Post-Thanksgiving meal review

Well, the Detroit Lions lost horribly in their game against the Tennessee Titans. A disaster of a game. Worst loss on Thanksgiving day ever for the Lions.

Fortunately, my dinner was NOT a disaster. It was DELICIOUS. I declare this year's Thanksgiving feast a complete success! You can see before and after pictures of the Thanksgiving meal on my Flickr page.

Herb-Roasted Turkey Breast (recipe from Ina Garten)
This recipe was so easy. I bought a nice 7 pound turkey breast, bone in, and spread this delicious mix of herbs and garlic all over it and under the skin. I put it in a roasting pan, and I poured a cup of a nice pinot grigio into the bottom. Into the oven it went, and a little less than 2 hours later, it was done. It turned out juicy, was completely cooked (no undercooked poultry here!), and has an amazing flavor. I can't wait to make turkey sandwiches out of the leftovers!

As for the gravy, I used the defatted pan drippings, which had some of the delicious herbs in it, and combined them in a pan with some butter and flour. It thickened up nicely this year. I'm getting better at gravy (it takes practice just like my mom said).

Note: I don't own a roasting pan. Nor do I own a roasting rack. So I bought a small aluminum roasting pan at the grocery store, and made a snake out of some aluminum foil to create a makeshift rack on the bottom. It worked well.

Caramelized Onion and Cornbread Stuffing (recipe from Tyler Florence)
Since I was only making a turkey breast and didn't have anything to stuff, I used the option of cooking it in a baking dish instead, essentially turning stuffing into dressing. I took a hand from the store and used pre-made cornmeal muffins. The flavor of the sage was nice without being overpowering. Unfortunately, however, it turned out a bit dry. It may have baked for too long, or maybe the dish was too big so it was spread too thin. I'm not sure. With some gravy poured over it to make it moist, it tasted wonderful, so I think I'll try it again, but I'll play around with the size of the baking dish. And when I reheat it I think I'll add a touch of chicken stock.

Smashed Sweet Potatoes (recipe also from Ina Garten)
I was looking for something different this year to do with my sweet potatoes. Yes, there's something to be said for the candied ones with pecans and marshmallows. But I know I'll get those at Christmas, so I wanted something else for Thanksgiving. So I tried these.

They turned out a bit loose rather than the expected thick like mashed potatoes, but they are wonderfully spicy and not overly sweet. The orange juice in them adds some necessary acid to keep them from being sugary. Overall, I'll make these again, but next time I'll try adding an extra potato or two to give it a better consistency. These are definitely being added to my recipe file for future use.

Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Garlic
I made these last year. They are SO GOOD. And easy. I cooked them up while the turkey rested and just wow. Nice thick cut bacon, a couple of cloves of minced garlic and lots of fresh brussels sprouts all caramelized in the pan. Just perfect. I don't think I could improve on this one if I tried my hardest, but why would I want to?

Cranberry & Wine Sauce
I got this recipe from my friends AH and DS. Yes, we have our family tradition of orange-ginger-cranberry relish, but like the sweet potatoes, I'm making that for Christmas. I actually made this the night before, to give it time to chill and gel. Take two bags of fresh cranberries, 2 cups of port wine, 2 cups of sugar, and a bunch of spices and throw it all in a pot and boil until the cranberries pop. That's it. So easy. And it turned out fantastic. I'm looking forward to putting a spoonful over my oatmeal in the morning or warming a bit and pouring it over ice cream.

As for dessert, right now I'm too full. And tomorrow is my annual Pumpkin Roll baking extravaganza. But for tonight I'm going to do the dishes and collapse on the couch for awhile.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

You can read all about my favorite holiday in last year's post. I have the same plan again this year, to stay home and make myself a feast and be grateful for a day to myself with my four legged fuzzy children. Oh, and there will be football, in keeping with the family tradition of watching the Lions as most of my family originates in Michigan. Again I'm trying a few new recipes, trying to expand my holiday dishes repertoire. And since it's just me, if they turn out terrible no one has to suffer. I'm definitely making enough to have leftovers. I'm all about the open faced turkey sandwiches.

My menu this year:

• Herb-roasted turkey breast (recipe from Ina Garten)
• Gravy (with giblets and a hard boiled egg...it's a Southern thing)
  
• Cornbread and caramelized onion dressing (recipe from Tyler Florence)
• Smashed sweet potatoes (recipe again from Ina Garten)
• Brussels sprouts sauteed with bacon and onion (did this last year - loved it!)
• Cranberry sauce (from my friends AH and DS - all spicy sweet)

I've got all the basics there, but with a few twists. Look for a review tomorrow (with pictures). In addition to cooking and relaxing today, I'll be talking to my friends and family scattered all over the planet to remind them how glad I am they are in my life and giving thanks for their unending support during this rather rough year.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Home again

I'm home from the great white north. And there was snow. Snow flurries and plenty of snow already on the ground. Deep enough that Aussie couldn't walk in it because her legs are too short. So she jumped through it like a rabbit. She looked hilarious but was obviously quite happy and having an excellent time.

Time with my family was good. Low key. Relaxing. Lots of laughter and catching up. We had a house full on Christmas Eve (our traditional night to gather and celebrate and open gifts). I got sleep (as much as possible...but wow insomnia sucks). But I came to the scary realization that all my freakish habits and behaviors are probably inherited. I'm so much like my mom's side of the family it's disturbing. I could practically predict what people were going to do because I would do it if I were them. I am obviously my mother's daughter, and there is no doubt that we are all related (not that there ever was, but it was made quite obvious to me this time that we are all so much alike).

And the amount of food was insane. So much food, and there are still leftovers. I came home with some great recipes, however, that I'm looking forward to making. A few of my friends are having open houses over the next few weeks, so I have ample opportunities to make banana cake or grape salad.

I did take some pictures, and eventually they'll be up on Flickr. Which will be easier to accomplish once I have home internet again [still none because UPS is closed on Monday, the 31st, so I can't get the modem until Jan. 2nd...cranky!].

In the meantime, I'll be furiously housecleaning and preparing for the New Year and company in mid-January during the ALA Midwinter Meeting. And don't forget the New Year's Day Rules!! My aunt tried to send me home with a can of black eyed peas and a can of green beans. I had to swear on the graves of several relatives that I already had some at home before she would let it go. I triple checked before I left because I knew this conversation would happen (again, able to predict behavior because I just know). Instead, she's sending them to my cousin in Florida. And the bizarre tradition of mailing canned goods continues...

So Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays!

Well, as luck would have it, I still do not have home internet and the holiday break is upon us. My department at the library will be closed until January 2nd, which means that unless I schlep myself and my laptop to a coffee shop with free wireless, I will be completely without email for a bit (blessing? or curse? I can't decide...). My home DSL is scheduled to be activated on Dec. 27th, but I won't be holding my breath.

Not that it matters, as I'm headed north (technically to the north-west) for a few days. North to a small town where my cell phone reception is spotty, and the chances of wireless internet access is even spottier. But I'll be with family, and taking a much needed break for a bit. There will be lots of food, the dog will be spoiled rotten (even more so) by everyone who sneaks her extra dog biscuits and bits of apple (Grandmother, I'm talking about you!) and lets her up on the couch, there will be snow (yay!), and lots of time to talk and catch up. I haven't seen my family for year, so I'm really looking forward to it.

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday! If you're traveling, be safe.

Now back to attempting to look like I'm doing work on the day before a week and a half holiday break!

Thanksgiving leftovers

Leftovers are my favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal. The open faced hot turkey sandwiches are perhaps one of my all time favorite things to eat. Seriously. A nice slice of bread, topped with turkey, some dressing/stuffing, possibly mashed potatoes, and then gravy. Warm it up (oven or microwave, your preference), and top with cranberry relish/sauce. OMG so good. Yes, a carb fest, but so delicious I really don't care.

Yesterday I made a Thanksgiving menu of experiments. Recipes I've been wanting to try, but I didn't want to make someone be a guinea pig. Here's a brief review of what I made and how it went.

Turkey breast, brined: I've never brined a turkey before. Alton Brown (food and science nerd GOD!) swears by this method and it's supposed to keep the turkey moist during roasting. The brine I made included water, white wine, orange juice, peppercorns, whole allspice, fresh ginger, brown sugar and salt. I actually put the turkey breast in the brine on Wednesday night, and stirred and flipped the breast over first thing Thursday morning. The total brine time in the fridge ended up being about 18 hours. Anything between 12 and 24 hours is good. I rinsed it, rolled it up and tied it with twine so the skin covered all the meat, rubbed it with a little bit of oil, salt and pepper, and thew it in a roasting pan with onion, celery and apple chunks (aromatics make for good roasts!). It certainly came out tender and moist, and the brine gave the meat a bit of flavor. You could definitely taste the salt, and I'd prefer to not taste it, so I need to figure out what I did or what I need to do to fix that. Maybe I need to rinse it more before roasting, or roll it up and tie it before brining to reduce the surface area exposed to the brine. But I could taste a hint of ginger and allspice, and I liked that very much. Overall, quite delicious.

Dressing: no stuffing, as I'm not roasting a whole bird. So instead I'm making my own dressing, with fresh bread cubes dried out in the oven. We've always used the bag of bread cubes in the past, but I wanted to make only a partial recipe (like only one-fourth of the usual size), so it was actually easier to make my own out of a small loaf of white bread. A little onion, celery, broth, butter and seasoning, and you have dressing. Mine turned out a bit dry, but it sure tasted good. I just need to add a bit more broth to keep it moist. But it did soak up the gravy quite nicely.

Gravy: of course. Made from the pan drippings, which have all this great turkey flavor plus the aromatics. Tasty stuff. No giblets, no hard boiled egg, just pan drippings, pepper, some broth and thickened up with a broth and cornstarch slurry. It didn't thicken up the way I wanted, but gravy is an art. I just need to practice more. As my mom said, "it's in the doing" that you master gravy. It did thicken a bit as it cooled, however, so I did something right.

Brussels sprouts: I love these. Love them. I love to roast them with other veggies, or even just steam them and top with some butter and a touch of vinegar. This year I decided to try another Food Network recipe, this one from Giada: Brussels sprouts with pancetta. OK, so I didn't have pancetta...but I did have BACON! Brussels sprouts, bacon and garlic sauteed together. How can you go wrong. Seriously. Because I used bacon rather than pancetta and it tends to be fattier, I did have to pour some of the rendered fat out of the pan before I added the garlic and sprouts. OMG so good. I could eat this all by itself for dinner!

Mashed sweet potato with ginger: I bought fresh ginger for my turkey brine, and had a bit leftover. My friend LC told me about these amazing mashed sweet potatoes with ginger that she had sampled from Whole Foods. So I decided to try and recreate it. I baked the sweet potato in it's jacket, and then peeled and mashed it up with milk, a touch of butter, shredded fresh ginger, a touch of brown sugar, and just a dash of salt and pepper. Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic.

Cranberry-apple-orange relish: OK, so this one is a tradition. But as I said before, the holiday just doesn't feel right without it. I'll probably make it again for Christmas at Grandmother's this year. And I do love eating it. A full recipe gives me a weeks worth, but I honestly don't get sick of it. It also has some candied ginger in it, and I always throw in a bit extra to give it an extra little bite.

Mulled apple cider: another tradition. I bought a 1/2 gallon of fresh local apple cider at the farmers' market on Wednesday, and simmered it with whole allspice, whole cloves, cinnamon stick, a sliced orange and a touch of sugar. Between the cider and the turkey the house still smells incredible.

The menu verdict: I will definitely try this menu out again on guests. An excellent Thanksgiving meal. I even took a few pictures and put them up on Flickr, the turkey breast roast turned out that pretty and the Brussels sprouts that delicious looking. I'm actually kind of impressed with myself that it did turn out that well. I wasn't expecting it. A very satisfying plate of food. Aussie thoroughly enjoyed her plate as well [the dog gets just a bite of everything...it is a holiday after all].

The leftover sandwich today (and tomorrow, and Sunday, etc.) should be damn good. I realize there was no dessert listed, but I'm making Pumpkin Rolls today (yes, five of them), and I will have to sample one to make sure they turn out right. Cook's prerogative, you know (nudge nudge, wink wink).

Hope everyone is enjoying their Thanksgiving leftovers as much as I am!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving has to be my favorite holiday. It's a combination of some of my favorite things: cooking, eating, and hanging out with friends and family you care about. And even better, there's no gift pressure. I know, I know, Thanksgiving is supposed to be about being grateful for everything in your life. Well, when I can't think of anything better than getting together a bunch of family and friends and just hanging out together and eating lots of good food. Not much makes me happier than that. And I see the purpose of the day as just that. I'm grateful for my friends and family, so I choose to spend the day with them. It makes sense to me.

Growing up Thanksgiving in our house was always a completely random gathering of people. Most of which were either unable to travel or had no place to travel to. So my family threw open its doors and welcomed everyone to our table. Most of our guests only had my family in common, and often had never met. You'd think that this would cause tension, but somehow it never did. And the group of people was different from year to year.

People would start arriving mid-day to hang out for a few hours before the feast. We had snacks out, hot mulled apple cider (non-alcoholic) simmering in a coffee carafe (specially designated as cider-only), a jigsaw puzzle out on the non-formal dining table, and music on in the background. The football game would be turned on, but with low volume so as not to intrude on conversation. My parents are both from Michigan, so the annual Detroit Lions-Dallas Cowboys game is very much a part of the Thanksgiving tradition in both families (yes, I will have the Lions game, this year versus Green Bay, on myself in the background today). But it certainly wasn't the center of attention at our house. Usually people gathered around the jigsaw puzzle with a mug of cider and a plate of snacks, and chatted while trying to fit pieces together.

There was no kid table in our house. We all sat at the big dining room table together, pulling in extra chairs from all over the house. The day before we'd put the extra leaves into the table, and put down the tablecloth and candles, and set the table with the china (which we used for all holiday and special occasion meals). And yes, even us kids got to use the china. One year the cat decided to "help" us. We had a sheet we would put under the tablecloth as an extra layer of protection for the table. She figured out that if she got a running start from the living room and jumped on one end of the table, she could slide all the way to the other end on the sheet! She'd then jump off and circle around to do it again. Mom and I just stood there and watched, laughing hysterically, spreading the sheet back out after each pass. Eventually she lost interest and we were able to set the table, but she took probably a dozen "rides" on the sheet first!

The big feast was usually mid to late afternoon. Everyone brought one dish to share, usually a dish considered traditional in their family. Our Thanksgiving feast varied from year to year depending on the guests. Yes, we had central elements (turkey!), but it was so cool to see what other people considered traditional dishes. Over the years a few became part of our traditional dishes. But this also meant that often we had duplication. A few years we had multiple green bean dishes. Most years we had at least two different cranberry sauce/relish recipes, as we had our own traditional Cranberry-Orange-Apple relish. I still have to make that relish either for Thanksgiving or Christmas or the season just doesn't feel right. And my cousin likes the cranberry sauce from the can that you slice. But more duplication meant more yummy foods to try and more yummy leftovers (my favorite part, I'll get into that more in my next post).

We always made the turkey, as well as at least one dish of dressing. There was always whipped/mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes baked with brown sugar, butter and marshmallows on top, dressing/stuffing, rolls, salad, cranberry sauce/relish, various vegetable dishes like broccoli-cheese casserole or green been casserole or braised baby carrots, at least one chilled jello salad (such as pistachio fluff), and of course gravy, one with giblets and one without. A feast. Definitely a feast. You had to pace yourself so you had room to sample everything on the table. And that was just dinner. Dessert came later.

After eating, an assembly line was usually set up to clear the table, package everything up, and do the dishes. It never took long. Then we'd take a break and work on the puzzle, watch the parades or football on TV, visit, or just fall asleep on the couch and take a little nap. After an hour or so, people would start to think about dessert.

Dessert was just as much a feast as dinner. We always made our traditional Pumpkin Roll, which we'd make ahead as it had to be chilled (one less thing to do on Thanksgiving day!). There was also usually a pecan pie (did I mention my mom's family is from the South?), a pumpkin pie, and a few years there was even sweet potato pie. Or fruit pies like apple or mincemeat (with suet but with chopped apple instead of meat so it was sweet rather than savory). And plenty of ice cream or whipped topping for the pies. Guests would bring other desserts that aren't usually considered Thanksgiving desserts. I remember a chocolate-toffee layered dessert with cake, pudding, whipped cream and toffee bits, kind of like a trifle. Yummy. There was a delicious pear tart one year as well and unfortunately I didn't get the recipe.

This year I have no plans other than to make a meal for myself and spend the day at home. And I'm actually grateful for that. I'm grateful to have the time to myself to put things in order in my house and my life. To continue the purge of un-needed and un-wanted belongings that I've been dragging around. To recharge. And I am cooking myself a Thanksgiving dinner, with all sorts of recipes I've been wanting to try for sometime now. If they go well, then I'll have a lovely Thanksgiving menu for next year. If they go badly, well, let's just say the dog will be very grateful for a few days.

So Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Happy Halloween!!

I do hope everyone is celebrating the day and having some fun with it. I, for one, am sitting here at work in a set of sequined and sparkley devil horns and a matching tail. My colleagues keep doing double takes. I keep telling people I'm not actually wearing a costume...they are there all the time and just happen to be visible today because it's Halloween. (Joking!...sort of...)

I do love this day. It's so much fun. I love seeing how creative people can get with their costumes and pumpkin carving. The "barfing" pumpkins crack me up. And some are such incredible works of art! My dad was always the best carver on the block, even giving our pumpkins hair. We also always tried to pick out the pumpkins from the patch that had the most "character" so we could get even more creative. He could carve just about any design or face we drew. And we'd roast the pumpkin seeds after separating them from the guts...so yummy. Mom would seriously deck the house out with fake cobwebs (yes, fake), complete with plastic spiders, candelabras with white candles that dripped red wax when lit, and all varieties of spooky things. She had some friends over for a visit one year, and one of them reached back to get her drink from the side table, encountering one of the cobwebs in the process, and screamed bloody murder! And had a good laugh about it afterwards. It was fabulous!

Even Aussie gets into the Halloween spirit! She's got two costumes: a pumpkin hat and devil horns. She doesn't like the pumpkin. When I put it on her she mopes. But the horns, now those she prances around in showing off. My little devil dog...takes after her mama (yes, me).

Aussie in her horns last Halloween
(all tuckered out at the end of the night)

So tonight Aussie and I will be wearing matching horns again this year and waiting for any trick-or-treaters. I'm not sure if I'll get any, as there are lots of block parties that people go to and events at community centers and churches instead. I'm putting the big ceramic electric jack-o-lantern my grandmother painted decades ago in my window in an attempt to entice a few kids in costumes to come knock on the door. If not, well, my colleagues will be treated to a variety of leftover candy tomorrow, as it must leave the house lest I eat it all.

Ironically, I went to the dentist yesterday afternoon for my six-month cleaning and check up. And today (and probably tomorrow) I'll be eating lots of candy corn and chocolate. Fortunately, my dentist gave my teeth a clean bill of health, so as long as I brush well I'll be fine despite all the sugar I'll be consuming.

Happy Halloween!!

Fireworks!

Having a holiday in the middle of the week is just a big tease. You're left feeling like it's Monday all over again the next day AND you're left wondering what happened to the other day of your weekend. But I digress. This is not the topic of this post.

We almost didn't have fireworks in Philly for the 4th of July. It started raining in the early evening, and we're not talking about light sprinkles, but serious rain. The kind of rain that cancels fireworks displays. In fact, they told people waiting that there wouldn't be a show and to go home before 11pm. I guess they changed their minds when there was a break in the rain.

I watched the fireworks display in my pajamas while sitting in my bedroom window. [FYI, sitting on a radiator (it's in front of that window) for any length of time is just not comfortable.] I heard fire and police sirens in the background for the entire show, but such is life when people start playing with explosives (insert obligatory "it's all fun and games until somebody loses a X" statement).

Other than the discomfort of the radiator, I had an excellent seat to enjoy the fireworks. My view was pretty much unobstructed, with the exception of a few telephone poles and tips of rooftops. Having them start after 11:15pm is a bit late, and made this morning a bit more harsh than it already was since it already feels like another Monday, but the show itself was quite good. I admit I'm still partial to the shows my sister does (and yes, she's certified to work with pyrotechnics, and yes, she's damn good), but I still enjoyed Philly's fireworks.

Almost immediately after the fireworks ended, the rain started again. Timing is everything. For me, the timing was awesome. Not only did I see fireworks to celebrate the 4th of July, I had the sound of rain to lull me to sleep afterwards.

New Year's Day Rules

I grew up with a list of New Year's Day superstitions, otherwise known as the Rules. My indoctrination began at a tender age, and New Year's Day just doesn't feel right if I don't follow all of the rules about the day. Most of these, if not all of them, come from my maternal grandmother, a woman raised in the South. So many of these superstitions are common in the South. In the North and West, however, they'll elicit some pretty strange looks from your friends.

Dinner
I spoke about this in a previous post. First, the main course. Eat nothing that scratches backwards. This means no poultry as they scratch backwards at the feed before eating it. Lamb is ok. As is ham or beef. But no poultry. I cannot eat chicken or turkey on New Year's Day without feeling like I'm committing some huge mortal sin.

Next, side dishes. You need to eat your black-eyed peas and greens. The black-eyed peas are for sense/cents. Not sure if it's for common sense or money, but I'll take either in abundance thank you very much. The greens are for dollars (or any money). This is any kind of green vegetable. Growing up it was green beans (probably because they were my sister's favorite veggie), but any greens will work. Just eat lots of it so you get lots of money. As a child I thought this was made up by my mother to get my sister and I to eat more vegetables than we would normally have to. We were good little girls, we always did eat our veggies, but "lots" was pushing it. However, the promise of lots of money during the coming year in exchange for suffering through a big pile of greens is convincing enough for any child. Note: I am still waiting for the big financial return on all those greens I've eaten over the years. Yet, I still eat a big pile of greens every damn year.

To ensure we ate a proper meal on New Year's Day, my grandmother would mail us a can of green beans, a can of black-eyed peas, and a ham (not the canned variety, but rather the preserved and shrink-wrapped kind). Yes, you read that right, mail us our meal. That's some pretty strong rule enforcement. I visited Grandmother for Christmas this year, and she sent me home with ham and a can of black-eyed peas. The only reason I didn't get a can of green beans as well is because I already have a can in my pantry (no lie, and she made me swear to it). She sent me home with them. Just in case I didn't have time to get to the store between Friday and Sunday night to get me some. And you wonder why I'm still following the rules to this day. I'm scared not to.

Laundry
Doing laundry on New Year's Day means that someone will be "washed" out of your life during the coming year, otherwise known as a death in the family. This can be summarized for your friends as: laundry = death.

Activities
Don't do anything the first day of the year you don't want to do the rest of the year. In other words, do the things you want to do. Sleep late. Call your loved ones and friends or better yet, go visit. Catch up on correspondence. Relax. Watch some tv or movies. Whatever you find enjoyable and wouldn't mind being able to do for the rest of the year. And whatever you do, don't spend it on a plane or traveling if at all possible. I flew one year, and spent a large chunk of my time in airports and on planes during the next 365 days. No joke. I also recommend NOT being hungover/sick unless you enjoy that feeling.

Don't pay bills on New Year's Day as this signifies money going out and none coming in. Never a good thing.

Luck
Turning a stool/chair on one leg = bad luck. Don't ask me about this one. I don't know. All I can tell you is that when rotating a chair or stool on New Year's Day, I always, always, pick it up off the floor completely before turning it. Better safe than sorry.

So consider yourself warned and indoctrinated. I can't make you follow the superstitions, all I can do is tell you about them and pray for your soul if you don't follow the New Year's Day Rules.

Holiday traditions: Part 5, miscellaneous

Always a miscellaneous. Always things that you just can't categorize. The OCD cataloging librarian in me is having fits because everything belongs somewhere, somewhere...

Decorations
Putting up decorations was always fun. Dad was in charge of the lights outside. We usually bought some pine swag when we got the tree, and he'd carefully wrap little lights around it and drape it around the porch roof. We even had a star that went up on the roof. We had lights for the trees, to go around the door, for the eaves (with swag, of course), but not really over the top like you'd think of over the top. We didn't twinkle, we didn't set anything to music, we just had swag and lights framing the house. I always thought it was very pretty and tasteful. At the end of the 12th days of Christmas, Dad took it all down and bagged each strand of lights in a zip top baggie, labeling each bag carefully for where the lights went (front bushes, window, door, etc.). I found a couple of those bags a few years ago, but the problem is we moved often enough that I have no idea which house the notes refer to!

Inside the house, we were pulling decorations out of the boxes, remembering each one, deciding where to put them and then running around the house putting things everywhere. By they time we were done, it looked like Christmas had thrown up all over our house. My sister and I had Christmas tree night lights, there was fake swag on the banister with lights woven through it, candy dishes, Christmas magnets for the fridge, candles and soaps in the bathrooms, Christmas books on the coffee table, and so on and so on. Christmas insanity. But somehow it never felt overwhelming to us kids. After the 12th day of Christmas, we would help gather everything up and put it in the living room to be boxed up again. We didn't help put it in the boxes, but we did help gather it.

As a family, we also had a contest. Who could find the last decoration. Whomever did won the glory of being able to gloat that they found it. I think Mom is the all time record holder, finding a Christmas decoration in JULY! Yeah, she wins. Bah humbug.

Cards
I do "holiday" cards because they either get done and mailed out around Thanksgiving or not until after Christmas. Just the way life goes. As an (apparently perpetual) student and someone that works in an academic environment, the first few weeks in December are insane...finals, end of the semester, etc. Cards just aren't a priority...finishing the 15 page research paper is. And doing cards is a complicated endeavor. The past few years I've had so much going on I've written the proverbial "newsletter" because otherwise my hand would fall off trying to write in each card. There's also verifying addresses (cross checking with last year's cards, searching e-mails for updated addresses I haven't written down yet, etc.) and updating my address label file. Then there's finding cards you like. For me, that means non-denominational happy holidays cards. Admittedly I do try to buy them during the after Christmas sale for the next year because they get expensive when you're buying more than 2 boxes. Finally, there's doing the actual cards. This means labeling and stamping the envelope, writing in the card, folding and stuffing in the note, and licking all those envelopes. Hopefully the envelope glue tastes good...but make sure you have a glass of water (or wine, or cider, or whatever your little heart desires) handy.

Some people have a check list for their cards. It looks like a spreadsheet with columns for years they check off if cards were sent and received. And if they don't get a card from someone for so many years, they stop sending them cards. I'm not one of those people. I'm probably organized enough, but it's just too much work and I don't care if you send me a card or not. I'll probably send you one even if you never send me a card. Some people just don't do cards. I get that, and I don't hold it against you. As long as you don't hold it against me for those years I just don't get cards done.

Holiday traditions: Part 4, entertainment

Besides the trip to cut down the Christmas tree each year, there were always a few activities that come to mind when I think about the holidays.

Jigsaw puzzles
We always had jigsaw puzzles. At every holiday function. And they were holiday themed. Easter ones, Thanksgiving ones, even Valentine's day. But we had several different Christmas ones. And we did them every year. New ones would appear from time to time, but we never stopped doing the old ones. We'd just cycle in the new ones. One in particular I remember was the gingerbread house. There also was a wreath made of dog bones, polar bears (winter themed), Christmas ornaments, and I believe even Santa's workshop to name a few.

We'd designate a table as "the puzzle table" for the entire holiday, and do puzzle after puzzle, with music on in the background. Somehow we never lost a piece. When people would come over for Christmas day dinner, they'd eat, drink hot cider and work on the puzzle, all while talking and having a good time. And of course my sister and I fought over who got to put in the last piece...which meant either Dad or Mom did it instead.

Games
We'd play many a card game as a family. Specifically we played Uno, hearts and pinochle (double deck, 4 players for you card sharks out there). Now these were not the Norman Rockwell everything is merry card games. These were vicious. For example, once I gave my mother the queen of spades during hearts. She turned to me, and said, completely seriously, "bitch, I'm gonna get you for that." And she did. Then next round she nailed me but good, giving me a nasty run of hearts AND the queen of spades, but not enough to shoot the moon. Damn her, I went from first place to third place in ONE hand. But before you call child services, we always had a good time. We'd call each other names and scream and laugh and thoroughly enjoy ourselves. As a family. How many other people can say they had that good of a time just hanging out with their family? My sister and I know we were pretty lucky in that respect.

Movies/TV:
Growing up my sister and I weren't allowed to watch much tv. We were allowed the Muppet Show (a family event), sci-fi with my dad, and PBS. That's about it. So Christmas time was special because it meant we got to stay up late and watch all the special shows. The Charlie Brown Christmas with the pitiful tree, "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever," Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, John Denver and the Muppets Christmas, other Christmas specials that came out over the years, the parades on TV, and most special of all, the ballet of the Nutcracker with Mikhail Baryshnikov in the title role.

Music
Everyone has their favorite Christmas/holiday music albums. For some people it's carols or pop music, but for us it was an album called "A Brass Christmas," George Winston (both "December" and "Winter into Spring"), and John Denver & the Muppets. Jenna and I danced around the living room to Miss Piggy singing "Christmas is coming" every year. I still have those albums, now on CD rather than vinyl. And it just doesn't feel like Christmas until I play them.

Holiday traditions: Part 3, food

Food. Traditions and the holidays always come back to food. Dinners, buffets, desserts, treats, it's all about the food. I remember many holiday food traditions growing up.

Recipes
There is a huge list of traditional family recipes that always made a holiday appearance. These include: pumpkin roll (aforementioned), spiced & sugared nuts, boiled custard (no eggnog in this family), cranberry-orange relish, mincemeat pie, Grandmother's sweet potatoes/yams, peanut butter and/or chocolage fudge, and mulled apple cider.

There were also regularly appearing appetizers: warmed cream cheese w/jalapeño jelly, spinach dip, sour cream and onion dip, brie warmed with marmelade and almonds on top, and mixed nuts. Other appetizers might get mixed in for a year depending on what people brought with them, but somehow we always went back to the same core group.

Meals
Our Christmas dinner was much like our Thanksgiving meal. It consisted of a random and eclectic group of people who's family didn't live close enough to visit, much like our family, which is scattered all over the U.S. and now the world. The dinner itself was a feast, involving many of the above recipes, a yummy turkey and/or ham (sometimes even a roast), stuffing, mashed potatoes, veggies (green bean casserole anyone?), rolls, and whatever our guests chose to bring and share from their own holiday food traditions. We all sat around and ate and talked and laughed. Somehow, despite the fact that the only thing everyone there had in common was knowing our family, we always had a good time.

[We also had a specific New Year's Day dinner, but more on that in a later post.]

Food gifts
Remember when you used to give holiday gifts to your teachers? And if you live somewhere where you can still do that, remember when they could be homemade treats? We did that every year. My sister and I would make pumpkin rolls and the spiced & sugared nuts for our teachers each year. Mom of course helped us, but she tried to make sure we did as much of it as possible to really be able to say the gift was from us. We'd get nice food gift containers to put the nuts in, and wrap the pumpkin rolls in foil and tie the ends with ribbon so they looked pretty. Then we'd haul them into school on the last day before break and give them out. I don't remember a teacher ever saying no, and I don't remember ever worrying about health, diet, food allergy or any other concern. We just assumed they'd be able to eat and enjoy them.

To this day I bring food to holiday parties, whether at work or a friend's place. Only now, I bring a copy of the recipe along for everyone to see just in case someone can't eat something that's in what I've made.

Stocking goodies
Our stockings always contained food in addition to little gifts, specifically nuts, candy, and fruit. Pistachios were the favorite nut, followed by walnuts and almonds, all of them still in the shells and needing the nutcracker to get to the meaty goodness. Of course the candy involved chocolate (Hershey's Kisses, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, chocolate covered marshmallow Santas, Peppermint Patties, cherry cordials for my sister, Godiva truffles for my mom) and sometimes hard candy. But mostly chocolate.

To add to the chocolate and nut goodness, we had oranges and apples. As a bonus, each year Santa brought a new and different "exotic" fruit to try like star fruit, kiwi, mango, pomegranate, etc. These were fruits that when I was young you didn't often see in the supermarket, except in the really expensive area and there was never very much of it. So Christmas morning after we emptied our stockings we all tried the fruit with breakfast. Some years were more successful than others. Kiwi and mango are still some of my favorite fruits. Star fruit, on the other hand, I don't think I've ever eaten since. I don't remember it tasting like much, although it was pretty to look at.

Hershey's Kisses
Mom always put Hershey's Kisses in decorative Christmas bowls around the house. The living room, the family room, the kitchen counter, they all had bowls/dishes with red, silver and green foil wrapped Hershey's Kisses. We would all walk by the bowls and grab a Kiss (or two) throughout the holiday.

Unfortunately, as pretty as they were, these were a temptation to the pets. Both animals would eat them, and it's a wonder they didn't get sick but somehow they never did. But you could tell which animal ate them. When the cat ate them, she removed the foil. You'd find this nice little pile of foil on the table next to the bowl. And she'd only eat one or two. The dog on the other hand would eat the entire bowl, foil and all. For days afterwards you could look out into the backyard and see little glints of the foil sparkling in the sun, almost like twinkling lights in the daytime. Disgusting, I know, yet strangely pretty.

Mom still put the Hershey's Kisses out, but she started using candy jars with tight fitting lids instead of the bowls. I'm now the proud owner of one such candy jar; it's shaped like a snowman and currently has red and green M&Ms in it. Yum.

Holiday traditions: Part 2, gifts

My family has a tradition of giving people exactly what they want or need. You give me a list, and you will get something on that list, preferably something that can and will be used. For example, when I started driving, the garage I used had no automatic opener on it. I had to get out of my car, unlock the garage door, open it, get back in my car, and drive in. Now, this is really more of an inconvenience than anything else, but I had a good reason for wanting a garage door opener for Christmas. I was on the swim team in high school. That particular winter was one of the coldest and snowiest on record, which meant that when I got home from practice and got out of the car, my wet hair would freeze solid. Seriously. So, I asked for a garage door opener for Christmas. Dad and I spent Christmas afternoon that year installing it. I was thrilled; my friends thought I was insane.

This practicality extended to gifts from Santa. How many people got underwear from Santa? For some reason I never understood growing up, Santa always brought my dad colorful underwear. Every year Dad got at least three new packs. Santa gifts were usually one big thing and lots of little things like bookmarks and pencils with your name on them. I'm still using those pencils. They're very handy at work where things tend to "walk off" and disappear. Pencils with your name on them always seem to find their way home again.

Opening
My family opened gifts on Christmas Eve. We'd eat dinner, open gifts, and then attend the late night service. My sister and I would pull the gifts out from under the tree and pile them up for each person in a different chair or corner of the couch. We were the "gift elves." Each person sat next to their pile. Remembering which chair/corner was yours was important because Santa left his gifts in the same place. The images you see of people tearing into gifts all at once with paper flying everywhere didn't happen at our house. We actually opened our gifts one at a time, each person taking their turn and paying attention to each person during their turn. I'm amazed that my sister and I had that much patience as kids, but apparently we did. Inevitably, one gift was matching nightclothes for my sister and I, which we would wear that night. The pictures on Christmas morning of us exploring our stockings and Santa gifts always had us in matching nightclothes. Were your Santa gifts wrapped? Ours never were. We each had a pile of Santa gifts in our designated space. My sister and I were different enough it was never hard to tell which pile belonged to whom.

Thank you notes
We wrote thank you cards. One of the...umm...benefits of us opening gifts one at a time is that someone could keep a list for each person of what they got and from whom. The few days after Christmas my sister and I would spend a little time each day writing thank you notes, whether we liked the gift or not. Somewhere over the years I got out of this habit...but shh...don't tell my mother. She'd be apalled. [Hi, Mom!]

Animal mischief
Hazards of wrapped gifts generally involved the cat and curling ribbon. She loved curling ribbon. She'd chew on it, eat it, and generally massacre any curling ribbon she could find, including ribbon still on the roll! We had to make sure any gift with curling ribbon under the tree was under another gift so she couldn't get to it. She also had a blast playing with the wrapping paper after we opened gifts. That, to her, was an awesome gift. A big pile of crinkled up paper and paper balls to attack and spaz out in. And don't forget the boxes to hide in. A kitty dream, I tell you.

Wish lists
We all keep wish lists. You know you do. Even if you never write it down you have a list in your head of things you'd love to have. My sister and I would spend hours going over the big toy book from whatever department store we got it from. It was sad the day Sears discontinued their Wish Book. I have many a fond memory of me, my sister, that book, and a marker for circling the things we wanted. As kids, our gifts weren't nearly as practical, but as we got older, they became more so, although there was always that one thing on the list just because you wanted it, no practicality necessary.

Now I keep my wish list on line via Amazon. With friends and family scattered all over the globe, it's the easiest way to let people know what I'm interested in. My wish lists usally consist of things I'd love to have and that I would use, but that I'd probably never buy for myself. And of course, it's not just one big unorganized list, but rather multiple lists, each with a different theme: DVDs, kitchen, music, etc. [Before you pick on me, remember, I organize things for a living. It's what catalogers, us librarians maintaining the library catalog, do.] I try to get my friends to give their wish lists as well. Sometimes I find that perfect gift that's not on their wish list (the things you see that just "scream" that person), but usually I stick to the list.

What kind of gifts do you give? Practical or just fun stuff?

Holiday traditions: Part 1, the tree

What kind of traditions does your family have? Or do you have any? It's always interesting to hear what my friends did growing up.

In my family, we had several traditions. Nice ones, in my opinion. These centered around certain things: gifts, food, entertainment, the tree, and, well, miscellaneous (some things you just can't categorize...which drives the OCD librarian in me nuts!). I'll break this up into a few posts, to keep it manageable.

The Tree

We always cut our own tree. Always. And we were often the last family on the block to have our tree up, as we'd wait until two weekends before Christmas to go get the tree. We'd bundle up and head out as a family either on Saturday or Sunday afternoon to a local tree farm and find the perfect tree. After one of us (Dad when we were young) crawled on the ground to cut the tree down, we'd carry it back to have it shook (pine needle shower!) and bagged (netted?) and tie it to the top of the car with the trunk facing front for aerodynamics and so the wind didn't harm the branches. We always used the same blanket for this...a striped picnic blanket. I still have that blanket in the back of my car, and it still has pine sap on it, despite the repeated washings. While we waited, there was hot cider or cocoa to drink and things to see or animals to pet and play with. Sometimes there were local crafts to look at (and buy if desired). We often got different types of pine, but it was always the same routine, no matter where we lived. One year we found a tree whose cones were still attached. They had opened, releasing their seeds, but the cones held on instead of falling. We tied little red ribbons around the top of each cone, effectively turning them into nature-made ornaments.

We'd get the tree home, and put together the stand and get the tree up. This involved my sister, Mom and myself standing in three different places around the room checking to make sure it was straight and Dad holding the trunk and somehow not losing his patience with us all three giving him directions at once. Mom spread an old sheet down first, to catch some of the needles. This sheet would eventually be hidden by the tree skirt, but for the first few days the tree stood, undecorated so it could relax and acclimate, in the living or family room with an old sheet beneath it. It looked a bit undignified, but the house smelled fantastic. There's nothing like a fresh tree.

Part of the reason we got our tree so late is so that it would last the full 12 days of Christmas. It never came down until that 12th day, when the 3 magi arrived at the manger. This is Janurary 5th. So our tree may have gone up later than everyone elses, but it stayed up long past when everyone took theirs down. I remember the Christmas tree carnage up and down the street, usually around the 1st of the year.

Once the tree had relaxed and become acclimated to the warmer house, the decorating began. This was usually a few days after the tree arrived. Dad put the lights up, atleast 3 strings, covering every inch of the tree with little lights. There were never blinking lights in our house...they gave us all headaches and tormented the cat and dog.

Then came the ornaments. Ornaments in our house were special. Each year my sister and I got to pick out a new ornament, representing something from the previous year that we did, an important event, or an interest/hobby. We each had our own box, and we'd pull out the ornaments one by one and line them up in chronological order. Mom had stuck little lables to the bottom of each one with our first initial and the year (if it wasn't on the ornament) to keep them separated. It was fascinating to look at them over the years and see how our interests had changed, or not as the case may be (three years in a row I chose ornaments involving a swing). The purpose behind this tradition of an ornament every year was simple: this way my sister and I would have enough ornaments to decorate our own tree when we moved out on our own. As we got older, some years involved two or three ornaments. Often we'd start a series from Hallmark and continue to get the series but still get a separate ornament for the year. My mom and dad each had their own ornaments to add to the tree as well. As did our "adopted" family member, Marjean. She spent every Christmas with us, and had her own ornaments and stocking.

The result of these many different collections of ornaments was a very eclectic and colorful tree. When we were younger and didn't have very many, we had the traditional ornaments (balls and snowflakes) to fill in the gaps, but by the time we were both in high school we often had trouble finding space for all of our personal ornaments. We never had themed trees. Well, I guess our tree was a theme...it showed how while we were all very very different, we could come together and despite our differences make something beautiful. I loved looking at our tree and seeing each of us represented on it.

Last came the tree topper: a brass 3-D star. It wasn't solid, but rather two flat stars that slid together to form the 3-D one. It was all intricately carved out and the lights reflected off of it beautifully. Since my sister was born in an odd year and me in an even year, we'd trade off who got to put the topper on (with Dad's help, of course); even years it was me, odd years it was her. [A very simple way to prevent fighting, no? Mom used this even/odd trick for all sorts of things, including chores like dishes.] With animals, other tree "finishers" like popcorn chains were out of the question. And we weren't a garland family, but we used to do icicles (those plastic silver metallic things you had to separate and drape individually over branches that static clung to everything), until the year we found out they could kill our pets. Not to worry, this wasn't found out the hard way, but rather via the news.

It's funny, I've been out of the house for over a decade now and yet I still continue the tradition of getting a new ornament every year. I have a little mini fake tree (3 feet) that I put up, so now I have not only a collection of regular sized ornaments, but mini ones as well. It even has a mini version of our star tree topper that my mom found one year. My tree, small or large, continues to be eclectic, and I wouldn't have it any other way.