Mortereve, everyone! Hope you all had a jolly good Christmas, and a good first four days of Hanukkah. I haven't been doing much, since this is my one week off of work, except I did get to run in to the city for the Nutcracker with a friend, which was quite enjoyable. It was our gift to us. Anyone else have any special or unusual events/gifts/happenings?

*enters with a basket full of chocolate-drizzled biscotti and grabs a mug of spicy apple cider to warm her de-mittened hands*

Good mortereve and a very merry (if belated!) Christmas to all! It's been a bit of an "off" Christmas for me because my mom took a tumble and hurt her knee a few days preceding and I haven't been able to eat much in the way of Christmas goodies because of some unresolved health kerfuffles, but Mom and I both seem to be on the mend and I got some new books, so all's right with the world as far as I'm concerned.

*proceeds to string Christmas lights around the stuffed pilgrim carrying a turkey that Hugh dropped*

*Rya brings in her own basket of red Spritz cookies shaped like hearts, wreaths, stars, etc., and sets them next to Rose's biscotti. She takes a couple of each and a glass of cider before finding a table with a nice view of the Square, covered in a fresh layer of snow.*

'Mortereve to you as well! Yikes - Rose, I'm glad you and your mom are getting better, but that's that's certainly a scary way to start the festivities!

We had a relatively quiet Christmas, just my immediate family plus my sister, her husband, and their two kids. It was my niece's first Christmas, though of course she spent most of it napping. (She's about 10 months old now, but she still gets plenty of beauty rest - and it shows, because she's adorable!!!) It was kind of fun, though, because my nephew has never really gotten the concept of presents in previous years - he'd much rather play with the toys on the floor than open new gifts. An admirable attitude, I suppose, but it's not as much fun when we've gotten him gifts and he has no interest. But this year he actually stuck around long enough to open presents, and to "help" others open their presents, etc. I got a game, a couple of books, some CDs I've been wanting, along with other assorted goodies.

*Rya has actually managed to finish her mug of cider, and heads outside to make some snow angels.*

*sets a plate of pizzelles on the table and snags a few cookies*

Hi, Wren, Rya, and Rose!

The Nutcracker production sounds like such fun, Wren! And such a good gift.

Sorry to hear you and your mom have been ill, Rose! Glad to hear you're both doing better, though. What new books did you get?

Your comments on your niece are funny, Rya. How old is your nephew? Nice that he got the idea of opening presents at least somewhat this year.
Any particularly interesting books or CDs?

Christmas was mostly quiet and went decently well this year, so that was nice; we celebrated on Christmas Eve due to work schedules and such. I got several essay collections by Dorothy L. Sayers. Also, some cooking things I asked for (notably, a 9x13 pan with a carrying case to simplify bringing treats into the office---hopefully no more wrapping hot things in towels and taking them in a box for me ) and other assorted gifts.

*brings in pitchers of steaming hot cocoa which may or may not be poisoned*

Hey all. Christmas was pretty quiet for me. We had a seafood gumbo and stayed home. Most of the extended family is pretty scattered and the cousins have grown up and have kids of their own, so we don't really get together anymore. Which is actually kind of nice because I don't get my annual Christmas cold anymore.

*fills her plate with an assortment of cookies and begins to chow down*

What was your favorite part of The Nutracker, Wren? "The Waltz of the Flowers" is probably my favorite piece of music from that ballet! I do enjoy "The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" as a soundtrack for sneaking into the kitchen after midnight and stealing Christmas cookies, though.

Your niece and nephew sound so adorable, Rya! (I really need to follow your niece's example and start getting more beauty rest myself... these dark circles are not becoming. ) Nice to hear that your nephew was getting into the Christmas spirit this year!

That essay collection sounds interesting, Valia! My books were almost all non-fiction... Quantum Enigma, which is about physics and consciousness, a book called Viking Age Iceland about the medieval era of that country, the classic economics book Economics in One Lesson, and C.S. Lewis's Signature Classics. Squee. I did get my brother a one volume copy of The Chronicles of Narnia, though; I'm hoping to induct him into the fandom.

Is seafood gumbo a usual Christmas food in your part of the country, Booky? I've never had gumbo of any kind and I really ought to remedy this.

*stirs the questionable hot cocoa with a spoon, only to find that the spoon's bowl has melted off when she withdraws the utensil* I believe it is a trifle too hot? o.o

Of course you would bring cocoa, Sweetie, since I can't have it.

Oh my, Rosie! I'm glad you are both doing better, but that sounds like it is no fun at all. I hope you continue to mend. What books did you happen to get?

Hey Rya! Quiet Christmases are nice, but it's always fun to have little people around, I've found. Just as long as they don't gorge themselves on too much candy and sweets. Christmas is such a good time for good foods, but extended holidays always lead to chances of over-sweeting. Last year, some of the kids I worked with discovered wear the Hanukkah coins were hidden about two weeks before break, but I didn't know where they were hidden (someone else had hidden them), so it went on for a few days until we figured out who had hidden the bag and where they had hidden it. Far too many bellyaches. Anyway, I'm glad your nephew was able to join into the fun this year.

Valia, than pan sounds nice! So do the essays. Please let me know what you think when you're done reading them! The Nutcracker was quite a lot of fun. The choreography for the first half was quite different from what I'm used to, and it was a bit strange because I had the set I was watching and the set that was running in my brain.

Sweetie, I'm surprised that you had seafood gumbo. Aren't you a catfish-at-Christmas traditional? I thought you were....

I'm taunting you with the cocoa. It's possible there's a thermos or two not made with cow juice, if that's what you're looking for.

Sort of a tradition. A lot of people do the turkey route, but we switched to gumbo a few years ago because with Christmas falling so close to Thanksgiving, we're all still tired of leftover turkey by the time Christmas arrives. I think there's actually still a bag of it lurking around here somewhere.

*nudges Wren in the direction of her last post, which contains the list of books*

I'd look at your missing that as evidence that the Overlady is not omniscient, but then I start thinking that it's just a ruse to get the peasants thinking that you're not omniscient, and then I start wondering what you could be planning as a result of this....

I should go to bed; my mind is racing down rabbit trails.

Every now and then I'll make hot cocoa with just whey protein and heavy cream and I suppose that's pretty lactose-free, but it's also kind of sad compared to the real thing. High protein, though. >8D

I'll have to take the non-cow cocoa myself. Turns out I'm apparently lactose intolerant since my mystery stomach ailments all vanished when I dropped dairy products from my diet a few weeks ago. I accused my parents of adopting me since neither of them have that problem, but they're sticking to their story. For now.

*Reluctantly refuses to even look at all the treats. Must eat baking at home first*

A lot of people do the turkey route, but we switched to gumbo a few years ago because with Christmas falling so close to Thanksgiving, we're all still tired of leftover turkey by the time Christmas arrives.

The benefits of having Thanksgiving in October....

Load on the creamy cocoa! Our fridge has gone subversive the last little while, and is spoiling any dairy products at a prodigious rate. Tried cleaning it, turning up the temperature, everything. Nothing seems to help. So we've been having water cocoa--not nearly so nice as with cream!

As a friend said, this year we made the mistake of opening the windows, and in flew Enza. A popular visitor for the holidays, though more in the sense of common than of welcome. However, she kindly waited until we had done our first attempt at hosting a singalong Messiah. A few wrinkles to iron out, but we'll probably try it again next year.

Happy Christmastide, everyone!

This information does seem to bolster my longstanding belief that you are in fact a changeling, Booky. I've cut back on dairy myself and it seems to be helping with some of the food intolerance stuff I've been dealing with, but too soon to say for sure. I do still eat some yogurt that has most of the lactose eaten out of it, as well as a little cream and cheese.

It's really strange to think of November without Thanksgiving, aileth! Now I want to Google "what's November like for Canadians?"

So sorry to hear that your fridge is on the fritz! I wish I lived near enough that I could share some of my mesophilic yogurt cultures that culture at room temperature... I'm always glad to know that I've got them so that I can save the milk from spoiling, at least for a couple of days, if the power ever goes out. Depending on what the weather is like in your neck of the woods, you could also keep the dairy chilled in the garage or outside... I've got a couple of pies chilling in the garage right now on account of having no room in the refrigerator! Of course, if it's really cold where you are and you end up stowing the dairy outside, you may want to put the cream in an ice cube tray.

I hope that Enza flies away as quickly as she came! Definitely not the kind of visitor you want this time of year! *sends some teas with slippery elm in them that are wonderful for soothing the throat*

*Seeing some new faces inside - and having already covered quite a bit of the snow in snow angels - Rya comes back inside and shakes all of the snow out of her coat and mittens.*

Your comments on your niece are funny, Rya. How old is your nephew? Nice that he got the idea of opening presents at least somewhat this year.
Any particularly interesting books or CDs?

Your niece and nephew sound so adorable, Rya! (I really need to follow your niece's example and start getting more beauty rest myself... these dark circles are not becoming. ) Nice to hear that your nephew was getting into the Christmas spirit this year!

My niece and nephew are quite adorable. (They're they only children any of my siblings have, so they get a lot of my attention and adoration. ) My nephew just turned 4 in early November, so he's starting to understand a lot of new concepts. Still working on a couple, though - my sister tried to get him to hold hands before Christmas dinner so my dad could pray, and instead he immediately he launched into his own prayer instead. It was so adorable that we all just decided to let it go.

As for the books... well, I got a collection of one of the more recent Avatar: The Last Airbender comics (Smoke and Shadow), and I got a book for an RPG I'm thinking about running. So no "real" books this year, but I'm okay with that - my "To read" list is long enough. I got a Skillet CD and a CD by a band called Starset I discovered last year that I've really come to enjoy.

Aaah, I'm kind of jealous of the pan with the carrying case. I should read some of Dorothy Sayer's things - she's come up for me a lot this year for some strange reason, but the closest I've come to reading anything of hers is that I've seen a film production of one of her Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries. (Please see my previous comment about the length of my "To Read" list. )

Quiet Christmases are nice, but it's always fun to have little people around, I've found. Just as long as they don't gorge themselves on too much candy and sweets.

This is true, though we tend to do our big family get-together in Thanksgiving - the other side of the family doesn't mind as much if every Thanksgiving goes to my mom's side of the family. We tend to do it in two Christmases, now - Christmas Eve or Day with my immediate family and my sister and her family, then sometime shortly after we go to see my dad's side of the family. Plus, we always get to see plenty of people for our annual New Year's Eve party, so it all works out.

Christmas is such a good time for good foods, but extended holidays always lead to chances of over-sweeting.

Why, I don't know what you could possibly mean.... *Whistles innocently as she gets another glass of cider and some cookies* But at least it's also a good excuse to get some baking out of your system.

Sort of a tradition. A lot of people do the turkey route, but we switched to gumbo a few years ago because with Christmas falling so close to Thanksgiving, we're all still tired of leftover turkey by the time Christmas arrives. I think there's actually still a bag of it lurking around here somewhere.

My family never really did turkey traditionally, probably for the same reason. We used to do a ham, but recently we've started doing chicken cordon bleu every year. My mom was thinking of doing something else because the way she's always done it is a lot of work, but found a neat trick which makes it muuuuch easier to cook (and eat!) this year.

The benefits of having Thanksgiving in October....

I wish America had had the same idea when Thanksgiving was established. That way Thanksgiving would be when all of the leaves were still gorgeous colors instead of generally already on the ground - and maybe, just maybe, it wouldn't have to compete so much with Christmas.(Then again, at this point.... Besides, it would have to compete with Halloween). Oh well. Still love Thanksgiving as it is. Pretty much once October starts, we've entered the best part of the year.

*Rya hears her work calling her away. She goes off to bury her cell phone.*

*drops in and examines the collection of sweet stuff* Mmmmm, gingerbread spice! How nice! *helps herself to some hot cocoa and drops in a peppermint stick*

So, Wren got to see the Nutcracker, and aileth got to participate in a Messiah sing-along... how fun! The most Christmas-y thing I did this year was when my little sister and I went to see a/the Macy's Santaland exhibit, which is a giant diorama of elves and reindeer and singing trees. It was pretty neat, with a lot of Scandinavian influence in the aesthetic, and a few jokes about teaching reindeer to fly. (And the aforementioned singing trees; apparently that was my sister's favorite part, listening to the trees sing (the only word they knew was tree but at least they could carry a tune).)

I got one 'real' book this year: Pat: The Story of a Seeing Eye Dog by Col. S. P. Meek, but I loaded up on fairy tale retelling ebooks with my giftcard... Christmas sales from small presses are delightful.