Christmas Recovery

We had a great Holiday. Steinvic and I celebrated on Christmas Eve – just us. We had cocktails at our local, a fabulous cheese & cracker and homemade soup feast at home, and then exchanged gifts and fell asleep on the couch during “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

We were lazy on Christmas Day until time to go to my folks, and Young Man and Girlfriend met us there. One of my (distant by logistics only) older cousins (she’s English, and 80 going on 50-something) was also there, and her love of music and sparkly personality kept the kids smiling. Young Man and my Mom bonded over their love for jazz records and made a date to get together to compare and share vinyl soon.

The kids, Steinvic and I all headed home and had our own Christmas there, sharing stories and joking in the kitchen while I made appetizers for the day after celebration at Steinvic’s sister’s home. Suddenly, we realized it was 1 a.m. and that would have been fine, save for the kids needing to get up and head for Columbus REALLY early (6 a.m.!) so everyone was off to bed.

I woke up early to make strong coffee in travel mugs and pack up some blueberry muffins for the kids' long, dark commute home, then slept a wee bit more and then we were up to get ready and drive to Columbus. A full house – all siblings and their kids – gathered around big, beautiful tables for an Italian feast, which was fantastic. Then lots of drinking and visiting and finally sleep.

Then back home yesterday…and we’re worn out, and both back to work today. I’ve managed to get some kind of goofy sore throat, watery eyes funk, probably from all the running around I’ve been doing. Seems like my body has a cut off for how long I am permitted to burn the candle at both ends, and then BOOM – hello, cold! Just need to shake it before next week…we’re headed out West for a belated honeymoon!

It’s time to load up on the B12, B6 and Vitamin C…and relax!

A Christmas Tale

Here, we see a small penguin from my friends in front of roses from Steinvic...

Once upon a time, in a city not so far away from here (though it feels like a million miles away, or that it never happened at all), lived a groovy chick who found herself in a bad situation. It seemed that a horrible monster had taken over her castle and was slowly but surely destroying everything within it.

The groovy chick thought carefully and one day, with the help of her very brave parents, quickly packed everything she could and began to move away while the monster was out of the castle.

She packed her clothes, gathered some personal belongings and – at the last minute, as encouraged by her parents – brought along a very special, small, grey and black kitty (who was quite grateful to be escaping with the groovy chick.)

However, in her haste, the groovy chick could not take a lot of her most precious belongings. You see, there was no time…if the monster had returned to the castle during her escape, the brave parents, special kitty and the groovy chick ALL would have been in serious trouble.

So some things had to stay. Most of those things she didn’t care about because she imagined some day, she would buy things like furniture and artwork and dishes again. But other things…those she would grow to miss.

Her childhood Christmas ornaments – the ones she’d carefully made so long ago that her mother had saved for her until she had a home of her own – remained tucked carefully away in the upstairs crawlspace. The table runner, cookie jar and Christmas dishes from her only aunt stayed packed in tissue, stacked lovingly in plastic bins (she really loved her aunt, and cherished those matching decorations.) She left her bike. She left her Beatles scrapbook. She left.

She moved with her kitty to a new home. They bought a small tree. They bought some glittery things from the dollar store to make their home cheerful that first Holiday. It was sparse, but sentimental…and that became more important than anything.

A handsome Prince came into the picture, and over time, brought them love, happiness and some special decorations to help the cause. Years passed and he came to stay for good and had some of his own Christmas decorations to share.

And then, one fine Christmas weekday, the groovy chick met her dear friend and her dear friend’s lovely children for lunch. And the groovy chick was given MANY Holiday treats by the friend and children. So many beautiful, special, fun and handmade Christmas decorations that the chick thought her heart might burst with joy…and that her arm might fall off under the weight of the packages on her way to her car! The decorations would merge with those she’d begun collecting once again, and would make her home look and smell like the Holidays.

And as she drove away from the luncheon, she thought to herself, “Too much.” Her friend said she remembered how the groovy chick lost all of her ornaments long ago. And knowing that her friend cared made the groovy chick…well, some icicles dripped just a little on her face as she walked to the car. And she realized, this is how you really escape the monsters…by making happy memories with the people you care the most about. And she knew that all of her Christmases would be full of goodness from now on.

And the brave parents, handsome Prince, dear friend, lovely kids and groovy chick all lived their very blessed lives, happily ever after.

Cooking Post - Spinach Dip

Howdy! We have had quite an extended weekend so far...enjoyed Thanksgiving up north with Steinvic, came back in the rain and dark that night, then basically sat around like couch cushions yesterday, fiddling on the computer, watching a Seinfeld marathon and looking for adoptive puppies online. I did run out to the grocery in the evening (no traffic!) but other than that, we were pretty chill.

I'm making up for it all today. I got up early, put a turkey breast in the oven for Steinvic, and I've done two loads of laundry already.

And I made a batch of spinach dip for a nice fellow named D. We've gotten acquainted with him because he's been coming to our local for a few months. He is here from Florida - he's a liquidator - and can't go home because he doesn't get days off. On Wednesday night, he told us that he hadn't had a day off since Easter. He is living in an Econo Lodge. We told him that if we were going to be here for Thanksgiving, he'd be welcome to come to our place and he was so appreciative. But he seemed pretty happy about just being able to be off work. He said he planned to stay off his feet the entire day and sleep. Besides his family, one thing he said he missed about the Holidays was home cooking and that he had been craving spinach dip, "the kind you put in the bread bowl."

Lucky for D, I have my own little recipe for that and I told him I'd whip up a batch and bring it to our local on Saturday. And I'm going to share this recipe with you! Grab your bread bowl and get started:

You'll need:

• A cup of drained frozen spinach
• One 16 ounce container of sour cream (huge fan of Daisy Light)
• One 8 ounce container of whipped cream cheese
• A packet of Ranch Dressing Mix (I think Kroger's brand "Salad Magic" is just as lovely as Hidden Valley's at a fraction of the cost.)
• About a half cup chopped water chestnuts
• One small carrot chopped fine
• About 2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
• Garlic powder
• Dash of salt
• Crushed red pepper
• Black pepper

How to make it:

• In a big bowl, mix the sour cream and whipped cream cheese until thoroughly blended.
• Add the ranch dressing mix, dash of salt, about 15 turns of the black pepper grinder, four dashes of garlic powder, and about a half teaspoon of the crushed red pepper. Mix thoroughly.
• Add the water chestnuts, onions and carrots and mix completely.
• Add the spinach and gently mix until it looks like this:

You could add a little more or less of any of the ingredients and still be fine. This is one of those recipes where every ingredient tastes good on it's own, and putting t hem together makes them taste even better. You can't go wrong!

I'll let you know how D likes it, and if you try making it, let me know how you like it! Enjoy!