Merry Christmas

Andrea, who is on the flyball team I take classes from sent me this link today. It is a crazy amount of lights and coordination.

Crafts from way back

My dad sent me a picture of the shirt that I embroidered for him. I couldn't post it earlier because it was for Christmas and I didn't want to ruin the suprise.


And here is a close up of the embroidery. The lighting on this one is wierd.

Merry Christmas

Pat, pat, pat

Before Christmas I mentioned that I was proud of a craft project, but couldn't show anyone because it was a present. Well, now the lucky recipient has opened it and so I can post some pictures. This is a knitting needle case made in colors my sistrah likes.

One puts their needles in the various pockets and then folds over the top. Notice the personalitation with Anne's tatoo as an applique.

Then fold over the two sides. I picked that front fabric becuase it was still colors my sister likes, but it was more elegant than just solid colors.

Then fold it again...

And finally fold like a book and secure with ribbon.

I thought it turned out killer. I don't usually get so excited about stuff that I make, but I have to say this one makes me proud.

Rip, rip, tear, tear

I received a lot of really great gifts this year. I got a number of books, a couple of jigsaw puzzles, and some Legos (Thanks Mom C). Roland got me the soundtrack to Rent, Cinderella on DVD, some awesome video games, some delicious hot chocolate, and some silly hot chocolate:

The picture didn't show it terribly well, but the hot chocolate turns pink when you add the hot water. In the package is also blue and purple so we will have to see how they look. How fun! My uncle got me a calendar of photographs of his hiking expeditions, a kitchen scale, and a book of how to do Sudoku puzzles. SWEET, now maybe I can be cool like Jason.

My sister and Karl got me a video game for the DS ( which they got all of their supporting cast at their wedding - the best attendant gift EVER). It is called Animal Crossing: Wild World. My sister has had Animal Crossing for a long time and has been addicted to it for as long as she has had it. With the DS version we can visit each other's towns and chat with each other from anywhere. Yesterday we got together and I visited her town and she visited mine and Karl visited both of ours. I haven't been to Cow Town (Karl's - that is Karl with a K, but Cow Town with a C) yet, but I'm under the impression he has been teaching his townspeople naughty things to say, so that should be interesting. They are much further along in the game than I am but I have done a lot of fishing and caught a few bugs.

The other game I'm into is one Roland got me, also for the DS. It is called Trace Memory and it is in the Myst vein, less shooting more figuring. I hadn't heard of it, but it's just perfect for me. Although I am a little stuck right now...I'm sure I will figure it out. To sum up: Christmas was great; good food, good presents, good company. It was a little lonely at times, but Roland made it all okay.

Four leaves only

It has been a while and much has happened, mostly presents. I like presents. Roland and I had a quiet Christmas Eve and Christmas at the apartment. We woke late on Christmas and just made up our day as we went along. Roland made an incredible dinner and we opened presents.

Roland bought two Cornish hens and brined them starting in the morning of Christmas. I think he used a similar brine to the one AB uses on his turkey and stuffed them with some herbs and a lemon wedge. There was also a garlic smashed potato dish, and an artichoke sausage side with a butter and white wine reduction. Great googley moogley was it ever good. Everything Roland made was like something you would get in a restaurant. I ate way to much, but I couldn't help myself. The hen was fork tender, with a crispy skin, and oozing lemon rosemary flavored juiciness. The artichokes were noticeably fresh and the sausage (from Doris Italian Market) was succulent. The reduction brought it all together and made it out of this world. All in all it was one of the best meals I've ever eaten. How did I get to be so lucky?

Merry Christmas to ME!

Today I got a super-great present from my Mom. She sent me some pfeffernuesse! For any who don't know, pfeffernuesse are small very hard cookies often enjoyed with coffee or other hot beverage. They are flavored with dark karo syrup and are totally and completely addictive (Kate Leggett used to claim we put crack in there somewhere). My Mom makes them every year and as I grew up we used to make them together. Each recipe makes a ga-zillion cookies and takes quite a few hours to make so working together with someone really makes it more fun. And the dough is pretty tasty too! She usually makes some to have her students taste (being German cookies and all) and I seem to be the lucky beneficiary of some of those. I'm not sure about how long they will last as I can't seem to stop eating them. Mmmmm so tasty!

That hardly seems fair.

Roland and I ended up getting a fake tree this year. It was a hard decision for me, but the benefits of not having to get it to stand up and watering it and the needles everywhere outweighed the no fresh pine scent and it's-a-real-tree-itude. We ended up also having to buy some new lights as the old ones seemed to have some internal damage from the move (there isn't much sadder than a string of lights that doesn't light). Then we set up the tree in our living room. This was also a little weird for me as I am usually a proponent of waiting until a little closer to Christmas. However, this year I was hoping that having the tree up early would help me to feel the season a bit. The weather being so warm is still totally messing with my time sense. Here are a couple of pictures of what our tree looks like all gussied up:





I also took this one, which turned out pretty trippy:



But the universe wasn't ready to let me just be happy with that, oh no! Revenge of the it-apparently-doesn't-matter-if-it's-a-fake-tree!



Wait a minute. One of the reasons explicitly stated during the convince Susan to get a fake tree speech was that fake trees do not shed needles everywhere. That hardly seems fair.

The sound of compromise

I think we are going to break down and buy a fake Christmas tree. I'm usually pretty opposed to the fake tree route, partly because it's fake and partly because you have to store it the rest of the year. However, I'm not sure of buying a real tree down here and whatever they have down here probably won't compare to what is available back in Michigan (especially for freshness). Being a huge grower of trees Michigan has some nice choices. We went to Target to look at trees and a lot of them look really really fake. There was one tree they called cashmere or something on which they had frayed the ends of each 'needle.' It was totally hideous. The other one I hated looked nice except they had glued on glittery goop to the ends of certain branches' needles, the effect was... trashy. I'm trying to look on the bright side, no getting it to stand up in the stupid tree stand (plus we got rid of our tree-stand rather than move it), no needles to vacuum up, possibly pre-lit (possibly not - how the tree looks is more important to me than whether it has lights). I'm thinking we should decide soon before the stores don't have a good selection.

Sniffle

I saw this on Wil Wheaton in Exile. I really want one, it fits my feelings about the upcoming holiday season perfectly. I'm hoping that after the first Christmas not in Michigan with my families it will get easier. But right now it seems a little overwhelming. In addition this is the first holiday season since the last of my grand parents passed away. Makes me feel a little...alone-y. Last night something on the television (I can't remember what now) got me thinking about the little things I do and will miss about being home.

Fall colors/Deciduous trees (and no, trees that are bare because of Wilma DO NOT count)
That sound that leaves on the sidewalk make when you walk through them
Mackinac Island fudge
Mom's stuffing
Mom's pumpkin pie
All my in-laws seated around tables in Mom C's basement (boy-howdy are there a lot of them ;)
Snow (or at least temperatures cooler than 75 degrees)
Getting and decorating an actual evergreen tree
The Education of Hyman Kaplan
The candle light service on Christmas Eve
Hearing my Dad play the awesome pipe organ
Mom's Cinnamon Raisin Rolls
Stockings at Mom C's

Luckily my parents are awesome and have planned a visit just after Christmas. I hope that will help. In the mean time I am just trying to concentrate on our trip to Disney 'cause that's all happy.