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heavenly peace
December 27, 2011
I had the perfect christmas day--it could have been any quiest Sunday at home.
In fact, it was pretty much a great weekend all-around. We relaxed, kicked back,
mostly stayed home, cooked good meals, took the dog for walks, enjoyed the
mild weather, and generally futzed around.
The meals were: Christmas Eve Breakfast--spam, eggs, hash brown patties, and
toast, with coffee and juice.
Christmas Eve Dinner--Charcoal-grilled NY Strip steaks, twice-baked potatoes,
haricots verts, and garlic toast. Dessert of Penzey's hot cocoa and freshly baked
sugar cookies, served later in the evening.
Christmas Breakfast--I cooked up some thick-cut bacon and Spouse made his
fantastic pancakes (with real maple syrup, of course), served with coffee and
milk.
Christmas Dinner--Baked Ham with Maker's Mark Maple-Bourbon glaze,
mashed sweet potatoes, America's Test Kitchen-style, and as a nod to my
husband's "family traditions", we had LeSeur peas and shoepeg corn out of
boil-in-bags, and crescent rolls out of a can. As well as a pie consisting of instant
pudding and a store-bought graham-cracker crust. (I've said it a million
times--the woman could not cook!).
Lunches consisted of typical holiday nosh--we snacked on cheese, crackers,
summer sausage, nuts--and in my case, hot egg rolls. Also cookies and peanut
brittle, of course. And yesterday was leftover ham, naturally..
As for gifts, not a lot of "exchanging" this year. Between me and the Spouse,
we don't screw around with guessing and wrapping and surprising anymore.
I got him the $40 frame for his prize certificate, and framed it for him. He got
me my kitchen scale, a computer game he thought I'd enjoy (Lobstermania
slots--cute!), and then, because we were about even, price-wise, he bought me a
cheap sweater at Wal-mart, just to tip it in his favor. Whatever--if he needs that
feeling, then he needs it. And I won anyway, because it slipped his mind that I
took HIM out for dinner at the Bull&Bear on Friday night! Hee.
To tell the truth, I feel like the REAL gift I got this year was discovering that
they have opened a Penzey's Spices store about six miles from my house! We
took a ride after dinner on Friday to look at lights and check out the size of the
crowd at Best Buy. I almost caused Spouse to crash when I saw the green letters
of their sign! A genuine Happy, Happy Day for this cook and baker.
Exchanged with W&T on Friday after we got home from dinner and our
cruise-around--gave W her oatmeal cookies with the raspberry chocolate chips
that her mother used to make for her. She teared up! They were quite the
success. She was also overjoyed about the big box of marzipan fruit that I
bought her, because that is her all-time favorite candy and when I can find it at
the holidays, I always get her a box. T got to open the big gift from all of us--the
"Logo" board game Spouse and I picked out for them. They seemed to like it! T
is off Wednesdays and Sundays, so we are going to try and set up a game night
again.
They got us the following: I got a personal Christmas pudding, a genuine
"Product of U.K." suet pudding which I haven't eaten yet, because we had a
chocolate pie to finish, but which I will have this week sometime!
Spouse got a new knife; W got him one that she has and just loves for slicing
things extra-thin. And they got the B a new bandanna--not a Christmas one, as
you would expect, but a Halloween one, because they knew he didn't have a
splecial one for that holiday.
I still have to figure out when we will see my folks and the kids and distribute
the rest of the presents. Weather is supposed to be nice next weekend; we'll see
ow it goes. Nephew and I are planning to have lunch and go see Tintin on
Friday, possibly his GF will go as well, so they may get theirs then. I would like
to get down to the 'rents and give Daddy his boots before it gets to the point
where he needs them!
Yesterday required a return to responsibility, unfortunately. Laundry and some
grocery shopping to get done. I decided to take the easy way out and go to the
laundromat, so I could get it ALL finished in two hours, and without going up
and down the stairs. I had to pick a new one, though, since the place I have
been going was proving to be a problem (aside from the horrendously rude
treatment by the manager for an honest mistake, there was also the issue of the
clothes not getting quite as clean as I wanted). So we tried the place over by the
Italian bakery, and man, I was pleased. MUCH better all around. Cleaner,
cheaper, better machines, and a better class of clientele, as well. I think I will
start going there early on Sunday mornings (They open at 6) and grabbing a
donut and a paper at the bakery while I do my wash :)
That was pretty much ALL we did, though. Just lazed around once those
necessities were dealt with. I played my new game a lot, because I wanted
Spouse to feel like he picked a good gift. (Honestly? Slots without booze,
smokes and actual gambling are a huge snooze. At one point, I even dozed off
while I was clicking away.) And I loafed throught some excellent time-killers at
Neatorama and Mental_Floss. Cleaned up some stuff on FB. Played with Mr. B.
I watched a little TV with Spouse (his crappy TV taste is nearly soul-killing, but I
stood it as long as I could, for his sake). Just a mostly do-nothing day.
Speaking of soul-killing, today was back to work. What can I say about it? To be
honest, it is so boring and uninteresting and--well, soul-killing--that I am no
longer interested in talking about it at all.
Reading:Last of the Christmas-themed stories;
"Colonel Crockett's Co-operative Christmas" (1906), by Rupert Hughes" I
finished �The Millionaire Baby�, by Anna Katharine Green (dreadful!), and have
temporarily given up on �That Affair Next Door� (1897), because spinster
sleuth Miss Amelia Butterworth is annoying as hell. I started this instead: "A
Chair on the Boulevard" (1921), by Leonard Merrick. Described as �Twenty
mirthful stories of Pitou, the composer, and the poet, Tricotrin, and several
other delightful artistes who live in the bohemia of Montmartre.� The first one
was cute enough, but scarcely a laugh-riot. We'll see how the rest go. I have "In
the Bishop's Carriage" (1904), by Miriam Michelson as a back-up.
Listening: The Cranberries, Material Issue, Pink Floyd, Radiohead
Surfing: mental floss
At Random:
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