Holiday spirit

I have no holiday spirit.

Me, the person who was so taken with the clever seasonal containers at Starbucks that she wrote about it in her blog.

The tree is up. The decor is in place (such as it is, a candle and a knick-knack). I even bought a pine-filled planter for the front step (after noting that all the other houses on the block had some type of front-step decor).

Where art thou, Christmas cheer? Residing in some volunteer opportunity I should explore? In church? In eggnog? In a viewing of Love, Actually?

I think this all might have started with the discussion with my dad about the where-when-how of Christmas. It was all schedules and driving times and fitting everyone in and obligations... when what we both wanted more than anything was to spend Christmas with our family how it was a few years ago. With my uncle Fred. With my aunt and cousins, happy and getting along.

I have one good picture of it... the last Christmas we had like that. We’re all looking into the camera with pure, honest grins, it never occurring to anyone that this picture will be different from the hundreds we’ve posed for before.

Shopgirl

Jesus, I thought, spying my alarm clock as I pushed Cadbury off my face (What is his deal?). 5:10 a.m.

Twenty minutes later I was on my way to the car, absently noting the beautiful dusting of snow as I slugged my Hansen’s smoothie.

When I called my parents Thanksgiving night to confer on the meeting time for the annual day-after-Thanksgiving-shopfest, I was expecting the usual: 8 a.m…. maybe 7:30 for coffee.

“We’re going to be at Walmart at 5, Herbergers at 5:30, and Marshall Field’s at 6,” my dad chirped.

My god.

“I’ll see you at Marshall Field’s?”

By 12:30 p.m. we’d filled my parent’s trunk with bags, hit two malls and one restaurant, and guzzled six coffees between us.

While the day fell short of our glory years (at SuperMall before opening for breakfast, hitting a record four malls in one day…) there is nothing like sprawling book in hand, kittens in lap at 1 p.m. with a full day of shopping behind you.

Wiener roll-ups

Husband and I, for all of our cooking skills, were not being taken seriously at family holidays.

"Oh, if you really want to bring something, you could bring the relish tray," we'd hear biannually.

And bring the relish we would, god dammit. We'd bring the world's best relish trays, overflowing with carrots with the tops still attached, stuffed olives, marinated peppers... a rainbow of organic goodness complete with homemade dips.

Last year we decided to corner the roll market. No one on my side of the family made rolls, so we were going to stake our claim in baked goods.

That year we were up to 2 a.m. the night before making three batches of rolls at once, a complicated schedule of rising and resting times scrawled all over our white board. Our criteria were 1: rolls that raised properly and 2: tasted good, and we succeeded.

This year, several other experiments with yeast successfully behind me, I decided to up the ante and add in 3: look pretty.

My first attempt (one batch honey wheat cloverleafs, one batch butter crescents) reminded me what I didn't like about the crescents last year.

They looked... well... wiener-y.
















Eww.

As we'd decided to make two batches of the crescents, I tried again Thanksgiving morning. (Tactic: decrease size, make crescent shape more pronounced, omit egg glaze).

And despite my poor photography skills, you can see I was successful.
















Yummy rolls. Not at all wiener-y.

Medium rare

Kate Spade peony vases, 2
Le Creuset cast-iron baking dish, red
Oxo measuring cups, set of 3

My eyes scanned down the registry list, looking for a good shower gift. The marble mortar and pestle, paired with some spices from Penzeys? Perhaps. Then my eyes alighted on the prize:

Rosle meat hammer

How could I resist? How tempting and wonderful those words sounded... meat hammer. With sneaky meat even hidden in the latter part of the title!

But it was my friend with whom I've giving the gift that came up with the piece de la résistance.

Actually giving meat as a shower gift.

Her dad raises cattle and she has one of his big-enough-for-two steaks in her freezer. How romantic! And it's a gift for the groom as well!

Let's hope the bloody juices don't leak through the white wedding bell paper.

Garden hopeless

After weeks of warm gorgeous weather,
I choose the first real day of winter
a nice hearty frost overnight
a snowstorm imminent
[i.e. the very last day possible]
to go outside after work,
[i.e. in the pitch blackness]
shivering, swearing,
wielding a pitchfork,
to finally dig up my calla lily bulbs.

Cats for sale--cheap

I took up knitting because I like crafty old-timey things and I have a lot of excess energy sometimes and thought that it might be nice to have something to do while chatting with friends or riding in the car.

I wouldn't call myself a knitter yet--I've only completed two projects, and they've been scarves. (Scarves are to the knitting world what macaroni and cheese is to the cooking world, or what Uno mas is to the foreign language world.)

Here is my second scarf, The yellow scarf.




















Oooooh. Pretty exciting, eh.
And here is my work-in-progress, Legwarmers in blue.




















At the rate I'm going, they'll be ready in March.

Unfortunately, after taking this picture I returned to blogging.
I just went to get a glass of water and found this:















So, any takers?

Breaking out of my "shell"

I'm a black turtleneck sweater sort of girl. Or a black v-neck. I like the basics--the clean lines that go with anything. And I look good in basics.

But today when I dug out the black merino wool blend v-neck sweater from the sale rack at Banana Republic ($19!), I knew I had to put it back.

Because I've faced it: basics are boring.

Would anyone compliment me on the black sweater? No. Because although it looks good, it looks like everything else in my closet. It resembles a similar shirt I bought five years ago.

So I made myself try on things today with embroidery, sequins, and bits of ruffle. I ignored the black and reached for teal, forest, plum, chocolate, and that pink/brown color. And while much of it was cringe-worthy, there were a few things I liked. And they didn't scream "Banana Republic!" or "Ann Taylor!"

While I'm not pinning on flower brooches or buying sequined shoes yet, I'm making progress.

I'd share

Ever at a loss for birthday or Christmas ideas? If you have to get me something, I'd take one of these. It doesn' t have to be this fancy, though. Simple metal or even ceramic would do. I'd even let you use it, as long as you obeyed the proper ofuro etiquette.
Only one month to my half birthday, and eight weeks until Christmas. You'd better order now.