Christmas Season 2014/2015 - Dinner with Mike and Charisse

Had Mike and Charisse over for dinner tonight. It was great to catch up. We realized it's probably been since this past February since they've been over. Mike found the pickle on the Christmas tree so he won a prize. Warren and Gary are coming over Friday. We'll see if Gary can spot it.

Christmas Season 2014/2015 - Rudolph's Shiny New Year

Rudolph's Shiny New Year was on last night and I was curious to see it since it's probably been since the late 1970s that I have. The plot involved an overly cute baby with oversized ears and a bunch of other creepy looking characters. Whoa! At one point Dale said, "Whoever wrote the script for this must've been on some pretty heavy drugs. I agree. It was pretty trippy.

Christmas Season 2014/2015 - Scrooge

Tonight Dale and I watched the 1951 film Scrooge starring Alastair Sim. It's, of course, a movie version of Charles Dickens's book A Christmas Carol. Alastair Sim is perfect as Mr. Scrooge and Kathleen Harrison is classic as Mrs. Dibler, Scrooge's charwoman. It was fun to see Hermione Baddeley as Mrs. Cratchit.  She was a great character actress that I first remember as one of the maids in Disney's Mary Poppins. Her longest running role was as Mrs. Naugatuck who was one of the maids on the TV show Maude. I looked her up on IMDB and found out she played a number of different guest roles on a number of my favorite TV shows from childhood including Magnum P.I., Fantasy Island, Wonder Woman, The Love Boat, The Bionic Woman, Little House on the Prairie, Batman, Bewitched, and Charlie's Angels. 

Christmas Season 2014/2015 - American Swedish Institute Part 2

Saturday, December 27, 2014

Top left: The solarium was set up as a model dining room this year which is not something I've seen the previous few years. The furniture, dish ware, and table linens were made by local artists and had a Scandinavian theme. 

Top right: A cut-out paper village was set up as a window display in the gift shop.

Bottom left and right: The kitchen had products by locally based Nordic Ware. Of course, the classic bundt pan was included in the display (left). I'm a fan of Nordic Ware but I've never seen this Santa cake pan before (right). I believe it's from the 1950s.

Christmas Season 2014/2015 - American Swedish Institute Part 1

Saturday, December 27, 2014

Dale and I took Mom to the American Swedish Institute today to see the holiday themed rooms.

Top left and right: The Swedish themed dining room was in the actual dining room of the mansion, as usual. The table settings involved Swedish made glassworks. 

Bottom left and right: One of the upstairs bedrooms was set up as the Norwegian themed dining room.

Christmas Season 2014/2015 - Joe and Noel's Post Holiday Shopping Adventure

Noel and I started out a little earlier than usual; 10:30 to be exact. Our first stop was Victory where we each found some interesting things to purchase. 

Christmas Season 2014/2015 - Noel's Annual Holiday Fete

Saturday, December 27, 2014

Yes, Stephen, Caroline, Dale, and I gathered at Noel's place for her annual Christmas fete. We figured out that we've been doing this for about 15 years now. You could say that's a pretty stable holiday tradition! Noel had Kowalski's provide the food which included beef and chicken skewers, salad, and sweets. It was all, as usual, quite delicious. Noel's apartments looked beautifully festive. Like last year, ghost storied were told. Stephen had one about a man in Iowa who saw an alien as a child and tried to find him into adulthood. 

Christmas Day 2014 - Christmas Is Here!

Christmas Day 2014

Mom, Dale, and I had pumpkin pie for dessert while watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Mom noticed I had set out the manger Dad made for me so many years ago.

Christmas Day 2014 - Christmas Picture Books

December 25, 2014

While waiting for Mom to come over for dinner I looked at some old Christmas picture books that I read as a kid. I find the illustrations charming. They brought back many memories.

Christmas Day 2014

Mom came over at 4:00 p.m. We had a lovely dinner of beef stroganoff and carrots around 5 p.m. 

Christmas Day 2014

Thursday, December 25, 2014

Christmas Day this year was peaceful and meaningful. I woke up early enough to get the beef stroganoff started in the crock pot.  At around 10:30 I took a nice long nap and didn't wake up until just after 1:00!

Christmas Eve 2014 - Merry Christmas

Christmas Eve 2014 - Church

I didn't sing this year. Dale was to sing at the 7:00 pm service. He was feeling spotty and wasn't sure he would make it. He decided at the last minute to go through with it. Mom picked me up and we attended  the service at Gethsemane together. My little buddy, Emma, was excited for me to watch her dance at the beginning of the service. She did a great job. I remember looking  over at Mom while  singing silent night. She was holding a candle. It was so wonderful looking at her beautiful face and hearing her beautiful voice singing that beautiful carol.

Christmas Eve 2014 - Walking Athena

Dad was on my mind a lot tonight. I walked Athena by the cemetery and took a snapshot of the mausoleum where he's buried, albeit it was quite a distance from where I snapped the shot. The above image was made by enlarging the dot that was the mausoleum and then running the photo through a computer generated filter. The walk we took was beautiful. The temperature was mild and there was the anticipation that precedes Christmas in the air. The mausoleum looked like a distance light in the darkness which is a theme that seems quite appropriate for tonight. 

Christmas Eve 2014 - Family Guy

Caught a Christmas themed episode of Family Guy while waiting for Mom to pick me up for church. What a trip.

Christmas Eve 2014 - Dinner

 

Dinner turned out great. My second martini wasn't bad either.

Christmas Eve 2014 - More Athena

Christmas Eve nap.

Christmas Eve 2014 - Kalle Anke

Last year at the American Swedish Institute, I discovered the phenomenon of Kalle Anke. Kalle Anke is Donald Duck and every year in Sweden a version of Disney's American Christmas special, From All of Us to All of You, is broadcast on Christmas Eve

According to Wikipedia:

"In Sweden the show is called Kalle Anke och hans veneer onskar God Jul (Donald Duck and His Friends Wish You a Merry Christmas). It is broadcast on SVT at 3 PM every Christmas Eve. . . The title reflects the fact that Donald Duck is far more popular in Sweden than Mickey Mouse. The show is one of the most popular shows all year in Sweden.  Every year the viewers number between 3 million and 4.5 million in a country with just more than 9 million inhabitants. Few TV shows fetch more viewers, among these are Melodifestivalen/Eurovision Song Contest and certain major sports broadcasts."

"The following shorts are usually shown, in integral or edited formats:"

-Santa's Workshop

-Clown of the Jungle

-Pluto's Christmas Tree

-Mickey's Trailer

-Ferdinand the Bull

"These feature films are represented through important scenes:"

-Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

-Cinderella

-Lady and the Tramp

-The Jungle Book

-Robin Hood

At 3 PM today, Dale and I watched an old DVD of Disney cartoons that I have on hand for the nieces and nephews. It's not the line-up of the Swedish version but it did the trick for the purpose of trying to recreate the Swedish experience. Being a bit Swedish myself, I'll consider this a nod to my ancestry.

Christmas Eve 2014 - Making Dinner

I made turkey noodle hotdish for dinner. The ingredients include macaroni, cream of mushroom soup, corn, and, of course, ground turkey. It gets topped off with lots of cheddar when served up. I didn't sing this year but Dale did. The service was earlier than last year's, 7 to be exact. Dale's call was 6:00. I wanted to make something easy since we'd be eating early. This fit the bill. It's also a wonderful comfort food. After finishing my egg nog I made a Tanquerey martini. I listed to Cyndi Lauper and Ed Ames while cooking. The Ed Ames album brought me right back to living room of the house on Stevens. 

Christmas Eve 2014 - Egg Nog

Had some more egg nog today while getting dinner started. Unlike yesterday, this serving had bourbon in it. Quite smooth.

Christmas Eve 2014 - Athena

I've believe that angels really do walk the earth. although many of them don't look the way people expect them to. Athena, my Christmas angel, thanks for being in our lives and for watching over us.

Christmas Eve 2014 - Merry Christmas

Holiday Season 2014 - 1 Day Until Christmas

Holiday Season 2014 - Eggnog

It's been quite a few years since Dale and I have had eggnog. I purchased a small carton at the store today. It was quite smooth.

Holiday Season 2014 - 2 Days Until Christmas

Holiday Season 2014 - Tree Is Done!

The tree is finished!

Holiday Season 2014 - Cigars with Mike

Mike and I had a chance to catch up today. I havn't seen him since our high school reunion back in October. He's been putting in a lot of extra teaching time in lately so it's been hard to make plans. Glad that we both have vacation at the same time over the next couple weeks.

Holiday Season 2014 - 3 Days Until Christmas

Holiday Season 2014 - 4 Days Until Christmas

Holiday Season 2014 - Sandi's Holiday Party

Last night Sandi, a colleague, held her annual Christmas party.  It's always a fun time and she invites quite a number of people from school.  Every year she serves spaghetti, after having worked on the sauce for a few days in advance, and has guests bring either an appetizer, salad, or dessert.  I brought a veggie tray.  I ran into Ann, a retired Kindergarten teacher who was also my bus duty buddy for a number of years.  I had a chance to speak to other colleagues as well and we all commented on how nice it is to chat as we're always caught up with the busy-ness of work when at work. 

Sandi's party features a carol sing-along. This year her son accompanied on trombone and one of his old high school friends played tuba.

Holiday Season 2014 - 5 Days Until Christmas

Saturday, December 20, 2014

Holiday Season 2014 - 6 Days Until Christmas

Holiday Season 2014 - Dale

Holiday Season 2014 - One Week Until Christmas!

Holiday Season 2014 - 7 Days Until Christmas

Holiday Season 2014 - Signs of the Season

Found this when walking home from school recently.

Holiday Season 2014 - 8 Days Until Christmas

Holiday Season 2014 - 9 Days Until Christmas

Holiday Season 2014 - Hermy the Elf

Did this color sheet with the kids at school today although what you see is an enhanced version made with photoshop.

Holiday Season 2014 - 10 Days Until Christmas

Holiday Season 2014 - Holiday Season Cigar

It was unseasonably warm today. 50 degrees to be exact. I took advantage of the situation and lit up in the back yard.

Holiday Season 2014 - Ellis' Christmas Pageant

Godson Ellis' Christmas production this morning. It was incredibly cute and funny. It was the traditional story with some funny anachronisms. Ellis played a sheep and also performed Hark, The Herald Angels Sing as a piano solo. He was great. Children's Christmas pageants are as down home and sweet as small town 4th of July parades.

3rd Sunday of Advent

Didn't attend Gethsemane this morning as we went to our godson's church to view his Christmas pageant.

Graphic from the web.

Holiday Season 2014 - Lights On!

The lights are on the tree. I'm using the old pre-LED ones which, I think, give off a much warmer glow. Now for the decorations...

Holiday Season 2014 - 11 Days Until Christmas

Holiday Season 2014 - Cream Liquour and Rudolph

Dale and I caught Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman tonight during dinner. After dinner I sipped on some Fulton's Harvest Pumpkin Pie Cream Liqueur. Dig my fancy new cup?

According to the website Crown Wine and Spirits, Fulton's Harvest Pumpkin Pie Cream Liqueur "is the first-ever pumpkin pie cream liqueur and is immediately reminiscent of homemade pumpkin pie complete with the flavors [of] rich vanilla, brown sugar and spices. It is best served chilled or on ice, as well as in coffee and a variety of cream based cocktails."