Christmas Season 2023/2024 - 1st Day of Christmas: Ghost Story

Monday, December 25, 2023

They couldn't find anyone to be a lobby host for this morning's service at church so Dale volunteered to go in. I stayed home, poured myself some Bailey's and endeavored to finish the ghost story I started yesterday. 

                      

The teaser on the back of the book, The Captain of the Pole-Star, says: "When the Pole-Star is trapped in arctic ice, it's voyage comes to a halt and the lives of the crew are in danger. Superstition soon takes hold as the frightened men claim to hear ghosts in the darkness - but it's the captain's increasingly strange behavior that concerns the doctor most."

I quite liked the story and in doing a little research discovered that Arthur Conan Doyle was actually a ship's doctor on a whaling ship just like the main character in the story. 

Note: While I was reading Sylvester hopped up on the couch and settled in on my chest and stayed there until I finished the story. 

Thanksgiving Weekend 2023 - Black Friday

Friday, November 24, 2023

Pete took us all out to lunch at a very nice restaurant named Cooper Hawk. The food was delicious. I had the shrimp and scallop risotto and it was divine. 

They also made me up a very well done Canadian Old Fashioned. 

After lunch we dropped Xander off at basketball practice and then headed home. Steph, Abby, and Emma put up Christmas tchotchkes although Mom helped out with decorating the tree. 

I found the crackling fire channel on tv and sat and got comfortable on the couch. Abby played some Christmas music on her phone. It wasn't connected to a speaker so it sounded like it was coming from an old transistor radio. 

Steph put a Santa hat on Thora Peaches which looked very cute. 

Mom took a picture of me with the manger scene she and Dad made oh so many years ago. 

Abby made a power point of her Xmas wish list. I got a kick out of that. Most of the things were found on Amazon and she made note of when she found an item on sale. 

Pete made cheese fondue for dinner along with some chicken breasts (internet photo). 

Abby had a friend over and they played games with Xander and Emma for most of the the evening while Mom, Pete, and I had some Bailey's Irish Creme and watched Password on tv. It was a laid back and enjoyable day. 

Oh, and by the way I got Whammed today while scrolling through Instagram. I believe last year I made it to just before Christmas. 

Technically I don't think the Whamaggedon thing starts until December 1 but I'll still consider myself out. 

Martinmas 2020 - Dinner

 Wednesday, November 11, 2020

Mid-week cocktail hour included martinis for me. Wine for Dale.

We had a simple dinner of salmon. Dove bars for dessert. Oh, and I had some Bailey's for 2nd dessert. 

And have I ever mentioned that life is just better with a dog in it? 

Christmas Day 2019 - What a Wonderful Christmas

Wednesday, December 25, 2019

Quiet Christmas morning. 

Drank Bloody Mary's as I continued to clean the house and get it decorated for company this afternoon. 

More tchotchkes to set out...

Finally finished decorating the tree. 

As I got the house ready, Dale worked on the turkey. 

I don't think we've made one for about 5 years. Dale has really become quite the turkey-meister. 

As I finished up my tasks I was overtaken by a rather touching sentimentality while listening to the above song. It's not a real common Christmas Carol but I've come to love it quite a bit.

Athena's sweetness is alway appreciated around here. 

She got a lot of walks, attention, and rest today. She blends in with the chair in the above picture so I put a label next to her. 

After getting cleaned up I tended to getting the sweet potato casserole, my one contribution to Christmas dinner, ready to go. 

This was my first ever effort at the task and Mom, who's been making it for years, was horrified to find out I'd be using canned sweet potatoes. She was pleasantly surprised to discover it turned out GREAT (if I do say so myself) and she said as much. 

Our dinner guests, Mom, John, and Noel, started showing up around 3 p.m. which is about the time the turkey came out of the oven to rest. 

It turned out to be a lovely Christmas. The house looked great, the food was fantastic, and, I believe,  a great time was had by all.

I finished out the day with a little Irish cream. 

Holiday Season 2019 - Breakfast with Santa at Jax and More

Saturday, December 7, 2019

Cindi and Maggie invited us to Breakfast with Santa at Jax in Nordeast Minneapolis. We met them and their kids there this morning. The event was held in the upstairs banquet room. 

Dale snapped this picture of me with Santa. 

Cindi snapped this picture of me with Dale. 

Met Noel for lunch and did some holiday shopping afterward. We found some retro glass ornaments from Germany at Tangletown Gardens. Very nice but quite pricey. 

I've started to set out some holiday decor. The first things out of their boxes were the snowmen.

For a nightcap tonight I had some Bailey's Irish Cream. 

Post Christmas Season 2017/2018 - MLK

Monday, January 15, 2018

I always take a little time on Martin Luther King, Jr.  day to think about MLK but to also reflect on the past Christmas season and to do a few of the things I never get to during the actual Christmas season.

It's become something of a tradition to listen to Sting's If On a Winter's Night on MLK Day. It's become one of my holiday favorites and I think it lends itself well to midwinter January quite nicely. 

I also usually drink a shot of Jaegermeister but this year I needed to finish up the Bailey's Irish Cream, so I did. And I got 4 shots worth out of it before emptying the bottle. 

I like the idea of making porridge which I've done a couple of times before. It's a Swedish thing which is part of my background but I usually just make oatmeal with lots of brown sugar 'cuz it's just a bit easier. 

I usually do something with gingerbread. Yesterday I bought some mix but didn't get to making it today. At least I made it that far. I think I'll make it this week and then make some bread pudding out of it for when we have Warren over this coming Friday.