Holidaze
There was a moment when I glanced into my basement and wondered when I became a hoarder. Getting to the far end of the unfinished side - storage and laundry - was downright dangerous. It's better now, but the aftermath of our later-than-normal return from Maine and our annual New Year's Eve party was ugly.
But if you've never experienced real snow, it was more than enough to make for an honest-to-goodness white Christmas.
Ali, Beau and Gavin made the most of it, as well as the mostly frozen lake. Uncle Peter, who years ago routinely used frozen China Lake to shorten his work commute, had been inspecting the ice and declared parts of it were safe for exploration. Ali and Beau checked it out before Gavin and his parents, Deb and Tim, arrived.
Beau and Ali were eager to show off the lake to Gavin, and the three of them scampered out like they were 10 years old and school had been called off.
They returned more than an hour later, Beau and Ali accusing Gavin of breaking the lake. Apparently there was an ominous crack at one point when he'd ventured a bit away from the others. It was scary enough to get them back on terra firma and back into the house.
The snow was pretty - dry and powdery not really suited for snowballs or snowmen. The Orlandoans didn't seem to mind.
We did most of our traditional Christmas traditions:
- Cookie Day, enlivened by Peter's granddaughter Abbie, Auntie Mary and Rory.
- A visit to LL Bean.
- A fabulous dinner out, this time at Slates in Hallowell where Jeff left behind his credit card on the day before they closed for the next three days. (They kept safe for him.)
- A terrific Christmas dinner highlighted by Peter and Jen roasting a 15-pound prime rib.
- Celebrated Jen and Peter's first Christmas in their beautiful new home.
- Discovered the Sinful Kitchen in Portland and will definitely go back.
- Dropped in to the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland. Peter wanted to see a new Andrew Wyeth exhibit, which was awesome. It's a lovely place, well worth your time if you're in the area.
- Went to an area antique store where we could have spent way more time and money.
You start by collecting a number of stocking-worthy items - along with a big grand prize. Assembly begins by wrapping the grand prize in layers of differently colored pieces of Saran wrap. You incorporate the rest of the prizes as you build a sphere with what seemed like a million, maddening layers.
"It's not environmentally friendly, Ali, sorry," Deb confessed.
To play, you gather in a loose circle and take turns trying to unwrap the layers WITHOUT RIPPING THEM to get to the items. As you unroll, the person to your right rolls dice, ending your turn when they roll doubles. As frustration builds and the sphere gets smaller, the gentle passage of it from one person to the next gets a little less gentle and the commentary gets lively.
Before we started, Deb informs us that the final prize is a good one, but everyone has to agree to be photographed should they win. We were silly to think there was a reason she secured our permission for this ahead of time.
She spent a couple hours creating the sphere, using a couple rolls of plastic wrap. Usually she uses green, red and clear, but red was in short supply this year. It's really hard to find the edge sometimes.
David barely got to unwrap at all because Jen was gifted with doubles. It got so bad for him that she started ignoring some of her doubles, trying to give him extra time. I not only secured a good number of fun gifts, including foldable readers and a mini manicure set, but I also won the final prize. See below why the photo was required. (We're saving those giant panties for Deb's stocking next year...)
On our last day, an icy rain cleared most of the snow and ruined our plans to roam the Old Port in downtown Portland. We made the most of it by whiling away some time in our hotel game area. I've been wanting to learn chess, and Ali told me she knew the rules. Naturally, she beat me in the first game, but I was moving in on her in game two. Jeff and Beau had been playing pool, but wandered over to check on us.
"We're playing feminist rules," Ali retorts.
Two seconds later, Jeff tells Ali she can take my queen.
"Nuh-uh," we chorus confidently. "Pawns can only move forward."
Beau and Jeff chorus back: "No. That's how pawns can capture."
We look at each other. "Feminist rules," Ali reminded them.
They shake their heads and go back to the pool table.
Later, Jeff and I play chess and I learn about castling and that you can regain your queen. I should really study the game before I play again.
We got home to Indiana super late with only one day to prepare for New Year's Eve. We got it all together and had another great time with neighbors and friends from Jeff's pickleball, softball, bourbon and beer groups, along with my Book Club, Bunco and Showgirls groups.
Jeff has grand plans to cook up a storm:
- Two types of beef tenderloin sliders - Korean bulgogi and Cajun.
- Chicken Florentine pasta
- Mexico City Fruit Salad
- Avgolemono soup
- Mozzarella cheese sticks
- Smashed potatoes
- Orange chicken
- Dumplings
- Pear, carmelized onion and bacon flatbread
My job is more cleaning, sous cheffing for Jeff, getting out the dishware and glasses and assembly of stuff like: charcuterie, veggie and cheese boards, guacamole, and the fig and boursin cheese dip Amanda brought to Book Club.
Jeff only got to the first five items of his menu. (We won't mention the potatoes that got over-roasted.) The food that did get prepared was ah-may-zing. We went thru about 16 bottles of champagne/sparkling wine, a couple bottles of other wine and assorted beers and non-alcoholic beverages. I'll be eating party food for the next couple of weeks.
Everyone brought offerings, too, and I might have missed some of them. Among the most talked about/moaned over guest-contributed items included:
- Jenna's puff pastry with honey and bacon
- Patty's peppermint brownies
- Larry's buckeyes
Just before guests started to arrive, Jeff and I got the party started with just us and a glass each from a truly fabulous bottle, which Jeff squirreled away and convinced me to finish sans glass at the end of the night. (It was a difficult task.)
The year 2026 dawned with an urgency to clean up all the excess and to also put Christmas decorations away. I thought I was tired after scurrying about getting ready for the party and then having the party. At about 5 p.m. New Year's Day, I responded to my aches and pains from 17.5 million trips up and down the stairs with a bath, complete with my new bath cushion. I emerged to watch IU's football team trounce Alabama in the Rose Bowl (Hoo Hoo Hoo Hoosiers!) and then spent most of the rest of the night laying on Jeff watching the 2025 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction show.
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| The progression from chaos to order. |
The bin the tree lives in anchors most of the Christmas collection, so I couldn't really organize the storage center until it was filled and in its place, so really, I had to stop.
I left things in a huge mess, though, with empty bins scattered about and piles of unorganized stuff everywhere. At one point, I just stepped into empty bins just to get back and forth. And before you ask, no: I haven't even thought about getting the stuff from the outside. That decor lives in the shed, and it will wait for better weather. Sorry, neighbors.
I have nibbled on treats delivered by Tina Noel and Bruce Colville, both of which are decadent. Bruce's is a family recipe/tradition for homemade chocolate dipped apricots, and pecan/caramel turtles, that we are honored to get to partake in and which are addictive. Tina brought Milk Bar peppermint bark snaps that I'd never experienced before and will be be on my last meal menu if I'm ever incarcerated on Death Row. Or maybe I'll just have them when I have done a lot of very good deeds. They're amazeballs.
While watching the Rock and Roll thing, David Letterman talked about inductee Warren Zevon's last appearance on his show, which occurred shortly after Zevon received a terminal cancer diagnosis. The experience inspired Zevon to reassess life. "You're reminded to enjoy every sandwich."
Here's to enjoying every sandwich, sampling every treat, resting up and having a happy and healthy year full of laughter, discovery and maybe even a new tradition or two!
Note: I totally stole a lot of these photos from Beau, Gavin, Niki and Jeff. I've lost track of who took what. But thanks for taking them!
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