Holiday preparations

Well, its the week before Christmas and I'm happy to say that we're in pretty good shape.

All 125 holiday cards went out in last Friday's mail.  This year I used mostly coastal-themed cards with lovely beachy Christmas scenes.  Some had a lighthouse adorned with a wreath and garland, another had 3 decorated Christmas trees on the beach, another had a coastal home/barn/lighthouse decorated with lights, and other had a wreath adorned with ribbon, starfish, sand dollars, and sea shells.  Its a Coastal Christmas!

All gifts have been purchased.  We're still awaiting the arrival of some of the gifts, so the wrapping certainly isn't done yet, but at least we know everything is either here or is on its way.  Tomorrow I'm off so I'm going to wrap everything that's here.  The items currently en-route will be wrapped on Sat. I'll also do all the baking on Sat.

And I've already planned what I'm baking to take with us.  My initial plan was to bake cookies, but I've since decided against that.  First, cookies are labor-intensive.  Although we have 3 racks in our oven and can bake 3 trays simultaneously, you've still got to move the trays around so the bottom ones don't bake faster than the upper ones, then they've all got to be transferred to cooling racks, then once cooled, transferred to cookie tins.  Second, my sister-in-law always brings a huge platter of assorted homemade cookies, so mine would just be extra.

So instead of cookies, I've decided to bake brownies.  Specifically, I'm baking Mounds brownies and Reese's brownies.  For the Mounds brownies I'll take a box brownie mix and add chocolate chips and coconut.  For the Reese's brownies I'll add chocolate chips and peanut butter chips to a box brownie mix.  I can bake them in disposal foil pans which will transport easily and will save me lots of time over baking cookies.

I'm also going to bake a pair cake.  My recipe is also simple like the brownies and doesn't require lots of extra handling.  I'll start with a yellow box cake mix, pour 1/4 of the batter into the round pan, then place pair halves in the pan, then pour the balance of the batter in and bake.  Once out of the oven, I'll pour a combination of pair juice and St Germaine liqueur over the top to create a 'wet cake'.  Just before serving I'll dust the top with confectioner's sugar.

I'll also bake breakfast casseroles for Christmas morning.  They consist of hash brown potatoes, eggs, cheese, cooked maple sausage links, milk, and salt and pepper.  I bake these at home on Sat in ceramic baking pans, let them cool, then refrigerate.  On Christmas morning we'll warm them in the oven and enjoy.

I hear TV/radio commercials, see Facebook posts and hear actual people talking about how "stressful the holidays are" and I think to myself "they're really only as stressful as you allow them to be".  If you feel you must make 50 dozen homemade cookies, then I guess it could be stressful.  But YOU have the ability to make different decisions that can result in less or no stress during the holidays, like making brownies instead of cookies, or making bake-ahead food that just needs to be warmed up.  Mostly, being prepared and not waiting until the last minute are the best stress-reducers.

Its up to YOU.

Christmas recap

Since Thurs is my regular day off, I planned nothing else but wrapping and baking.  I mean, we were leaving the next day so I really couldn't put it off anymore.

This was 1 of the few gifts I actually wrapped with paper and ribbon. I think its beautiful but it was really time-consuming.

Most of the gifts this year where wrapped in tissue paper and went into reusable shopping bags.  Without really planning it, we ended up with this shopping bag concept which worked well and saved a lot of time.

I made 4 pans of magic cookie bars.  The 2 in the foreground are the original recipe with coconut flakes on top.  The other 2 were variations; 1 with crushed candy canes and the other with peanut butter chips.

I made them in these aluminum pans with lids so they would stack easily for transport to VA.  We had them both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and they were a big hit!  I made so many that I wound up bringing some home, which is definitely NOT a bad thing.  I also made 2 pans of breakfast casserole (not pictured) to take with us too.

On Fri our former neighbors dropped off a gift and card while I we were at work.  They have 2 young boys whom we love and who were so sweet to our dogs.  The envelope of the card touched me!

Their card was added to our growing collection which I staple to wide ribbons hung from the top of the molding with push pins.  I love displaying cards this way and incorporating them into our holiday decorations.

Spouse & I both came home from work early (unexpectedly) so we decided to have a very early dinner out, then packed our bags, loaded the car, and hit the road.  We arrived at Spouse's sister's house at 9:30.

Sat we hung out with Spouse's sister and her family all day.  But that evening I drove back to DE to perform in the last holiday LEGENDS show, then drove back to VA afterward.

Sun Spouse & I drove out to my cousin Nez & Steve's house.  

They live in a 250 year old stone house that's really cool.  Its been our tradition to spend some time together on Christmas eve.  We had lunch and a lovely visit together.

When we returned to Spouse's sister's house they were leaving for Christmas Eve mass, so we helped set up while they were gone.  Shortly after they returned, the rest of the family began showing up.

Our niece Anna's daughter Gabby with her dad Randy

My handsome husband

Our nephews Tommy and Eric

To be honest I was a more than a little concerned with how Christmas Eve would turn out.  As long as I've been a part of this family (20+ years) we have always celebrated Spouse's mom's birthday on Christmas Eve.  With her passing last April, this was our 1st Christmas Eve without her and I hoped it wouldn't be a sad time.  But her 4 living children were all there, with their spouses and their children, and everyone ate and drank and visited just like before.  I really think Spouse's mom would have been supremely happy about this.

Christmas day was very relaxed and fun.  The boys & I enjoyed coffee in the quiet before the rest of the family was up.

We had breakfast casserole and then opened our gifts.

It was a nice day spent hanging out and enjoying each other's company.

Our brother-in-law and 2 nephews chilling

That afternoon I picked up my aunt Mary and brought her over to join us.  

Mary with Marvin

We exchanged gifts and then had dinner.  Spouse's sister made rigatoni, gnocchi, sausage and meatballs, eggplant parmesan, chicken parmesan, and salad.  Aunt Mary brought sweet potato shuffle (a family favorite) and a hummingbird cake (my favorite).  It was a peaceful, wonderful Christmas day.

On Tues Spouse's sister and her husband joined Spouse & me as we met up with our dear friends Kerry & Hugh, Kelly, Lisa, Carl, Kim & Danny, Pat, and Alex for our annual hippie roll and pizza luncheon.

The infamous hippie rolls

Alex and Kerry

Spouse's sister, Kim, Pat, Danny, Spouse's brother-in-law

Me and Lisa

We returned to Spouse's sister's house, packed up our stuff, loaded the dogs into the car, and headed home.  It was a wonderful holiday!

On display

I finally got the rest of our holiday cards done.  I hand-wrote and hand-addressed 60 cards on Sat and 26 on Sun to complete the total of 126 cards.  While I do enjoy this activity, I felt a little stressed about it this year since I got a late start on them.

Meanwhile, I've really been enjoying the cards we've received so far.  In a previous home we draped 2 lengths of twine (1 a little longer than the other) from both sides of the fireplace mantel and hung the cards on the twine to display them.  This worked well until people started sending the photo cards which aren't folded.  In hindsight I now know I could have used clothes pins to pin the photo cards onto the twine.  

But a few years ago I decided to hang wide ribbons from the top of the entryway into the dining room and staple the cards to it.  This eliminated the need for clothes pins for the photo cards, and I love that we can hang as many or as few ribbons as we need.  Here's how it looks so far this year:

This can also be adapted to windows or doors if you don't have a wide entryway.  Here are a few other creative ways to display Christmas cards:

on a door

on a stairway

on a tree created from branches

on twine across a window

So don't put those beautiful Christmas cards in a pile on a table.  Display them so you and your guests can enjoy their beauty.

Behind

No, not THAT behind...

I am behind on my Christmas cards!

Its not because I hadn't purchased the cards or didn't have stamps.  I've had the cards since a few days after Christmas last year when I bought them for 70% off, and I've had the Christmas stamps and the Christmas return address labels for weeks.  The trouble has been time.

I like to start the cards the weekend after Thanksgiving, but I worked both Sat & Sun after Thanksgiving.  So I thought I'd start on my next day off, Thurs the 30th.  But I spent that day getting ready for our tree trimming party on Sun the 3rd.  Then I thought I'd start them on my next day off, Thurs the 7th, which was my birthday.  But that day was spent with a plumber and an appliance repairman getting our kitchen sink and oven fixed.

I finally started the cards on Mon the 11th, which is dreadfully late for someone who hand writes and hand addresses about 125 cards.  I managed to get 40 cards in the mail, which sounds like a lot, but is actually only 1/4 of them.  But I'll have several hours of quiet time to work on cards tomorrow when I'm sitting at our little kiosk office which never gets any walk-ins.  Hopefully I'll get another 40 or so done, and then can complete the remainder this Sun.

I really do enjoy writing/sending the cards, otherwise I wouldn't do it, but this year I've had several unexpected delays.

Good day for it

Yesterday was Thurs, my regular day off, and only 10 days until Christmas, so I planned to stay home and start writing and addressing my Christmas cards.  I don't quite understand why I got started late this year, but I did.  And its not that I was putting off this activity because I dread it.  Quite the contrary, I really enjoy writing and hand-addressing cards and have a routine based around it.  But here we are, Dec 15 and not a single card ready to go.

Coincidentally we got a severe cold snap and the HIGH temperature yesterday was 27 degrees.  And it was very windy.  So I decided there was no reason to leave the house in such weather, and since I wasn't leaving the house there was no reason to get dressed. 

So I stayed in my flannel lounge pants and flannel shirt all day, drinking Dunkin Donuts Pumpkin Spice flavored coffee and listening to Christmas music while I wrote, sealed, addressed, and stamped 124 cards.  It was a wonderful day!

So with all the cards completed yesterday and in the mail today, they'll all be delivered before Christmas.  While it may seem old-fashioned to send physical cards in this digital age, I enjoy sending and receiving them, and feel there's nothing like opening a beautiful, glittery Christmas card.

Happy holidays!

Weekend fun

I started my weekend by going with Joe P to see "A Christmas Story" at our local community theatre.  It was a musical based on the movie, and we both enjoyed it a lot.  (Spouse doesn't care for community theatre or musicals so I always go with Joe P.) 

Spouse heard that his mom was having some health issues, so he decided to leave Fri evening and go visit her.  He stayed overnight and spent some time with his sister too.  Fortunately his mom's follow-up on Sat went very well.  I had Sat off work so I went to breakfast with Steven & Thad, took Marvin & Walter for 2 nice walks since it was in the mid-60s, and then put on some Christmas CDs and began writing/addressing my holiday cards.  This is an activity I enjoy every year.  That evening I had a light dinner and then performed as Elton John in the Christmas Legends show. When I got home, Spouse was back.

Sun morning we met up with Steven & Thad and drove to Philly, about 2 hours from here.  Our 1st stop was the mid-century furniture sale.  We weren't planning to buy anything, but still enjoy looking at cool furniture and home accessories.  While there I saw this coffee table that is identical to the coffee table we had growing up.  Its by Lane and the style name is 'Acclaim'.  I think it was a wedding gift to my parents from my grandparents.  Seeing it brought back nice memories.  I wonder if my parents still have it?

Next we stopped at Joe's Pizza where you can get gourmet pizza by the slice.  It was really good!!  Then we went to see the huge video display at the Comcast Center, followed by meandering through not 1 but 2 Christmas markets.  It seemed strange to see people ice skating outdoors while it was 68 degrees.

Next we drove down Pine St and the Gayborhood but didn't get out since many places close early on Sundays.  Next we stopped in at Trader Joe's, and then had dinner at the famous Penrose Diner, a Philly institution.

Finally, we drove through a small south Philly neighborhood known for the excessive, over-the-top Christmas lights and decorating before hitting the highway.  We got home at 8:30, watched a little TV and went to bed early.

Friday fragments

Welcome to Friday fragments, my recap of topics too big to forget, yet too small to be their own post.

Today is Fri the 13th.

The Rehoboth Beach Independent Film Festival is going on now.  Unlike previous years where the festival showed a variety of films simultaneously at a time at the local cineplex, this year the Festival had to find alternative venues and could only show 3 simultaneous films, 1 at each venue.  The drastically reduced number of films offered resulted in me only finding 3 films I wanted to see, compared to the 12-15 films I used to see during the festival.  Mon night I saw Those People which I liked a lot.  Its about a young gay art student named Charlie who is secretly in love with his well-to-do but co-dependent best friend Sebastian, and the concert pianist Tim who offers Charlie the possibility of a healthy relationship.  Set in contemporary NYC, the film explores the delicacies of a love triangle, co-dependency, and unrequited love.  Highly recommended.  Watch the trailer:

Wed night I saw Fourth Man Out which I also liked a lot.  Its about Adam, a 20-something auto mechanic and his 3 sports-loving, beer-drinking, women-chasing buddies.  When Adam confesses that he's gay, his 3 pals are thrown for a loop.  He's not like the gay stereotypes with which they're familiar.  To show Adam they are supportive, the 3 friends try to help him find a boyfriend, but this does not happen without some false steps and misunderstandings.  The film comedically delves into stereotypes, acceptance, and friendship with enough laughs to keep it from being too heavy.  Highly recommended.  Watch the trailer:

I hope to see a documentary tomorrow on Tab Hunter.

I realize its not even Thanksgiving yet, but I'm already getting in the mood for Christmas.  Typically I try not to think about it until we get through Thanksgiving, but I began shopping online earlier than usual and have about 1/2 of our gifts purchased.  I also purchased our Christmas/holiday cards on Wed at HomeGoods, and Spouse & I have set a date for our tree trimming party.  All of this is highly unusual for me at this point, but I'm kind of happy about it.

I just received my assignment for the Christmas Legends show series, starting just 2 weeks from now, taking place every Sat night between Nov 28 and Dec 26.  I will be Elton John and will sing "Candle in the Wind" and "Step into Christmas".  While I'm not unhappy about this, I was hoping for a little more variety.  I did these same 2 songs the last time we did a Christmas Legends series.  Oh well; I'll sing them again and collect my paycheck.

I saw this sign at a local independent coffee shop and it gave me a chuckle:

 

Have a great weekend!!

Cards, party, and karaoke

I'm not sure why, but this year I'm really behind with my Christmas cards.  And by 'really behind' I mean I haven't even started them.

This is not because I didn't have the cards, or the stamps, or the return address labels, or the list of recipients.  I've had all that stuff for at least 3 weeks.  For some reason I just haven't spread everything out on the table and gotten busy, until yesterday.

I put Marvin & Walter in their crates as if I were going to work, put the 'Soundscapes' music channel on softly so they wouldn't hear me in the other room, poured myself a cup of Dunkin Donuts Pumpkin Spice coffee, and got to it.

Rather than rotating through my Christmas CDs like usual, this time I went to Pandora on my iPhone, typed in Pentatonix Holiday and listened to that station via a bluetooth Sony speaker.  It worked great and I didn't have to stop what I was doing to change the CDs.

I got 76 cards written, hand-addressed, sealed, stamped, and into the mail, leaving me just 43 more to finish the job.  I actually paired down my list by 4 this year.

While this may sound like a chore, I actually like doing it.  I love to send brightly-colored cards, often times with glitter, that add beauty to the holiday season.

After dropping off the cards at the post office I got my hair cut, and then Spouse & I got dressed for my company's Christmas party.  It was held in a restaurant that was closed to the public.  The food was good, there was an open bar, a band, and everyone had a nice time.

I brought Spouse home, changed my clothes, and went to the Blue Moon for karaoke.  Normally I wouldn't go to a Christmas party and sing karaoke the same night, but I love singing Christmas songs at karaoke and there are only a few opportunities to do that between Thanksgiving and Christmas, which is the acceptable time to sing Christmas songs.  Since the company Christmas party was only a few blocks from the Blue Moon, about a dozen of my colleagues from work came to karaoke after the company party ended and got to hear me sing "Merry Christmas, Darling".  Karen Carpenter-style, of course.  It was a lot of fun!

Christmas cards

I was off work yesterday and since it was the 15th of Dec (10 days til Christmas), I decided to make use of the time off to work on my Christmas cards.

I've written before about how I enjoy sending holiday cards, that I hand-address the envelopes and why, and that I have a tradition of listening to Christmas CDs and drinking eggnog while I write the cards.  To my routine I've also added the application of tasteful Christmas stickers on the back of the envelopes.

While I enjoy the act/process very much, I must admit that it is time-consuming.  Yesterday I spent about 6 hours working on my cards, and I got through about 3/4 of them.  But it felt good to place 100 cards in the mailbox for pick-up.  Now I've only got about 25 cards left to write, and I will likely finish them tonight.

Holiday this & that

Wed night the owners of the Blue Moon had their employee/performer holiday party and gift exchange.  (The Blue Moon is where I perform in the Legends shows.  Yes, that's me in the Elton John costume.)  The food was terrific and the bar was complimentary.  After everyone had eaten the gift exchange began.  Everyone brought a gift valued about $20 and folks could either 'steal' a gift that was already opened by someone before them or pick something from under the tree.  I picked from under the tree and got a bucket of loose change!!  Needless to say no one tried to 'steal' my gift.  But it all worked out, as I took the change to a CoinStar machine the next day and converted it into a gift card.

Although I don't take many photos, Marvin is just the cutest and friendliest little guy I could hope for.  He has really brought joy to our lives, and in general is easy to live with.  However, he is not fond of cold weather and wind.  When we take him outside to do his business he wants to run back inside as soon as possible.  We've gotten him a sweater and a jacket but they are kind of awkward to put on so we don't use them unless we're going for a walk.  But even when he has an accident I can't get mad at him.  Who haven thought that I'd be the one to be smitten by him?

About a week ago Spouse started to get a cold.  Not wanting to be sick at Christmas, he immediately began taking Zicam and other remedies to try and prevent the cold from knocking him out. Unfortunately he's still got the cold, but fortunately he doesn't really feel badly.  I hope he'll be okay with our full holiday schedule.

Speaking of the holidays, on Mon all 130 cards went into the mail, and yesterday I wrapped all the gifts, so our countdown to Christmas has started.  Unfortunately I did not have time to do any holiday baking this year.  I usually like to make cookies to give to neighbors/friends and to enjoy ourselves but I just didn't have time for it this year.  

Spouse is off work all of next week off and my office is closed Sun-Wed.  Since I work tomorrow and perform tomorrow night, we can't leave for VA until Sun morning.  Once we arrive we'll pick up Spouse's mom and take her with us to meet Kerry & Hugh, Kelly, George, and Lisa for our annual lunch of pizza and hippie rolls.  That night we're having dinner with our buddies Mike & Clark and Ron & James, followed by coffee and Christmas cookies at R&J's house.  Then on Mon morning we're heading to my cousin's house (about an hour away) for a visit and lunch.  That evening we'll join the rest of the family at Spouse's sister's house to celebrate Spouse's mother's birthday.  Yes, her birthday is Christmas Eve!  My old friend Kathryn will stop by for a visit that night too.  Tues morning we'll have a leisurely, relaxing breakfast and hang out with Spouse's mom for a few hours, then have Christmas dinner around 2 or 3pm at his sister's house, followed by opening gifts.  We're coming back home on Wed.

Holiday return address labels

This year I'm well ahead of schedule by ordering my holiday return address labels today.

Yep, that's right - its not even Halloween yet and I ordered my Christmas card labels today.  I love to write and send Christmas/Holiday cards to friends near and far and although I hand-write their names and mailing address for that personal touch, I do use return address labels.

But not just any old return address labels.  I order special ones for the holidays.  This year I ordered them from Personalization Mall.  Its a great resource for all things personalized, not just holiday stuff.  Here are my holiday 2012 selections:

They come in quantities of 64 so I ordered 1 quantity of each design above.  I think they're super cute!!  You may notice there aren't any Santa Claus or reindeer.  I tend not to favor those 'folksy' images of Christmas.  Instead I prefer themes that center more on ornaments, snowflakes and such.

Click here to read about my Christmas card writing/addressing ritual.

Friday fragments

Welcome to Friday fragments, my weekly recap of topics too big to forget, yet too small to be their own post.

I started our Christmas cards on Mon and surprisingly got about 3/4 of them done. Often I do them in several smaller batches, and hour or 2 each night after dinner. But I didn't have much planned for my day off so I just kept going for 6 hours. Then I finished the balance of them yesterday. All 138 signed, sealed, addressed, stamped, and dropped off at the post office.

I had to share this from facebook:

Many of you likely have memories of model trains and miniature villages at Christmastime. This video shows an extensive model train and miniature collection - the largest in the world - with settings from several countries. Its truly really amazing!

Had to share this from facebook too:

May THIS is why they don't want gays in the military. Pretty funny stuff.

Spouse & I did some Christmas shopping after work on Thurs. It was a rather productive trip and we're about 1/2 way done.

A friend sent me this:

Tonight we had dinner with our friends Deb & Greer and Bob & Michael. We tried a new place (actually an old place that's under new management now). The food was pretty good and we had a fun time together.

Here's wishing everyone a great weekend!

Friday fragments

Welcome to Friday fragments, my weekly recap of topics too big to forget, yet too small to be their own post.

Spouse & I started our Christmas shopping this week. We don't go crazy buying multiple, expensive gifts for our family. (My hair stylist told me he's buying at $500. laptop for each of his 3 kids.) There are too many of them and its just not practical or necessary, so we buy gifts: moderately priced things we think the recipient will like or enjoy. This week we went to our favorite jewelry and accessories store and picked up 4 gifts for the family and 1 gift for my office gift exchange.

We received this as a Christmas card at work from a vendor and I thought it was funny enough to share!We've had some wild weather fluctuations this week. On Wed it was 70 degrees but a cold front came through overnight and it was only 40 degrees on Thur - a 30 degree difference in less than 24 hours. At least the cold weather makes it finally feel like Christmastime.

I saw this posted on facebook and thought it was cute.

I received a small box of chocolates as a gift and noticed the phrase "hand-crafted in small batches" in italics on the box. If the ingredients are the same, does chocolate made in small batches really taste different than chocolate made in large batches?

Now, HERE'S a candidate I could really stand up for!

Why do some people make "realtor" into a 3-syllable word? They pronounce it "real-UH-tor" when the correct pronunciation is "real-tor". I've even heard this on real estate shows on HGTV.

This year I've been vacillating about whether or not to send out my usual load of Christmas cards. Well, today I made a decision: I'm going to send them. One of my concerns was the cost of cards and stamps, and while I can't do anything about the cost of stamps, I was able to find some great deals on cards. Today I got more cards than I'll need and only spent about 1/4 of what I thought I would spend, so I decided to do it. I also took a few minutes today to review and edit my list of recipients. Surprisingly it wasn't as hard as I'd imagined to trim about 15 off the list, and I only added 3 to the list so far. Now all I need is some eggnog to sip while I start my cards.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Christmas cards

We received our 1st Christmas card today.

I know I've written more than once about my ritual of writing, addressing, and sending Christmas cards. I've done it with joy every year for the last 18 Christmases without even questioning it. But this year I'm undecided about whether to continue this tradition this year.

The main reason I'm unsure about it this year is the expense. I usually buy deeply discounted cards right after Christmas for use the following year, but I didn't do so last Christmas. Even if I can find bargain-priced cards I will still spend about $40. - $50. to get 130 cards. Then there's the $57. cost for 130 stamps. In the past I usually order special Christmas and generic holiday return address labels for another $15. or so, making the total cost of sending 130 Christmas cards close to $125. Although work has been going well, we're still not in a position to casually spend $125. at a time when we're also purchasing Christmas gifts for family members and contributing toward Secret Santa for the needy.

An additional consideration is the time needed to write, address, seal, and stamp the cards. Although some people print address labels from their computers, I have always preferred hand-writing recipients' names and addresses. It seems much more personal to me. I suppose I have the same number of hours I'd had in past years to do this, for some reason I'm concerned that this year I may not have enough time.

Obviously I have considered that reducing my card list would require less expense and less time. But every year its hard enough to scratch some recipients off the list in order to add new recipients without increasing the total number, let alone to reduce the total number.

So even though Christmas is less than a month away and we've already received our 1st card, I'm still not sure what to do.

Weekend highlights

We had a schizophrenic weekend: Sat we were on the go the entire day and Sun we didn't leave the house.

Sat was all about the parties:
Party #1: Mark's birthday breakfast, 9am-12noon
Spouse & I were up by 7am getting ready for my birthday breakfast party. We'd done most of the prep on Fri night, but needed to bake the sausage/egg/cheese casseroles and the french toast casseroles, pick up the bagels and scones from Surf Bagel, and put on the finishing touches. We had 14 for breakfast and had a terrific time! This really made up for my horrible day on my actual birthday.

Party #2: George & Steve's Tree Trimming, 1-4pm
They were the 1st people we met after moving to DE. Through their annual tree trimming party where everyone helps unpack and hang all their ornaments on their 2 trees we met several of the folks who are now our friends, too. They've been together nearly 30 years so they've collected a LOT of ornaments. Afterward there's food, drinks, and conversations; always a good time.

Party #3: Jason's birthday dinner, 6:30-11pm
Jason's birthday was 2 days after mine but his partner Chris arranged a birthday dinner on Sat at their home. The food was great and the friends we visited with were among our favorites. Kevin brought a home made chocolate chunk cake with chocolate icing that was practically orgasmic. We hated to leave at 9:30 but we still had another party to attend.

Party #4: Craig & Mike's Holiday Open House, 7-11pm
We arrived at about 9:30 and stayed about an hour. We could really feel our long day catching up with us, but it was nice of Craig & Mike to invite us. Since we'd been eating all day we didn't have any room left to sample their goodies, but you know I always have room for a pomegranate martini! Craig & Mike had 7 (yes, 7) theme-decorated Christmas trees in their house! We thought it might be because they have an 8 year old son who loves Christmas, but they confessed it was really all for them!

It was a really FUN day, but us old-timers were absolutely beat when we got home at 11pm.

Sun we slept in since we had no plans for the day, and because it was raining and very windy outside. We pretty much decided early on that we weren't leaving the house so neither of us got dressed. We stayed in our comfy flannel pj pants the entire day, which I consider to be one of life's under-rated luxuries. We snacked on left-overs from Saturday's breakfast.

We watched TV for a while, we spent a little time on the computer, I unloaded the dishwasher (from Saturday's breakfast) and then loaded it with the casserole dishes and coffee pots, wiped down the counters, then put on some Christmas music and finished writing/addressing/sealing/stamping the other 1/2 of our holiday cards. Spouse helped me with the last batch of cards. Then we ordered delivery pizza and ate it while watching 60 Minutes. Then I went upstairs to watch "White Christmas" (I love that movie) while Spouse watched crap. He later joined me for the last 1/3 of "White Christmas" and wished he would have watched the whole thing.

So Sun we never got dressed, never left the house, and didn't cook a thing. It was divine.

Crush du Jour: JC Vazquez

Big Ella was a big hit, and saying goodbye to Christmas

Spouse & I decided to take Big Ella out for some exercise on Sat. We figured we could run a few errands while enjoying a leisurely ride. Big Ella was a big hit!

Our first stop was the gas station. As I was filling up her tank and adding the lead additive (cars made before catalytic converters and unleaded fuel need to have a lead additive), the older gentlemen at the next pump asked me what year she was. When I responded 1959 he said he was guessing 1960, then said it was nice to see old cars like that again.

After exiting the gas station and waiting at the traffic light, I noticed a guy in a Ford Ranger pick-up leaning across his passenger seat. He pulled a camera out of the glove box, rolled down the window, and took 2 pictures of Big Ella - from the passenger side of his truck!

Our next stop was K-Mart. (Of course I parked out in the middle of the parking lot where there were no other cars.) Spouse was looking for an insulated coffee mug and we thought we might find one there. As we we were about to step inside the store, a 12-year old looking boy said "What kind of car?", to which I replied "Cadillac, Sedan de Ville". He then asked "What year?", to which I replied "1959". His important questions answered, he simply summarized "Cool."

Next we drove into downtown Rehoboth Beach, where a fellow driver tooted his horn to get my attention and then mouthed the words "LOVE your car!" I mouthed back "Thank you." We drove down the boulevard, and then into the state park so we could see the ocean for a few minutes.

Not having found his insulated mug at K-Mart, our next stop was Walmart. Spouse also likes to get his herbal supplements there because they are less expense than at the vitamin stores. Again I parked Big Ella way out, away from all other vehicles. No one spoke to us about Big Ella at Walmart, but we saw a car load of teens/early 20s drive by and point at her in obvious admiration.

Our last stop was Home Depot. We had some Christmas gift cards to use and wanted to pick out a new shower head. Again, I parked Big Ella at the perimeter of the parking lot. As we were walking toward the store we passed a male customer pushing a cart toward his car. It appears he had seen us walking from where we'd parked her, and he was either cruising us big time, or wanted to say something about Big Ella. He never spoke to us, but his stares spoke volumes!

Once inside, a 'greeter' welcomed us to Home Depot then followed up by saying "That's a beautiful car. I'd park it way out there, too, if it were mine."
Literally everywhere we went we received questions and/or comments about Big Ella. It was almost like her 'debut'.

On Sun we took down and packed up all the Christmas home decorations, cards, tree, and mantel decorations. It was a little bit sad to say goodbye to Christmas for another year, and when we were finished, the house looked a little 'bare'. As usual, after gently pulling the Christmas cards off the ribbons hanging in the foyer, I briefly looked at each one and smiled as I thought about the friends who'd taken the time to send them. I mean, it does take time to address cards and write personal message inside, and I felt a real sense of happiness over the friends who took the time to send us a holiday greeting.

I never throw away Christmas cards. Ever. I just can't. Even though the practical person inside me knows I will most likely never look at these cards again, I just can not throw them away. Instead, I place them in an envelope and write the year on it, and place the envelope in the attic with the others. I have every Christmas card I've received since I began celebrating Christmas in 1993. I rationalize that one day I will learn of some fantastic project or re-use for these cards, and I will already have my supply ready and waiting for me, in the attic.

Do you save Christmas cards? Do you know of any re-uses for them?

Crush du Jour: Jakub Stefano

The party

The party was a smashing success!

Fri I took off work and baked all day long. Literally, I started at 9:30 and took the last stuff out of the oven at 4:30. But making everything the day before was definitely the right thing to do.

Sat Spouse & I cleaned the house from top to bottom, all 3,770 square feet. Then I finished distributing the candles and other decorations around the living room, powder room, foyer, dining room, kitchen, family room, and bathroom on the main level where most guests would be.

I was lamenting what to do about the stack of Christmas cards we'd received. I'd tossed them into a large glass bowl after Spouse & I read each one, but didn't think that looked very nice. Then it hit me. I grabbed some wide plaid Christmas ribbon ribbon, cut it into 4 equal lengths, and stapled the cards to the ribbon. Then I used push pins to hang the ribbons on the wall in the foyer. They looked like this:

The cards were pretty to begin with, but by hanging them on the pretty ribbon they became lovely decorations too! Although I didn't invent this idea, I did pat myself on the back for thinking of it.

After putting the gold table cloths on the dining room and breakfast room tables, I got out all the platters, cake pedestals, cookie trees, punch bowl, coffee pots, and various serving pieces I thought we might need. Basically everything was set up except the food.

Spouse & I both showered, then went to a lovely birthday party for our friend Bill, hosted by his partner Dean at their house nearby. We had a good time, and it was nice to stop thinking/worrying/obsessing about the details of our party for a while and just enjoy talking and being with folks.

When we returned home we sliced all the desserts and placed them on the various serving pieces, started the coffee pots, made the punch, poured the eggnog in the pitcher, lowered the lights with the new dimmers, and started lighting all the candles as the 1st 2 guests arrived. All our hard work paid off; everything was ready and the house looked great. We had a total of 40 friends and neighbors attend. Unfortunately 6 more had to cancel due to being sick.

We had a great time! I heard friends recommending certain items they liked to others trying to decide was to eat. Spouse & I mingled among our friends and tried to have short conversations with everyone, although we were rarely together. We feel its best to split up so one can keep an eye on the food/drinks and refill when needed while the other greets people near the door and visits with those not near the food. It works well for us.

Several friends brought us ornaments, wine, and goodies to eat later, which was so kind!

After the last guests left, Spouse & I sat in the living room with our coffee and gazed at the fireplace and Christmas tree for a few minutes before 'comparing notes'. I told him about the conversations I'd had and he told me about his as we recapped the party. Then we put away the left over food and went to bed.

What a wonderful way to enjoy and spread holiday cheer!

Crush du Jour: Jeremy Santucci