hustle and bustle

Well, the holidays are in full swing and I hope yours are peaceful.  We're having a good holiday, focused on important gifts that we may not be able to get later, which was originally anything made in China, but now includes 'hecho en Mexico' as well.  I'm focused on getting through each day so I can enjoy these holidays and doing my best not to worry about the future.  

Thanksgiving was very nice.  It was just the four of us and we talked and laughed and ate and watched movies.  They recommended a horror movie called Thanksgiving that was...just not right.  It is not for the faint of heart and I admit to turkey dozing during part of it.  Syd's pie was delicious!  Everything was delicious.  I specifically wanted a picture of the table but in the rush to get it all on the table, all I remembered to take a picture of was the turkey.  It was perfect!  Yesterday, I picked the last of it off the bones and made a small pot of soup and some leftover for turkey tetrazzini tonight.  

Then on Friday, we started decorating.  Friday, I put up the tree of Li Bien ornaments.  That isn't a huge project and was a good one that I could knock out and then get off my feet for a while.  Then, on Saturday, I put up the swag.  As I was pulling it out of the box, I found a strip of fabric tied around it and said to Rob 'there's a strip of fabric.  that's got to mean something.'  Then I said, 'wait, there's a note'.  I'd left myself a message from last year.   That took an hour to fix.  

While I was putting up the swag, Rob assembled the added the lights to the tree.  Yesterday, I put on the ornaments.  There are not as many on the tree this year as last.  I reached a point where I'd just done all I could do, so there aren't any on the back.  BTW, if you're looking at the back of someone's tree, maybe you shouldn't.

It looks like it leans, but I can assure you, Rob put that tree up and it doesn't lean.  

And, all lit up.  

One of the things I decided to buy pre-tariff was a toaster.  I bought a name recognized brand with a good reputation.  I was disappointed.  It didn't pop the toast up very high, so I felt like I had to reach in to retrieve it and on the lowest setting, the toast was very dark.  I thought 'maybe I'm using the darkness settings wrong.  Maybe the highest number is the lightest toast', so I adjusted it, put in a piece of toast and got distracted by the dogs wanting out.  When I came back, the kitchen and dining room were full of smoke and the toast was very, very black.  That toaster was boxed back up and returned.  Then I ordered another.  It looked great, had great reviews and when it got here, I thought how cheap it felt.  I haven't decided whether to keep it or not.  There are some things that it's hard to buy without holding them in your hands and giving them a squeeze and a shake.  I didn't think a toaster would be one.

While we decorated, we watched a season of Great British Baking Show.  It was perfect!  And, it's left me inspired for cookie week around here next weekend.  Now that I remember how (I think I ended up making 4 batches last year before I got it right), I might even make a batch of divinity.  The yule log was fun last year, but I think I need a different Christmas cake this year.  No ideas yet, just thinking about it.  

My Mom was on my mind a lot around Thanksgiving and I made a couple of her favorites; cornbread dressing, and candied sweet potatoes.  Both came out perfect!  While no one else wanted my sweet potatoes, Sydney's boyfriend thought they were wonderful!  I even heard him say something about real southern cooking.  Syd and Rob still treated them like they were Satan's covered dish contribution, but I didn't care.  And, they're easy enough that I should make them more often, just for me.  I remember my Mom being very anxious that they wouldn't come out like my Grandmother's.  They're supposed to come out "almost translucent" and mine didn't do that, but they were mighty tasty all the same.  

I've noticed that my Mom leaves the spices out of her recipes.  She's left the nutmeg out of the sweet potatoes, the cloves out of the pumpkin pie, and the sage out of the dressing.  These were all flavors my Grandmother added and I can only assume my Mom didn't care for them, so left them out.  That's based on one clue: I know she didn't like sage in her dressing.  When Rob and I used to go for the holidays, we'd joke about the bland food.  But bland or not, there was always plenty of it and for even the most picky of us, there would be at least one something that we liked, so no one walked away hungry.  That's how you get one plate with a grilled t-bone on it at a table full of turkey (brother in law).  

Everybody have a great week!  Find peace.  Find joy.  Search for what the season means in your life this year.  For me, it's the traditions.  My traditions, Rob's traditions, and the traditions I grew up with.  Melding them all together and making new traditions, some of which Sydney will likely carry on into her life.  Little links to the past's peaceful memories.  

Lane