Talk Thursday: If This Is The Holidays, Why Do I Feel…

The holidays were great. We had a family Christmas gathering the weekend before Christmas, bringing together my daughter, our grandson, and Ducky’s daughters and their significant others. Normally I’d not break it down that, I consider Ducky’s daughters mine, he looks at Psam as his daughter and while there have been problems, it works. This year I went the easy route, dips, guacamole, nibbles, Psam made her famous Pico De Gallo (I’m in seventh heaven) and then pizza from the local Abby’s. Sunday morning we ransack our stockings, then pile into the cars and breakfasted at our favorite omelet place. Afterwards we went home and open presents. Then two third of them can’t get out of the house fast enough. It works.

We had a smaller Christmas celebration this year for several reasons, but first and foremost… I had a breakdown last year at Christmas time. Ducky threatened to cancel our Christmas gathering this year, but Psam chipped in and was a huge help. I scaled back my cooking and all was good. To me Christmas is all about family, it wouldn’t have been Christmas without Psam and Burp, my mom and grandmother. Ducky’s family is always welcomed, as are all holiday orphans, but they all have their own families and traditions, and the girls are required (at the ages of 30 and 36) to be at their mother’s for Christmas. Let me stop now and thank my parents for urging all their children to create their own traditions – they rarely requested a family Christmas.

My father was born to a very poor family in the back hills of West Virginia, my mother to a family of standing and modest wealth in Pasadena, CA, despite the vast difference in their personal experiences they made the holidays work and taught us it’s not the present but the thought that counts. My sister, mother, Psam, and myself often make our gifts. This year Psam and I spent Christmas Eve beading the last of our bracelets for gifting. Believe it or not I was a wee bit worried about giving such a small gift, second- guessing myself and not giving the recipients enough credit. I may be new at making beaded bracelets but I enjoy it, they are pretty and wearable, I crafted each to reflect the person recieving.

Psam gave me several unique wire wrapped heart beads she’d picked up that day in Eugene. The new beads gave me the opportunity to try multi-piece bracelets. The turned out pretty kewl, my grandmother really seemed to like hers.

The one bad thing that happened was Arlo’s gluttony for anything edible- preferably something to which he is allergic, struck. Sunday morning when the house was quite, Ducky and I were doing various chores in opposite sides of the house Arlo got into my closet and ate 8 ounces of chocolate covered espresso beans. Hmm,mmm lip smacking good if his smacking lips and lapping tongue were any indication. Hey, it was all good though, he hadn’t ravished my Peeps! Not for lack of trying, one corner of the wrapper was definitely dog mauled. Butthead, stay away from my Peeps! I mean, sheesh, he got a bag of dried apple slices, a bag of banana chips, and a knotted rawhide in his stocking – what more does a dog need?

In recent years I think I let the stress and demand of the holidays get to me. This year I took back the joy and simplicity of the season. It was a great holiday season, replete family, friends, Christmas socks (pictures to come), a brand new Kahlua Cali label
that was a last minute spate of inspiration (I think I’ll make this one permanent I like it that much), and dog mauled Chocolate Mousse Peeps – It was Christmas and I feel fabulous!

Sith,
Cele

I'm Not Ready

I am not ready. I’m not, we are barely past summer, the stores are pushing their Halloween wares and Christmas is being shoved down our throats… already. I’m just not ready. I usually put up my door witch the first of October. Haven’t done it. My Boo flag goes up around the same time, except this year in a flight of Duck Football frenzy I hung my Oregon Duck flag. In the true sport fanatic mode, I’m afraid if I change out my flag I will forever damn my Ducks to defeat.

For the first time in 115 years of Oregon Football they are number one. That (historically) can’t last. The last time the Ducks made it all the way to number two, they died, dropped the ball, gave up the ghost, lost their football asses. They had followed that pattern set in the weeks prior by each number two ranked team falling in their respective so close to the top of the polls glory. Ergo, two weeks ago Alabama was number one they fell to Auburn. Last week Ohio State (my cousin’s team) fell to Nebraska. I really didn’t see that one coming. Thursday night my Ducks, down Kenyon Barnard and Daron Thomas will be facing UCLA. Oye!

How can I possibly take down my flag now? But if I don’t put up my Halloween stuff how can I ever make the logical jump to Thanksgiving and then on to Christmas. I’m just not ready.

I’ve not even purchased one single bite of Halloween candy – probably much to Ducky’s dismay. But my husband will survive, I am sure to buy several bags of Reese’s bars just for him. That being said I’m trying to cut sugar out of my diet. Ha ha ha, quit laughing at me. If there is a twelve step plan for Gummy Bear addiction please send the info my way. PULEEEASE! Today is apparently the day of digressions… back to the Trick or Treat dilemma – I’ve no witch up, no flag up, no hand grabbing candy bowl out, no pumpkins bought for Jack-o-lanterns (but that’s not a big deal, the Great Pumpkin Giveaway is next week.) Ack! No rattling bones on my front porch light.

After the fiasco of Halloween ought nine Ben has said he’s coming down for Halloween in Florence. He will conquer the haunted yard of 2010. I’m thinking he’s not realized that Mom will have a say over a late night of trick or treating on a Sunday night.

Ducky counts the number of ghoulies and ghosties that ring our bell and then checks his numbers against the good sister, then against the nasty sister, and then against my friend Rose in PA. He neatly marks each ghosties into groups of five on a specific piece of paper (saved to examining the following year) and then drives me crazy with his incessant counting of numbers. He loves his trick or treaters.

See that all leads up to a done deal. I’m already putting Christmas music in the system. With Halloween out of the way all I will have is twenty-five days until the onslaught of Christmas music. And only four weeks to accomplish all the Christmas shopping I started way back in May. I tell you I’m just not ready.

Sith,
Cele

Happy Days After

I hope your holidays were everything you wanted and more. Despite the fates mine was pretty damn good, filled with love, joy, and most of my kids were able to come home the weekend before for a family gathering. Psam and Burp made it. Miseray and the Brit made it. Poor Seithfrye and the Bo-sox were snowed in Portland.

An early blog (not posted) that I’d written was depressing, negative, and really quiet morose. I don’t’ want to be down I want to be up, positive, and whole. Sometimes the plans we make go awry. Sometimes the plans we make are too intricate. Too involved. Too much. This year I’d really scaled back my plans and regardless they went awry.

Every year I make Kahlua for my family, friends, and even some of my clientele. I made no cookies, no candy, just Kahlua. Four batches in and the deadline for giving the first bottle, I’d realized I had not designed my label. In years past I’d just pulled up a former label and reworked it. This year I designed one in about ten minutes. The blues were pleasing, but it wasn’t until after I’d printed up 24 of them that I saw my flaw. The grey shadow of the Christmas tree is all wrong.

But they work. And really the blues are pleasing.

I put in long days leading up to Christmas day, my plans were falling far behind, and my stress level was mind boggling. Christmas eve day I could feel a meltdown coming on. I was emotional, fully stressed, and heeping more on myself. The answer. Chinese food. I got home from work at 5:30 and Ducky took me out for Chinese. The elixir of life. Okay that and some good love and Kahlua. I came home, baked my pies, and made the vegies for the stuffing and went to bed.

Ducky and I agreed years ago, we travel to his family on Thanksgiving, we stay home for Christmas – the door is open to all. Christmas morning was snowy, but not showy. Psam had to work Christmas night so I am glad it didn’t stick. My mother and Grandmother came for Christmas dinner. My big thing is doing stockings. Everyone contributes; your stocking is fair game anytime after midnight. As we opened presents Christmas afternoon with my mom and grandma I remembered their stockings (this was the first time I’d done one for each of them.)

Side bar: Psam and I adopted Henry on Christmas day, probably twenty years or so ago. She lives in the trailer park my parents use to own, had bought her trailer from them, and became best friends with my mom when her husband passed. Having no children of her own, and step and step grandchildren that want her money but not her, Psam and I wrote out adoption papers and the deed was done. Now she is apart of our family, our ups and downs, our holidays.

So back to stockings. I love stockings, and woah to my surprise at her exclamation and near tears that she’d never, ever had a stocking in her entire life. I mean really, I was floored. How can you go through life and never have been given a stocking? Stockings are for everyone, and then I thought back, my parents didn’t hang stockings, it was all for us kids. Well not in my house. Stockings are for everyone. Christmas is for everyone. So in the after Christmas sale I bought a stocking for next Christmas. Armed with my mom’s key to Henry’s house I will hang the stocking late one night while she is sleeping in her living room. I think that makes a pretty nice gift to myself, don’t you?

Now I need to go package up, and ship my Kahlua Kali.

Sith,
Cele

The Purple Peeps Liberation Front

Everybody Sing....Here Comes Peter Cotton Tail
Hopping down the candy trail,
Hippity Hoppity, Easter's on its way!!!

Peeps that come in pink and blue, purple ones are just too new.
Hippity hoppity Easter's on its way.
Yellow peeps are right for me, you can have the pink you see,
Hippity hoppity EASTER'S On it's WAYYYYYYYYY!!!!!

Easter's here, and I think you stink,
To request your Peeps yellow or pink,
If you want your Peeps, then take it or leave it!
Cuz’ I got purple, YES! Believe it!

Hop to it!!
Support Purple Peeps!!
PURPLE PEEPS ARE PEOPLE TOO!!
From the Committee To Promote Endangered Easter Purple Peeps
- CPEEPPS

Heceta Head Light House

Son of a Bun Hugger, It was one of those days. You know the type where - everything that could go wrong does, UNEXPECTEDLY. Freddies (a pacific northwest Krogers) was definitely crowded yesterday morning. But that is to be expected, sheesh it’s only 7 shopping days till Christmas. I am not a Safeway shopper and in my tiny burg that is the two choices you have. I’ll be going to Safeway later. With two more (maybe three) batches of Kahlua to make I was in need of vanilla bean. Freddies was out, or so I thought when a row of previously unseen bottles flashed before my eyes. $20 friggin bucks for dried up, clinks when shaken Vanilla Bean. $20 bucks. If that is what I will have to pay I will quit making Kahlua.

I came home, put the groceries away. And went out to put out the icicle lights for Ducky to hang. WTF! We bought them at the end of last season. They are half the length and somehow one of the six boxes is not white lights, but multi color. Where six boxes had done the entire house before, I’m thinking six strings of these lights wouldn’t even do the front of the house. And they can only be strung together in sets of three. Bummer dude.

After I put the lights back into their box and thought about who I could dump them on, I went inside and thought I’d work on my candy bowls that I need to ship. I’d bought six-packs of Original Chocolate Sins hand-dipped truffles and thought this year I’d make coconut haystacks to finish off the bowls.

This year’s bowls are beautiful. Every year the Florence Food Share has local artist create bowls and they are sold off one night for $10 each. All money raised goes to the Florence Food Share to fill the shelves of the food pantry. I get some great bowls, make a bit of an extra donation (I mean I get some great bowls and they need the money, WTF) and I give them as gifts. So I placed my coconut under the broiler (yes I remembered to take it out of the bag,) put the chocolate chips into a bowl over boiling water to melt, and went and divided my stocking goodies into individual bags so I could keep track of what I’d done.

Soon my attention was drawn back to the kitchen by the roiling smoke billowing up from the sides of my flattop. I’d forgotten the coconut. I quickly grabbed the dish and took it out to the deck so the smoke would dissipate. Black coconut does not haystacks make. Which is fine because my chocolate chips refused to melt and instead just turned grainy. WTF? (this is possibly my new holiday greeting.)

So on my score sheet for the day No Vanilla Bean –1, No Christmas lights – 6, no coconut (well I have coconut but I’m not going there) –1, grainy chocolate lump –1. For a grand total of minus 8 on the day.

Heceta Lighthouse (pronounced Ha-sea-ta) for the last eight years has held a Victorian Christmas. I always mean to go. So earlier in the day as asked Ducky for a date. We drove up to Heceta Head (the man is night blind I swear.) As we rounded the rounder at Sea Lion Caves you could see the lights on the Light keepers house gleaming in the night. Beautiful, but not the lights that I’d expected.

The highlight of the night was the short trek from the light keeper’s house (in pitch dark) to the light tower for a guided tour. I’ve always wanted to do this. Ducky didn’t even know you could do this. It was awesome.

Our tour was led by a volunteer who was quite knowledgeable about the tower and the history of the light station. Only four tourists are allowed up the tower at a time because of the deterioration of the structure. Brick work needs repair, the stairs are even breaking down, the government has given up and pays nothing for the up keep of Heceta Head Lighthouse. Surprise! (btw this is me not ranting about the cost we’ll fork over in the billions of dollars for one man’s war on the world, but nada for the strongest beacon on Oregon Coast) every cent that keeps the light house going is through donations. I’m sincerely thinking about donating $10 a month, I know it’s not much, but it’s what I can afford.

We learned about the Fresnel lenses that powers the beam 21 miles out to sea. We now could figure out which light is the Heceta, the Umpqua, the Charleston and the Yaquina by their timing and series of lights (I mean if we were out at sea – which ain’t going to happen anytime soon if Ducky has his way.) We learned that the 2 ton lens is put together with putty and so well balanced that it is run by an itty bitty little 4 horsepower motor – 2 tons. And in the days when the lamp was powered by kerosene lantern, it was seen 21 miles out to sea. I love knowledge like this. Fabulous!

Following our tour we walked back down the hill chatting with the other lady in our tour (she is from Yachats – pronounced Ya-hots.) The three of us went into the light keepers house to be greeted by warmth, Christmas music by a small combo set up in the corner of one room and cups of delicious hot apple cider and cookies.

As the holiday’s go, my day was a total disaster. But the night was awesome.

Merry Christmas.
Cele

Talk Thursday – Comfort in Chaos – aka The Best Laid Plans Of Mice and Me

My House Is A Mass Of Confusion, my outdoor lights are still not up. My guest room, aka the executive room, looks like a clearinghouse, and my new room looks like Christmas half-baked. I haven’t had time to get stuff finalized. And except for the outdoors decorations and a few indoor bits and bobs I’m right on time this holiday season.

The Kahlua is have way through production, two and a half cases away labels, a half case awaits bottling, only a case of brew to go. But those darn labels haven’t let themselves be known to me. Not to worry, the ideas are brewing for me. I’m thinking a snowflake of some sort this year. I hope they turn out better than last year’s label. The idea was grand in my head, but didn’t turn out quite the way I wanted.

Christmas shopping for me began last March or maybe it was February. A friend was closing out his shop – a place I often get little gifts and stocking stuffers. I was very sad to see them close, this delightful couple bought the shop a decade or so and offered up the best candies, tawdry cards, and what nots. They always get a bottle of Kahlua Cali.

Stockings are my Holiday masterpiece. I adore stockings, putting them together with silly items and things that fit each person’s personality. My stocking items are lacking this year, that means a trip to the valley shopping with my mom on Monday will include a trip to the mall. Ugh, that means chaos in spades. I have personalized note pads, truffles, chocolate oranges, fluffy socks, pens and pencils, pins for the girls, wrenches for the guys, and flashlights. Not nearly enough.

My presents are half wrapped. Except for those darn bowls of candy. Original Chocolate Sins handmade truffles (a must in my household) and Empty Bowls. I need that shredded paper stuff for decorative filler, and oh crap I’m making some fudge and haystacks this year….er…I think.


Most of Ducky’s present was bought in May and June, because he has this habit of telling me I can’t buy him anything. He will force me to pinky swear spit to this insidious promise. I can do it with an open mind if they are already bought. Check him off my list – he’s pinkied and spitted.

The girls per normal are my quandary, but I know they will come together. Both Misery and Jen have requested Fiesta Ware. Friggin’ ex-wife. Psam, on the other hand, hmmmmm clothes; for my dad some Chopin and Beethoven. The little kids get trains. What to get my mom and my boss? Then there is the shipping. Seeing all my clients. Cleaning the house for guest. Those outdoors lights. Oh, crap I’m almost and not even near to done.

And then there is Christmas dinner. Was there suppose to be comfort in this? HELP!!!!

Holiday Lights At ShoreAcres

Last holiday season Ducky and I had wanted to take Burp south to Coos Bay for the Festival of Lights at Shoreacres State Park. The last time we’d gone (I don’t do Coos Bay often) was when the girls still lived at home – so sometime in the early nineties. Some changes have been made. The pictures come from the Shoreacres website.

Burp at age six, we figured is perfect for the lights. I mean what kid isn’t? At fifty-one I still marvel. Both Ducky and I had to work early (he leaves at 4am,) and he still didn’t get home until six (it’s a long commute), so we didn’t get on the road until almost 6:30pm. Burp and I had been at the radio station before 6am, and worked on our Christmas Message. So between work, shopping (he found beautiful bracelettes for his mom) a visit to Big Pa and Big Ma's and hair cuts, it was a full day and poor Burp was pretty worn out. I mean he immediately fell asleep in his jump seat. Poor kid.

We arrived at Shoreacres at 8:15pm to see the new LED’s glowing the most wondrous colours. The bright blues were amazing, but even more amazing were the new light sculptures. Flying pelicans, diving whales, leaping frogs, and spawning salmon were decked out in rope lights that were time triggered to create movement in the sculptures. If you look close you can see the flying pelicans left mid picture.

The temperature was 35, Burp had been asleep, so the poor kid wasn’t really enjoying a lot of the great, colourful out of doors. Poor kid just wanted to climb into be and back to sleep. But we did a grandchild death march through the forest of fabulous lights in there bright blues, purples, greens, reds, golds, ambers, and all in between.

So very much worth the hour and a half drive and $3 parking to walk in the forest of lights. Maybe next year we can do it again, but start out earlier so Burp will stay away and enjoy the whole trip, the cookies and cider in the keepers house, the carolers in the performance gazebo, and dinner afterwards. He does remember, which surprises the heck out of me.

Maybe next year

Merry Christmas
Cele