Christmas Season 2014/2015 - Odds and Ends 1

Before making porridge today I made a sidecar. I had wanted to make a brandy alexander but didn't have any cream.

Christmas Season 2014/2015 - Porridge

For the past 2 or 3 years, MLK Day has become something of a catch-up day to get to some of the things I missed over the holiday season.  This year I made porridge.

Christmas Season 2014/2015 - Taking Down the Tree

All of it down by today.

Christmas Season 2014/2015 - Twelfth Night Part 2

From Wikipedia:

"Twelfth Night is a festival, in some branches of Christianity marking the coming of the Epiphany. Different traditions mark the date of Twelfth Night on either 5th January or 6th January; the church of England, Mother Church of the Anglican Communion, celebrates Twelfth Night on the 5th and 'refers to the night before Epiphany, the day when the nativity story tells us that the three wise men visited the infant Jesus'. In Western Church traditions the Twelfth Night concludes the Twelve Days of Christmas, although in others the Twelfth Night can precede the Twelfth day. Bruce Forbes wrote that 'In 567 the Council of Tours proclaimed that the entire period between Christmas and Epiphany should be considered part of the celebration, creating what became known as the twelve days of Christmas, or what the English called Christmastide. On the last of the twelve days, called Twelfth Night, various cultures developed a wide range of additional special festivities. The variation extends even to the issue of how to count the days. If Christmas Day is the first of the twelve days, then Twelfth Night would be on January 5, the eve of Epiphany. If December 26, the day after Christmas, is the first day, then twelfth Night falls on January 6, the evening of Epiphany itself.'"

I say if there is all of this disagreement regarding when Twelfth Night falls, then why not just compromise and celebrate on both evenings!

Today at school, Gina brought a Kings' Cake that had five small Baby Jesus figures baked into it. Gina said that it is a Mexican tradition that if you find the Baby Jesus in your piece of cake you need to bring tamales to share on February 2. February 2nd is the Feast of Candlemas which refers to the presentation of Jesus in the temple. Gina who had shared the cake with a number of people already, said that she found the first Baby Jesus. I asked if that meant that she would bring tamales. She just laughed.

Today, I took down some more Christmas decorations, ate some gingerbread men and spritz cookies, and am having another shot of Jagermeister all while listening to Christmas music as I write this. A small celebration, but a celebration none-the-less. Thus concludes my second Twelfth Night.

Christmas Season 2014/2015 - Dale and Athena

Double sweet.

Christmas Season 2014/2015 - Joe and Dale

Christmas Season 2014/2015 - The Bishop's Wife

We watched The Bishop's Wife tonight. The scene where Dudley decorates the Christmas tree with the wave of his arms is quite impressive considering there were no computer generated special effects back in 1947. 

We had pumpkin pie for dessert tonight, probably the last time for the season. There were only two individual slices left in the dessert case at Kowalski's so we figured it was meant to be. Also, I finished up the last of the pumpkin pie cream liqueur. There was only a splash left.

Christmas Season 2014/2015 - New Year's Eve

Dale and I made it to midnight this year.

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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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.