and Kevin once bought—a lot—of greeting cards with this image on the front. I think everyone he knew received that card for every holiday and birthday for the next three years.
  
• No, I am not happy that my mommy is not coming to Minnesota for Christmas. Among other things, I want flatbread.
  
• Yes, I probably could make it myself. That's not the point at all. It doesn't help that I found the 1969 recording of Messiah I grew up with—Eugene Ormandy, Eileen Farrell, William Warfield, Philadelphia Orchestra and Mormon Tabernacle Choir—reissued on CD. I listened to a bit on iTunes and practically had a breakdown. Made me very homesick for being about ten years old. And somehow managed to make my own beloved favorite recording of Messiah, adulthood version—Martin Pearlman & Boston Baroque, Karen Clift, Bruce Fowler, Victor Ledbetter—seem inconsequential and irrelevant. Then I took a moment and remembered that it's far superior, and besides, I'm a little bit in love with Karen Clift (and who are we kidding, Bruce Fowler, too).
  
• No, I haven't been drinking. Much.