Category Archives: holidays

2024, books, Family, holidays, Nature, Uncategorized

Poinsettias!

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When I was growing up, we were not a poinsettia household.  I think a lot of it stems from money; my dad didn’t really come into his own, career-wise until I was almost out of elementary school.  There are plenty of memories of my mom saying “don’t ask for that in front of your father” kinds of things.  We weren’t destitute by any means, but there wasn’t a lot of disposable income for seasonal house decorations.  We always had a tree and a wreath on the door, but no little villages, no strings of lights on trees in the yard, no dishes of holiday candy and no poinsettias.

I’ll admit I’ve gone a little overboard in the other direction, but I never thought much about poinsettias until I was working in the bookstore and came across The Legend of the Poinsettia by Tomie dePaola.  This book became the first in my collection of children’s holiday books. 

When YA was little, I would bring them all down and we read at least one a night during December.   And it was then that I first added poinsettias to my holiday décor.

But red is really the only color for poinsettias in my book.  I have a close friend who adores all things pink and she would always have a pink poinsettia on her desk during the holidays.  Bleech.  I do own a silk white poinsettia; I probably got it back when I had quite a few silk plants – a very silly phase I admit.  I still put it out although YA doesn’t like it and it’s not my favorite either.

We usually get two big poinsettias for the mantel.  Some years, if the spirit moves us, we get another one for in the dining room.  AND for many years we got a teeny one for Nimue.  She would happily munch her little one and leave the big ones alone.  Not sure why.  (I DID THE RESEARCH… a cat would have to eat hundreds of poinsettias to be affected by the toxin.  We’d ALL have to eat hundreds.)  This year, since Nimue has slowed down a bit as she ages, she no longer jumps up on the mantel.  Since the big plants are safe, we skipped the kitty-poinsettia.  She gets enough treats.

Poinsettia shopping happened at Gertens this year; YA has decided she really likes Gertens.  As we were walking through the greenhouse, we came upon some truly hideous specimens.  Purples, pinks, turquoise, blue.  And glitter.  Ick.  YA knows I don’t like these so she has to tease me.  This year she suggested we get one of each color to “celebrate the rainbow”.  I’d have to be sedated every time I came into the room!

Poinsettias?  Yes or no?  Red?  White?  Pink?  Colors of the rainbow?  Glitter (I promise I won’t judge)?

2024, Family, holidays, Technology

Gifting

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I can’t remember the last time I set out of the house to go shopping for Christmas presents for our family and loved ones. I spent much of my morning yesterday scrolling through the Amazon lists and other lists of things our son, daughter, and daughter in law wanted and conveniently sent to us. A few clicks, and their gifts were on the way. Later this week I will fill the treat boxes for our far flung friends and family and get them to UPS to deliver.

Husband and I told the kids we didn’t want any presents this year as we don’t want more possessions that we will have to move. I don’t think either of them listened to us, and we will get books at a minimum. I also told daughter that bubble bath and toiletries were good options for me if she really wanted to get me something.

Right now I don’t have the time or the energy to go physically from store to store in a mall or in a big box store shopping for people. Is that a sad commentary on our current state of affairs, or something to rejoice over? I am not sure.

How does your family gift one another? What are you hoping for this Christmas?

2024, Family, holidays, home, Uncategorized

I Wouldn’t Have Bet Any Money

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Sometimes I surprise even myself.  I would have thought that I would go to my grave as a “real” tree person.  There have been real Christmas trees every year of my life, even the two years living in a teeny apartment (we had a very small table top tree that we placed on the piano).  For many years, including up until YA was in high school, the tree was chopped down at one of the many tree farms around the Twin Cities then dragged back to the house atop the car.  One year I borrowed a friends pick-up truck; that made it easy – just tossed the tree into the bed of the truck and off we went.  Once YA didn’t want to make a day-long ordeal of getting a tree, we moved to the two-minute-drive-to-Bachmans selection process.

YA has been talking about an artificial tree for a couple of years now.  She doesn’t like getting sap on her hands and she really doesn’t like the needles on the floor.  Since we usually have the tree up from the day after Thanksgiving until New Years, there are always needles.  Every time she mentioned these problems, I completely blew her off.  Until last year.

For many years Bachmans offered a nice discount to fresh trees on Black Friday.  This ended during pandemic, so my wallet had felt that pinch already.  Then last year, when we trundled down to see the trees, the sticker shock just about knocked me off my feet.  And the selection was pretty sparse as well.  It was do bad in fact, that we were actually about to leave to go look for a Boy Scout or Church lot.  We found the white pines outside on the lot – sitting on their own.  I love white pine but YA does not; they are harder to decorate as they are so thick and the branches are not strong.  But the pricing was much better, so we chose one and headed home.

I spent months thinking about YAs arguments in favor of an artificial tree and was finally swayed to “think about it” when she offered to cover at least half of the cost.  I had seen the space allotted to artificial trees at Gertens.  It was huge, so in October, when we saw the first holiday sale, we headed on over.  Honestly I didn’t think this was going to end well.  I figured we wander around for about 20 minutes, have a fight and then go home. 

I’ve always had lights that fade on and off; I was expecting to be sad that I was losing this option with a fake tree.  YA wanted a tree that looked real.  I was worried about the whole “fluffing” thing that I’ve heard people talk about.  YA was worried about plugging everything in.

Then we met Bonnie.  She works the artificial tree lot at Gertens and boy, is she good at her job.  She knew EVERYTHING about all the trees but was very good at parsing out her knowledge as you asked and didn’t overwhelm us.  We learned quite a bit.  First off, many of the trees have rubber tips, so they look quite authentic (just the tips though, the inside branches are paper needles, otherwise the tree would weigh a ton).  Many trees now have power poles; you don’t have to mess with plugs.  You attach each section and the tree figures it out.  AND… although when you look at the trees sitting on display, they all have either white lights or multi-colored lights, it turns out that most trees these days have multiple options.  The tree that we liked has six setting.  None of them are fade on/fade off, but there are three twinkle settings. 

YA wanted one particular tree a lot – enough that she decided she could cover even more than half of the cost.  So despite my expectations that we wouldn’t find anything we both liked, we ended up coming home with my first artificial tree.  It takes about 8 minutes to put up, from start to finish.  I don’t have to put on the lights, we don’t have to water it.  Six settings of lights, as I mentioned.  And I think it’s lovely. 

We had friends over last night to trim the tree and it was easy to decorate and the branches are all strong enough to even the heaviest of our ornaments (a little torito from Peru).  I’m really happy with the new tree.  Guess you can teach old dogs new tricks every now and then.

Have you ever surprised yourself by changing your mind?

2024, Art, Food, Gatherings, holidays, Music

RIP Alice

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When Alice’s Restaurant Massacre by Arlo Guthrie was recorded in 1967, I was 11 years old.  I remember it clearly and saved up to buy the record album pretty quickly.  I couldn’t find any little clips, so this is the whole thing.

I loved folk music – it made me feel quite part of the times.  Not quite rebellious – I didn’t have much to be rebellious about.   My folks were quite liberal for the times; once when I was in junior high they excused me from school so I could protest against the war with the Webster College kids (college was between our house and the junior high).  Although I don’t know if either of them ever listened to Alice’s Restaurant, I’m pretty sure at least my father would have thought it was quite funny.

In looking up the dates I discovered that the song, sometimes referred to as “talking blues” is also known as a “shaggy dog” story.  Wikipedia defines it as “an extremely long-winded anecdote characterized by extensive narration of typically irrelevant incidents and terminated by an anticlimax. In other words, it is a long story that is intended to be amusing and that has an intentionally silly or meaningless ending.”  Mark Twain, Gogol and Isaac Asimov were all cited as contributors to this “genre”.  Who knew?

Arlo was adamant that he used the name Alice’s Restaurant because he liked it, not because the restaurant in the song was anything like the actual restaurant, owned by a friend of his, Alice Brock.  

Alice was an artist, a restauranteur and a writer.  She thought the song was funny but did not like the movie.  She felt that she was wildly misrepresented in the movie and was fairly vocal about it, hence Arlos’ comments that it wasn’t HER restaurant in the song.  One of the movie’s producers apparently made it possible for her to publish a cookbook.

As the years went by she came to appreciate how her role in the song and movie had somehow catapulted her into a 60s icon.  Brock even recorded a series of custom introductions to Alice’s Restaurant for stations that regularly play the song on Thanksgiving.  She and Arlo also combined their talents for a children’s book, Mooses Come Walking, and they remained friends until her death.

Alice passed away last Thursday, just a week from Thanksgiving, the holiday that inadvertently shoved her life into fame and recognition.  I will have to play the whole Massacre tomorrow while I’m getting my vegetarian sourdough sage stuffing ready.

Stuffing.  Inside the bird or out?

2024, Food, Gatherings, holidays, Mysteries

In a Tizzy

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I’m having a mental disconnect this week.  It’s like my internal clock knows that Thanksgiving is WAY late this year.  I’m itching to bring out my holiday movies and ask Alexa to play some of my silly holiday tunes.

Normally I do a lot of my holiday stuff early but the Friday after Thanksgiving is my official “get going” day.  That’s when cookies start, that’s when I assemble the cards for mailing and wrap anything that has to get shipped.  This year, because Thanksgiving is so late, I’m doing some of my tasks ahead of time.  Cards are all done and got assembled for mailing last night.  Eggs are all packed into their cartons.  All gifts that have to shipped are wrapped.  Today I will sort out boxes for each address I have to ship to.

Although I know what cookies I’m making this year and have a list of ingredients I need, I haven’t started baking yet.  That just seems sacrosanct before Thanksgiving.  But I will be doing the shopping run for those ingredients today so I’m ready to go early on Friday morning.  My goal this year is to get all the cookies done in 7 days.  Fingers crossed.

But all this normally-after-Thanksgiving frenzy is messing with me.  I’m dreaming about my spreadsheets and what order I should do the cookies.  And I’m spending a lot of time going through things in my head. The dreams aren’t bad by any means, but it is a little weird.  Assuming by next weekend, my disconnect will be re-connected!

Thanksgiving doesn’t engender any of this for me.  We go elsewhere and I only have to do two things which can be done that morning.  YA has one dish to make as well.  So no spreadsheets, no lists and no dreams.  Guess I can be grateful that I only have big prep for one holiday at this time of year!

What holiday prep needs to be done at your place but you’d prefer if brownies came in at night and did it for you?

2024, Art, Family, holidays, Kids, Uncategorized

Bah! Humbug!

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Continuing with a Halloween theme today. I notice that the people around town who are really into Halloween have their yards decorated, their inflatables inflated, and their pumpkins carved. Then there are the houses like ours that sport no pumpkins or decorations of any kind, We typically don’t do much for Halloween. In any event, I will be away in Dallas on the 31st, Husband will be home with the dog, and we have decided that he will close the blinds, leave the lights off, and not hand out any candy. It would be too hard with only one person at home to hand out candy and manage a hysterical terrier whenever someone came to the door. We will be Halloween Scrooges. This weekend I plan to bake frosted pumpkin cookies and brown-butter maple muffins for the children next door. They always come over to trick or treat, and we will give them the goodies on Sunday.

Last weekend we saw the most gruesome, yet remarkable Halloween decoration in the parking lot at the grocery store. A really rugged looking guy drove up in a red pickup with an enormous skeleton taking up the whole bed of the vehicle. The skeleton was seated, and yet its head and shoulders towered at least five feet over the roof of the truck. The feet stuck out over the back gate of the pickup bed, and there were dog skeletons lying across the main figure’s ankles, looking as though they were leaping. A smaller, human skeleton lay draped over the big skeleton’s arms. The whole tableau was held in place by thick orange straps. The guy was driving all around town with this. It could have been a float in a parade, if there was a Halloween parade in town. I would love to know what prompted him to do this.

What sorts of Halloween decorations are you seeing? Do you decorate for Halloween? What kind of tableau would you imagine constructing in the back of a pickup?

2024, Food, holidays, Kids, Seasons, Uncategorized

To Corn or Not to Corn

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It’s another time of year for polarization.  Candy corn or no candy corn!  Hamlet said it best:

To corn, or not to corn, that is the question:

Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of autumn candy treasure,

Or to take arms against a sea of sugar

And by opposing end them. To gorge—to sleep,

No more; and by a sleep to say we end

The heart-ache and the thousand sugar shocks

That taste buds are heir to: ’tis a corn consummation

Devoutly to be wish’d.

I’ve always loved candy corn.  I know that many folks do not – in fact really really do not.  It took me a few years after I became a vegetarian to realize that my fall favorite is not a vegetarian product; the Brachs autumn staple is made with gelatin.  So sadly at about the age of 22 I gave up candy corn.  

About 15 years ago I discovered a few smaller companies who make candy corn (and also the little pumpkins) with no gelatin.  You kinda had to hunt for it.  For the last five years I’ve been able to find it at Hy-Vee but this is dangerous.  I drive all the way to Hy-Vee and then can’t seem to just get the candy and go; I always spend way to much at Hy-Vee.

This year Target is carrying a non-gelatin brand of both the plain candy corn as well as the pumpkin mix.  Woo-hoo.  I got a container of each (and didn’t end up spending a small fortune on other items).

When I got home YA gave me grief about buying candy corn and disparaged candy corn in general.  But I’ve seen her dip her hand into the candy bowl more than once since then.  Guess she’s on team candy corn whether she admits it or not!

Do you have something you just can’t stand? (Besides VS hi-jacking Shakespeare to validate her yearning for candy.)

2024, Art, holidays, Mysteries

Sticky Situation

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You’d think I would know better.

Working on a holiday project today involving pieces of tile, pieces of cardstock and a spray adhesive.  I had everything set up on a big tray and headed to the back yard; I don’t like doing spray adhesive or sealant in the house. 

It’s a new spray adhesive for me and as soon as I sprayed the first tile, I had it all over my hand (the hand holding the tile).  In for a penny, in for a pound.  Since I figured it was already too late, I kept going, doing all 24 of the tiles.  If I’d used my brain I would have stopped after the first one, washed quickly and put on a plastic glove.  We have plenty of them. 

Instead I’ve now spent over an hour getting all the glue off.  Hot water and soap, Quik Clean (a waterless cleaner), more hot water, pumice stone with soap, polish remover.  And technically it’s not all off yet. 

When was the last time you should have stopped, but didn’t?

2024, Family, holidays, Uncategorized

Lake Life

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I grew up in Rock County, MN, one of four MN counties with no lakes. We have gravel pits that have been stocked with fish. Luverne has renamed a gravel pit in town as “The Lake” and is developing it as a city park.

My father loved to fish, and “going to the lake” meant a trip to Lake of the Woods where we stayed with my Great Uncle Albert and Great Aunt Ella in their rackety farm house near Baudette. It smelled of decay and mice. There were raspberries growing wild, and I helped Aunt Ella catch her cow and milk it right there in the pasture. Uncle Albert left southern Minnesota in the 1920’s after he and his brother Herman got into an argument over money and Herman shot at him. He didn’t live on the water but was close enough to lakes as well as the Rainy River for my dad to have great fishing.

Husband and I and our son and his family spent Labor Day Weekend in an Airbnb on the northern shore of Ottertail Lake, near Fergus Falls. It was lovely, and the first time I ever experienced “Lake Life”. Grandson caught and released eight bluegills off the dock. It was quiet and peaceful. It was fun to hear people in the stores compare the kinds of fish they caught and the bait and lures they used. People had pontoons, kayaks, speed boats, and paddleboards all over the lake.

I can’t imagine the amount of work and money it would take for upkeep of such a place and a boat or watercraft. After we move back to Rock County, grandson can catch bluegills in the gravel pits.

What are your Lake Life experiences? What is the first fish you ever caught?

2024, holidays, home, Kids, pets, Uncategorized

Fireworks!

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Guinevere is afraid of everything.

She is afraid of little dogs, big dogs, medium dogs, the vacuum cleaner, the Roomba, the lawnmower, the hairdryer, paper bags, squirt bottles, the dog gate, noises close to her, when you wave your arms around, outsiders, things touching her without warning (pillow falling on her, towel slipping off a hook, toy tossed at her when she’s not looking). 

But there are two things that Guinevere is NOT afraid of.  Thunderstorms and fireworks.  Unbelievable.  YA and I used to do a few fireworks out on the front sidewalk but we quit because my last Irish Setter, Rhiannon was afraid.  I suppose we could get a few things now that Rhiannon is no longer with us, but considering how many other dogs get scared, it doesn’t seem worth it.

So we’ll watch fireworks on tv and we’ll hear fireworks from the surrounding communities, with Guinevere snoozing at the end of my bed!

Doing anything fun today?  Any fireworks on the schedule?