Tag Archives ⇒ christmas

Christmas television

· Lauren

The first paragraph of this post was written while waiting to board my flight to Tallahassee on December 22nd, but my in-flight seating arrangements were so uncomfortable I never finished it during the many hours I spent on the plane. (Instead I read a book and watched Star Wars movies on my iPad.) And of course I was far too busy to crack open my laptop at all while I was in Florida for Christmas. Too many entertaining things to do instead! But now that I’m back home it’s time to start blogging again. 2016 will be here in a few days!

I have about a dozen different Christmas TV shows and movies on my DVR right now. I’d like to blame that backlog on the hectic nature of the holiday season, but the truth is that I’ve spent the majority of my screen time this month binge watching other things instead! A lot of shows have big winter finales in December and I wanted to catch up on all of my favorite series in time to see the mid-season finales before leaving town for Christmas. I have priorities, after all. (I didn’t say they were good priorities!) “Arrow” and “Once Upon A Time” were great, “Agents of SHIELD” was pretty good, and “Doctor Who” is always my main priority. So despite missing the initial airings of perennial Christmas specials I still watched a lot of TV while saving the seasonal content for future consumption. I plan to watch it when I get back from Florida next week. After all, the holidays aren’t over until I have to go back to work, and this year that isn’t until January 4th! As I walked out of my house on my way to the airport this morning I took one final look at my pretty little Christmas tree. It won’t be long before I’ll be putting it away for another year, and I’m going to need some uplifting programming to accompany that least favorite of all holiday activities.

Now that Christmas is over and I’m back in California with six glorious days before I have to go drag myself to work again, it’s time to start making a dent in the many hours of holiday television that are taking up space on my DVR. So far today I’ve watched quite a few Christmas episodes of “The Simpsons, “Family Guy,” and “Teen Titans Go!” It’s a lovely way to spend a cold Los Angeles day (at least compared to Florida right now) while I’m trying to unpack my suitcase and readjust to Pacific Time. I can’t say I’ve accomplished much else today, but at least I’ve free up DVR space for all of the spring premieres that are coming in January. Hooray! On second thought, maybe I should make a New Year’s Resolution to watch less TV instead. We’ll see!

Potluck Day 2015

· Lauren

Our annual holiday potluck at work was on Tuesday, and it was incredible, as usual. I look forward to the potluck all year, but unfortunately this particular incarnation fell on a very busy day. I had an important meeting at 1:30 PM that afternoon so I had to dress up for work. At 5 AM I rolled out of bed, threw on a dress and cardigan (and my favorite Christmas pin), and dragged all of the necessary items for the potluck to work. I needed to get there by 6 AM to start the Crockpot hot chocolate so that it would be ready for breakfast. My first batch, at least. I used the same recipe as last year because so many people loved it. Until breakfast started I prepared for my afternoon meeting, stirring the hot chocolate every 30 minutes. Do you really need to ask what I had for breakfast at the potluck? Scones, of course! I anticipate those little slices of heaven all year, and they never disappoint. This year was no different. I limited myself to two scones that morning because I wanted to have an appetite at lunchtime, but I hoarded quite a few others for future consumption (dessert, snacks, and breakfast the next day). By 9:30 AM it was obvious that I needed to start a second batch of hot chocolate. Some of my co-workers are serious hot chocolate vultures! Luckily I anticipated this and brought enough ingredients to make another batch that would be ready for lunch.

Lunch started at 11:30 AM. Unfortunately I had to grab a plate of food and eat it at my desk because I was still scrambling to get ready for my meeting. While poring over my charts I feasted on a delicious combination of chicken salad, meatballs, and manicotti. My co-workers are amazing cooks. I made a batch of chili to share, and this time I combined last year’s bacon chili recipe and this year’s Cincinnati style chili recipe. I didn’t get to taste it myself, but it sure smelled good when it was cooking. I got some good feedback too, but one person told me he liked the regular bacon chili better. I’ll remember that for the chili cook-off next year. My afternoon meeting was really difficult because I was sleepy after stuffing myself silly all day. And being the last presenter at the end of 2.5 hours wasn’t ideal either, but I got through it and everyone seemed happy at the conclusion. Personally, I was thrilled to go home after 11 hours at work and put on some comfortable clothes! I didn’t get to relax too much, though, because I was meeting a friend at the movies that night. For the last two years I’ve been going to Rifftrax’s Christmas show by myself so I was excited when my friend expressed interest in joining me this year. And we had so much fun. This year’s movie was “Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny” which practically asks to be made fun of. I haven’t laughed that much in a long time. Rifftrax has definitely become one of my holiday traditions. So after the potluck, the meeting, and the movie I had a very long Tuesday, but it was worth it. I love the holidays!

Love Actually

· Lauren

It’s no secret that I love Christmas movies. While putting up my Christmas tree (and all of the rest of my holiday decorations – more on that another time) after Thanksgiving I watched “Miracle on 34th Street,” “Meet Me in St. Louis” (a movie for all seasons, but works for Christmas), and “White Christmas.” All excellent choices. Along with all of the old classics, there’s a slightly more contemporary movie that everyone seems to love this time of year – “Love Actually.” It shows up on my list of recommended movies every time I open up Netflix to binge watch old episodes of “Once Upon A Time,” “X-Files,” or “Call the Midwife.” (Eclectic, right? I’m nothing if not multi-faceted!) “Love Actually” used to be one of my favorites too, but due to certain parallels with my own life I just can’t watch it any more. Back in 2010 my ex-husband had an affair. Back then I alluded to difficult times in my webpage posts, but I never said anything concrete about it to avoid completely publicizing my personal struggles. Even now I won’t go into details because it wouldn’t be constructive, but it was an event that changed me forever. More than five years have passed since then, but I still can’t handle the cheating storyline in “Love Actually.” Watching Emma Thompson cry silently to the tune of “Both Sides Now” makes my heart ache like it did back in 2010 when I was hurting more than I ever though possible. Even as the memories are getting dimmer with time, I still don’t like reliving those miserable days. So for the sake of my own sanity I stick to happier holiday fare like “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” “Muppet’s Christmas Carol,” and “A Christmas Story.” Revisiting the past usually isn’t beneficial, but sometimes it helps to look back and see how far I’ve come since that dark time. These days life is good, and this year Christmas is going to be amazing!

“I have to consider how to best make myself happy and also give myself the best chance of a positive outcome in the future. So bear with me because one way or another my life is going to completely change in 2010. It’s hard to imagine now, but the thought of laughing and smiling sincerely is what’s keeping me going. I have to believe that something better is waiting for me out there. What it is I have no idea, but just knowing about it existence is comforting. I know I’ll get there eventually and that’s a good thought.”
05/01/10 webpage post

Early November

· Lauren

I went to the grocery store after a long day at work yesterday and discovered that all of the Halloween merchandise had already been replaced with Christmas items. Halloween was only two days before! This seemed strange, somehow. Don’t get me wrong, Christmas is my favorite holiday, but I wasn’t expecting it to arrive quite so soon! Funny enough, I was telling a friend on Sunday how happy I was that Halloween was over. I’d had two weekends of celebration, with the chili cook-off in between, and I was a little burned out. I didn’t even go trick or treating with my friends and their kids because I was exhausted on Saturday night. I hate feeling like I’m wishing away any fall holiday because I love everything about this time of year, but I was ready to move on. (The saddest part is that I never got around to putting out my Halloween decorations this year! Every weekend in October had been packed with activities so my poor ceramic pumpkins are still packed up in the closet with the rest of my holiday paraphernalia. I will make sure to pull them out of storage as soon as I get back from Orlando next week. Pumpkins still work for Thanksgiving, right? I’ll create a new crossover holiday, Hallo-giving, just to emphasize my laziness.) But when I was in the grocery store last night I just wasn’t quite ready to be bombarded by Christmas quite yet. I left without a second glance at the shelves of red and green M&Ms and themed Tupperware. Fast forward 24 hours and the first thing I saw when I walked into CVS was an aisle of Christmas cards. Much to my surprise I seemed to have completely gotten over my humbug attitude from the previous day because I couldn’t stop myself from buying some Snoopy Christmas stickers! So adorable. Bring on Thanksgiving and Christmas! I’m ready!

Belated Foodie Friday – Crockpot hot chocolate (take 2)

· Lauren

Also written on my flights from Long Beach to Orlando on Wednesday.

My last day of work in 2014 was the day of the annual holiday potluck. My favorite day of the year! This meant that I wasn’t very productive closing out the year, but at least I was well fed. It was awesome. Due to the craziness that was December I didn’t commit to making anything complicated for the potluck. In fact I was so unimaginative with my offerings that I simply repeated my menu from 2013 – hot chocolate for breakfast and mulled apple cider for lunch. Simple, tasty, and very little effort required on my part. Not too long ago I shared my first attempt at Crockpot hot chocolate, but I wasn’t fully satisfied with the results. My co-workers really liked it, but the chocolate chips didn’t melt properly so I knew there was a better option out there. And this year I found it! Look no further, this is the world’s best hot chocolate. It was so popular at the potluck that my co-workers drank every drop and several asked for the recipe. I didn’t even follow the exact directions in the original recipe because I was lazy and didn’t think it made a difference. Luckily I was right. I just dumped all of the ingredients in my slow cooker at 6 AM, heated the hot chocolate about 2.5 hours, and stirred it every 30 minutes or so. And it was perfect! Rich, creamy, and chocolately. I am definitely going to make this again soon!

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 gallon whole milk
1 pint heavy cream (I used whipping cream)
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1/2 c cocoa powder (I used half regular, half Hershey’s Special Dark)
1/2 c sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
Dash of salt

DIRECTIONS:
Add this to the list of easiest recipes of all time. Simply combine all of the ingredients in your slow cooker and whisk to combine. The cocoa powder won’t mix too well with the cold milk and cream, but that will change as it heats up. Cook on low for 2-3 hours, whisking/stirring occasionally. Serve with marshmallows. Enjoy!

Based on No. 2 Pencil’s Slow Cooker Hot Cocoa.

Christmas 2014

· Lauren

The first portion of this post was written while I was on my way back to California after Christmas (12/29), but never got around to finishing it. Typical! Better late than never, I guess!

Sorry for the unplanned blogging hiatus, I was so busy on my trip to Tallahassee for Christmas that I barely touched my laptop! I know that’s a pretty flimsy excuse for not updating my webpage, but I wanted to give a reason for my seemingly lazy behavior anyway. At the moment I’m sitting in the Dallas airport for my flight to LAX in about an hour. It was a whirlwind trip even though it was six days long. There’s always so much to do surrounding Christmas with shopping, cooking, and family traditions. But I had a wonderful time and a lovely Christmas with my parents despite the strong thunderstorms that accompanied my arrival (although my flight landed pretty easily in such horrible weather) and power outage when we got home from the airport. It’s a good thing my dad always has lots of flashlights! We went to sleep without power on the night of the 23rd. Luckily it was back on by the time we got up on Christmas Eve.

The remaining portion of this post was written today.

The rain wasn’t over yet, though. My parents and I waited out another line of thunderstorms that morning before heading to the mall to do some last minute Christmas shopping. That’s when I got my beloved red Toms which I’ve worn just about every day since then. Later than evening the weather had cleared up so we were able to go for our annual Christmas light viewing walk in the neighborhood. The rain had put a damper on some of the festivities, but it was still nice to admire the light displays. When we got home I hunkered down in front of the TV to watch “A Christmas Story” and wrap presents. You can’t wait any later than Christmas Eve for that! The next morning we made a delicious Christmas breakfast of buttermilk pancakes (thanks to this recipe from Martha Stewart), scrambled eggs, bacon, and fruit. Yum! We exchanged presents after breakfast and then all three of us got some exercise. It was a little chilly, but I ran 5 miles around the neighborhood, my dad ran a different route, and my mom took a walk. We all ended up getting home at about the same time. Our next job was putting together Christmas dinner. We had smoked turkey, cranberry sauce (using my own recipe), sweet potato casserole, and skillet green beans (a recipe I need to post soon). It was the most traditional meal we’d made in years (I usually make lasagna for Christmas dinner) and it was scrumptious. After dinner we went to see “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.” As far as I’m concerned, the jury is still out on this one. I definitely didn’t love it, but I think I’ll have to go see it again before making up my mind. As soon as we got home from the movie we had dessert – my mom’s famous chocolate cake and pecan pie. It was the perfect way to end Christmas Day.

Foodie Friday – Homemade cranberry sauce

· Lauren

I’m working on a couple of posts about Christmas and New Year’s, but I’ve been busy this week so they aren’t ready for publishing yet. I’ll finish them this weekend. For now you’ll have to be content with this recipe for delicious homemade cranberry sauce!

On Christmas Eve I cobbled together a batch of cranberry sauce from a couple of basic recipes I found on Pinterest – one from Cooking Light and one from McCormick’s. I used elements of each one, but pretty much just threw a little bit of this and a little bit of that (including some ingredients that nether recipe called for) into the pot and hoped for the best. Fortunately it turned out great! It was the perfect complement to the smoked turkey we had for Christmas dinner, and the leftovers refrigerated really well for leftovers a couple of days later. I liked it so much that I made another batch of cranberry sauce on New Year’s Eve after I got back to California. Hey, the holidays aren’t over until I have to go back to work! (Which was actually today, but that’s another story.) I’m going to enjoy this cranberry sauce over some baked chicken this weekend. So if you have a hankering for cranberry sauce even though Christmas 2014 is over, try this recipe! Otherwise, save it until Thanksgiving 2015 and try it then!

INGREDIENTS:
12 oz fresh cranberries
1/2 apple, diced (or more, if desired)
1/2 pear, diced (or more, if desired)
1 c orange juice
3/4 c brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice

DIRECTIONS:
In a small or medium saucepan, combine all ingredients and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the cranberries pop and the mixture starts to thicken. Remove from heat and cool completely. The sauce will thicken more as it stands. Serve over turkey or chicken, or as a stand alone side dish. Enjoy!

Based on Cooking Light’s Basic Cranberry Sauce and McCormick’s Homemade Cranberry Sauce.