To my adorable friends: always sing without fear.
Happy Holidays and may you have a New Year that embraces you with all the good things you desire.
Hi everybody!
The internet connection on my parents' dial-up is spotty at best. I tried to catch up with the hood today and couldn't download pics or even comment. Heck, it wouldn't even let me create a post. For some reason, I couldn't type anything in the text box. Huh.
So I'm standing next to a window to try and catch small rays of AT&T service. I guess it's all Verizon out here.
Update: the baby in the basement didn't make it. She passed on last week, but not for lack of trying.
Last night I played Wii fit with my nieces. The first time around, with help on the balancing test from Steve's big stupid happy dog, I scored a Wii fit age of 48. Unassisted, I scored a 35. W00t!
I wish all of you a joyous holiday season. I am so thankful to be a part of this warm and loving network of caring people. You have made my life richer by your wisdom, humor and sincerity. Or just straight up goofiness. :-)
Be kind to one another and especially to yourselves.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
I swear I will. In the meantime, again, there's presents to you all from me and Edgar. And now here are two of my favourite Christmas songs/versions. Now it's off to Mom's. Later, kids.
My favorite Christmas Carol is "God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman." It is probably no coincidence that this is also the only actual Christmas carol mentioned by name in "A Christmas Carol." The Christmas in my head is a decidedly English affair, and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen strikes me as the most English of carols.
I got a yen to hear my favorite Christmas song earlier today, so I headed on over to iTunes to buy myself a copy. I was hoping for a version sung by fat, jolly English baritone types, possibly with an orchestra. This is what I got.
I ended up buying the one by the Chieftans, as a lesser of all evils, but I'm not even entirely sure that scratches my anglophile itch. Vexing.
On a happier note, Merry Christmas everybody! Wishing you and yours the best this holiday.
best wishes to all of you as we celebrate the return of light
be happy amongst your loved ones
These are some vintage postcards from my mom's collection. Today I will bake Christmas Tree cakes and make Swedish Roselle cookies. Of course I will wrap presents and get ready for tomorrow. We will go to mom's and see the peeps and then it's off to a Titan's game for Kevin and I.
It's been a busy holiday so far. Very busy at work. But I will try to remember what this day has meant for so many years.
Christmas is my mom's birthday and it hasn't been the same for so many years already. I'll think of her many times today, tomorrow and many more times this week.
Tonight we will watch Meet Me in Saint Louis as we have every Christmas Eve for the last 18 years.
Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas.
Nothing reminds you of all your weird single-person-who-lives-alone quirks like having a guest for an extended period of time. Kelli's here for the holidays and I pity her having to deal with me. I sing. A lot.
Every once in awhile I remember that someone else is here and I feel like this:
And mostly when I notice I'm singing, I've been singing this:
Merry Christmas!
I didn't make it to bed until 1:30 again last night. I know some people can handle it, but I can't. Getting up at 6:15 is brutal. Zombie girl. At least last night I was up making delicious cookies and cookie doughs.
My vanilla bean cookie dough and my Mexican Tea Cake dough are in the fridge, ready to be baked tonight. I did finish my sugar spice cookies (a molasses cookie) and my chocolate chip cookies last night.
I had told Cranky about my vanilla bean cookies and I think she said she hadn't seen a vanilla bean (or maybe that was a conversation with someone else). In any event, it's a good excuse to show you my beans (tee hee, that sounds kinda dirty).
The bean itself is sort of waxy and flexible. It doesn't smell like much, but you can almost smell a hint of vanilla.
Here you can see the delicious and fragrant innards. It's like a gritty, black paste. No those are not giant warts on my thumb, it's flecks of dough.
I want to rename my Mexican Tea Cakes to Val's Tea Cakes - not because I'm PC, but because they took a lot of damn work last night. I know I'm not supposed to use my coffee grinder for my nuts, but I always used my cheap old one and it was perfect (besides, I have no problems with mingling the flavors of coffee and pecan). Not thinking that my new grinder is a burr type instead of the kind with blade, I tried to put my pecans through it. It was pushing 1AM, I was not thinking clearly. Mr. Val took over the repairs on the grinder while I chopped and chopped and chopped and chopped until I had a finely ground heap of pecans. Usually my tea cake dough takes me five minutes (and four of those are making the butter and sugar fluffy with a mixer!!), but last night it took a half hour after battling with the grinder (again, stupid on my part, I know).
Merry Christmas Eve to you all.
