Post-xmas Post -- I Survived!

Oh my goodness, the month leading up to Christmas/Xmas/Present Day is always complete chaos over here. It's the kind of chaos I like, though -- order after order after order rolling in, spending all day packaging and taping and shipping bag-fulls of jewelry to people. Once January hits, though, it slows down tremendously, almost to a grinding halt, and it's hard to figure out how to fill my days without becoming entirely stagnant.

I'll admit it though -- many a day has been spent in bed for way too long, only to transfer to the couch, wrapped in my warmest blanket, sipping on Baileys and watching movies.

The kids don't mind lazy days.

I did have a little birthday thing at the end of the month, and I took that day to do something terribly old-folk -- I went to IKEA, and I bought curtains. Oh, the excitement! But the curtains do look nice...

New Years Eve was spent bowling in the afternoon, and at a Chicago Bulls game that evening. For all of my complaining about hating basketball, it was completely different in person. I didn't just tolerate it, I actually enjoyed it! It really wasn't a good game... but still, I'd like to go back, it was a lot more fun than I expected it to be.

We've had a snow event, if you will, over the last few days, so that left me feeling nice and cozy, roasting butternut squash and finding out that vegan French toast might be yummier than it's eggy counterpart. Knowledge is power, folks. Delicious power.

We got at least 1/2 inch inside, and a few more outside.

So I'm sure at some point I'll have to unwrap myself from the blankets and get off the couch, but I'm going to enjoy this as long as I possibly can. This is, after all, one of the pleasures of working from home! Three cheers for small business!

Happy New Year, birds & blokes!

Happy Merry, y'all.

Just pictures today, of last nights seafood feast!  I hope you all have a beautiful holiday.  We got SNOW, so my Xmas wishes are fulfilled.

Fried calamari with lemon slices

Fried calamari with marinara

Fish stew, with shrimp, clams, mussels, mackerel, and crab

Spaghetti with breaded smelt, parsley, and garlic

Festa Dei Sette Pesci

Is everyone else looking forward to the upcoming (be here sooner than you know it) holidays?  In our home, the big one comes on Xmas Eve, the Italian tradition of festa dei sette pesci -- the feast of seven fishes.  As long as I can remember, and long before I was even born, my family has made a fish stew, and believe you me, this is a thing of wonder.  It's a red sauce based stew, with any variety of seven different types of seafood, my favorites being shrimp, clams, mussels, squid, scallops, whitefish, and crab or lobster.  I look forward to this meal every year!  I thought Dave would be a little apprehensive about it (he's not exactly an adventurous eater), but it turns out he loves it too, thank goodness.

Letter pressed holiday cards from Philadelphia and Sons on Etsy

After the very hectic week I've had, I'm excited to relax for a few days, make the stew, drink some wine, eat some buttered bread... ah yes, the holidays.

Oh, and while we're here -- my sale will still be up on Fab.com today and tomorrow, so stop by and check it out! If you haven't joined Fab yet, stop by my Facebook page to grab one of the invites I've posted.

the Big City Bumpkin on Fab.com

I hope all of you birds & blokes are enjoying some time off with friends and family, and wading knee-deep in traditions both sentimental and silly!

What about the Holidays?

The Holidays are a funny thing.

I grew up celebrating Christmas with my family -- my Momma helped us make popcorn garland while we listened to the Jackson 5 Christmas album, my Daddy made the fish stew on Christmas Eve and then took us for a late-night drive to see the lights in Schuyler (do they even put them up anymore?) while my sister and I sat cozy in the backseat, trying to spot Santa in the sky (we saw him more than once!).  It was a BIG deal.

But you know, we got older... my parents separated, but still came together for Christmas every year.  But I got married, then divorced... my sister started a family of her own... things just started to happen, and it became a little less magical than it used to be.  I went through my "bah humbug" phase for a year or two, actively not giving a crap about Christmas (or trying really hard to appear not to).  Once I got into my mid-twenties, I decided it wasn't worth it to be a grump, and I started to love it again.  It became "the Holidays" instead of Christmas, but still... I fell back in love with twinkling lights, a decorated tree (or ladder, or chair), the music, the feeling of the whole thing.  In Chicago, that started to come with snow, which made things even more wonderful.

Tonight, I celebrated Hanukkah for the first time.  I made a menorah very spur-of-the-moment, out of a pair of twigs and some tea lights.  For dinner I made beef brisket, potato latkes with sour cream and cranberry-applesauce, and noodle kugel -- it was delightful!  I lit the first candle on the menorah, and read the prayer from my iPhone.  A little unconventional, yes, but the feeling of celebration is still there.  It feels good, it feels warm and like home.

In ten days I'm going to turn thirty.  Thirty with a big "T".  All I wanted was to have the people I love here with me, and I got a good part of my wish -- one of my best friends, Marika, and my lovely Momma are coming to Chicago to visit!  We're not going to be able to go out to dinner every night, or do anything fancy-schmancy, but that doesn't matter to me right now.  I'm just excited to have people I love here, in my apartment 720 miles away, to drink glogg and eat whatever nonsense I'm cooking up that night.  To sip coffee with next to my faux-er-place.

Sometimes this time of year isn't everything I want it to be, but little things like this make it feel okay.  

Warm, cozy, like home.

Holidays

I tried for a year or two to be the "Bah Humbug" type, but it just didn't work for me.  It's much more fun to actually get excited about the holidays!  This year, we will be celebrating Thanksgiving, Festivus, Hanukkah, and Christmas.  I've always wanted to celebrate Hanukkah, to which the obvious response was "But, Vanessa... you're not Jewish..."  Well, I'm not Christian, either, and I still celebrate Christmas.  I'm also not a character on Seinfeld, but I do celebrate Festivus!  Anyway, I've decided my dog Ike IS Jewish... so we're celebrating Hanukkah with him, and I'm searching now for a doggy yarmulke.  Yeah, seriously.  I'm excited about it, though -- putting up a menorah, frying latkes, playing dreidel -- it's going to be fun!  I think we'll just stick to the generalized "holiday" cards, though -- the Winter weather theme is pretty neutral.

What I'm eating... Holiday Food

Ah, what a wonderful time of year for EATING!  :)

Read the full post HERE, at Decorate, Eat & Repeat!

Xmas Eve dinner:

Cod & Shrimp Soup, Spaghetti w/ Crab

Xmas morning breakfast:

Orange-Mango Juice, Coffee, Orange Sweet Buns

Xmas dinner:

Glazed Ham, Mashed Potatoes, Carrots