Miscellaneous: Lemons and Christmas

I spent the morning bottling wine again (more on that subject soon). Working out in the driveway, I was admiring the bumper crop of lemons and other citrus fruit we have on the trees this year.

It reminded me of Christmas holidays I've spent in Europe (this being Christmas Eve, it seemed natural to think of such things)--specifically Christmas in Italy. In Italy (at least in Tuscany) it's the custom to decorate with branches of lemons and oranges, which is very pretty (although to someone living in Tokyo at the time--the land of the $3 lemon--it seemed terribly extravagant). Italy is a nice place to spend Christmas, although Paris isn't bad either. I spent most of the summer in France this past year (2010). Wish I were there now--although I hear the weather is wretched at the moment....