Category Archives: Holidays

friday five – two tannenbaums

Holiday festivities have commenced. I don’t know how I ever handled a normal holiday season because it seems utterly overwhelming even with most things cancelled. Then again, maybe it feels like this because of the extra stress of COVID? See further musings on this in #5. I don’t know – but I’m not coping well with externals. We’re blowing through episodes of “Derry Girls” on Netflix to compensate (language warning for a lot of Irish ‘fecks’ but very funny).
The tree has been up and decorated since the weekend after Thanksgiving and because I’m working from home, I’m actually wrapping in advance with color-coordinated wrapping paper on my lunch breaks. I feel good about this but no one should expect it in a normal year.

3. We LOVE Advent calendars at our house so we each got one (or two lol). I am so excited – I treated myself to a Moomin Advent calendar that can be played as a board game when all the pieces are unwrapped and a Legacy Fiber Artz mini skein calendar. (Anyone with any good patterns for mini skeins – a cowl maybe? – drop me a line!) Miss L has a Funko Pop Harry Potter calendar from the Order of the Phoenix and a traditional chocolate from her Neena. Brandon’s, however, is my fave. I found a wooden stand on Etsy and filled it with mini liquors. He likes whiskey so I tried to get a bunch of little ones for him to try (although there are a few cheapos like Fireball, peppermint schnapps, and Goldschlager mixed in to keep things fun).

4. You may remember that a few weeks back I lost a major chunk of my willow tree that narrowly missed the power lines. This has forced me to contract with a tree service for its removal in 6-8 weeks; but first DTE had to come clear the wires. It was actually pretty neat to see how they get between the houses using a very narrow machine that then opens up like a spider with a bucket on it. I feel sad about losing the old willow but every time it blows or ices I shudder with apprehension and I won’t miss THAT.

5. My life is like whack-a-mole right now. If I’m on top of shit at work, then I haven’t made eye contact with my family or gotten out to exercise in days and am shuffling around like a pale bloated Boo Radley. If I’m getting fresh air, exercising, eating right, getting good sleep, prepared for the holidays, staying on top of Miss L’s remote schoolwork and also being emotionally present for my family, then I feel like my to-do list at work is out of control. Maybe it’s just pandemic, but shouldn’t I have this under control and figured out by now? Shouldn’t it be easier because I don’t have to drive to an office? Why isn’t it? I know no one has answers and these are rhetorical questions but damn, how they persist.

I hope you are all well and safe during this December time and that your Secret Santa is timely and generous. And that if YOU’RE the Secret Santa, your recipient gives you some grace. xoxo

thanksgiving 2020

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visitor to our backyard the day before thanksgiving

I had a five day long weekend for the US Thanksgiving holiday and it was delightful. I can’t deny that my morale and productivity in my home office was at a low point in the days leading up to it. Five days off and now it’s Monday morning and I have the glad feeling that I’m ready to be back at my desk. I have to-do lists to make, emails to read, documents to review, and meetings to schedule, and I’m ready for the push through to the end of the year, where I’ve scheduled even more time off.

Miss L was at her dad’s for the holiday so it was just me and Brandon. We’d originally planned our family holiday celebration for the weekend, and invited Brandon’s cousin and girlfriend over for Wednesday night drinks, but with the three-week “pause” instituted by our governor, in the end, no one really wanted to meet up. This was fine with me as it gave me the ideal sort of holiday for an introvert and just what I needed, really. Hopefully Covid cases go down in upcoming days and if not then at least I’ll have the feeling that I’ve properly isolated to see my family over Christmas.

So Brandon and I were in our own little holiday world. We cooked our turkey and had a candlelight dinner and he made his special family dressing. Unfortunately the only photograph I got was of the pumpkin pie I made. I was very proud of this as I love pumpkin pie and I feel now like the true embodiment of “teach a man to fish” (although my mom’s pie is still the best).

We went for runs and long walks and bought nothing on Black Friday.

I had spectacular afternoon naps with the cats every day, and read and knitted a bit. We drank lots of Malbec and stayed up late watching the latest season of “The Crown” as well as “The Miniaturist” and “Vienna Blood” from PBS (all ‘recommends’). I didn’t worry at all about what I ate or drank but tried to temper it by getting outside daily for fresh air and steps.

I’ve explored some new and fun ways to present turkey leftovers since we had a 14-lb bird and despite our best efforts we did not eat our required 7 lbs each on Thursday. We tried these recipes and all received thumbs-up from Brandon.

Cranberry Turkey Crescent Ring (from Pillsbury)

Pot pie (from Two Peas and their Pod – it’s written for chicken but is great for turkey, too. I’ve made this many times with both chicken and turkey and always a crowd-pleaser.)

Turkey Monte Cristo (from Martha Stewart. We actually got lazy and skipped the French toast step here and just grilled it on the stovetop like a classic grilled cheese, with some good bread, and it turned out absolutely yummy.)

I hope everyone had an equally relaxing weekend and we’re all ready for the push to the end of the year. What’s on tap for this week? We will get our Christmas tree up, and I have to go into the office one day, and I have to meet up at the bank with some of the Girl Scout moms as I’m taking over the role of troop treasurer for this cookie season (whyyyyyyyy do I do this to myself argh). I also have a late work call with Japan one night. I’m still looking forward to being back on a more normal schedule. Oh – and we’re supposed to get SNOW later today and tomorrow!

As Garrison Keillor used to say, be well, do good work, and keep in touch. xo

friday five – where’s the turkey, chuck

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All I can say is thank goodness Apple TV loosened their capitalistic stranglehold on the Peanuts holiday specials and are allowing them to be shown on PBS after all. I bitterly railed against the loss of the Halloween special and can’t imagine getting through the holidays without seeing Snoopy fight with a lawn chair and Linus bring us to tears with his simple reminder of what the holidays are all about, Charlie Brown. At the age of 47 I will still be sitting in front of the TV at 7.30 EST Sunday night November 22 with Miss L and my snacks (maybe popcorn, pretzels, jelly beans and toast?) to bring back a taste of my childhood.

2. Some weekends, all I want to do is sit and knit with something soothing to watch. I love vlogs and am so excited about Vlogmas coming up. Some of my favorite crafting vlogs include Ina Knits, Sandy by the Lakeside, Birch and Lily, and Mandarine’s (all available on YouTube). I also love Christine McConnell although that’s less crafting and more aesthetic (achievable crafting, anyway), Talasbuan, and Northern Heart, and I recently found a new one that I love called Simple Swedish Life. This is a very quiet, peaceful vlog about a young Korean man married to a Swedish woman living in Sweden with their toddler. It’s very aesthetic, full of poignant musings and images, not much (if any) spoken word, and some great cooking and recipes. If you’re looking for an excellent accompaniment to an afternoon of working quietly with your hands with a cup of your favorite beverage, I would highly recommend any of the above.

3. I don’t think I’ve shared yet, but I cast on my holiday socks in the post-election trauma and have been busting away on them ever since. They are the Summer Camp pattern by Jill Zielinski (which is not seasonally appropriate, I know, but looks great with the yarn I chose and a contrast heel / toe) in two colorways from West Yorkshire Spinners. I can’t remember them offhand and the ball bands are downstairs so I will just say the socks are Raveled and I’ll add the colorways later on. Whilst I was taking the inaugural picture for Ravelry, Emmett decided he wanted to help display their attributes and I let him. He’s a handsome model, don’t you think?

4. For the first time perhaps ever, I am almost finished with my Christmas shopping before Black Friday. Making a budget and lists in advance helped. My biggest project left to finish is Brandon’s Advent calendar. I don’t want to reveal it here, but I found the base idea on Etsy and have to buy the supplies for each day. I have 6 days done but need to hit up some shops over the weekend to finish it up. I didn’t quite realize that the month was going so fast. All three of us are getting Advent calendars this year and I look forward to sharing them here on the blog and also over on my Instagram (link in the side column).

5. For the past two weeks I’ve been scheduling my workouts in advance and blocking off time on my calendar. Over the summer, it got light early enough that I could be up and out and get back and shower and not have to delay the opening of my home office, but with the shorter days and darker, cold mornings, I find I have to make accommodations. Setting aside a few mornings a week where I don’t schedule meetings too early has been great and I’ve stuck to my scheduled workouts every time – either getting out for a walk or run or, if the weather is inclement, going into the basement for a strength workout. It’s not always going to be possible this winter to do this, based on my work schedule, but anything is better than the nothing active I did last spring during early work-from-home times (and the corresponding weight gain). Could it be that I’m getting the hang of this “adulting” thing? (Questionable.)

Anyway, I hope you are all well and safe and your families, too. What’s on tap for this weekend? I will be finishing up the Advent calendar for Brandon, picking up the last bits and bobs for our Thanksgiving dinner next week, knitting and enjoying my books and vlogs. Take care and enjoy. xoxo

start the way you mean to finish

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I’m not big on posts that are essentially “all the awesome things that happened to me / I accomplished / I read / I ate in 20xx” so this isn’t that. I do, however, like a bit of reflection.

That sweater hasn’t gotten knit yet (although I just have ribbing, pockets, and sleeves to go); I beat my running mileage goal by 1.5 miles; and I read a lot of good books.

2019 was a wonderful year for me, after several bad-to-middling ones; but rest assured, if you are going through a hard time and don’t want to read a self-congratulatory post, please know that I had to go through rough times to get to this part of my life. A lot of them were through my own choices. So now, every day that I’m able to see the blessings in being surrounded by love, peace, calm, simplicity, and family is a day that I feel immense gratitude for. I fought against myself so hard for so long, and against the flow of my life, and against things that were good for me and made me happy, and I’m so thankful for the person I am now, and for all of my people – family born and family chosen.

The last couple of days of the year have been restful and quiet, some shopping, some running, lots of eating and drinking and cats.

I’m really excited for 2020 and so grateful for all of you who read this blog and look at my pictures and keep coming back. I look forward to starting 2020 the way I mean to finish it, with gratitude and love and peace, and that’s my wish for all of you, as well.

See you next year.

xoxo

“for last year’s words belong to last year’s language; and next year’s words await another voice.” – TS Eliot

holidaying

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We’ve been enjoying a quiet holiday week at home. Our Christmas morning was relaxing and simple, opening presents with Miss L and having a nice breakfast; Pot Roast was particularly involved in the morning festivities and thought all of the presents were HERS.

“MINEZ??”

Brandon’s birthday lands on Christmas so since we’ve been dating, we’ve had his folks over for Christmas dinner to celebrate. He has simple tastes – he considers it the best birthday ever when he has his family around him, he gets a rock & roll birthday cake featuring one of his fave artists, and he gets a nice bottle of whiskey to nurse throughout the year. This year, he got a Ramones cake (last year was Morrissey and two years ago, Elvis) and a bottle of Clyde Mays. It was expensive so hopefully it’s good (while I like beer and wine, and the occasional gin & tonic when the weather permits, I can’t abide whiskey, bourbon, Scotch – anything like that. Just the smell makes me ill. So I leave it to him to judge).

third verse, different from the first

We also had filet mignon and some baked Brie and lots of wine and forgot to open champagne. I think it was a happy day for all of us.

Miss L went to her dad’s and Brandon went back to work, so I spent my Boxing Day in a delightfully empty house in pajamas. I’d intended to go for a run but just could not muster myself; instead, I napped, finished up some Vlogmasses on YouTube, finished reading “City of Girls” by Elizabeth Gilbert (review to come on Show Us Your Books in January), and puttered around the house. All of my favorite things!

Today I finally left the house, and accompanied Miss L and her Girl Scout Troop to a showing of the new Little Women, which I really liked, except for a couple of minor quibbles regarding its length (CAN’T we go back to the days of shorter films) and Laura Dern as Marmee (come ON). I went into it thinking that no one could do a better Jo than Maya Hawke and I came out a Saoirse Ronan convert. But I’ll admit that the absolute high point for me was Timothee Chalamet as Laurie especially after seeing him in “The King” on Netflix.

I’m off until after the first of the year and I love the feeling of forgetting what day it is.

I hope you are all having a wonderful week so far and looking forward to a happy weekend doing things you enjoy.

xoxo

solstice celebrations

parental valor, planners and a finished object

thanksgiving, some links, & a finished object

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Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because you get all the gratitude, joy, and time with family without a lot of the extra nonsense and pressure to conspicuously consume. You just eat and watch football, and when everyone goes home you have some extra time to put up the holiday decorations and take naps! What can be better than that?

Brandon & I started the day with the Detroit Turkey Trot, which is sponsored by the Parade Company and runs along the Detroit Thanksgiving Parade route. It was clear and cold and despite my initial reluctance to roll out of bed, I was so glad that I let Brandon convince me. The vibe is fun and excited, with folks camped out on the streets before the parade, slapping high fives to the runners and calling, “Happy Thanksgiving!” We’d initially planned on doing the Drumstick Double (which would be the 10k and the 5k) but it cut it short to the 10k so we could get home a little earlier to prep for dinner. It’s a fast course, mostly downhill for the last half, and we had a tailwind, so I was pretty happy with our time.

I heard there are around 18,000 participants for the Detroit Turkey Trot.

My parents drove down from northern Michigan to spend the day with us and meet their grandkitten Pot Roast. My mom makes the best pumpkin pie, and Miss L baked her famous cheese rolls for us. Brandon carved and my dad introduced him to the delicacy of the turkey neck, heart, and gizzard. (Barf.) Although Miss L did classically Thanksgiving-themed placecard drawings, I went with a more Scandinavian-themed table setting this year, which I always really like.

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We spent the rest of the weekend getting the house decorated for the holidays, and I watched some new-to-me YouTube knitting vlogs (Fiber Tales from Denmark!) while I finished up my Garment House hot water bottle cover. (Raveled. And it was purely a to-be-used knit, so I didn’t bother with gauge, switched to a slightly larger circular from dpn’s halfway through, and ran out of the stashed Cleckheaton Mohair that I was holding with a plain Lion’s Brand worsted. So it’s wonky but since it will spend most of its life tucked at the bottom of a bed, I’m not stressed.) Brandon’s cousin came over to help install the replacement dishwasher for my old Bosch, and Miss L started her Advent Calendar!

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Harry Potter Funko Pop! Advent Calendar 2019!

Sadly, my car “Finn” did not want to start when the long weekend was over, so it’s been a Monday with a tow truck and working from the car dealership. I was dreading the outcome – new starter? new alternator? new CAR?!? But needing a new battery was the best (and likely most inexpensive) outcome so I am now ready to face the rest of the week with a working car AND a new dishwasher!

He felt like all the rest of us on a Monday morning after a long weekend…

I got creative with leftovers over the weekend and apparently I was not alone – Brandon texted me that all of the guys he works with brought turkey pot pies today for their lunch. 🙂

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I hope my American friends had a lovely holiday and all of my overseas friends had an equally lovely weekend. To close, I wanted to share a couple of links for anyone who is as Moomin-mad as I am. Finland is definitely on my bucket list!

What the Moomins can tell us about climate change

My search for the real Moominland

the short week

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Why do short weeks always seem the longest? I think because everyone has to fit 5 days of work into 4. Plus, although Labor Day is a sort of secondary holiday in the pantheon of US holidays, it marks a big seasonal change for those of us far enough north to experience it, and it’s also sort of the unofficial “New Year” for everyone in school or with school age children. So in my house, the short week after Labor Day is summer end; it’s back to school, back to a different schedule, more routine. Which translates into getting up earlier – Miss L’s school starts an hour earlier, she is riding the bus, so her mornings are early and now mine are too. I actually really enjoy this – I’m most productive in the morning hours and getting to work at an earlier hour means I just get more done, I feel better, etc.

So last week’s short week was also stressful because as a mom, I was full of trepidation and anxiety about Miss L’s transition to middle school. I remember middle school as an absolute horror show. I was miserable to the point of feeling sick every day when I had to walk into what felt like an absolutely chaotic zoo full of mean kids, the horrors of gym class and lockers with combinations, and teachers who didn’t care about me because I was just one of many. This of course was not true, but it took me a solid year to find my footing and feel even a little bit comfortable there, and I was terrified that Miss L would have the same experience. However, she is a different kid than I was, more confident, independent, and resilient, and although I know it won’t all be smooth sailing (understatement of the year), her first week was better than I could have hoped for.

Pot Roast’s tummy troubles continued and necessitated a vet visit. She did not enjoy this one bit and was so grateful to be home with us when it was over, even forgiving me for sprinkling her food with probiotics and forcing antibiotic pills down her throat once a day.

Anyway, it’s Monday again and let’s hope this normal-sized week feels better than the abbreviated one, for us all! I’ll be back tomorrow with a quick update on our weekend dining adventure in Detroit.