Holiday Wrap-up

Food.  That was the theme for this Christmas.  Food out the Wazoo.  On a related note, what’s the heck is a wazoo?

(According to mindlesscrap.com, it’s from the 1960 and is an offshoot of the saying "up the kazoo."  Once again, I owe my allegiance to Google Bing.)

This Christmas was probably one of the favorites that I’ve had in the last several years.  It was far too short, but it was extremely enjoyable.

I left Seattle on Wednesday morning at the butt-crack of dawn (as was mentioned in a previous blog post.)  I waltzed through the security checkpoint (not literally…although that does make for a very interesting mental image).  I really love airports.  I actually like getting to the airport early so I can walk around the whole airport people watching and window shopping.  There’s just something so energetic and entertaining about the airport.  And I never cease to be amazed by the things people try to sell there.  Because, really, the airport is where I’m going to do my Christmas shopping, buy new luggage, or even consider throwing away my money at Brookstone.  But it certainly makes for entertaining times.  My terminal was in a different building than the check-in facility, so I had to take the underground train to the other terminal building.  This also entertained me.  Apparently, going to the airport for me is the adult equivalent to riding that stupid little horse thingy outside the grocery store for a quarter.  I couldn’t find a dispensory for my mandatory Airport Cinnabon Ablution, so instead I opted for a bacon, egg, and cheese croissant and orange juice. 

Anyway, the flight left early, arrived in Salt Lake 25 minutes early, and then spent 30 minutes sitting on the tarmac waiting for the plane in our gate to get out of the way.  So, in essence, I got there on time.  The new luggage performed well, and we were off to Syracuse.  I spent time with the family, tried Steak-Ums for the first time (meh) and took a nap…the start to a very nice day.

That night, I drove down to Salt Lake and had a very greasy (yet very yummy) dinner with my friend Jessica, who got me both of my jobs at Microsoft.  We ate at Crown Burger in Salt Lake, which is a local burger joint/chain.  I got the Pastrami Burger, Fries, and the Pineapple Shake.  It was excellent.  Then, despite neither of us being appropriately attired, we headed over to Temple Square to see the Christmas lights.  It was, as my Grandfather says, "Colder than a well-digger’s ass in January."  But the lights were beautiful as always, and the company was excellent.  I even got to christen my new Camera.

 

Thursday (Christmas Eve) dawned even colder than the night before.  We lounged around the house in the morning, then left at about 12:30 to head down to Daybreak, to my sister’s house.  On the way to her house, we pass one of the few things that I actually miss about Utah: a restaurant called Kneaders.  It’s another local chain, and they have one of the best sandwiches I’ve even eaten in my life, the Turkey Bacon Avocado.  Roasted and hand-pulled turkey with bacon, lettuce, onions, tomatoes (which I remove because raw tomatoes are foul) and avocado on a freshly baked focaccia bread covered with Asiago cheese made at the store.  Since I pass by the place on the way to my sister’s house, it has become tradition for us to stop and get this thing of beauty every time we come (image stolen from the Kneader’s Website, ergo the misspelling of "avocado"):

One of our family traditions is that we always spent Christmas day in our own house with the family.  There were occasions where grandparents came and did Christmas with us, but we never did Christmas at someone else’s house.  My sis has held firm to that tradition as well (way to go!) and so they always do Christmas morning at their own house with my adorable little niece.  So, we did our gift exchange on Christmas eve at her house, and she made us an excellent dinner of a really good homemade chicken noodle soup.  I ate myself sick.  I received the Blu-Ray of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and some yummy chocolate, and I got both Matt/Megan and the Parentals the same gifts: HD Webcams and a copy of my Audiobook The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. I also got my niece a Sit and Spin, which I always loved when I was a little kid.  She’s got some special needs, so she’ll need help with it for a while, but she did seem to have a very good time.  And the adults got to laugh ourselves sick from spinning her around and then making her try to walk.  Below is a video.  (Warning: Your head may explode from cuteness.)

 

This was really the first year I felt that Aubrey really had an idea what was going on, and she loved opening her presents.  And, hoo boy, did she get excited about being encouraged to rip up paper!

That little girl is just so cute it’s lethal.  And then, despite having a house full of good-looking people (both my sister and her husband look like they could be in print ads), they also got the second-cutest puppy in the world a few months ago, and she’s just a fun, lovable little bundle of energy. 

 

It was adorable watching Aubrey give Stella big hugs and watching Stella lick Aubrey’s face.  Those two are going to be friends for a long time.  And why, might you ask is Stella the 2nd cutest puppy in the world?  Well, I think it’s obvious that the first-cutest puppy in the world was, of course, my puppy, and I happened to find a few pictures of him on my parent’s computer that my dad took just days after I got him.

Stella, you’re cute, but you just can’t compare. After the presents, food, puppies, and general holiday merriment, we drove home, had some Key Lime tarts, and rounded out the evening watching the re-broadcast of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir’s annual Christmas Concert from two years ago, with the King Singers. 

Christmas Day was wonderful.  Mom, Dad, and I all emerged from our bedrooms at about 8AM (which is sleeping in for all of us) and opened presents.  I got a blender, a heated blanket, the Blu-Ray of Pixar’s Up, a flash diffuser and remote trigger for my camera, a Kohl’s gift card, some really wonderfully plaid fleece pajama bottoms (that I’m wearing right now), and a case and some screen protectors for my Droid (DROOOOOID!).  The award-winning present for the year, though, was the Elmer Fudd had that my mom got for my dad: 

And in case you didn’t know what sexy looks like, here’s mom modeling the hat in her finest couture:

Unfortunately, shortly after taking this picture, one of the little loops on the hat broke and we had to return it–and the store didn’t have any replacements.  But at least we have our memories.  Then we had our traditional breakfast of Pillsbury Orange Rolls and Eggs, except we kicked

up the eggs a notch by turning them into a scramble with potatoes, peppers, onions, and sausage.  I, of course, ate myself sick.

Later in the afternoon, Megan, Matt, and Aubrey came to visit.  We all hopped in the car and drove over to the house of my dad’s Twin Brother™ and family, and I got to meet up with cousins I haven’t seen in years and years.  We were a little concerned, because Aubrey doesn’t do particularly well with large groups of noisy strangers, and as you can imagine, we can get pretty loud when we get together.  Aunt and Uncle had a full house as all of their kids and grandkids were together for the holiday.  Nevertheless, Aubrey did really well, and we had a nice time visiting.

Christmas night, it was my turn to do the cooking.  We had, as is tradition, Beef Tenderloin (also known as Fillet Mignon) with a peppercorn sauce, funeral potatoes, frog eye salad, rolls, green been casserole (spew!), and for dessert, the oft-mentioned and consumed Molten Chocolate Cake with, if you can believe it, Fleur de Sel Caramel Ice Cream.  My sainted mother found the last three pints of the stuff in her local grocery store a few months ago, and saved it for me!  (Best. Christmas. Ever!)  We all ate ourselves sick.

Boxing day in our family is about one thing: After Christmas Deals.  My mother, who has a sick wrapping paper fetish, usually goes out and buys about 700 rolls of wrapping paper, despite having mountains of paper already…including some of the ugliest wrapping paper known to mankind which she refuses to throw away despite the pleadings of her eldest son who obviously has much better taste in wrapping paper than she does.  I had some Kohl’s cash to use up, so I got some replacement toothbrush heads for my electric toothbrush, some photo ornaments for my tree next year, and the cards I will be sending out next Christmas.  We also stopped by *shudder* Wal-Mart, and fought the throngs for mom to agonize over which thoroughly unnecessary wrapping paper she wanted to get.  (I tease, but despite the butt-ugliness of some of her wrapping paper, it’s nice to have the options when I am wrapping presents at home.)

Then I went out to breakfast with my cousin, Austin, who is my age and with whom I was very close growing up, and his wife, Anna.  We went to the Star Cafe, a little dive in Layton that makes really good breakfasts.  I had an omelet with bacon, peppers, onions, and cheese.  It came with two scones.  What people call scones in Utah aren’t the same thing as scones everywhere else.  In most places, a scone is little more than a sweet biscuit.  In Utah, a scone is like an elephant ear, but thicker.  It’s deep fried dough, and it’s really, really good.  Put a little bit of honey butter on one of these things, and you’ll think that you’ve died and gone to cholesterol heaven.  As is often the case, I ate myself sick.

We visited for the rest of the afternoon, then mom, dad, and I spent the rest of the evening watching Up and enjoying each other’s company.  We finished up the extra steaks from Christmas night, and I polished off a pint of Ice Cream.  Then it was beddy-bye time.  The next morning I was back on the plane to Seattle.  I went grocery shopping, picked up the dog from the boarders, gave him a bath because he stank to high heaven, then had a wonderful dinner of Boeuf Bourguignon (don’t worry, I had to look up the spelling) followed by amazing candied apples and poached pears with homemade whipped cream at a neighbor’s holiday gathering.  Then I went home, curled up with my heated blanked and my dog, and slept the sleep of the truly and fully content.

It was a wonderful holiday season full of friends, family, food, fun, and frippery.  (I don’t even know what frippery is, I just needed another ‘f" word that wasn’t a swear, and I remembered this one from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.)  I couldn’t have asked for a more enjoyable, peaceful, and relaxing time.  I did make one decision during this blissful five days that I may regret–a decision that may cause me to look back upon this holiday season with fear and trepidation.  But you’ll just have to wait to hear about that tomorrow.

Until then, I hope you and yours had a wonderful holiday season, and I hope you have an excellent new year.