The Start of the Season

This year, Thanksgiving came early and there's an extra weekend before Christmas, and so the season seems to be stretched out a little bit.  Usually I can hardly wait to pull out the Christmas CDs and start decorating, but this year I seem to be in a little more of a lazy mood.  I think my inner procrastinator is hard at work, encouraging me to put off the preparations.  Lest you think I'm a total Scrooge, we did break out the Christmas CDs and decorate the basement over the weekend.  Then today, we received the first Christmas card of the season, from my childhood friend, Fonda:

Thanksgiving Day 2012

H A P P Y   T H A N K S G I V I N G !

The Night Before Thanksgiving 2012

This is the second Thanksgiving that I've worked at Whole Foods Market, prepping other people's Thanksgiving dinners before making my own from-scratch dinner for my friends and family.  Whole Foods is open on Thanksgiving Day, and it's my goal to never have to work on that day.  Since the week of Thanksgiving is typically the busiest grocery shopping week of the year (even bigger than Christmas), this is no small feat.  Each year, we're told that Thanksgiving week is "all hands on deck, no exceptions."  I continue to argue that they are required to give me at least one day off, and may I please have that day be Thanksgiving Thursday?  Last year, when I gave the "I'll do whatever it takes to get Thanksgiving Day off" speech, I wound up working the overnight shifts, assembling all the holiday catering orders, and leaving the store at 6:30am on Thanksgiving Day.

This year I've managed to get the entire day off tomorrow, but I have been working extra-long hours this week as a trade-off.  I'm exhausted, but I'm ready to go:  the shopping's done; the cranberries are cooked, the turkey's swimming in brine.  The timeline's in place, and I'm pretty sure I know where all the serving dishes are that I plan on using tomorrow.  Mom and Dad have arrived safely from Iowa.  My favorite cooking holiday is almost here!

Independence Day, 2012

Fireworks finale in Warrenville, IL

Christmas Day 2011

Shop til You Drop

Erin and I spent the afternoon Christmas shopping.

We were very successful.

Boo!

This year, Halloween seemed almost an afterthought.  For the first time, neither Kelsey nor Erin dressed up and went trick-or-treating.  Drew had his costume figured out weeks ago, and Baird helped him turn his generic White Sox jersey into a Paul Konerko uniform.  I missed the annual Halloween parade at Irving because I worked the 6am-2pm shift today.  I did manage to buy candy tho.  And order a pizza so there was a Shattuck contribution at the block party potluck.  This year, it has to fall under the category of "good enough."

I did manage to snap a quick pic of Drew and his friends while they were making their way around our block:

What Goes Up...

...must come down.

After hosting a casual meal with friends from church after service, Baird and I looked at each other and knew the time had come to kick the Christmas tree to the alley.  This is one of my least favorite activities.  As much as I love Christmas, I hate taking down the decorations.  I usually put it off far longer than I should.  This year, however, our tree was looking a bit lopsided and droopy, and we both figured we should put it out of its misery before it started making its post-Christmas protest by dropping every single one of its needles.

So, in the course of about an hour, our tree from went this:

to this:

{Big Sigh}

Just eleven more months until we do it all again.

New Year's 2011

We rang in the new year with poppers and sparkling red grape juice.  It was fun and low key and just perfect.  I, for one, am thrilled to death to put 2010 behind me.  I actually can't remember when I've looked forward to a new year quite this much.

H A P P Y   N E W   Y E A R ! ! !

Ray Bob's Christmas Party

My friend Ray Bob hosts an annual Christmas party that I always look forward to attending.  We pretty much do the same thing every year:  Ray Bob cooks for everyone; we all bring a dessert to share and a small gift for an exchange.

I love this party for two reasons:  the first is that there are certain people where this is the only time I get to see them, and it's great to catch up.

The second reason is the gift exchange.  There is an elaborate numbering system based on playing cards that determines when you get to pick (or steal) a gift.  The gifts are as eccentric as the people who bring them.  One person, who works for a box company, wrapped up a gift card in eight boxes.  There was a pack of plastic noses.  There were half a dozen old cassette tapes of Christmas music.  One gift had a Christmas card attached that had a drawing of a snowman with a picture of the president's face attached - it was the Obamaminable Snowman.

When it was my turn, I stole a gift card to Best Buy, but I didn't get to keep it for long.  I wound up with a five-pound bag of Dunkin' Donuts coffee - not bad.

As much as I enjoy this annual party, I made it an early night so I could get home and take over chaperoning the cross country sleepover at our house.

Thanks, Ray Bob, for another great party!

The Day After

Today we continued a newer post-Thanksgiving tradition:  getting together with Caleb, Julia and Lydia the day after.  While we miss them at our table on Thanksgiving Day, we totally understand how complicated things become when trying to juggle the holidays with small children.

This morning we hung out at the house for awhile...

...before heading to The Depot for lunch.

With ten of us crammed into the special nook that really only comfortably seats 7-8, Drew found a way to work on his leg muscles for wrestling while gaining a bit of personal space.

After a lovely lunch, we all went our separate ways.  Mom and Dad headed back to Iowa; Caleb's family headed back to Julia's parent's place; Baird took Drew to get a much-needed hair cut; the girls and I went Black Friday shopping.

I can't wait 'til we're all together again at Christmas in Iowa!

Get Ready, Get Set

I've been a bit under the weather for the past week, and yesterday I went down hard and spent the day in bed.  It was the last place I needed to be two days before Thanksgiving, since I'm expecting a dozen people around my table.

While I wasn't 100% today, I was feeling well enough to be at least be up and about.  The rest of the family rallied with me, and together we got the house in order for Thanksgiving.  The serving dishes are labeled:

The grocery shopping's been done:

And Thanksgiving dinner's just a day away.  I can't wait!

Happy Halloween!

For the record, Drew was Perseus, the Greek demigod who slayed Medusa...he was not a Roman gladiator!

Happy Halloween!

Blood Letting

Erin and her friend wanted to visit a haunted house.  I told them I'd drive them and hang out, but there was no way I was going thru.  Haunted houses seriously creep me out.  The first one I ever went thru gave me nightmares for a week.  The second (and last) one...well, I still get shivvers just thinking about it.

Anyway, I drove the girls out to Melrose Park tonight so they could experience their first haunted house.  There were two lines:  a slow, cheap line, and an expensive, VIP-fast-track line.  The girls were being frugal and didn't want to spend the extra bucks just to ditch the line.  I thought this made good sense (pun intended) and waited in line with them.  All of a sudeen, out jumps this totally gross-looking guy who makes me an offer:  donate a pint of blood and get free VIP passes, allowing you to ditch the line.  I negotiated with him to let the girls go thru the haunted house on the VIP passes while I gave blood, and he agreed.

While the girls were being scared silly in the haunted house, I did some blood letting of my own in the blood mobile.  When the girls were done with their tour and I had finished donating, we headed back to the car in good spirits.  The girls were so appreciative that I'd been willing to donate so they could get the free VIP passes and skip the line.  They were excited about their first haunted house, and were having a blast telling me all about it.  The mood was lighthearted and festive as we got into the car...right up to the point an old hag got in the back seat with the girls!  When they let out a terrified scream, I assumed there was someone at the window.  I didn't realize that person had actually jumped into our car!  When I turned around to check on the girls, the old hag was quite literally right in my face.  And yes, I let out a very, very loud scream!  There's nothing like a good fright leading up to Halloween!

So Long, Farewell

I hate saying good bye to Christmas. While Thanksgiving Day is my favorite day, the Christmas season is my favorite time of year. I love the history, the tradition, the memories, the decorations, all of it.

As much as I love the Christmas season, I hate taking down all the decorations and saying good bye to this wonderful time of the year. So I hem...and I haw...and I procrastinate some more...and then I realize that it's the middle of January and things really need to come down.

Tonight Baird and I stripped the decorations from our live Christmas tree. This once proud decoration stood bare and tired for a moment before we pulled it out of the house and tossed it in the alley.

All good things must end. Good bye Christmas. See you in 11 months.

Easter Sunday Surprises

They say that you can tell a lot about people by how they handle a disaster. Some cry. Some laugh. Some get mad. Some get flustered. Some rise to the occasion. Some give up, and some know the imporance of asking for help. I had someone tell me once that the difference between a good cook and a great chef is one's ability to successfully handle cooking disasters. Over the years, I've had my share of cooking disasters: oven fires; burned food; the substituted ingredient gone terribly wrong...you get the idea. I'm nowhere near a great chef, but I've made some strides in not letting a kitchen disaster ruin my day, or even my meal for that matter.
There are a couple of reasons why I continue to cook in spite of experiencing cooking disasters. One reason is because there are people in my house who count on me to provide them with sustenance, and they tend to get a little crabby when they're not fed. Another reason is because I truly enjoy cooking, and I believe that with every bad cooking experience, there's something to be learned.
Sometimes in the kitchen, my best laid plans are thwarted because some appliance or other decided to go on strike. Today was one of those days.
I got up early this morning to make Grandma's crescent rolls, but my breadmaker saw fit to stir only the bottom half of the mixture, leaving me with a bunch of flour at the top and an ooey, gooey, sticky mess underneath. It seemed like such a waste to throw out all that dough, so I began salvaging. I kneaded the dough on my own and let it rise, and then rolled out the dough. I thought I had everything under control, right up to the point I realized my oven wasn't working. Uh oh. Now what?!
I decided to cover the rolls with warm, damp dish towels and head off to church, all the while in a complete panic about how I was going to throw together Easter dinner without an oven. I figured I could put the pre-cooked ham in the crock pot once we returned home, but I still needed to work out the potato casserole and the rolls. I had no idea if the rolls would even be salvagable but I had to try. I got home from church and placed frantic calls to my neighbors, MJ and Kat, and they both graciously offered their ovens.
Running between three houses to put Easter dinner together certainly had its challenges, but all things considered, the meal was downright tasty. The crescent rolls weren't perfect but were still edible. The ham was terrific.
So what did I learn from this disaster? Sometimes it pays to walk away from a problem and divert your attention to something else for awhile, even if you don't think you have the time to do so. And sometimes, Easter miracles come in unexpected forms, like neighbors who aren't cooking on Easter Sunday!