I Gotta Hippopotamus for Christmas!

Story and photos to follow. I just had to POST that line. It was my Hallmark surprise ornament from my dear Chuck. It's darling.

More later about our long and eventful (cooking and cooking) Christmas Day!

'Twas the Day before Christmas

(With apologies to Clement Moore!)

It 'twas the day before Christmas,
and I was quite panic'd
nothing was wrapped
and not soul had gone manic'd.

The tree and the stockings
were in boxes (in the garage)
and my Dear darling
had hinted quite large!

Off to the wrapping paper
Likes elves I flew
With a twinkle I delt with it
Bows and a few.

Now everything is done
and even the cat is content
so I must stop
for good intent.

Christmas Memories

Here are some of my random memories of Christmas growing up in the 60's and 70's... and a few of later years.
1. My grandmother's white flocked artificial tree and color wheel.
2. Putting up our silver artificial tree and color wheel. (My mother was allergic to pine trees.)
3. Red glass ornaments on the silver tree.
4. Antique German glass ornaments from my parents early days together in the 50's... I have several of them packed away as they are very fragile.
5. Bubble lights on Aunt Marge & Uncle Jack's tree... I have a few sets collected in the 80's when these lights made a come back. As they heat up, the liquid in a glass cyllinder bubbles. (They were the Aunt & Uncle of my college roommate Jane... I sort of adopted them as an extra Aunt & Uncle. Sadly they both passed away in 2007, but I have great memories of them.)
6. Silver tinsel tossed on a real tree.
7. Coming out on Christmas morning to find the presents from Santa (unwrapped of course) and the wrapped ones from Mom and Dad.
8. Having to wrestle my baby sister to keep her in bed so that Mom & Dad could have a cup of coffee before she attacked the presents under the tree.
9. Collecting special ornaments during my lifetime. These include those made by friends & relatives and special ones received as gifts or purchased to remember some place special.
10. The red felt stocking with sequined animals and tree made lovingly for me by my Great-Aunt Pallie. I also have several wonderful old ornaments made by her. She was the creative one in the family.
11. The small tree of my father's old age that I took him in the nursing home.
12. My hi-tech fiber optic lighted med. size tree... that I need to put up soon.
13. Getting real greenery wreaths from a local Boy Scout.
14. Christmas dinner with my entire childhood family: Mom, Dad, Granny, Pop pop and little sister Beckie. Complete with turkey, corn bread dressing (regular and a special bowl of oyster dressing for me), sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, relish trays, pecan pie made by Mom, canned chilled asparagus (I know... yuck!), bake & serve dinner rolls, Mrs. Smith's pies, giblet gravy made with lots of extra giblets.
15. Uncle Harley visiting and bringing me a few more presents. I think he had a silver tree too at one point.
16. Sometimes, we had Christmas at home in the morning, then went across town to my grandparent's house for Christmas dinner. Granny probably cooked more dishes than Mom did for the big dinner.
17. Watching "A Charlie Brown Christmas" on the color TV.
18. Playing my few Christmas records over and over. One favorite is The Christmas Cowboy with Gene Autry singing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.
19. Having my washing machine pipe freeze on Christmas night... flooding the apartment below in 1983.
20. Special ornaments given to me by Florence & Dad after I moved to Plano.
21. Getting the flu and having my Dad drive me back to Plano from San Antonio in 1982! (My 1st month on my new job up here.)
22. Going to East Texas to a tree farm to cut down a live tree with Barbara while we were roommates.
23. Egg nog!
24. Hosting wonder Christmas dinners in our home now for friends and family.
25. THE BEST MEMORY of ALL....
The marriage proposal from Chuck to marry him on Christmas in 2000. A James Avery ring with Hebrew writing on it along with a "recipe" for love & marriage. He is SO romantic.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

At least on the next row over from my cube. They decorated and even had a block party today with lots of gooey treats, hot chocolate and hot cider. I've visited three times for chocolate goodies and assorted other sweets. So I've been enjoying this Christmas season.

Last weekend, I wrapped and wrapped like a mad woman to get packages ready for Chicago (Oak Park), Boston (Roslindale) and San Antonio. Chuck had his own set of packages ready to go to Oregon and California. THEN, my friend in Chicago sent me a card asking if we could scale back on Christmas this year!!!

AFTER I had wrapped about 10 gifts for her AND mailed them to her. You see, we both like opening gifts so we buy many assorted things for each other. I love shopping for odds and ends for her, as she's a bit eccentric and finding just the right things can be quite fun. The gifts must include mustard (her favorite spice), something for the kitchen and a quite odd present. The odd present this year was given to me and immediately I saw the regifting opportunity. My BFF would love it. I'll go into details in a post-Christmas blog in case she's reading this, but it does involve doing almost obscene things to a chicken. :-) Use your imagination!

Holiday Carols Sung By The Fire

Well not exactly! We drove to Houston (Porter specifically) and back home again on Saturday. It's a 4 hour trip each direction. And the music du jour was the new & old Christmas mix CDs created by Chuck from our extensive holiday music collection. We listened and sang our way across Texas. It helped us pass the hours, when we weren't talking. As my friends know, both my husband and I love to talk.
I got to hear a good number of my holiday favorites. I'll need to get out the full CD of some of my all-time favorites to hear the whole thing: A Charlie Brown Christmas, Gene Autry's Christmas Cowboy, The Christmas Song by Nat King Cole. And many more!!!
May the weeks leading up to Christmas, Hannukah and Winter Solstice be merry and bright for all!

Loved the Turkey at 1st Bite

Yesterday, we had our "adopted" Chinese family over for Thanksgiving. Chuck prepared turkey with all the trimmings. And I helped! Let's see - we had cornbread stuffing (my family recipe), green beans with caramelized onions (my friend's recipe), fresh cranberry sauce, sweet potato puffs with pecans, mushroom casserole with spinach, special waldorf salad with cherries PLUS two kinds of pie (baked apple and a mixed berry tart).

We had to explain that over-eating was required. They loved the turkey; it was their 1st time to have it. Two people from China eating turkey in our kitchen. It was an all American holiday served up just for them. Our friends Carl & Lei brought her parents over plus the two children. We had a full house for the evening. Everyone went home full. Even the three year old... he ate a lot. Including several mouthfuls of Redi-whip, courtesy of Uncle Chuck!

Being Thankful

Thanksgiving isn't supposed to be about the FOOD. It's supposed to be about being thankful. I need to stop and reflect about what I'm thankful for this year. Express some gratitude to people in my life that helped me this year.

I'm thankful that when my husband had his heart attacks in March, he didn't die. I'm thankful that his health has continued to improve so much this year because he's been eating less carbs and less in general PLUS he's been religiously working out 3 times per week. I'm very thankful that he's my husband, a wonderful cook, someone with a great sense of humor, someone who loves me with all my flaws and even calls me beautiful.

I'm thankful for my health. I have plenty of health issues, but heart problems were ruled out this year. I'm thankful for great medical care and insurance to be able to afford it. I'm thankful for my great doctor, who really listens to me and helps me when I'm sick. I'm also thankful for my therapist who has taught me a lot about listening to my body and helping to feel better.

I'm thankful that my dear dog is finally at peace. He was part of my life for 18 years. I'm thankful to have had him around so long. I do miss him and cry when I see photos of little Jack Russell puppies (seem to be all over the place). But I'm thankful that he's at peace and no longer in pain. I'm thankful for his vet, Dr. Ward and his staff who were wonderful this year.

I'm thankful for my friends, spread all over the U.S. I love to hear from them either via phone, email or letters/cards. I know that I can call on them when I need them and they will listen.

I'm thankful for my extended family including my step-children and grand-daughter. Riley lights up our life when we get to see her. She'll be 2 years old in a few days.

Winter Coming

Here's a depressing thought. Winter may arrive today. It's supposed to get very cold out. I'm thinking bundling up and staying in bed sounds good. But I've gotta be a work. Bummer!

Finally Fall

I wish I could write poetry. I would write one about fall in Texas. It's not like fall in other places. We don't have many pretty leaves. They usually just turn brown and start falling and filling the yard. I don't rake mine... which probably annoys my neighbors to no end. But I like the randomness of the piles of leaves in the front yard where the trees are and in the back yard where they blow in from other places. My back yard has no trees just some attack bushes. Holly bushes love to attack and scratch you when you attempt to go past them. I haven't been in the back yard much since Blarney died. It makes me a bit sad to go back there. I know I'm rambling here, but that's how fall arrives in Texas. We ramble back and forth between the end of summer (warm weather) and fall (cooler weather). I think the temperatures finally dipped below 30 degrees F last night, so it's definitely fall.

How am I doing? A bit down. Work has been stressful. When I'm home, inertia takes hold and I don't accomplish much. On weekends I manage to get the laundry done and pay the bills. But I generally just lounge in bed reading books. Chuck isn't too demanding that I do anything at all. Inertia is a good way to describe my weekends. But time for cleaning house and company is coming. We have plans to host an "American Thanksgiving" for our friends and their family that is here from China. If you remember my story about shopping with Gia, this is the same family. A big turkey and all the trimmings is being planned by Chuck. I'll be the chef's assistant.

Obamatopia

I realize I have not yet blogged with glee about the election results. Here it is: GLEE, RELIEF, PRAYERS have been Answered, relief, gladness, happy, joy, joy, disbelief. Yes, the first emotion I had was disbelief that it actually happened. I woke up on Wednesday morning and had to turn on the morning shows. I had to see if it was all a dream, or if Barack Obama was really the President-elect. It's TRUE! So I guess I can now settle in to belief and acceptance.
I know there will be tough times ahead for him and his administration. We're in very tough times in this country and around the world. And people like me, Obama supporters, have HIGH HOPES for him. We hope for an Obamatopia, but realistically I know that's just a fantasy. But let me hold onto my dreams for a few days!