Seven Snapshots on a Sunday

Carla has been home with me since the Friday before Thanksgiving, and finally goes back to school tomorrow. My husband took Thursday and Friday off. We’ve been watching movies together and playing games and doing our separate creative pursuits. It’s been lovely spending time with them and I know I’ll feel a little sad when the house is empty. But we have all of today together, although I think it will be mostly a day of laundry and cleaning and preparing for our houseguests.

Here are a few snapshots of what started out on a low note, but ended up being pretty lovely. 

`1. Carla decorated the table for Thanksgiving.

We put out a selection of cheeses to munch on while cooking. I am partial to the caramelized onion cheese (right most) from Trader Joe’s. And yes, those are Hanukkah plates we used for the cheese and crackers.

2. We were in the car and Carla was marveling at how gorgeous the sky was.

She asked me to hand her my phone and this is the photo she took. I love that she is so attuned to the beauty of the world around us.

3. The only finished room in our house.

My husband and I finally hung artwork up in our bedroom and it finally feels finished. It’s smaller than our previous bedroom, but I love it. I am also loving our flannel sheets, which are SO soft. It is very difficult to get out of bed in the morning when I’m so cozy in these sheets! I still don’t have a lamp for my bedside table, but my husband ordered some this weekend.

4. A funny tweet (if one with questionable grammar) that I sent to my best friend and her other best friend.

My best friend and I have slowly been rebuilding our friendship and it’s such a relief and a comfort to me. The three of us are going to plan a Zoom call, 2020 style, later this month since we all live in different states. I don’t know why we don’t do them more often, but we got out of the habit.

5. My breakfast for the past three days.

These are the only Thanksgiving leftovers I care about: garlic goat cheese mashed potatoes and gravy. (With plenty of pepper.) For some reason, the gravy didn’t turn out particularly well this year. My mother saved it, but it wasn’t the rich, dreamy gravy of Thanksgivings past. Some combination of me messing up the proportions and our new oven not cooking the turkey and pan veggies to the deep caramelized brown necessary for developing rich, delicious pan drippings. But Past Suzanne was smart and ordered a container of mushroom gravy from Whole Foods, and it is QUITE delicious. Especially when paired with mashed potatoes.

6. I can hardly believe it, but our holiday cards are IN THE MAIL.

The only reason we pushed to get them out so soon this year is because they are serving as change-of-address notifications, too, and I’m hoping they reach most people before they send their own cards. We’ll see if that calculation works in our favor. But they are OUT. Woo! This is literally the only thing I have done to prepare for the holidays.

7. The very first hint of Christmas around my house.

My mother is much better at being on top of holiday planning than I am. This beautiful wreath arrived the day after Thanksgiving. It smells like Christmas! That doesn’t mean I am ready yet to decorate, but I am ready to think about decorating, which at least is a step in the right direction.

Happy Sunday, Internet!

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Saturday Superlatives: Thanksgiving Edition

For my outside-the-US friends, is your country’s celebration as food-focused as US Thanksgiving seems to be? I feel like it seems lower-key in Canada, and much more relaxing. Then again, maybe I’m one of the few who find Thanksgiving stressful. (I seem to find a way to make everything stressful.) 

If you celebrated this week, how was your Thanksgiving? Are you sick of leftovers yet? While I could happily eat a bowl of mashed potatoes and gravy for breakfast until Christmas, I avoid all other Thanksgiving foods until next Thanksgiving. Turkey is something I eat one day a year. My husband is a big fan of leftovers though. This year he has even vowed to make the infamous turkey tetrazzini that people swear by for transforming leftover turkey into something new and fabulous. 

This was a week of highs and lows, emotionally. But it was also overall a nice, low-key week. As the Holiday Table staffer at Whole Foods said when I told her we were down to three from seven people, “Nice! No stress!” And then quickly and ruefully added, “Well, there are pros and cons to all things.” 

Here are some of the superlative moments from this Thanksgiving week.

Worst Moment: When we had to tell Carla that her beloved cousin was no longer coming for Thanksgiving. She sobbed and sobbed. Hopefully we will find another time to get the families together. 

Sweetest Moment: Carla and I sat on the couch one day and watched movies together. Then after dinner we watched Jeopardy! together and she held my hand the whole time. All the heart eyes. 

Most Uncomfortable Moment: I think I mentioned previously that our real estate agent gave us a free apple pie as a thank-you for using them when we bought (and sold) our house. Carla and I were doing Thanksgiving prep work at the house when my husband texted me to remember the pie. So we dashed out to pick it up from the realtor’s office. I was wearing leggings and a sweatshirt under my winter coat (outdoor leggings, of course; not my bedtime leggings) and Carla was wearing a flannel shirt and shorts. Why yes it was only 40 degrees outside but PYB, people, PYB. It was pouring rain and we wore masks even though we’d both tested negative, just in case. I expected to run in, grab the pie, and run out, but no. There was a PARTY being held at the office. People in dressy casual clothing, milling about with drinks. A long table set with drinks and pastries. A special room set aside for children. A fire in the fireplace. My realtor was wearing slacks and a nice sweater. I was in leggings and a mask, dripping wet, my hair plastered to my makeup free face. Once again, Carla was wearing shorts. All I wanted was to get my pie and escape. But my sweet realtor wanted to chat about the house and our Thanksgiving plans. OMG. It was so horrifically awkward. Nearly as bad as those dreams where you go to school naked or you show up for your wedding without your dress. Also… I feel like this is probably rude of me to even ask, but do my realtor’s clients… enjoy parties like this??? Our orthodontist throws a party every year, too, and… it’s nice to do something festive for your clients, but… I don’t know any other orthodontia clients? And it’s not like a bunch of my friends and I all bought houses together. Are people who buy homes in the same year expected to form a club together? Maybe we’re supposed to be schmoozing about lawncare companies and the best place to buy lamps… but I just can’t imagine doing that on purpose. Is this what it’s like to be an extrovert? You just… go to parties purely to socialize with strangers? 

Most You-Win-Some,-You-Lose-Some Moment: The kind people at Whole Foods were so understanding about our change in holiday plans. They refunded me the cost of the green beans and asparagus. While I was standing in line at the Holiday Table waiting to “check in,” with shoppers pushing past us on both sides, and Carla asking if she could please buy a watermelon and what about the chocolate Advent calendar or maybe could she go look for some hot dogs? and what about buns, she really wants to try buns with her hot dog this time, I noticed a display of Ramona Ruby Grapefruit Wine Spritz. I glanced at the label which I thought said $8.99, which seems like a reasonable enough price for four bottles. (My husband and I had Ramona this summer and loved it, and I haven’t seen it anywhere before.) We checked out and it turns out that each four pack is $18.49. OMG. I mean, yes, you could buy a bottle of wine for $18.49 and probably wouldn’t bat an eye (although I am more of a $10-a-bottle kind of gal), but. OMG. Good thing we saved all that money on green beans and asparagus so I could turn around and spend it on booze. (It really is delicious. But still.)

Most You-Really-Should-Be-A-More-Careful-Reader,-Suzanne Moment: Turns out that every single box of Covid tests in our house was expired. And, while several of them had expiration dates that had been extended to nowish, I thought it would be prudent to get some new unexpired-in-any-way ones. I looked up my options at the local Target. The top results cost $35! That seemed like a lot, when I was used to getting them free (I just ordered the latest batch of free ones). I scrolled down a bit in the results and spotted a pack of four tests for $12.99. Much better. Carla and I put on masks and drove to Target for their drive-up service. It wasn’t until I got home that I realized I’d purchased drug testing kits. SIGH. 

Funnest and Funniest Moment: This year, Carla helped me with a ton of the Thanksgiving food preparation. She made the cranberry sauce pretty much independently, cut all the cornbread and French bread for the dressing, and helped chop mire poix for the various things that required mire poix. Most helpful was when she helped me deal with the turkey. I am very squeamish about touching raw meat and have used a variety of kitchen tools in past years to prevent me from touching the turkey. This year, I just powered through and touched it with my bare hands. *Shudder.* But one thing I will not do is touch any part of the turkey’s innards, and that’s where Carla came in. Like a champ, she removed the neck and giblets from the turkey cavities with kitchen tongs, while we both squealed in disgust. It was the most fun I’ve ever had dealing with raw meat. (Less fun for her, because I made her wash her hands about 80 times and then gave her a mini lecture about salmonella as I sprayed down the counter with antibacterial spray.)

Favorite Blog Comments: While I adore every comment you leave, sometimes they feel like they’re just for me, you know? Which is fabulous. Other times, they are full of GOLD that I want everyone to read. It was an utter delight to read everyone’s take on pets and pet names. But I think the GOLD this week is in the comments of this post. If you haven’t added your own thoughts, I would love it if you took the time to add your own thoughts about blogs and blogging. And if you haven’t scrolled through to find new bloggers to follow, please check it out. 

That’s it from me, Internet. Now I need to go scour my house clean after having my (ravenous and less-than-tidy) child home with me for eight days straight and prepare (again) for my delayed houseguests. 

Any stand-out moments for you this week?

I am kinda sorta attempting to complete NaBloPoMo, with the full expectation that life will make it impossible any day now. If you want to follow along, or join the fun, check out San’s blog here. 

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Low, Ham Sandwich, Disturbing Development, Dinners This Week

I am feeling very low lately. It’s not like there’s any reason at all – my life is full of gifts and blessings. On top of the lowness, I find myself feeling frustrated at myself because I shouldn’t be feeling this way. And yet, here we are. 

One small thing I can do to move forward is to post about this week’s dinners. Maybe not the most scintillating of topics, to read or to write, but it’s better than staring at an empty screen and/or dumping my very inconsequential whines onto the page. 

We are about to embark on another period of extra busy-ness, as Carla enrolls in a new sports team. We will be back to having extracurriculars that run up against dinnertime nearly every day. This means that we need to focus on quick and easy. Probably a lot of the time, I will end up eating black bean tacos or salad, and my husband will end up eating ham sandwiches. In fact, “ham sandwich” has become code for “eat something easy of your choosing” in our household, even if the resulting meal includes neither ham nor sandwich. 

Oh – that reminds me. There’s been a Disturbing Development: Carla was eating chicken nuggets the other day for dinner. She had eaten three and wanted something else, and I suggested that if she was still hungry, she should eat the fourth. And she said, “I think I’m tired of chicken nuggets. I don’t think I like them anymore.” 

This is it. This is the horrible endpoint I’ve been anticipating and fearing for years, because she eats them so frequently. And I’m not even going to apologize for it, because there is protein in chicken nuggets and, more importantly, she EATS THEM. Or did eat them. I do TRY to shake up her meals – I do. But there are so few things she eats, and I hate mealtimes that morph into me coaxing/wheedling/demanding that she eat the thing on her plate. Plus, chicken nuggets are EASY, which is important too, and ready in under 10 minutes if I use the air fryer. 

What am I going to do if she stops eating chicken nuggets? 

(Carla’s suggestion, by the way, was that she would eat tacos every day. And, yes, fine, tacos are great and I am happy to make a big batch of meat at the start of the week so she can eat them as often as she likes. But she gets tired of those too, plus sometimes it seems like “eating tacos” is an excuse for eating multiple crispy corn taco shells and copious amounts of cheese. I get it, and crispy taco shells and cheese have their time and place. But I don’t think, in our situation of plentiful options, that they should be my kid’s MAIN source of calories, you know?) 

Carla’s meals are never part of my Dinners This Week posts anyway, since she rarely eats what my husband and I do. But I am still fretting over how to get appropriate quantities and varieties of food into her. (She eats scrambled eggs and salmon and steak and – sometimes – pork tenderloin or teriyaki chicken or hamburger. She will not starve.)

Ugh. We also have HOLIDAYS this week. Well. I cannot get up enough energy to think about making anything special. Fortunately, we have been invited to a Passover Seder with friends, so I don’t even have to think about that. We can dye Easter eggs on Saturday. And maybe that will have to be that. My mother always used to make a ham for Easter dinner, but I don’t like ham enough to make a whole one. Although… maybe it would produce plenty of leftovers for my husband… and Carla sometimes eats ham (although usually in Lunchable form). I don’t know. 

Despite having a wonderful list of reliably delicious dinners to pad out the meal plan each week, I still find myself wanting to try New Things, so I’ve got two oldies and two newbies on the list. Here’s what I am tentatively planning to make this week, keeping in mind that we might chuck it all and eat nothing but ham sandwich. 

Dinners for the Week of April 3-April 9

• Ginger Chicken Asparagus Stir Fry: This is a new-to-me recipe, but asparagus is plentiful these days and this is a way of preparing it that haven’t tried before.
• Baked Gnocchi and Vegetables: On a whim the other day, I picked up a bag of cauliflower gnocchi from Trader Joe’s. I don’t particularly like gnocchi, and I’m deeply suspicious of cauliflower masquerading as foods that it clearly is not. But I own a bag now, and I need to do something with it. Maybe this is the solution?
• Chili-Honey Chicken and Sweet Potatoes: I have only had this once, so far, but it was so incredibly delicious. I’ve been thinking about it nonstop lately. Maybe it’s time to make it again. I am a little fearful that I loved it so much initially because a) it was novel and b) I thought I’d burned the sweet potatoes beyond recognition but they turned out to be deliciously charred. I doubt I could recreate the same conditions of uncertain anticipation and relief, you know?
• Lemon Garlic Pasta with Fresh Veggies: Pasta is one of my go-to comfort foods, and I loved this dish the last time I made it. It sounds springy and filling. 
• Baked Ham? With what? The more I think about this, the less appealing it is. But my mom made ALL holidays special, and I feel like such a failure for not trying to make them special for Carla. I KNOW THIS IS DUMB. Knowing that it is dumb doesn’t make the feeling evaporate.

 

What are you eating this week? Any plans for the holidays, eating or otherwise?

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Day in the Life: Mid-December 2022

Cait mentioned that she would be interested in reading a Day in the Life post. I love to read those posts, when other bloggers post them! It is so fascinating to see what other people do with their time. My days never look like one another, which is… good. But a LOT of time is spent in front of my computer, so… that doesn’t necessarily make for interesting reading? 

I thought I would give it a shot anyway. Here’s a random day from this past week (mid-December 2022):

• 6:45 – Alarm goes off. It was so windy last night that I kept waking up and I feel like I slept horribly. I hit the snooze button – unwise. 
• 6:54 – I stagger out of bed. My feet are feeling much better during the day, but they are stiff and sore in the mornings. I go climb into bed with Carla and sing her the Good Morning song. She wants to sleep a little longer, so I set a timer for three minutes and do the Wordle, the free version of Spelling Bee, and the free mini crossword at NYT online. 

Disclosure: I tried to take pictures throughout the day as I was taking notes on what I did, but I forgot some. So this is a screen grab of today’s mini, rather than the one I did earlier in the week.

• 7:00 – The timer goes off and I coax Carla into telling me what she wants for breakfast. (French toast sticks and strawberries.)
• 7:05 – I put some French toast sticks in the microwave and then dash upstairs to the laundry folding center guest room where I grab a shirt (black) and fleece-lined leggings (black) and a pair of socks (also black) from the pile. I take them downstairs and throw them into the dryer to warm up so Carla can be roasty toasty when she gets dressed. 
• 7:10 – Carla comes downstairs, opens the day’s advent calendar door, and I give her breakfast. She and I chat while she eats. Usually I take this time to make tea, but my husband is on call so he is still home and getting his coffee and lunch together so I stay out of his way. Carla and I give him kisses and hugs as he heads out the door.
• 7:30 – I rinse Carla’s dishes for her (this is a treat; rinsing the dishes is her job) and put them in the dishwasher. I wipe down the counters. My phone chimes with a reminder that Carla needs to bring her instrument to school and she assures me that it’s all ready to go. While she’s upstairs, I tuck a couple of gifts I wrapped last night under the tree.
  

• 7:40 – I brush my teeth and hair and wash my face, which is still itchy and inflamed. While I brush my teeth, I stretch my feet and calves. 
• 7:45 – Carla and I put on shoes and coats and get into the car. 
• 7:55 – I drop Carla off at school. I feel so lucky, daily, that we live so close to school. I remind her to look for her gym shoes in the lost and found (sigh).
• 8:15 – I speed through Trader Joe’s grabbing frozen latkes for Hanukkah this weekend and some baby corn and English peas for Carla. Luckily, the store is nearly empty this early in the morning and I am in and out in five minutes flat.
• 8:35 – Back home. I put the kettle on to boil. I start a load of towels in the wash and fold some laundry on the (clean) kitchen counter while I listen to an audiobook. 

• 8:50 – I get dinner going in the crockpot. 
• 9:00 – I drink tea and eat some breakfast while reading blog posts. 
• 9:15 – Then I write a blog post of my own.
• 9:45 – I have presents to wrap, which I don’t enjoy. But I do enjoy listening to my audiobook while I wrap them.
• 10:00 – I shlep my laptop down to the basement and walk on the treadmill while I work on my current manuscript.

• 11:30 – I am sweaty and at a good stopping point. Even though I walked for 90 minutes, it doesn’t feel like I did much – I have to keep the treadmill on a very low speed or I can’t type. I throw on my coat and go for a quick walk outside – it’s drizzling and cold and the damp air feels good on my hot face. I listen to my audiobook while I walk.
• 12:00 – I take a shower. Ugh, I have to wash my hair today which means I have to dry it. I normally read an ebook while I dry my hair, but today I review some materials a client sent me in preparation for our meeting today. 

• 12:45 – I throw a load of white laundry into the washing machine. Do I have time to eat lunch before my meeting? No, I do not. 
• 1:00 – I jump on Zoom for a thirty-minute meeting with a client about a smallish project – a profile of a community philanthropist.
• 1:30 – I do a quick draft of the profile while my thoughts are still fresh from our call. 
• 2:00 – I remove the towels from the dryer and take them upstairs to the guest room, where I dump them on the bed. I grab another load of dirty clothes, take them downstairs, put the clean whites into the dryer and load the washer and run it. Back upstairs, I fold laundry and listen to my audiobook.
• 2:30 – Still listening, I go make myself some tacos with leftover mahi-mahi. This is when I decide I know The Big Twist in the book I’m reading. It’s interesting– I think Jennifer Hillier is a brilliant writer – and I want to see how it all plays out. And to see, of course, if I’m right.

• 2:50 – My mother-in-law calls and I chat with her for a few minutes. Then I do the lunch dishes.   
• 3:00 – I have a few more holiday cards to address and stamp, so I take care of that and tape some boxes of holiday gifts closed so that I can mail them.
• 3:15 – The laundry beeps so I carry up another load, do some more folding. There are a bunch of little odds and ends that have gathered in various rooms, so I move them to their homes (some of them live in the trash). Clean clothes in the dryer, the last load of the day in the washing machine.
• 3:40 – Carla has an extra-curricular activity tonight, so I have a little extra time. I load her instrument into the car along with three boxes that I need to mail to my far-flung family.

• 3:50 – I mail the boxes. Yikes. I totally understand why people prefer to have Amazon and Target etc. do their mailing for them; it is expensive! I determine to swallow my frustration about people sending me gifts to wrap instead of them wrapping and mailing things themselves. 
• 4:15 – I go to the bank. Then I dash over to Starbucks to buy gift cards for Carla’s extracurricular instructors. I realize I forgot to bring Carla a snack so I grab her a bag of popcorn as well.
• 4:30 – I wait in the car line to pick up Carla. It is one of my favorite parts of the day, seeing her little face break through the throng of kiddos milling about as they wait for their parents. 
• 4:50 – I drop Carla off at her music lesson. Then I go to Kohl’s to wander around. I’m hunting for one last gift for my husband. I usually avoid Kohl’s – it is SO crowded and the line moves SO slowly – but tonight it is nearly empty. I find a pair of deeply-discounted pajama pants that I think he’ll love. There is no one in front of me at the register so I’m back in my car in no time.
• 5:15 – I’m waiting for Carla to finish her lesson. While I wait, I have an idea for how to move my manuscript forward and I type notes to myself in an email.

• 5:45 – Carla’s done with her music lesson. I drive her home.
• 6:15 – I urge Carla to finish the mug she made for one of her extracurricular instructors. She is very weary of making mugs, but she volunteered to make this one, and tomorrow is the day we need to drop it off. While she works on it, I make her dinner (a hamburger patty with pickles, tomato, and cheddar cheese on the side, some rice, and some cut up kiwi). While the burger cooks, I sit at my computer and try to translate my earlier notes into coherent prose.
• 7:00 – Oh my goodness, it’s already 7:00! I call Carla up to eat and cut up broccoli for my husband’s and my dinner. The lemon garlic chicken has been smelling SO intensely of garlic all day I wonder if I did something wrong. (Added too much garlic, I think, even though that sounds impossible.) 
• 7:15 – After I cut the broccoli, I sit beside Carla at the counter and read her three chapters of the book we are reading. I really, vehemently dislike the book (there is too much fat-phobia and bathroom talk and also it is fully ridiculous.), but she thinks it’s funny.
• 7:45 – Yikes. We got caught up in the book and it is now fifteen minutes past the time Carla is supposed to be in bed! I send Carla upstairs to shower and then dash into the basement to put a coat of ModPodge on the mug she just made.

• 7:50 – My husband arrives home. He tells me about his day while I put some couscous on the stove.
• 8:00 – I go up to kiss Carla goodnight, sure she will want her Daddy to read to her, but she asks me to read her another chapter in our book. I ask my husband to stir the couscous and take it off the heat once most of the water is gone. (Carla adds, very serious, “Whatever you do, Daddy, DON’T put couscous down the garbage disposal!”)  
• 8:30 – I kiss Carla goodnight and go downstairs. My husband is in his office, taking a call from the hospital. I spend about twenty minutes on this blog post then run downstairs to put another coat of ModPodge on the mug.

• 9:00 – My husband comes into the kitchen. I put some broccoli in the microwave to steam.
• 9:10 – We sit down to eat and chat. The chicken is edible, but not good. I’m not sure what I did wrong this time – I’ve made it a million times before. Maybe it was just in the crockpot way too long.
• 9:30 – We watch an episode of Station Eleven and then an episode of Abbott’s Elementary. My poor husband is asleep halfway through the latter. Once the show is over, I prepare his coffee for tomorrow and kiss him goodnight, leaving him to sleep on the couch. Poor guy. 
• 11:00 – I apply a final layer of ModPodge to Carla’s mug. Then I wash my face and brush my teeth and do my feet/calf stretches. Then I change into pajamas and get into bed.
• 11:15 – I stretch my feet with an old bathrobe belt (sounds weird, but it is very effective) and read a few pages of The Accomplice before I fell my eyelids getting heavy. Lights out, time to sleep.

Whew. This was an extremely busy day, but when I type it out, it looks so full of NOTHING. I would say that it is fairly representative of a typical day in my life, even though most days don’t involve so much laundry or so much gift wrapping/preparation/mailing. 

If my math is right, I spent between four and a half and five hours on writing projects (blog posts, novel, and freelance work) over the course of this day. Ideally, I would spend the entire seven-ish hours Carla is at school writing, but when you mix in things like grocery shopping, laundry, eating, and exercise, it almost never works out that way. Add in all the extra nonsense of Christmas preparations, and the time shrinks even more. Yes, I realize that some of this is lack of discipline: I could devote all the time Carla is at school to writing, and reserve the rest of the day for errands, exercise, etc. I am making choices about how I spend my time, and that’s something I am constantly examining and trying to revise. Still, four-to-five-ish hours is a good chunk and I’m grateful for it. 

Do you have any questions or post requests for me? If so, feel free to submit them here.

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Five for Friday

First things first: I love you. You are so kind and generous of heart and so supportive. When I post things like I did yesterday, I immediately feel like I should delete the post. It makes me feel so self-pitying and like I’m fishing for optimism and super vulnerable. Thank you for reading and being so lovely.

DRASTIC TONE AND SUBJECT CHANGE

I took one day off from posting about holiday stuff and now I’m BACK with holiday topics! 

1. I have been taking all your advice about gifting. Gigi said I should buy the gift for my friend; Jenny said that she has never regretted the gifts she bought but has sometimes regretted not getting a gift – so I went back to the store and bought the T-shirt that made me think of her. And I included a little note that basically said, I know things are awful, I’m sorry for my part in it, and I will be here if and when you are ready. Ugh ugh ugh. I mailed it, so it’s on its way to her and there’s nothing any of us can do at this point, but I hope it doesn’t make things worse. SKIPPING PAST THIS PAINFUL PART. I also used Jenny’s comment as an excuse to buy my husband a pair of pajama pants. He’d asked for some, and I’d dutifully sent the request along to his family, so it’s possible he will get pajama pants from them as well. But a person cannot have too many pairs of pajama pants. I also bought Starbucks gift cards for three of Carla’s extra-curricular instructors per Swistle’s suggestion and, in a nod to Lindsay’s comment, Carla made a mug for the fourth. We got the housekeeper some fancy candy, in addition to an extra payment. The exterminator is coming next week (silverfish and spiders have decided to spend their holidays with us and I have decided that I don’t like that), so I will do candy and some cash for him. (I adore him, and ever since the last debacle with the pest control company, have dealt only with him which has made life better for everyone, except, perhaps, the exterminator himself.) My husband and I agreed to buy the alarm clock for Carla. I didn’t even have to sway him with all your pro-alarm-clocks-as-gifts statements, although I had them all in my back pocket. In deference to Carla’s preference for wearing All Black Only Black All the Time, we also purchased a pair of faux leather leggings that I think she is going to LOVE. I couldn’t get my husband to agree on any of the perfectly adorable tops I wanted to get her, but I did end up buying her two plain black long-sleeved tees from Primary. 

image from amazon.com

2. The menorah is up! Past Me cleaned it quite thoroughly last year, so all I had to do was set it up. We also have plenty of candles (yay! This is never true!) and even some gelt that I hope is from this year and not several years old. Please forgive the fact that the menorah is set up on my Christmas runner. We celebrate Hanukkah and Christmas, so there is naturally some mixing. However, when I asked my husband whether we could put Carla’s Hanukkah gift under the tree, he was quite definitive. 

I also bought some frozen latkes from Trader Joe’s, so we are all set… not that I have any idea what ELSE we will eat for any night of Hanukkah except the night that coincides with Christmas. 

3. I have already done A Lot of wrapping. It feels… good, I guess? Except that I am awaiting all the gifts from family that may or may not require wrapping. Now that I know how expensive shipping is (SO EXPENSIVE), I am trying to view my relatives’ decision to have Amazon, Target, etc. mail their gifts for them, even if they do arrive unwrapped, with more grace. In the past, I have viewed it crankily as a lack of pre-planning… but it may also be a cost-cutting measure, which I completely understand. (I also understand procrastinating, but… it still makes me a tiny bit cranky.) What I did the other day was wrap all the stocking stuffers. I may have gone a teensy bit overboard in the stocking stuffer department. But stocking stuffers are just so fun! I don’t remember if stocking stuffers were wrapped when I was a kid, but my husband’s family wraps them, so we wrap them as well.

My husband’s family also has stocking stuffers come from entities other than Santa, which is cute but a little perplexing. Plus, it means that every stocking stuffer needs a gift tag. I am SURE we didn’t do that when I was growing up; it was just understood that Santa filled the stocking. Plus… how do you determine who signs for which gifts? For example: my husband got Carla a set of guitar picks decorated with cats. (She will LOVE them.) He said they should be from Santa’s elves… and then changed his mind to Santa’s cat. A) I already “disguise” my handwriting on the gift tags that say they are from Santa, but I really have only so many ways to change my writing style. B) Why does Santa’s cat deliver guitar picks and Mrs. Claus deliver a new ornament? C) How does Rudolph even WRITE a gift tag? He has hooves, not even paws with which he might plausibly hold a pen? 

4. My husband bought me some English toffee from Trader Joe’s as a gift. But then I accidentally saw it and so he gave it me early. He said he’d heard me say, in passing, that toffee is my weakness. This is, sadly, true. And I have eaten my way through more than half of this quite husky container. 

5. The number of holiday cards we are getting is slowly creeping up. We are at fifteen today, which is better than a few days ago but still nowhere near the level I would expect. Oh well. I just sent out some more cards yesterday, and I have three more to address and mail, so who am I to question the lack of cards? Maybe everyone’s a little behind. 

What’s new with you this Friday?

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Holiday Check In + Phoning It In for Dinners This Week

We had a very productive weekend, in terms of holiday prep. It makes me feel like my to-do list is complete… but… I am sure there are still items yet to do. Let’s do a little check in:

Complete:

• I have a beautiful wreath on my front door, courtesy of my mother. It smells so Christmassy and festive. 
• My holiday cards are in the mail, except for three that require address updates. 
• I have still only received six cards, so I haven’t yet begun taping them to the wall as is my typical manner of displaying them. 
• Nearly all the presents are done – including all of Carla’s beautiful drinkware – and I have boxes for my parents, my brother and sister-in-law, and my aunt-in-law all packed with wrapped gifts and ready to go to the post office. 
• As of yesterday, the Christmas tree is UP. It looks so lovely and warm, with all the golden lights. 

• Carla and I have finished The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, and I think she liked it more this time, and the end – where Imogene cries and cries, so gobsmacked is she by the miracle of Christmas – still makes choke up. We have just started The Naughty List by Michael Fry, which is so far fun to read. 
• My Winter Break To-Do list is still 75% baking projects. We have added these chai sugar cookies to the list, courtesy of my husband.
• I attended and survived my husband’s office party. 
• Carla and I went through all her holiday-themed picture books and made two piles: books to keep for sentimental reasons and books we could give to our next-door neighbor, for her granddaughter. 

Still to do:

• In terms of presents: I am waiting on a gift for my mother-in-law, one for my niece, and one for my father-in-law. The one for my mother-in-law got stuck at the post office some time last week, and the manufacturer agreed that it is probably lost and has sent us a new one. The gift for my niece arrived in a box that had clearly been opened. After MUCH back-and-forth with the company, we determined that all the parts are in the box and they are sending me a replacement box, which is kind of ridiculous… and they also can’t give me a timeframe to expect the box, so I am vacillating between just sending the broken box to my niece or sending a picture of it in the box of other gifts for her and my sister-in-law or just continuing to vacillate until there is no time to ship anything to her at all. My husband discovered yesterday that a gift we chose for his dad is not appropriate, so we ordered a replacement; I’m pretty sure it arrived already, but the box has my husband’s name on it so I can’t open it.
• My husband and I are still trying to figure out if Carla needs one more present or not. He thinks the alarm clock I want to get her is “not a present,” but I am all for practicality. The other idea I had was an adjustable bar stool for her craft area. So far we haven’t made ANY decisions, and time is ticking away. 
• I usually buy pine boughs to put on the mantel. I love the way they look and smell… but maybe I am okay without them this year?

• Only three of my husband’s gifts are wrapped (and he wrapped one of them; we are giving each other new Apple watches this year, so he wrapped them both at the same time), and I haven’t wrapped any of Carla’s gifts or done any of the Santa wrapping. In part because Santa chooses TERRIBLE wrapping that is very difficult to fit around boxes and which lasts forever because he uses it for only a handful of gifts. So I need to do some more wrapping.
• I need to figure out what to get for Carla’s activity instructors. Ugh. There are so many of them this year. And what to get for our housekeeper and my husband’s assistant???
• I need to clean the menorah. Although maybe I cleaned it after Hanukkah last year, and I won’t need to clean it? I can’t remember. It would be so easy to check and yet I continue playing Schrödinger’s menorah instead.
• I am trying to figure out if I should send a gift to my friend. We don’t normally exchange gifts, but sometimes we send things to one another out of the blue. I saw a T-shirt the other day that reminded me of her but I didn’t buy it. I really want to buy it, and send it to her… but also I don’t want to overstep or seem like I am forcing her to acknowledge me in some way. (She sent me an ornament the other year, and we put it on the tree yesterday and my heart is just so swollen and painful.) Ugh ugh ugh. 
• I want to listen to more Christmas music. There is so much of the same, when I play it on Alexa or on the TV. Perhaps I need to try making a Spotify list? I don’t really know how to use Spotify? 
• There is still nothing really fun or special or holiday-specific on our list (aside from cookie making). What else can we do during the long days of Carla’s winter break? 
• I need to cajole Carla into making the final two mugs for the final two mug-recipients (our across-the-street neighbors, who have been kindly letting her play with their puppy for months).
• Carla and I need to take presents and books next door to our neighbor.
• I need to take the packed boxes to the post office and mail them. 

I suppose, since it is Monday, that I should be thinking about dinners. And yet I am not? Even though we all need to eat, daily. We have plenty of leftover soup in the fridge, along with a TON of leftover ragu (it was really good), so that should tide us over for a few days. Plus I never made the slow cooker garlic chicken from a couple of weeks ago, so that’s still an option. Or I could make burritos. I think we’re covered. It’s a call week, so I like to be less structured as it is. 

So far, I can report that I am feeling much more full of the Holiday Spirit than I did last year. It’s a relief, honestly. I like enjoying the holidays. And even though I wish we had snow, I am really pleased to be able to walk around outside. (I really need to find some snow boots that are good for walking.) I feel, overall, happy and on top of things. My only real “problem” (not a problem) is that I keep thinking of little things I want to get my husband and/or Carla, and then thinking, “but I already got them plenty of things…” and then thinking, “or did I???” But that’s not unpleasant, and hasn’t (yet) reached the level of pre-Christmas panic. I think we’re in pretty good shape!

What do you still have yet to do on your holiday list? What am I missing? Surely I’m missing something important.

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Great Big List of Holiday Gift Ideas

For hundreds more gift ideas, you can find previous years’ gift guides here.

I got cocky, friends. Because my parents were here for Thanksgiving, I made sure all their gifts had arrived and were wrapped so they could take them home when they left. It felt good, being so ahead of the game, so prepared. 

My husband and I are giving each other the gift of new Apple watches this year, so that was done and dusted as well. Plus, I got him a few other little things just so he’d have some surprises to open. 

Riding high on all this advance gifting, I completely forgot that I have many other people to buy gifts for. Including Carla. So my old friend Holiday Panic has once again arrived on my doorstep. My problem is not lack of ideas. I collect ideas all year long, and label them with the person I have bookmarked them for. Plus, everyone on my husband’s side sends wish lists, which makes things simpler. And yet… I overthink! And hem and haw. And then once I am finally settled on what I think the gifts should be, I present them to my husband and he weighs in. (Is this an ideal system? No. And yet it is the one we must work with.)

Right now, I have completed the information gathering stage of the gift-giving process and am in the contemplation stage. Below are things I’m considering for some of the folks on my list but haven’t yet purchased. If you are still in the information gathering stage for one or more of your gift recipients (or for yourself!), I hope these ideas offer a little inspiration.

Cotton Candy Machine: Santa is bringing this for Carla. While my husband and I are not particularly pleased (do we really need more sugar? won’t everything be sticky?) we are not arguing with Santa, especially because neither of us can think of any other appropriate “big” gift. Also because this will DELIGHT Carla. Sigh. Of course, the flossing sugar is sold separately, so Santa will have to bring that too. Image from amazon.com

Monopoly: Speaking of gifts I am getting Carla even though it makes me cranky. This is one of the worst games of all time (only topped by Life, in my opinion) but Carla has been asking for it for years. There are also all sorts of different branded versions of Monopoly, which I don’t understand? Star Wars? Friends? Unicorns and Llamas? So I am just going with the ol’ standard. Can’t wait to play. Nope – change of plans. My husband wants us to get her the Sparkle version. That is what we’ll do. Now concludes way too much thinking about Monopoly. Image from amazon.com

The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb: This came out way back in February, but it seems like it would appeal to both of my parents so I bought it for them to share. Image from amazon.com

Chocolate Bees: CHOCOLATE BEES. Image from johnandkiras.com

Mayhem in Library Puzzle: My husband is a puzzle fan extraordinaire, so obviously I will get him a puzzle. But which one? This one looks fun and challenging. Image from amazon.com

The Sunny City Puzzle: Probably I will get him this one, which is the third in Series One of the Magic Puzzles. (He has done the other two in Series One.) He really loves these “mystery” puzzles. Image from amazon.com

Beyond the Kelp Puzzle: Or maybe I will get him another Odd Pieces puzzle. He loved the Turbo 3000 one, which is a mystery in a different way from the Magic Puzzles. Image from amazon.com

Dog Park Puzzle: Okay, this is the last of the puzzles. But it is SO CUTE. I love the bright happy colors. Does it matter if I love it, considering you breeze in every few days to add one piece and then breeze out? you ask. Well, no. Except that the puzzles live in my dining room until they are complete, so it’s nice when they are aesthetically pleasing. Image from amazon.com

Library Tote: This is so cute. I have a friend in mind who would love this. Image from etsy.com

Telestrations: We already own this – I bought it immediately after reading about Allison’s experience playing it – but it is SO fun. Carla loves it. It’s like telephone meets Pictionary. According to my husband, it is more of an activity than a game, but it’s really enjoyable and one of the few games that works for elementary-age kids as well as adults. Image from amazon.com

Petite Zebra Garden: Who doesn’t love a succulent? This one is so pretty! Image from lulasgarden.com

Barbie Hatch and Gather Egg Farm Playset: Carla professes to still love Barbies, and how much longer will toys appeal to her anyway? So I am leaning toward getting this set for her. She really likes the tiny Barbie animals better than the dolls anyway. Image from amazon.com

Squishmallow: I do not get Squishmallows, aside from how soft and cuddly they are, but they are all the rage with the fourth grade set this year.  Image from amazon.com

It’s Raining Pigs and Noodles by Jack Prelutsky: Carla loves poems, and this was one of the books we were considering for her birthday but didn’t end up getting.  Image from amazon.com

Runny Babbit by Shel Silverstein: Here’s another book of poems that Carla would love (she is an avid Silverstein fan).  Image from amazon.com

Cat Lamp: Carla would love this because she hates falling asleep in a dark room, but it would also be perfect for younger kids (or adults!). Image from amazon.com

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn: My parents love mysteries, and they both got a kick out of the Thursday Murder Club books… this seems kind of along the same lines and sounds fun. Image from amazon.com

Electric Wine Opener: I got one of these as part of a Fab, Fit, Fun box, and I LOVE IT. So easy to use, no broken corks. I think my parents and in-laws need one of these. Image from markandgraham.com

Jean Jacket: If you happen to have a child with a temperament similar to Carla’s, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this jacket. It is cute and durable and my child has worn it to school nearly every day since I bought it for her in September. Yes, she wears it under her winter coat. She says it makes her feel like a rockstar.  Image from amazon.com

Joan Jett T-Shirt: I really, really want to get Carla this T-shirt. Wouldn’t it go great under her jean jacket? But it’s not in her size and I think the adult version would be too big. Image from etsy.com

The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams by Stacy Schiff: My mother is a history buff and also loves biographies, so this was a shoo-in for her gift this year.  Image from amazon.com

Go Away I’m Writing Socks: My writer friend and I both need a pair of these. Image from redbubble.com

Devotions by Mary Oliver: Thanks to Nicole’s effusive mentions of these poems, I am in possession of this book and it is wonderful. Also, it is UNDER TEN DOLLARS (at the writing of this post), alert alert!  Image from amazon.com

Mary Oliver Sweatshirt: Words to live by. While reading your new copy of Devotions. Image from etsy.com

Animal Drawing Set and Digital Art Lessons: My kiddo loves to draw, and she really likes things with an online instruction component. I think this would be right up her alley. Image from amazon.com

Hey Clay: Along similar lines, these little sculpting kits (also with a digital instructive element) were a huge hit with Carla when she was slightly younger. So if you have a kid who likes crafting/sculpting who also likes to follow instructions, this is a gift you need to buy. Image from amazon.com

Sunrise Alarm Clock: You know I love a practical gift, and I am very weary of a) waking up before my alarm because Carla’s is blaring and she is blissfully sleeping right through it and b) having to go through the very long and touchy process of dragging Carla out of sleep. This will solve all our problems, surely? Image from amazon.com

SoulKu Necklace: This might be the opposite of practical, but I absolutely adore these gorgeous necklaces, imbued with things like confidence, self-esteem, or courage. Image from soulku.com

Remote Control Tarantula: Carla has been begging for one of these for at least two years. I am so reluctant to get one for her (I sense lots of jump scares in my future), but she has asked for so few things this year! Image from scientificsonline.com

Bubble Machine: Carla still loves bubbles and would enjoy this so much… although this feels like it would be more appropriate for her birthday when she can go outside and use the thing right away. Image from amazon.com

Baseball Stadium Pint Glasses: I feel like this is the kind of thing I look at with interest for every opportunity I have to buy gifts for my husband, and never end up actually buying it. But here I am again, looking at it with interest. Image from uncommongoods.com

Robot Kit: Carla has been asking for a robot – one that will do her bidding, specifically; LOL good luck Carla – so this is the one my parents are getting for her. My husband and I are getting the same one for our niece so the girls can take over the world together. Image from makeblock.com

Cookbook: Nagi is one of my go-to food bloggers. I have never made a recipe of hers that I didn’t LOVE, and plenty of her recipes are things I make over and over. This cookbook would make a terrific gift for the foodie in your life. Image from amazon.com

Wireless Meat Thermometer: My husband got me this thermometer awhile back and it is AMAZING. We used both probes this year to cook the turkey, and the turkey was cooked perfectly and on time for the first time ever. My mother-in-law requested something similar, so I think this is a good candidate for her gift. Image from amazon.com

Fish Plate: This plate is gorgeous, and speaks to me as a Pisces. Image from goodeeworld.com

Butterfly Wings: I saw these and thought they were so fun and beautiful, and then it struck me that Carla has probably outgrown this kind of thing. That makes me really sad, but maybe her cousin would still find them magical. Image from mindware.com

Cooking Challenge Kit: We are big fans of Master Chef Jr. and British Bake Off Junior around here. I bet Carla would enjoy cooking up her own challenge creations. Image from mindware.com

Peanut Butter Sampler: My husband adores peanut butter, so of course I had to get him a sampler from Off Beat Butters. Image from cleansimpleeats.com

Jam Sampler: Peanut butter makes me think of jam, and jam makes me think of having a jam plan, and I am sure Monica Geller would agree that jams make good gifts. This sample from New Canaan Farms looks fancy. (Would make a good hostess gift, too.) Image from newcanaanfarms.com

Origami Kit: Paper crafts are a perennial favorite around here. Image from amazon.com

Hair Chalk Salon: Carla would LOSE HER MIND over this. She loves hair chalk (I, however, do not). Image from amazon.com

Beer Can Glass: There’s something I find very simple and elegant about this glass-shaped-like-a-beer-can. Image from crateandbarrel.com

Sweatshirt Weather Candle: I love this candle, but even more fun is looking at all the other irreverent and ballsy options on That Gay Guy Candle Company’s website.  Image from thatgayguycandlecompany.com

Fujifilm Instax 11:  This little camera is on my niece’s wish list this year. How adorable is it?! Image from target.com

Instax Carrying Case: Now the question of whether you get the carrying case and camera in the same colors, or different ones… Hmm… Image from amazon.com

Schitt’s Creek Earrings: My sister-in-law wears fun earrings, so I got her some from a show we both like.  Image from etsy.com

Illustrated Version of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling: We got Carla the entire set of these beautiful books a few years ago and she loved them. Perhaps my niece would be interested as well? Image from amazon.com

Pocket Microscope: I don’t know exactly what Carla or her cousin would use this for, but I bet they would come up with something wonderful.  Image from amazon.com

Bug Vacuum: I don’t know why Carla wants this, but she asked for it specifically. And honestly, if she plans to take over our in-home bug removal, I am not standing in her way. Image from amazon.com

Gratitude Journal: This one is extremely irreverent, but it makes me giggle. I have a couple of people in my life who would really enjoy this. Image from amazon.com

Def Leppard Artistry Palette: Lovely reader Allison R. asked me for advice on makeup for the tween set… and I am sorry to say that my advice is “rely on people who know makeup.” A friend got this makeup palette for Carla, probably because of the leopard on the front. Carla LOVES it. We have lots of talks about appropriate times/venues for wearing makeup when you are NINE. Image from revolutionbeauty.us

Hot for Hue Artistry Palette: Another friend, whose daughter is very into makeup now (she is NINE), got this little palette for Carla. It lives in the uppermost regions of my linen closet with all of Carla’s makeup, because she loves it a little too enthusiastically.  Image from ulta.com

Paradise on Ice Palette: This palette is made specifically for kids, and I have purchased it in the past for Carla’s makeup-loving friends.  Image from petitenpretty.com

Makeup Starter Kit: This looks like it would be perfect for a makeup fan who’s a little younger than Carla – five or six, maybe.  Image from kleenaturals.com

Butterfly Oasis: Carla would love this, and I bet my mother would too. Image from uncommongoods.com

Bud Vase: I feel very strongly that you or I need to own this. Image from anthropologie.com

Treasury of Egyptian Mythology: My niece is really into mythology right now, and I think she’d love this (she is a huge fan of Cleopatra). Image from amazon.com

D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths: This was a book I checked out from the library over and over when I was a kid, and I bought it for Carla two years ago. Maybe my niece needs it too! Image from amazon.com

Lap Desk: I have one of these (although mine is nowhere near as pretty) and love it, and Carla saw one recently and mentioned she might like one. Why not?  Image from amazon.com

Slippers: My husband’s only slippers are a pair of giant hairy bear feet (which, of course, are delightful). I think he might wear these more frequently. Image from nordstrom.com

Comfy Wearable Blanket: My daughter got me one of these as a gift several years ago but she is the one who wears it near-daily in the cold months. It is bigger than she is and she swears it is the most comfortable thing ever. Image from amazon.com

Wearable Throw: And here is the elegant, upscale version of the Comfy. Image from nordstrom.com

Friendship Bracelet Kit: This was on my niece’s wishlist. Second grade is definitely when friendship bracelet fever began in our house, peaking in third grade. Image from amazon.com

Smartphone Photo Vault: While I have to admit I didn’t realize Sharper Image was still around, I think I may end up getting this for my mother-in-law. Image from sharperimage.com

All the Broken Places by John Boyne: My father-in-law is – as are we all, right? – a huge John Boyne fan. I think he needs the author’s newest book. Image from amazon.com

Undelivered: The Never-Heard Speeches That Would Have Rewritten History by Jeff Nussbaum: This is another one that sounds right in my father-in-law’s wheelhouse. Image from amazon.com

Nail Stamper: This is so cute and looks like so much fun. Image from amazon.com

Interesting Facts for Curious Minds: Carla got a book of random questions at her school book fair this fall, and loved it. I think she’d enjoy this just as much.  (Or we can wait until Volume 2 of the random questions series comes out in January.) Image from amazon.com

Chocolate Melting Pot: I’m not sure what my mother-in-law has in mind for this wishlist item, but I would like to be involved. Image from amazon.com

Fender Sweatshirt: My guitarist husband needs this for sure. Image from kohls.com

Iconic Guitars T-Shirt: Or maybe this T-shirt.  Image from etsy.com

Personalized Guitar Picks: These picks are Carla’s gifts to her dad this year.  Image from etsy.com

Mobile Gaming Controller: Speaking of my husband: He recently – finally – got a PS5, and he would like this for gaming wherever we go. Image from amazon.com

Kid Spy Books: I really wish I had someone to buy these books for. Carla and her dad read them all last year and they were So Great. Full of humor and history and adventure and 80s references for us millennial parents. I keep hoping Mac Barnett will come out with a new one, but so far no dice. Image from amazon.com

The Three Billy Goats Gruff by Mac Barnett: There IS a new picture book – part of a new fairy tale series, apparently? – by the wonderful writer/illustrator team of Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen. How I wish we were still in the picture book phase!  Image from amazon.com

Odder by Katherine Applegate: Speaking of books I have already bought and want desperately to buy for someone else: this book-in-verse was a HUGE hit with Carla, whose favorite genre of books is Animal Centric Adventures with a Heartwarming Element. Image from amazon.com

A Wolf Called Wander by Roseanne Parry: This is another book that Carla absolutely adored. But she checked it out from the library, so we don’t own it. And it’s only $7… maybe I need to get her her own copy. (This is how a life of book overbuying begins, I suppose.) Image from amazon.com

Wolf Plush: And I could get her a wolf stuffie to go with the book!!!! My husband is never going to support this plan. Image from amazon.com

Frasier Fir Candle: I read somewhere that this is the ultimate Christmas-smelling candle.  Image from amazon.com

Tea, Book, and Oxford Commas Mug: I do not, under any circumstances, need another mug. But if I did, I would want this one.  Image from etsy.com

Working From Home Mug: Here is another mug that I do not need but would really enjoy. Maybe for my sister-in-law? Image from etsy.com

Work From Home Socks: She may also need these socks. Image from etsy.com

Treadmill Desk Attachment: I already own this one, but I love it (when I use it). (Treadmill not included.) Image from amazon.com

Space Heater: To round out the work-from-home essentials set, I own this space heater and it makes my office nice and cozy. Image from amazon.com

Turtle Fur Neck Warmer: This is one of the most boring gifts of all time, but I “borrowed” my brother’s turtle fur last year when we were skiing, and it may have come home with me. He’s getting a new one this year. Image from amazon.com

Book Safe: Carla is really into safes and hidey holes. This would be perfect her to store all her special treasures. Image from amazon.com

Grasping Mysteries: Girls Who Loved Math by Jeannine Atkins: Carla truly loves math this year (her teachers are ANGELS) and I want to encourage that in any way possible. Her cousin is another math fan; maybe I should order one for each kid. Image from amazon.com

Flannel Pajama Pants: My husband needs a new pair, these are – according to the NYTimes, the best. Image from llbean.com

Cat Bookends: Carla is running out of space on her bookshelves, and these would come in handy. Plus they are black (her favorite color) and cats (her favorite animal).  Image from amazon.com

Self-Watering Planter: This glass planter is quite a splurge, but it’s so simple and elegant (and practical!). Image from goodeeworld.com

Anastasia Again by Lois Lowry: Carla and I had such fun reading the first Anastasia book together, I know we’d enjoy the next in the series. Image from amazon.com

Fancy Hand Cream: If you know one thing about me, it’s that I love a good tea towel. If you know anything else, it’s that I ask for fancy hand cream every single year for Christmas. A friend of mine swears by this one. Image from ulta.com

That’s it for today, Internet! Lots to contemplate, lots to buy. Now I’m off to engage in the annual back-and-forth with my husband, wherein I try to buy everyone way more gifts than they need and he gently guides me toward a less intense outlay of gifts until we finally settle somewhere in the middle.

Where are you in your holiday shopping? (I know some people reading this are done! Kudos!!! I envy your foresight and decisiveness.) Who is the most difficult person on your gift list this year? What is one gift you KNOW you are buying (or have already purchased because you are better at planning ahead than I am)?

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Post Holiday Slump

I have about a million words of partial and near-complete blog posts written (fact check: 7,066 words) and yet instead of finishing any of them I am going to write a few words of nonsense.  

Partly this is because I spent all day finishing Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. I am in that peculiar funk of appreciation, marvel, and sadness that follows finishing a really good book. It was SO GOOD that I want to take you by the shoulders and force you to read it. However, this novel came out in 2015 so everyone has read it already but me, including my husband. It was a finalist for the National Book Award, for Pete’s sake, and there’s already a miniseries based on the novel. So I’m a little grumpy that it’s done and that I can’t force you to read it and that it’s unlikely you and I can even discuss it because you probably read it so long ago.

After our recent snowfall, we have had very unseasonably warm weather. My mom and I went for many walks this week, with nary a jacket. I took my walk without her. It was pleasant – the air was cool, the sun was warm, neighbors were out in shorts and T-shirts putting up Christmas décor (is this what it’s like to live in Florida?) and mowing their lawns. But it was also a little sad, because my parents left this morning so I was walking alone. 

(Also, while I do okay during the walking, my feet are in agony after I get home and sit for a few minutes.)

My father fixed our horribly broken and embarrassing gates while he was here, and undertook some other repairs, and my mother was such a huge help in the kitchen, approaching pie baking and sweet-potato mashing and gravy whisking with such efficient good nature. They are so good with Carla, playing games with her and coming up with sewing and repair projects for her to participate in. They stayed with her overnight so my husband and I could go on a mini-getaway, and the getaway was LOVELY and restorative and too quick. I am feeling so grateful for them and yet behind the gratitude is this shadow of panic, a shadow of despair because I am far too aware that they won’t always be around. There’s no reason to think they won’t continue to be with me for many, many years! And yet the specter of that dark future without them is lurking there in the background and sucking some of the color out of everything.

I am trying to ignore it.

I ate the last of the mashed potatoes this morning, which is good; the potatoes themselves were good, and it is good that they are gone. I am weary of Thanksgiving food, even though all I did was eat it on Thanksgiving and then have a bowl of mashed potatoes and gravy for two consecutive breakfasts. I just don’t enjoy Thanksgiving food and am craving something with crisp colorful vegetables and SPICE. Not enough to make anything though; we are ordering pizza for dinner. 

We still have remnants of guests: far too much fancy cheese in the fridge, a few sips of eggnog, an unopened bottle of pomegranate juice. I bought a bottle of gingerbread cream liqueur on a whim a few weeks ago, and we each had a glass of that this week; it wasn’t really good enough for a second glass, but I haven’t been able to bring myself to throw it out yet. The pumpkin pie is long gone (it was delicious, although it made the roof of my mouth itch), and Carla ate the remainder of the cranberry sauce. My husband will continue to chip away at the stuffing and turkey remnants, and I think there’s a tiny bit of gravy left for him as well.

In addition to reading and walking and feeling glum, I’ve been doing laundry all day. We let it pile up over the week. Our bed is already freshly made; I saw my husband trudge upstairs with all of Carla’s clean bed linens, but I am not confident that he made her bed. I really need to strip the guest bed and launder all the linens, so it will be fresh when my mother-in-law arrives in a week. The clothing is still all in piles everywhere; this week will be full of – my favorite and yours – excessive folding.

Today was a nice day, I would say. The three of us interacting only occasionally, otherwise engaged in separate pursuits in our separate quiet areas of the house or neighborhood (Carla spent a fair amount of time in the backyard or out riding her bike). My husband and I each did some gift buying, and submitted our gift lists to his side of the family; my parents brought our gifts when they came for Thanksgiving. And I, being wildly on top of things for the first time ever, had already done all the shopping and was able to send them home with their gifts from us. 

We have tomorrow to (dis-)engage in similar activities, finish the laundry, tidy the basement. And then it’s back to normal, until my mother-in-law arrives. (She is fine; just coming for quarterly tests and scans.) I am really, really looking forward to normalcy. It has been too long since I’ve written anything other than a blog post.  I am eager to get back to a more moderate and less carb-heavy meal plan. Carla needs to be back in school.

It’s still November, and I have my husband’s gifts almost covered. I have already purchased a gift for each of my sisters-in-law. As I mentioned, my parents are taken care of. Our holiday cards arrived and are lovely, and just need to be addressed and mailed. 

All is well. And yet, I have that slumped over feeling of petulant lowness that sometimes follows a really nice vacation or a really nice visit or a lovely holiday. 

Hopefully it passes soon. Perhaps some pomegranate margaritas will help, what do you think?

What are you up to this weekend? Does anyone else have a bit of a holiday hangover?

It seems as though I am doing NaBloPoMo this month, which is 30 blog posts in 30 days. (Will I make it??? Only time will tell.) Details at San’s blog here.

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Mini Thanksgiving Recap

We had a lovely Thanksgiving. The turkey was ready on time for the first time ever. I relinquished control and asked everyone for help and they obliged and — shock of shocks — things were a lot less stressful than they have been in the past.

We have played games and watched movies and taken walks around the neighborhood and put a good dent in the leftovers. I have spent a nice chunk of the day reading on the couch.

My parents have said their until-we-meet-agains, and we are all trying not to feel too tearful at their leaving. Now, my husband and Carla and I have the rest of the weekend to retreat to our silent corners and do the copious laundry that has piled up during the week.

I almost missed posting today, but I have made it just in the nick of time. If you celebrated Thanksgiving, I hope it was low-stress and lovely; if you didn’t participate, I hope your week ended on a high note.

Happy weekend, Internet friends.

It seems as though I am doing NaBloPoMo this month, which is 30 blog posts in 30 days. (Will I make it??? Only time will tell.) Details at San’s blog here.

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Yesterday was a day of prep work: The (perfectly sized) turkey was brined and is now resting in the basement fridge. The cornbread was procured after making three trips to two grocery stores (but I had to go back to the first store, when they’d replenished their cornbread stock; yes I realize this is something I can make myself). I made the first step of the gravy with the turkey neck and giblets yesterday. The cranberry sauce (round 2, after the first one burned; I really should not be in charge of big complex meals like this) is chilling in the kitchen fridge, along with the beautiful, disaster-free fresh-pumpkin pie my mother and daughter made. Carla is itching to peel potatoes today, a job I will happily relegate to her.

But for now, I am having a quiet moment to sip tea and look over my recipes in hopes that I don’t forget anything. Thankfully, with four helpers on hand, I think we’ll be okay. (We are kind of smushing two turkey recipes together, because my mother thinks that we cannot cook a turkey at 400 degrees despite America’s Test Kitchen’s assurances; we will follow another of ATK’s recipes and start it at 425 for an hour, then turn it down to 325. WE’LL SEE HOW IT GOES.)

I am loving your guesses about yesterday’s kitchen mystery. I wondered, before I posted it, whether it would be a True Mystery or whether it would be easy to decode. The post explaining the full story is half-written but will have to wait until after Thanksgiving. (If you haven’t guessed yet, the Mystery Giveaway runs until tomorrow at midnight Eastern time.)

And thank you to Bibliomama for reminding me that a photo counts as a post.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone celebrating, and best wishes for a beautiful day to all those who aren’t. I am so grateful for our little blogging community.

It seems as though I am doing NaBloPoMo this month, which is 30 blog posts in 30 days. (Will I make it??? Only time will tell.) Details at San’s blog here.

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