First of all – thank you all so much for your kind words about Penelope. I read each and every one of them. So much love for such a charming duck. My honest thought before I posted was, man, I’ve got to stop introducing you guys to my gang because it’s just too traumatic for everyone when we lose one. Which is inevitable when you have a house full of rescues of varying ages. As I said to a friend a few days before we unexpectedly lost Penelope Pearl, love is a risk, no doubt about it, but a risk well worth taking.
Now on to the festivities!
=====================
The other day I asked you to show me your holidays and happily, you responded.
First up from lurker Wendy:
Dorothy Winsor actually inspired this idea, when she shared this video:
Omnes sent me these wonderful memories:
My parents go all out for Christmas. Myriad decorations, ornaments gathered over the years, a top quality ham from a butcher shop, smoked salmon from the same place, homemade Boston baked beans (from the original Durgin Park recipe before they started putting too much sugar in them), homemade pate, a variety of cheeses, many types of homemade cookies (my mother has cut back over the past couple of years, there are still at least three kinds) and homemade vanilla custard trifle. Depending on the year, they can have anywhere from nine to twenty-five people come over. As the elder son and the only one who needed to travel more than a half hour to get there, I arrive a day or so early to try to help. Most of the time, I offered but got told that whatever is being done is “really just a one person job and I kind of like doing it.” So bartending and the two jobs I mention below are my contributions to the feast – plus my charm and and wit.
I am including a picture of the tree at my parents’ house from the morning of Christmas Day. As people are getting everything ready, one of my jobs was to bring out the presents and arrange them under the tree.
The other picture is a slightly blurry one of the vanilla custard trifle that my father makes every year. One of my other jobs on Christmas morning is to serve as assistant trifler as we assemble the thing.
The rest of Christmas Day can be a blur of snacks, opening gifts, and the whole dinner thing, but I really like that moment when the presents are under the tree, the trifle and other things are ready, the yard is covered with snow, and the rest of the people are just about to arrive. I can’t get there anymore, but at this moment I can still feel a bit of the magic of Christmas from when I was a child.
DavidG sent along cutie Morty in a bag:
I enjoyed this Rabbi this morning on one of the local news stations. He’s charming and full of great information.
Here’s my Dane-deer from 2004:
Shelby (Harlequin in back), Einstein on the left and Duncan on the right. Shelby was found running on the interstate, Einstein and Duncan were owner surrender – bonded brothers I fostered in an attempt to see if they could be separated. Those boys were my very first foster fails. ❤
And finally, if you missed this from Anne Laurie this morning, don’t miss it now. It completely turned my day around.
I’m still open to sharing more holiday memories, so email me (whats4dinnersolutions at live dot com). I do respond to each email, so if you sent something and don’t hear back from me, it means I did not receive it, so try again!
Respite open thread
Steve in the ATL
I am rarely interested in anything related to Omnes (j/k–he has exquisite taste in music and professional degrees), but would love to see the recipe for the vanilla custard. Lucille, my grandmother’s beloved cook, took her amazing recipe to the grave with her.
TaMara (HFG)
@Steve in the ATL: Hopefully he’ll share. I asked him for the Boston Baked Beans, which he sent along.
raven
We’re trying to figure out Christmas cards. W always have pictures of the dogs but, now with Lil Bit gone, I’m not sure using one of her is the right thing to do.
Steve in the ATL
@raven: last time we had the situation, we included pictures of our surviving dog and a tribute to our deceased one.
greenergood
Hi Tamara, Late condolences on the passing of Penelope Pearl, one of the most personable and beautiful quackers ever.
For Christmas, we walk up to the forestry plantation (about a mile away) and cut down a weed-tree pine, usually the day before Christmas Eve, and decorate it, and the house, etc. Nothing especially special about that – but here in this part of Scotland, it’s considered bad luck to keep your tree and dekkies up after Twelfth Night. But to me, it’s after Twelfth Night that you need the lights the most, after the Xmas cheer is over – so we usually keep everything Xmas-sy going for at least another 10 days or so, but we don’t turn the tree lights on until after dark, with the curtains pulled tight, so no one sees our transgression …
Tamara, I thought I’d bookmarked your Cranberry Upside Down cake recipe, but obvs I haven’t or just can’t find it. Any possibility you’d repeat it? Thx!
raven
@Steve in the ATL: Ah, good thought. thx
laura
I picked 10 lbs. of meyer lemons yesterday and prepped 5 lbs. for marmalade. Today is the day for cooking it up and canning. If I can get my act together, I’ll submit the whole mess around for the Sunday Garden Chat. I wish there was a way to share the smell of it.
TaMara (HFG)
@greenergood: Of course.
Link
Bodacious
I rarely ever comment, but this post has to rank in my all time favs for just making me feel HAPPY and in awe of the eclectic community (except politically, of course). Thanks Tamara!!!!
Ruckus
@raven:
@Steve in the ATL:
raven, I agree with Steve, those who are gone but never forgotten deserve the observance.
@TaMara (HFG):
As all of the folks in my parents generation are gone and so are siblings the only family are cousins and only one of them is in driving distance and then there’s COVID, so xmas this year is me. I imagine that a few of us here are in similar situations so I say Thanks for the xmas posts.
Roger Moore
@laura:
Sounds delicious. I’m supposed to get Seville oranges for marmalade at the farmers market this weekend. My favorite citrus grower said they’re just about ready, and I’m really looking forward to this year’s batch. It’s a lot of work, but I can make enough for the coming year in one go, so it’s definitely worth it.
brendancalling
Growing up Christmas was kind of weird in my family. We did the tree and the presents, but my mother (who was Catholic) left the church when they wouldn’t sanction her marriage to my father, who is Jewish and an atheist. My old man can be kind of a crab, and his relationship with me mom could be tense sometimes. For years he would sulk on Christmas, muttering about the “meaningless orgy of gift-giving” (yes, he actually said that). My mother would react by buying even more gifts, putting up more decorations, and generally driving the old man crazy. Eventually, my sister and I intervened, reminding him that we were often driving great distances to see the family, with no paid time off from work (Dad, an IBM employee got a week of paid vacation for Christmas). Eventually, he sucked it up and stopped complaining.
To quote the disgraced criminal Bill Cosby, “I told you that so I could tell you this.”
In July 2015, my mom was diagnosed with metastasized stage 4 cancer. By September, she was gone. When December rolled around, my dad got the biggest tree he could find—but between being sad about my mom and his general disinterest in the holiday, it wound up a half decorated, depressing dead tree.
When Christmas 2016 rolled around, my dad was doing a lot better. He had a steady gal (who I introduced him to a few months before my mom was even diagnosed, but that’s another story) and was ready for the holiday. Yet he struggled: he didn’t want to buy a tree, because he’s not a Christian, but he also didn’t want to just do NOTHING for the kids and grandkids. His first thought was to celebrate Festivus, aluminum pole and all, but decided against it. “Festivus,” he said, “kind of mocks other people’s beliefs, and that’s not who I am. Besides, I like the holiday lights. They look nice, and lord knows winter is dark.”
So he went to Home Depot or Lowes, and picked up a 10′-12′ PVC pipe. He painted the pipe green, wrapped it in lights, and set it in the tree stand. The room lit up gaily with red, blue, green, and purple lights.
We have set up the holiday pole every year since. Here’s a pic from 2018, although it’s Instagram so you might have to follow. When I have a place of my own again, I too will set up a holiday pole.
Shana
@brendancalling: Love the pole idea. My folks too were a mixed marriage although Mom eventually converted to Judaism. When my brother and I were young we’d have a Hannukah Bush – which was the rubber plant that every household in the 60s had (I think it was a law) that presents were arranged around. I remember years where we’d get to choose whether we celebrated Christmas or Hannukah that year. Some years we wanted the tree and decorations, some years we wanted 8 days.
raven
@Ruckus: Yea, I think it’s harder on my LA family because they are so close yet so far away. I’ve been gone for 55 years save an occasional appearance.
SiubhanDuinne
You and the other front-pagers could post the “Puppy for Hanukkah” video three times a day for the rest of the year, and I wouldn’t get tired of it.
Leto
I see how the first part can lead to the last. :p
TaMara (HFG)
@SiubhanDuinne: I am not ashamed to say I have watched it several times.
TomatoQueen
@laura: Meyer Lemon Marmalade? I would pay you actual money for a jar, just for the fragrance alone.
This thread smells really good.
Nelle
We were talking about other holidays we’ve had and chose to write a little essay about the Christmas of 1987 and put that in actual Christmas cards to send out (we had gotten in the habit of email greetings during our years overseas). In Dec of 1987, we had reluctantly come to the conclusion that our plans for a life in Alaska were not going to work (my husband was getting death threats over his environmental work). We packed our three year old in her carseat, wrapped a down sleeping bage around her, and set off in our old Datsun down the AlCan at 40 below F. Caught the ferry in Haines and came off the ferry in Seattle on Christmas morning.
I could tell when the cards got to Seattle as I had a call from a friend who had left Alaska under similar circumstances just a bit earlier. During the phone call, I got an email from another long ago friend, remembering those days.
The point of the story was that sometimes long, dark, cold, uncertain journeys also have sunshine at times. Keep moving.
If a reader here wants to see the fuller version, can a front page put them in contact with me? Or is that too much to ask?
zhena gogolia
Yeah, Hanukkah Puppy is a keeper.
TaMara (HFG)
@Nelle: Not at all, I’ll keep an eye out and forward any requests to you.
BruceFromOhio
Fresh citrus marmalade sounds splendid.
Truth.
Major Major Major Major
Ugh, I missed the news about Penelope, I’m so sorry. D:
In respite news, what did I find waiting for me in the lobby today but a copy of a beloved, out of print board game!
The followup tweets have more pictures plus some details on the randomization mechanism, for the curious. Can’t wait to play it!!
CaseyL
Love the Hanukkah puppy!
I got a little confused with the pictures Omnes sent in, because of scrolling too fast. Read the caption for the tree but was looking at the photo of the custard. At first, I thought it was Weapons Grade Snark: arranging presents under a mighty strange looking tree stump? Then realized my error. Whew! (The custard, BTW, looks delish.) (Now that I know it’s not a tree stump.)
Love TaMara’s photo of the Dane-Deer in 2004! Has that ever been submitted for the BJ Calendar? It’s a perfect pet pic for December!
@brendancalling: If it helps, maybe point out that “Christmas Trees” are relics of the Roman Saturnalia and have nothing to do with Christianity-the-religion? I too am a Jewish atheist, and I like Christmas trees just because they’re pretty and sparkly and stuff. (Though I do like the idea of the pole.)
As a non-Christian, and as someone whose nearest relatives are literally across the planet from me (Florida, Pennsylvania, and Norway), and due to the pandemic, I have no holiday plans whatsoever. I may or may not sleep in, cats permitting; I may or may not overeat my comfort foods of choice…
…that cranberry upside down cake may be calling my name.
Benw
@Major Major Major Major: nice, what fun!
My folks still have a good condition “Fireball Island” – now out of production, and used ones go for like $300 – that we had growing up and my kids love it.
O. Felix Culpa
@greenergood: I can attest to the wonderfulness of TaMara’s cranberry upside down cake. I made it for Thanksgiving and let’s just say it disappeared quickly. We enjoyed it with a little creme fraiche on the side.
laura
@Roger Moore: Solidarity my Brother. I made a mixed citrus batch last year including Seville, Bergamot, Buddha’s hand all from the farmer’s market along with backyard orange and meyer lemon. The Bergamot was way forward and the end result was kind of a Earl Grey tea flavor. My current goal is achingly tart and excessively floral marmalade fit for toast or scooped into yogurt or spread thickly between a Victoria Sponge or as a refresher with sparkling water.
Miss Bianca
OK, one, that video is wicked cute. I cracked up at the puppy named Monica – nah, “that’s a weird name for a dog”.
OK, two, the thought of O2 as the “assistant trifler” just makes me laff and laff.
eachother
When I was tiny, I fell asleep on the carpet in front of the window. It was daylight. When I woke, it was dark. Mr. Glass, the neighbor across the street, had strung his Christmas lights and turned them on while I slept. It was wondrous.
Major Major Major Major
@Benw: Wow that looks really involved. Makes sense that both of these games would cost a fair bit, very complicated boards.
I was lamenting to my mom that I couldn’t find a decent copy of King Oil at a price I wanted to pay, like six months ago? So I guess she decided she’d do it for me :D
frosty
Tamara – I just sent you an email with a picture. And a little blurb to go with it.
OzarkHillbilly
Uck.
MagdaInBlack
@O. Felix Culpa: I made it last weekend. It was deliciousness =-)
Gravenstone
@OzarkHillbilly: Is that upgraded or downgraded Blech?
Roger Moore
@CaseyL:
I thought our Christmas tree tradition was originally from Germany and thus a Christianization of the old Yule traditions.
geg6
@Major Major Major Major:
My favorite (and a big family favorite) was the Mr. President game. My parents got it for us kids for Christmas when I was about 9 or 10 (I was the fifth of six kids, so older siblings were quite a bit older). That would have been about 1967 or 1968. We loved it and played it it constantly for several years. I wish I knew where it went to because I’d love to have it even though I’d probably never play it.
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/476/mr-president
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
When I was growing up my mother and her sister shared holiday duties. My aunt would host Thanksgiving, and my mother the Christmas Eve dinner (we all got together so the gifts could be distributed, ready for Christmas morning). Although they became closer after I was grown (and both husbands had died the same year in 1998), when I was young we didn’t see my aunt and family much during the year, and then wham! Twice in a month. Very confusing to me when I was small (who are these people?). So in our family, Christmas Eve was a big deal, and my husband got a shock the first year we spent with my mother. In his family, Christmas Eve was just for finishing last-minute Christmas stuff, ready for the big day. His other shock had come earlier when I happily told him I had just gotten him his “big present”. In his family, with 4 kids (I was an only child), they apparently got one present each, period, at least while he was growing up. The concept of big and little presents was new. My mother and I also evolved a tradition of opening one present Christmas Eve, while saving everything else for Christmas Morning.
schrodingers_cat
@TomatoQueen: I made mine last spring, I still have half a bottle left.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@Roger Moore: That was my understanding too. Prince Albert imported the tradition from Germany, and as you know, the Germanic areas held out against Christianity for a long time. Of course, there is also the idea that early Christians appropriated the pagan celebrations of late winter around the Solstice for Christmas, since the evidence in the Bible seems to point to Spring (lambs in the fields, etc.) Many of our classic Christmas traditions date to the Victorian era (Christmas cards, I’m looking at you).
NotMax
A mostly forgotten Xmas melody which would seem to fit right in.
Yumpin’ yiminy!
;)
mrmoshpotato
Hehe Dane-deer. Great post. Thanks everyone.
debbie
Nice memories, OO. They’re similar to mine. I spent most of the last two decades with my youngest brother and his family on Christmas Day. Too much food, too many gifts, etc.; however, nothing beats the joy of watching kids on Christmas Day. At least until they go and vote for Trump, that is.
JAFD
@Major Major Major Major: At one of the NYC BJ meetups, a year or two back, someone mentioned getting together for some board games, sometimes…
If anybody’s interested in holding such an event in the vaccinated future, please let me know.
NotMax
Finished off the last of the Thanksgiving fare (cranberry relish) just last night. Turn around and that ol’ tempus has crept up on Chanukah – if only could make latkes last as long. No matter the number made they go so fast.
mrmoshpotato
@Major Major Major Major: Surprised the Rollercoaster Tycoon, etc computer game line never put out Oil Tycoon. Hehe
Ruckus
@debbie:
If they voted for him do they get gruel for dinner?
TaMara (HFG)
@geg6: Wow, that sounds like a game tailor-made for the Balloon-Juice crowd.
greenergood
@TaMara (HFG): THANK YOU!!! You are my culinary She-ro!! I can’t wait to make this for my beloved Scottish foodie pal – she is one of the best cooks I know, but also knows squat about CRANBERRIES!! :-)
Barbara
This was fun to read. Our only real Christmas tradition growing up — other than the usual tree plus presents plus turkey — was visiting my aunt’s house. My aunt had been a professional baker and made cookies and treats to die for, which she churned out by the dozens around Christmas. She also filled orders she got through word of mouth for custom doll clothing (she made wedding gowns and bridesmaid dresses as well). She always gave us (the girls) Barbie doll evening gowns as presents.
Isua
More condolences for Penelope – I showed the pictures of her and her friends with their scarves to basically anyone I could grab. I’m so glad you shared her with us, and I’m so sorry she’s gone too soon! She was a lovely duck.
pamelabrown53
Hey Omnes…if you ever read this thread, I’m hoping for the trifle recipe. Looks amazingly delicious.
JanieM
@greenergood:
Totally agree. I tend to get my tree rather late and keep it up until about the third week in January.
Two Christmas memories —
— My dad was a firefighter, and if he was on duty on Christmas we had our celebration the day before or the day after. It taught me not to be too obsessive about when certain occasions happened.
— I desperately wanted a Davy Crockett suit for Christmas the year I was five. I’m sure it made a horrible conflict for my mother, between her reluctance to ever deny her darling children anything they wanted on the one hand, and her rigid gender notions on the other. I suspect that if she had known what it portended, she wouldn’t have indulged me.
This year — small tree is up and decorated, lights are in the windows, shopping isn’t done…the usual.
sab
@greenergood: Just use the Orthodox calendar.
Zelma
When I was little, we would go out an pick out a Christmas tree a few days before Christmas. It would reside in the basement. On Christmas Eve, I would go to bed. There would be a few decorations around, but nothing more. When I woke up the next morning, there would be the train platform with the tree in the middle, completely decorated including tinsel on every branch. Santa had not only left presents, but did all the decorating! When I was about six, I got a letter from Santa asking if my parents and I would mind helping him out by putting up the tree before he got there. My desperate father had gotten an artist where he worked to concoct the letter so my mom and dad would get a few hours sleep on Christmas Eve. I was thrilled and maintained my belief for a couple more years.
cain
@brendancalling:
I’m not crabby, but I do find it wasteful to have these trees only to throw it out – I mean Oregon supplies Christmast trees most of the country – so you can imagine how much land goes to what is about 3 years of growth for 3 weeks of decor and then composted (hopefully)
Instead, I usually try to get a potted tree of some sort so that I keep it going – sustainability!
cain
@TomatoQueen:
Put a little ginger and now we’re talkin!
JanieM
@Zelma‘s comment reminds me:
1. The “premium” trees around where I live are so dense with branches that you can barely hang ornaments on them, never mind tinsel. Not that I miss handling tinsel, mind you. One of these years I might try greenergood’s method: go find a scrawny but lovable tree in the woods, and bring it home.
2. When I first moved to Maine, the local volunteer fire department had a custom that if a parent brought a present to the fire station before Christmas, Santa would deliver it in a fire truck, siren wailing, on Christmas Eve. I’m not sure any other of my Christmas memories can outdo my kids’ amazement at Santa arriving in a fire truck.
3. Our postmaster lost a child to an undetected heart ailment when she was about eleven. From then until he retired, he and his son answered all letters to Santa Claus. Long story, but this kept my son half-believing in Santa Claus for a year or two after he would otherwise have outgrown it.
Edited for clarity.
Phylllis
@Zelma: That’s how it was for us as little kids. Santa brought everything, the tree and the presents after we went to bed on Christmas eve. I think my brother and I were about 8 & 7 (respectively) when that tradition went away. Can’t remember how our parents handwaved it off though.
Hazmat
TaMara, do you think that cake would work okay without the walnuts?
My deep condolences for Penelope Pearl, she was my favorite duck.
Omnes Omnibus
@cain: Wait ‘til you find out about raising plants and animals to just eat them at one meal.
raven
@cain: You would have liked our tree over there!
Miss Bianca
@JanieM: Oh, dear…I was one of those kids who was absolutely terrified of Santa Claus, which inadvertently led to being disabused of any belief in Santa at an early age (my dad, who had been dragooned into playing Santa at a faculty Christmas party, had to reveal his identity to shut me up when I refused, kicking and screaming, to sit in his lap. One thing led to another in the logic chain of a precocious five-year-old brain). And yet your #3 made me puddle up just a little. Awww…your postmaster was good people.
Omnes Omnibus
I will get a copy of the trifle recipe and send it to Tamara. If you don’t like it, it is because there is some part of your soul missing or because you fucked it up somehow.
CliosFanBoy
I am so very sorry about Penelope……
SiubhanDuinne
@Omnes Omnibus:
¿PORQUÉ NO LOS DOS?
Kattails
The neighborhood tradition for years has been a solstice “burning of the grumps” bonfire, and a Christmas day dinner for all who did not care to travel over the holidays. This year I don’t know if the solstice gig is happening but think I’d skip it anyway; and the dinner is for sure cancelled.
However, one fun thing was finishing a very old project. A friend’s mother was an avid quilter, and when she passed her stuff got handed around to the neighborhood ladies. I ended up with a lap quilt top, a dozen panels each with a different star pattern. This was several years ago. I have been wanting to get it done for my own mom, who will be 92 this year and is nuts about Christmas. I’m always working Christmas and could never get to it. This year, being home, I finally put the whole thing together, figured out how to do the backing and binding. I just tied it, not really quilted. While ironing it I found four signatures in tiny fabric pen on the back, two were dated, 1989 and 1997. I wrote the names down before they got covered up. There may have been other contributors who didn’t sign. The fabrics were all the same except one oddball, almost surely the latest when the other finally ran out.
Mom is in FL, I’m in NH, but it feels good that something started by other women over 30 years ago was finished and can see the light of day.
geg6
@TaMara (HFG):
Inorite?
mrmoshpotato
@Omnes Omnibus: LOL I’ve never seen an “It’s not the recipe. It’s you.” argument before!
Roger Moore
@laura:
The Seville oranges I get definitely have a whiff of bergamot to them, though how strong seems to vary from year to year. Some years the marmalade tastes as if someone spilled a bottle of perfume in the pot; other years it’s less obvious. But I’ll never be satisfied with the commercial stuff now that I’ve made my own.
Zelma
I don’t remember when I stopped believing in Santa. I’m pretty sure I made it to at least second grade, maybe longer. I’ll never forget when my son finally cornered me into admitting there was no Santa. We both burst into tears. His nephew – a year younger – was clearly more astute. Said nephew’s mother told him, “If you tell Graham, I’ll kill you.” He never did.
ColoradoGuy
It’s a quiet Christmas for me and Ms. Coloradogal. The giant tree is down in the basement, and we have a cute little four-foot tabletop tree that’s a multicolor fiber-optic thing. Looks green when it’s off, and the branch tips glow in multicolor when it’s on.
I got the Ms a new Pfaff sewing machine for Christmas, and after we get our shots and things settle down a bit here in Colorado, we’ll go to sewing classes to learn the ins and outs of the new gizmo.
Our terrier doggie is thoroughly enjoying a barkfest every time the FedEx, UPS, or Amazon truck drives by. Seems like the cold weather enhances her sense of smell and makes every walk that much more exciting.
Bill Arnold
Foodie thread. (Well, it is edible):
mrmoshpotato
@Bill Arnold: That man needs help.
A salad-filled-cookie-hand (or any shape) dream is not inspiration for anything other than a horror story. (But I’d be too disturbed to write it. Hell, I’m disturbed right now.)
JMG
When I was five or six I got for Christmas the starting of a Lionel O-gauge train set, complete with Santa Fe Silver Chief engine. My father, who tended to get totally into just about everything that crossed his path in life, kept buying more track, engines, accessories, etc. until the set got quite large in a few years. I have the surviving remnants! They still work, over 50 years later. Let’s see the PS5 hit that mark. Anyway, for years I have set up a small track around the Christmas tree in the living room. Last year, alas, the ancient transformer that powers the trains gave up the ghost. Last week, Alice, whom I do not deserve, used her peerless online shopping skills and found a replacement transformer. It is my Christmas present and it came today. I am very happy, because I’m still a child, damn it. Can’t set up the trains until the tree is fully decorated, but by Sunday at the latest, I will be operating several trains of long-gone railroads, with such long-gone features as observation and dining cars.
bluefoot
My family has quite the mix of religions (and also a couple of atheists) so we try to celebrate all holidays. We’ve been known to light the menorah between Christmas dinner and dessert.
When I was a kid, my siblings and I had a tradition of playing poker Christmas morning while my parents slept in. We always got candy in our stockings, so that’s what we bet with.
J R in WV
@raven:
I agree with Steve in the ATL — a tribute to the good dog gone bye.
We’ve lost so many great critters over the last 45 years, and wow! that’s a long time now that I write it down here. White cats, black cats, German Shepherd dogs, mutts of all flavors. We loved them all.
OzarkHillbilly
@Gravenstone: “Blech” is everyday. “Uck” is reserved for holidays, which are the potholes in the road of life..
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
Heh. My birthday was a bit ago, and a teammate sent a happy birthday email to me from the whole group. I replied to all that it was just another day in the great slog through life. Amused outrage is how I’d categorize the responses.
raven
@J R in WV: I rooted though my huge volume of photos and found one from a mountain trip a number of years back but it’s a good shot of all of us with a wonderful fall color background. A bonus was that Wallgreens had a 50% off coupon!
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie: I stopped celebrating B-days a long time ago. No particular reason, they just stopped having meaning.
brendancalling
@cain: i feel the same way. I hate seeing a poor tree murdered for nothing
Roger Moore
@JMG:
I lived across the street from a highly regarded model train store for a number of years, but somehow never went in to shop.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
Yep, same.
TaMara (HFG)
@Hazmat: Absolutely. If you don’t like nuts, omit, or substitute pecans or crushed almonds.
TaMara (HFG)
@Kattails: Wow, if you had a photo, I’d love to share it here in our next holiday post.
Chacal Charles Calthrop
@Omnes Omnibus: you win the thread, I think!
i found out how fun it was for kids to believe in Santa when my 7-year-old niece, upon learning that NORAD tracked Santa all Christmas eve, said with wide eyes, “Does that mean he’s real?’
TaMara (HFG)
@JMG: And will be sending me video, right?!
Kattails
@TaMara (HFG): I’ll get one tomorrow. Thanks so much for the respite posts, and all your wonderful work.
So sorry about sweet Penelope.
J R in WV
@raven:
No trees suffered for this photograph !!!!
J R in WV
Regarding the Cranberry Upside-down Cake…
I have most of a bowl of Cranberry relish I made for Thanksgiving dinner. Nuts and orange zest and OJ and just a little bit of sugar.
So… Do you think I could layer the relish in the bottom of a baking dish and then layer the cake batter on top, and then bake it until the top just gives a bit?
Two of three years ago I attempted to do a pineapple upside-down cake with a fresh pineapple… Cheryl commented just after I posted a comment about my goal, told me there were enzymes in fresh pineapple that would digest the batter. She was so right… it smelled nasty, looked nasty, wouldn’t taste it on a bet!!
But this seems like just stewing the Cranberry filling before you bake the cake, so why not? Right? I mean, I could buy more cranberries, but why not just recycle the relish, which is always a big hit at these holiday dinners…?
Thoughts and opinions, everyone??
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@JanieM: My husband and I tend to get the tree up pretty late also, but make up for this by keeping it up late too. It’s a lot of work to put up and decorate and the lights are so pretty we want to get our money’s worth. Our deadline for taking it down is lots of needles falling or Super Bowl Sunday, whichever comes first.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@JanieM: We live in the hills of N CA, and traditionally cut a tree from our property. You would like them. They are all Doug Firs, which have widely spaced branches. At first I compared them unfavorably with the Spruces at Xmas tree lots, and then realized they can hold a whole lot of ornaments, FTW!
JanieM
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): That bit about the Super Bowl made me chuckle. I think I took the tree down the day before Obama’s inauguration in 2009…there was just something about that as a turning point.
It does sound like I’d like your trees. And yes, it’s a lot of work to put one up and decorate it, plus I like having the lights during this dark season of the year. Every night for a month, when I wake up in the middle of the night, I make sure to come out to the living room to see the lights. I’m sad to lose that when I take it down.
I live in a second-story apartment with a cathedral ceiling. I kept a promise to my son before he left home for college: just once, to have a tree that reached the peak. It was 14 feet tall. It took three sizeable teenage boys to get it into the house and set up. I had to chop it into pieces to get it back out.
TomatoQueen
Xmas used to be my parents and me and a theme for the tree, such as children’s toys or cats, and then Mom decided the tree had to match the living room, so there were increasingly erm elegant arrangements involving strings of pearls, Federal blue and coral ribbons, white blinky lights, white and silver glass orns, and white figure skates (Mom was a figure skating coach). After Mom died, Daddy had no further interest in decorating & now he’s in a memory care unit. The hospice people there are taking care of him now & I don’t think he will last too much longer, as his very mild bout of Covid last month seems to have taken away his interest in food and drink. So I am remembering Xmas Eve was at my cousin’s house, and we always had oyster stew and salad and opened a present. The next day was at my parents and got more and more overwhelming every year , with the cats enjoying every minute of it. Oh Xmas tree Oh Xmas tree, your ornaments are history. We learned to put fabric and non-breakables on the bottom branches. This year I have had major surgeries and moved and I can’t find a damn thing, so I’ve bought a few decorations (Xmas gear this year is extremely expensive and mostly schlock), and Merlin has his eye on the little xmas tree made of shiny glass ornaments that is up high and out of the way, or it was until he spotted it. To make it even more fun, Dad’s house was sold recently, an estate sale was held, and the detritus arrived here today. That’s 15 standard U-Haul shipping boxes plus some extra. The first one opened cos of a hole in the side contains 35 mm slides starting with the box with my name on it, dated 1959-60, and thousands of others. Then there is the little urn with the nice tale of the Rainbow Bridge on the side, and inside are the remains of Dad’s last cat, Coco, a ragdoll mix. Somewhere in one of the boxes might be my mother’s wedding ring. Maybe.
On the other hand tomorrow is Merlin’s Gotcha Day. Yes, one year ago, my boy came to me, thanks to the kindness of Edith, Laura Too, and Steeplejack, and the generosity of all you snarly Jackals and Juicers who helped him to travel all the way from Minnesota to Nat’l Airport and thence to me. In a year he has adjusted to much craziness, become a mellow and affectionate lap cat, a gracious host to all visitors, and has even learned to purr. I love my Merlin and I thank all of you for helping me to have him in my life.
Sandia Blanca
@J R in WV: That sounds like it would work just fine. I think pineapple is one of the few fruits that can’t be used raw for lots of dishes; the cranberry relish would not have that same property.
J R in WV
@Sandia Blanca:
Thanks! I wasn’t worried about the pineapple enzyme issue qith regard to the cranberry relish, just telling that very funny story about Cheryl trying to warn me about the enzymes, her comment arriving moments after I left my computer to start slicing the very excellent ripe fresh pineapple.
In retrospect I should have taken it out of the oven the moment I saw the warning comment … it was so extremely, over the top disgusting and terrible when it had baked for 45 minutes. But I thought in the interest of science, and knowing how bad it could get, that I should bake it as I intended to before reading her warning.
If I had taken it out of the oven when I saw Cheryl’s warning, I could have washed the batter off the pineapple and enjoyed the fresh fruit~!!~ It wasn’t nearly heated up yet… I saw the warning 3 or 4 minutes after I put it into the oven. People at the party were sad to miss having the pineapple cake, which I do for the solstiice party every year, but the description of the disgusting mess got many laughs.
Next time I saute the pineapple in butter I think, and then add the batter, or maybe simmer it in honey/cider vinegar mix…
TaMara (HFG)
@J R in WV: Late back to this, but yes, I’ve used leftover cranberry sauce. Works great.