Christmas Traditions: Holiday Foods

So, I was inspired by Traci's post about favorite Christmas movies.
And I've got my own list of favorites. Favorite Christmas-season foods. Note I said "Christmas-season" because some of these items can be found all year round, but are particularly good/in season during the holidays.

- Pistachios
- Clementines and Oranges
- Grapefruit & Fresh Grapefruit Juice (Trader Joe's!)
- Eggnog
- Wassail
- Creme Crumb Cake (from a family bakery at The Farmer's Market - it's to die for) We have it every Christmas morning.
- Christmas Blend Coffee
- Mimosas on Christmas morning (which, sadly, I will not be having this year)


What are some of your favorites?

Why Merging Never Works

So, I've given this some considerable thought (pretty much every morning at 8:45 for the past year and a half), and I've decided I know why merging never works smoothly.
Firstly, let me just say that I understand it is a necessary evil. Without it, we'd end up with highways the size of Canada.
And I also understand that those lovely members of the Signage Industry have attempted to ease our pain as much as possible. Generally they give you 1,000 ft notice. Or, if they're feeling particularly generous, they may even give you an entire mile. Either way, I appreciate that they are trying to be considerate of our merging woes.
However, they have overlooked one crucial fact:
People are selfish and always in a hurry. Especially at 8:45 in the morning.
And of those selfish and hurried people, there are then two categories. They are as follows.

Type 1 - these are the I-Don't-Care-About-That-Sign-I-Just-Want-To-Keep-Moving-And-Get-To-The-Front-Of-The-Line people. These people are instant-gratification seekers and short-sighted. They lose sight of the big picture; they have tunnel vision, if you will. We'll call them Five-Year-Olds.

Type 2 - these are the I-See-The-Sign-Therefore-I'm-Going-To-Get-Over-Now-So-I'm-In-A-Lane-When-The-Other-One-Expires people. These people are sensible and long-term-minded and can see the grand scheme of things. We'll call them Sensiblites.

So, there you have it. The two types of people and their merging mindsets. And at first there is no problem. But as you get closer and closer to the infamous merge, two things happen. Firstly, the Five-Year-Olds finally decide it's time to get over. Secondly, the Sensiblites revolt. See, I failed to mention above that Sensiblites are also self-righteous and carry with them the "snooze-you-lose" attitude. And so the efficacy of the system gets thrown out the window as the Sensiblite becomes bent on nothing else but punishing Five-Year-Old for his stupidity. Because as soon as Five-Year-Old tries to get in Sensiblite's lane, Sensiblite has a conniption the size of Mount Vesuvius and starts screaming at the rolled up window, "OH! You want to get over NOW, huh? Listen, buddy, I've been in this lane for the last mile and a half, going slower yet remaining committed because I know this is the lane to be, all the while the likes of you are whizzing past me and trying to cut in front of the OTHER sensible people in front of me who have ALSO waited their turn! If you had just paid attention to the sign and gotten over in the mile the sign gave you, NONE OF THIS TRAFFIC WOULD BE HAPPENING RIGHT NOW!"
Sensiblite then proceeds to tail the fellow Sensiblite in front of her so that Five-Year-Old has no chance of getting in whatsoever. It's like the Pearly White Gates - there are no shortcuts or butting ahead of someone. Guess you shoulda been more big-picture-oriented and waited in line!

And there is some sort of vindictive, incredibly satisfying feeling that comes from shoving Five-Year-Old off the road into oblivion.

Maybe next time Five-Year-Old will reconsider his ways and deem it a GOOD IDEA to convert and become a Sensiblite. And yell all kinds of nasty things at other thick-headed Fire-Year-Old's.

And that, my friends, is why merging will never win itself a Nobel Peace Prize. Well....on second thought.....maybe that's not true after all. Apparently anyone can win one of those.

Which type are you?

And no, I don't need anger management, thank you very much ;)

I'm learning.....

So, I am in the middle of a learning process.
Learning things I thought I knew.
There is a chance I may be revising my stance on High-Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS).
I’m currently reading this article from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition : Straight Talk About High-Fructose Corn Syrup: What it is and what it ain't

This does not mean that I am going to just start buying products with HFCS – I think there’s still some research that needs to be done. Plus, I have not finished the article, so I am reserving final judgment for a while longer. This does mean, however, that I am going to let the scientific facts speak for themselves. What I like about this is that it’s a scholarly journal, not media hype, which may prove to be the source of a lot of the confusion over this issue.

I'll let ya know what I think! In the meantime, let me know your thoughts! But please have a scientific reason to support your argument either way. These are the kind of facts we need to reach clarity on this controversy :)

Thanks for putting up with my nerd post :)

The End.

O Tannenbaum

It must be a tradition of sorts. We always seem to fight on Christmas Tree Day :) It's always about silly stuff.....I believe last year it was over tea.
Anyways, this past Saturday was Christmas Tree Day. And we are creatures of habit. And I'm not going to disclose the contents of this year's argument. Maybe I'll divulge next year. The important thing is it was silly and we kissed and made up :)
We usually do this the day (or weekend) after Thanksgiving. But this year I went shopping on Black Friday and was not feeling well on Saturday. So we waited a week.
It had started to sneet (snow/sleet), but we braved Old Man Winter and headed out to Wiggins anyways.
Here is Mr. Lumberjack himself.


And here is only a portion of the forest from which we had to choose our tree. This is always the most difficult part. You have to understand - I had a disastrous Christmas tree experience the year we lived in Maryland. If you'd like a dramatic reenactment of how that story went down, you may consult my mother.
Anyways, when it comes to picking trees, Mike is very practical (thank goodness), and me, well.....let's just say that if I had no supervision I'd pick a tree the size of The Nutcracker tree every year. No doubt. Never mind the fact that I don't have a 25 ft ceiling.


So we embarked on a mission. To find a happy medium.


This one (apparently) had eaten too many Christmas cookies and was too fat for our living room. Boo hoo.


This one, on the other hand, had lost its midsection somewhere along the way.


After much looking, we headed over to the other side of the tree farm to see what we could see. It was quite a trek.


And of course ours was the furthest away. Here is Mike with the saw.


And here is Michael and his lovely face when he realized how wet the ground was going to be. He got over it ;)


And while I went to Wawa to get cash (for some reason we thought a tree farm in a field would have a credit card machine) Michael dragged our tree back down the hill all by himself (no cart even!) and got it baled. I met him back there in time for him to tie it to the top of the van. Which, we almost lost it on the way home and pulled over on Rt 3 to save it from certain destruction.


And then Mike had the brilliant idea to put it in the tree stand outside before bringing it in and cutting the strings. I can't tell you how much easier that made it!


And here it is. It is still not decorated because I've been feeling sick this week. But soon!


And to make this Christmas Tree Day even better, it snowed :)

Merry Christmas!!
p.s. It's a Christmas tree....not a holiday tree.....I mean c'mon! Please let's not rewrite history....

Thing 1 and Thing 2 - neither related to the other

Thing 1:

I was in Target yesterday doing my non-trader-joe-shop (essentially what's left on my list after Trader Joe's...) trying to plan a dessert for tonight (the lovely Alf and Ruth Lohmann are coming for dinner.)
Apple Cake.....Ooey Gooey Cake.....Fruit Parfaits....WHAT TO DO?!
And then I remembered I was tired. So so tired.
Clearly my culinary motivations have run off with every ounce of energy I once owned.
And then I walked down the baking aisle.
And saw these.
And it gave me pause for thought.
Could it really be as easy as brownie mix + egg + water + oil?
Is this what smart people do? Can it really be this easy?!
And I answered myself. I said, "Self, YES! Grab the brownie mix and go!"
And so I did. And I can't even tell you how excited I am to dump, mix and pour. It is going to make my life so much easier.

And here is Thing 2:

I told you it was unrelated.
But it has transformed my dining room table.
The table is only a few months old, but already it had water marks, heat stains, scratches, etc. It was dry!! Dying and screaming for orange oil love!
And I heard its cries.
And now, it looks even better than when we first bought it!!! Can't you see that SHINE?!
It is only $3.49. As such, I insist you go buy it if you have any wood furniture worth loving. Trust me, you won't be disappointed.