December is upon us!

Traditions are important to me and that is probably because Linda is my mother, who is so good at traditions – both in big and small ways.  I love that traditions are so much a part of my childhood: bacon and egg breakfasts on the first day of school, ice cream sundaes on the last day of school, going to Burger King on Boy Scout night.

I can’t remember a time when decorating the Christmas tree didn’t mean Pizza Hut and Disco Noel, but I know it had to start sometime. We would go to the tree lot as a family (because the only kind of Christmas tree is a LIVE Christmas tree!), order Pizza Hut (which was only reserved for the most special occasions in the Mix household), and put on Disco Noel (a record Linda got when she worked at Eckerds).  We’d decorate the tree and build a manger out of Lincoln Logs while eating our thin and crispy pizza and dancing around to a disco-fied “Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer.”  My brother and I aren’t very close, but I think we both treasure the traditions of our growing up that surround the selection and decorating of our family’s Christmas tree.

On our first Christmas together, Matthew joined the Mixes in the most precious of Christmas traditions: the tree decorating!

December 2006: Matching polos and elf hats! Matthew is always the good sport!

Both my brother and nephew were “home for the holidays” and it was such a pleasure to invite Matthew into our world and share our traditions with him!  There was Pizza Hut and Disco Noel and story after story about the ornaments we’d find in the various boxes.  And while it was so great to bring Matthew into my family’s tradition, I want us to have our own traditions – unique to our life together as a family.   I like traditions for their continuity:  so many things change from year to year and it’s nice to always count on something remaining the same.

Last year, we did a lot of our Christmas shopping for each other in Pound£and (our budget was, after all, only £20).  I got Matt the gel pens that he loves and he got me Winnie the Pooh socks, padded envelopes, reindeer coasters, and colored pens!  While we’re at a place where we can spend a bit more than £20 on each other this Christmas, I think I’m still going to suggest a trip to Pound£and – for tradition’s sake!

Of course I want the traditions Matthew and I create to happen naturally, but I will be very mindful this year, and in years to come, for opportunities to build traditions together.

 

On Pumpkin Pie

I’m not sure when Thanksgiving became my favorite holiday, but bits and pieces from my childhood point to its being favored above all other holidays, even Christmas.  I’ve always been a girl who’s loved to eat, so a holiday centered around so much food is right up my alley.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the focus on gratitude and colored leaves and the big movie releases, too.  Basically, I love everything about Thanksgiving (though I could do without the football and the Black Friday shopping), but the food is probably the best part.  Namely, the pumpkin pie.  I don’t know how I ended up loving pumpkin pie so much, but I just can’t get enough of it.  You know those half pies that Publix sells?  Well, I have eaten the whole half pie in one sitting (more than once).  Truth be told, I could probably polish off an entire pie, but I’ve never tried.

 

About a month ago, we were chatting with C & M before church began one Sunday.  It came out that Clark Kent was heading to the States for two weeks and would be home over Thanksgiving.  ”No, I’m not going.  It’s too expensive.”  I guess they felt a little sorry for me because by the time the kids were released to go to their activities and the grown-ups turned to greet their neighbors, C & M invited me to their home for Thanksgiving (except not on Thursday since that’s choir practice).  It was sweet and they were earnest, so how could I not graciously accept their invitation?  They seemed genuinely excited, too, as they had never had Thanksgiving (why would they?).

 

After church, C scooted over to discus the traditional fare and I volunteered to take care of the sweet potatoes (after my green bean casserole was nixed – how can an entire family not like green beans but love brussel sprouts?) and the dessert.  The American, after all, should be in charge of a pumpkiny Thanksgiving dessert (because these guys over here just don’t do pumpkin – such a shame).

 

So, for much of October I fretted over Thanksgiving dessert.  Linda had been indulging in a piece of Cheesecake Factory pumpkin cheesecake over the past few weeks (available seasonally at Barnes and Noble) and so cheesecake was on my mind.  I had grand visions of wowing my hosts and their two kids with a beautiful pumpkin cheesecake.  But I had two problems: I didn’t have a spring form pan as mine sits tightly packed in Uncle Bob’s nor have I ever made a proper cheesecake before.  The spring form pan was easy enough to borrow, but boy, oh boy, was it hard to settle on the recipe I would use.  Many hours (many hours) later, I finally decided to trust Martha Stewart and made the test pumpkin cheesecake just in time for Clark Kent’s and my fake Thanksgiving two weekends ago.

 

That Friday afternoon when I made the cheesecake reminded me of when I went ice skating for the first time in my entire life with Dana back in junior high.  The Cutting Edge had just come out and I was 90% sure that when I stepped onto the ice, I was going to be the next bit thing, a natural born ice sktaer.  Like, I was probably going to skate just about as good as Kristi Yamaguchi.  I was 13 and in the 8th grade and I just knew that I was going to discover some natural ice skating talent.  I don’t think anyone will be surprised to know that I could barely get around the rink once.  Anyway, I thought (with all my heart) that I would be the one who could make cheesecakes perfectly upon her first try (like, Martha Stewart perfect).  I followed each step super carefully and camped out in front of the oven and just knew that the surface of my first cheesecake would remained uncracked.  But, I was wrong and this cavernous guy reared its ugly head upon cooling:

With some homemade whipped cream (that was really divine), the cheesecake was pretty good.  It wasn’t heavenly like the Cheesecake Factory’s cheesecake, but it certainly was nice having a piece of autumn each night for a week:

But this wasn’t the recipe that would wow my hosts for of fake Thanksgiving.  I felt super pressured to present perfection – I’m the American and it’s MY holiday, so I better deliver awesomeness.  I decided that I just couldn’t try another cheesecake (mostly because cheesecake was really stressing me out and also because 5 blocks of cream cheese really add up).  Thankfully, my friend Kate sent me this Martha Stewart recipe for an EASY pumpkin pie in a shortbread press-in crust (because who really wants to mess with making pie crust?  Not this girl!).

 

Last weekend was my test run.  I wanted to be sure to make it before CK took off for the States.  It was a solid hit, cracks and all:

This was my first pumpkin pie (last year I made pumpkin cheesecake bars that were completely awesome!) and I just couldn’t have been happier with how it turned out (though when I make it for fake Thanksgiving next week, I will up the spices).

I think that I just may have found my recipe (as in my tried and true, go-to recipe) for Thanksgiving pumpkin pie.  Though I’m sad I won’t be bringing green bean casserole to C & M’s, I’m totally thrilled that I’ll be taking this pie.  It wowed me, and even if it doesn’t wow them, I’m going to be happy.

 

Christmas movie tradition

For years, Linda and I have made a tradition of going to the movies on Christmas (on Thanksgiving, too).  Last year it was Juno.  The year before that was Charlotte’s Web.  In 2005 we were in Paris.  And I can’t quite remember what we saw 2004.  In 2003 it was Peter Pan.  In 2002 I think it was A Series of Unfortunate Events AND The Phantom of the Opera.   The theatres were closed yesterday – not to mention there was no public transportation – so we had to do our Christmas movie on Boxing Day.  This year it was Four Christmases.  And I loved it.  LOVED IT.  I am not a Reese Witherspoon fan and I definitely do not like Vince Vaughn, so I was skeptical going in.  It was so funny and cute and I just loved it.  I recommend it. 

Other highlights from today include:

• a picnic in Forbury Park (even though it was FREEZING)
• afternoon peppermint tea
• betting a Pooh and Friends 2009 planner for 50% off
• being the winner of Hearts
• learning to play poker
• reading a bit of The Wind in the Willows

Tomorrow is London…and another trip to Laduree for some delicious macarons!

 

It was a merry Christmas

My favorite part of Christmas day was the hour or so before dinner when Clark Kent, Linda, and I all sat around the table and colored the Beatrix Potter “Shrinkles” that Linda got for Christmas.  Linda took Squirrel Nutkin VERY seriously and hers came out best.  Clark Kent and Linda both sipped on the wine (Linda got an entire unopened  bottle from Virgin Atlantic) and Clark Kent asked questions like, “Are there any bad guys in these stories?” and “Did Beatrix Potter ever write a story with a human?”  Linda, the BP expert, was all too happy to school Clark Kent on all things Peter Rabbit.  It was cute.

Other Christmas day activities included:

• breakfast of banana coconut bread and cheesy scrambled eggs
• the unwrapping of presents
• brie and cracker snacks
• a scenic walk around campus
• lots of listening to Christmas music
• cooking dinner together
• playing lots of Spades and Hearts
• and a few phone calls to friends and family

Merry Christmas, everyone.

 

Let the holidays begin!

• One more hour until Clark Kent calls it quits, an hour and a half before he usually does!  By the way, he was THE ONLY one in his department at work today.  And he’s still working until 5 pm, bless his heart!  
• Linda will be en route to the airport in just two hours.
• The new floor lamps have been assembled and the correct light bulbs secured.
• All the presents are wrapped and under the tree (or in CK’s stocking).
• The butter is softening for a fresh loaf of banana bread.
• Cash has been withdrawn.
• The London and England guides have been checked out of the library.

Just a few more things need to be done :

• banana bread baked
• bathroom tidied 
• floor vacuumed 
• kitchen straightened

before we settle in for a relaxing night of:

• Spaghetti dinner
• Finishing Obama’s book (CK)
• Finishing the wedding bead ornament (me)
• Finishing Christmas cards (both of us)
• Drinking hot chocolate
• Listening to Christmas music

We are going to bed early tonight in hopes that our 5 am wake up will be a bit easier!  Let the holidays OFFICIALLY begin!

 

Christmas Shopping

What a day!  Our feet are aching and I would hardly call what we did this afternoon into evening actual Christmas shopping (by the world’s standards, that is). 

So, we headed to town centre today after lunch in the flat.  After posting the first batch of Christmas cards at the VERY BUSY post office, we split up for Round One of Christmas shopping for each other.  We set a limit: £20 – no more, no less.  I spent a very long time in the Oxfam book store and found nothing suitable for Clark Kent.  I found two books that Linda would probably love and a nativity set that I just about cried over not owning, but nothing for my sweet CK.  I walked the streets aimlessly for the next 30 minutes before meeting up with CK for hot chocolate at the Coffee Republic.  After Round One, he had already spent £6 (at Poundland). 

We were off to Round Two.  I spent most of my time in a store that shall remain nameless (as CK has been known to read my blog).  I could have EASILY spent the entire £20 in this store, but held myself back.  I managed to spend just under £12 and we met back up after an hour passed to go to John Lewis together.  This is a HUGE department store that has a craft section and I needed more seed beads to complete the Neverending Wedding Ornament that I MUST complete for tomorrow’s five month mark.

It was then time for Round Three.  I made my way to TK Maxx and saw this pretty amazing candy cart right in front of the store!  I didn’t have my camera with me as it was in CK’s backpack, but after passing through TK Maxx and Poundland, I hooked back up with CK and took him to look at the candy cart!

 

We had a bunch of fun choosing £3 worth of candy and eating it as I showed CK all the treasures I had WANTED to buy at TK Maxx, but just didn’t have the funds to do so.  Just LOOK at all that candy!  I’m not THAT big of a candy fan, but even I was excited to look at it all and buy some.  I can’t imagine being a parent and taking my child through the mall and past that candy cart.

Then it was time for a quick Round Four before meeting up at 7:20 pm and heading to Thai Corner, a restaurant we have seen countless times in town.  It was a dimly lit, fancy-ish restaurant (but nicely priced for such atmosphere – £10 or less/meal).  I ordered curry massaman with jasmine rice.  CK had red curry with coconut rice (his rice was DELICIOUS).  My dinner was SO delicious!  We couldn’t remember the last time we had been to a sit down restaurant, just the two of us.  We think it was shortly after we moved in to Linda’s guest room around August 1, but before Tropical Storm Faye on August 19.  So, I didn’t feel too guilty spending a bit more money on dinner than the usual £6.66 (true story) we spend at McDonald’s. 

All in all, it was a fun afternoon.  I’m sorry he has to go to work tomorrow.

 

A week to go? NO WAY!

Could Christmas Eve really be next week?  December, please slow down!  I want to anticipate more.  I want to savor nights in the living room by the lights of the Christmas tree listening to Christmas music more.  I want to make more Christmas ornaments.  I want to have more advent services at Greyfriars.  I want a few more days to write Christmas cards.  

Clark Kent is only working a half day tomorrow.  He’ll come home for lunch, we’ll eat tuna sandwiches, and then head in to town to do some Christmas shopping.  Armed with a twenty pound note, we will separate to buy each other a few tidbits and then we’ll reunite for a McDonald’s dinner before attending a Carols by Candlelight service at Greyfriars at 6:30.  It should be lots of fun.  

I was thinking today about Christmas presents of the past – the best I’ve received, the best I’ve given.  The ones that stands out in my mind most clearly are from childhood.  Play Baby was probably the best Christmas present Santa ever brought me.  I was four and I wanted a baby doll and boy, oh boy, there was never a baby doll better than Play Baby.  She said “mama” when you tipped her upside down quickly.  We never called Linda mommy – we called her mama, so having a doll that said “mama” was really great.  She also had pierced ears (thanks to Linda) and I loved her for many years.  Many years.  The Radio Flyer and the chalkboard, both Santa gifts, were absolutely awesome.  It would be impossible to count the hours I pulled the Radio Flyer (with Play Baby, who I named Bailey) around the neighborhood or played school in the back room with the mounted chalkboard.  Those are the enduring BEST PRESENTS EVER.  (Barbie’s Dream House was pretty awesome, too.)  The best Christmas present I ever gave would (hands down) have to be the rhinestone Jesus pin I bought Linda from The Mustard Seed when I was about 9, maybe 10.  It was $20, a small fortune to a kid.  And somehow I managed to get the money together.  Linda loved that Jesus pin so much and pretty soon every shirt and dress she owned could prove her love of that pin (for they all had pin holes).  Sadly, the rhinestones started to drop out after a couple of years and it got retired.  The memory of that great gift lives on though.  It was my first taste of getting the absolute perfect gift for someone.  Sophomore year of college I gave Linda another pretty great present: tickets to see Bob Dylan (who was playing with Paul Simon…at least I THINK it was that tour I gifted her with).  

Clark Kent is sitting near by writing Christmas cards to his family.  I just asked him what his favorite childhood Christmas gifts were.  He thought about it a little and came up with three: Castle Grayskull (he thinks he was 7), Optimus Prime (his face lit up remembering Optimus), and the GI Joe Command Base (he thinks he was 9).  Thinking about Clark Kent as a little boy excited on Christmas mornings brings a smile to my face.  I just think little boys are so cute – and a bit more fun. 

iTunes is playing Christmas music and “Of Two Beaded Men” just ended.  It’s a sweet, fun Christmas song.  If we have kids, Santa will definitely be around:

Once a year 
a man will board his sleigh 
while children lie in bed awake 
counting down the minutes for the sun 

And the man will fly around the world 
and stop for every boy and girl 
making Christmas day 
a merry time 

But many years before that man 
a child was born in Bethlehem 
who made a way to God 
for you and I 

Then presents came 
and eyes were turned 
from Jesus Christ 
and what he’d earned 
to watching the night sky 
for flying deer 

But Jesus doesn’t hate Santa Claus 
Cause he knows Santa only does his job 

When Santa arrives home from his 
yuletide flight of merriment 
and has his Christmas meal 
he stops to pray 

And God above will hear his prayer 
and keep him safe another year 
Cause God knows Santa Claus 
Does his best 

Cause Jesus doesn’t hate Santa Claus 
cause he knows Santa only does his job 

But Jesus doesn’t hate Santa Claus 
cause he knows Santa only does his job

 

Half way through December already?

     I can’t believe that December is half over!  At least we now have a tree topper!  I made this little felt mitten Friday night as a Christmas ornament.  I was trying to decide which way I should hang it: right side up or upside down?  In the end I decided that I would hang it upside down and leave an opening so that I could put something in the mitten – like a candy cane or something.  And then I remembered the Black Apple’s Christmas tree topper.  I didn’t set out to copy her (and, not that this silly felt mitten really could be viewed as copying her), but Clark Kent and I both think it looks kind of cute up there.  (Its other side is in the reverse colors.)  We did try to secure for ourselves a real tree topper.  In fact,  we tried three different times to purchase a glittery star topper for just 50 p from Woolworth’s (each time we went with a different color: gold, silver, red).  Each time we failed to purchase it because the cashier lines were entirely too long or the store was closing unexpectedly.  Yesterday afternoon, we headed to Woolworth’s at 3:55 pm.  We were going to try one last time to get that silly tree topper.  Someone greeted us at the door and said, “We’re closing in 5 minutes.”  I looked at the sign on the door that clearly stated opening hours were from 10-4:30 on Sunday.  Irritated, Clark Kent and I just turned around and left – without a tree topper.  So, the felt mitten is here to stay.  I am now in the midst of a very tedious ornament project.  I’m not sure if I’ll even have the patience to finish this ornament, but it’s a wedding themed ornament with the only printed picture from the wedding that I have.  (We have over 1,000 pictures between my photos, Linda’s, Alias’s, and the professional photographer’s loaded onto Walmart, but we never printed any before we left for England.  We just have this one photo of us that a friend of mine sent in a card after the wedding.)

 

Gingerbread Man

The first sleepless night in a week or so prompted me to make the latest addition to our Christmas tree, a good old fashioned gingerbread man.  The bow tie gave me a bit of trouble and I ripped off the first after it was messily stitched on.  My second attempt at affixing the bow tie wasn’t much better; it was, afterall, in the wee hours of the night/morning that I was crafting this little one.  I wanted to make him double sided, but I took the easy way out.  All in all, I’m pretty pleased with this guy as he was not copied from a pattern.  I simply drew him and then made him.  ”Not the gum drop buttons,” kept going through my mind as I sewed him up.  I saw a set of gingerbread men cookie cutters in a store somewhere in town that had injured gingerbread men.  I thought it was funny – a cookie cutter with a gingerbread man missing a leg or arm.  Ha!

Today will be a lazy Saturday.  It’s been raining all morning – the kind of drops you can actually hear hitting the windowsills and ground, not the usual misty rain that is hardly noticeable when you’re walking around in it.  So, we’re staying inside all day.  Clark Kent will read some more about Obama, I will craft some more with felt, and we’ll both enjoy hot beverages and shortbread cookies as we get to work on Christmas cards that should have been finished last week!  I wish we had more of these lazy Saturdays – especially in the weeks leading up to Christmas where we can just sit by the tree and be quiet.  

Happy Weekend.

 

A date that will live in infamy

I remember some things about childhood so clearly.  There are lots of holes, too.  When I think of childhood and Christmas time and what that sounded like, I remember the album Disco Noel and the song “Silver Bells.”  Linda, Alias, and I would listen to Disco Noel while we decorated the Christmas tree.  Linda would order Pizza Hut and we’d bop around the living room to the disco renditions of Christmas carols while we decorated our big tree.  I had it pretty easy – I didn’t have to mess with getting the tree in the stand, nor did I have to bother with arranging the lights.  I just got to hang some ornaments – the ceramic bear with the purple tutu (I painted that one), the Dixie cup turned Christmas bell (that Alias made in preschool), the glass reindeer (a gift from one of Linda’s students).  And then there was “Silver Bells.”  I can remember sitting cross-legged on my bed and looking out into the living room that was decorated while I listened to my record that had “Silver Bells.”   I think that “Silver Bells” was my first favorite Christmas song.