Saturday, December 28, 2019
Sunday, January 7, 2024
Saturday, November 19, 2022
Christmas Day 2019 - Merry Kiltmas
Wednesday, December 25, 2019
Christmas Day 2019 - What a Wonderful Christmas
Wednesday, December 25, 2019
Drank Bloody Mary's as I continued to clean the house and get it decorated for company this afternoon.
More tchotchkes to set out...
Finally finished decorating the tree.
As I got the house ready, Dale worked on the turkey.
I don't think we've made one for about 5 years. Dale has really become quite the turkey-meister.
As I finished up my tasks I was overtaken by a rather touching sentimentality while listening to the above song. It's not a real common Christmas Carol but I've come to love it quite a bit.
Athena's sweetness is alway appreciated around here.
She ga lot of walks, attention, and rest today. She blends in with the chair in the above picture so I put a label next to her.
This was my first ever effort at the task and Mom, who's been making it for years, was horrified to find out I'd be using canned sweet potatoes. She was pleasantly surprised to discover it turned out GREAT (if I do say so myself) and she said as much.
Our dinner guests, Mom, John, and Noel, started showing up around 3 p.m. which is about the time the turkey came out of the oven to rest.
Christmas Eve 2019 - Mom's
Tuesday, December 24, 2019
Mom moved this past spring from her condo to senior living apartments which was another change in our Christmas routine. We'd spent to last 11 Christmas Eves doing cheese fondue and steaks at her condo in Edina. Her new place is as equally charming and comfortable.
Since her move I'd forgotten we were storing her artificial tree in our basement and she never asked for it. I offered to bring it over a few days ago but she said she'd just pass on the tree for this year and would decide if she wants to do one next year. I brought over a little tabletop tree that I'd left decorated from last year. Dale was unaware of I even had it and was a little taken aback that I could produce a decorated tree like Mary Poppins magically pulling something out of her nanny bag.
Anyway, dinner was lovely. We finished out the evening with Baba dessert. My favorite dessert from childhood which was introduced years and years ago by Grandma Jean.
Christmas Eve 2019 - Kalle Anke
Tuesday, December 24, 2019
I put in a DVD called Disney's Merry Christmas Songs which is a sing-a-long. I used to show it to the kids at a school a worked at a number of years ago. Great fun and lots of memories.
Didn't finish the DVD before heading to the Christmas Eve service but we watched some more of it afterward and before heading over to Mom's for fondue.
There's been some concern in recent years that the tradition in Sweden may eventually go away as younger folks are used to on-demand watching due to DVDs and now streaming. It's my understanding that viewership, once at a height of around 50 percent of the population, has dipped to "only" a third of the population. However, home video has been around since the early 1980s and the tradition is still strong. I read that as recently as 2016 cell phone use dropped 28 percent and calls to emergency services fell 16 percent during the broadcast of the show.
I find that my own version of Kalle Anke on the 24th provides a nice transition from the more secular aspects of the season to the more religious.
Click on the link below for an article from Slate magazine on Kalle Anke.
Christmas Eve 2019
Tuesday, December 24, 2019
It's been a rather quiet and low-key day so far. Dale went to the gym this morning while I stayed home and did a little more work decorating the tree. I also got some preliminary cleaning done as we're having, Mom, John, and Noel over tomorrow for Christmas Day dinner.
Got Athena on a nice walk. She's sleeping like a baby now. The weather is unseasonably mild. We're at 38 degrees as I write this.
Dale and I went grocery shopping at Kowalski's yesterday but went again this afternoon for some last minute items. I'm making a sweet potato casserole for tomorrow. Mom was a little disappointed to find out I'm using canned sweet potatoes but I convinced her to cut me a little slack as it'll be my first effort.
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