The garland green, the candle white.
Merry Christmas to those who celebrate! Happy Hanukkah (still) to those who celebrate! I'm not sure happy is the thing to wish for Mithras' birthday, but if you celebrate that, I also wish you well. And of course, Joyous Yule! If you celebrate none of these things, I wish you a peaceful, prosperous day full of the things you enjoy.
There were some alterations to the December Great Day of Feasting menu. All but the fingerling potatoes looked sketchy, so we got a bag and I roasted them with the carrots. SIL spent yesterday slaughtering at least five pomegranates, so I decided to combine those with baby spinach, fresh sugar snap peas, and tangerine segments for a salad. Dressing was one tangerine's worth of juice, some olive oil, a touch of agave nectar, mint, chia seeds for crunch, and anise seeds. We still had green bean and artichoke skillet, cauliflower with cheese and mustard sauce, yorkshire puddings, and of course the roast beast. And the cake, which I think I have finally perfected and which Seaspouse has dubbed "Cake AND Death cake." I got a smaller roast so it would cook up fast and Seaspouse could have a bit of fresh dinner before he headed off to work. He's worked twelve-hour shifts all weekend, and I believe still has two days to go. At least he and his fellow warriors get to bring in treats and food to share while defending the country, and he is in a building down the road (FAR down the road, but still) rather than a tent somewhere in Bahrain or Iraq. For a military family, this is one of the best of Christmases.
We also got to watch A Muppet Christmas Carol together, as is tradition. I was mostly wandering between kitchen and pantry for the first viewing, so I'm watching it again to get the full experience.
It's sort of a calm before the storm day. Next week, all four puppies get their teeth cleaned, and Beau Piddles gets both his fat deposits removed and his eternally-wounded paw probed for any lodged foreign objects, after which everybody goes on a diet and Beau gets to grow accustomed to wearing a padded bootie when outside or playing (which pretty much means all the time he's conscious). SIL will at last be free of the job from hell, but that means finding another one, so there's that. Still in all, it's a year ending better than I dared hope, and with luck, next year will not start out quite so vicious.
There were some alterations to the December Great Day of Feasting menu. All but the fingerling potatoes looked sketchy, so we got a bag and I roasted them with the carrots. SIL spent yesterday slaughtering at least five pomegranates, so I decided to combine those with baby spinach, fresh sugar snap peas, and tangerine segments for a salad. Dressing was one tangerine's worth of juice, some olive oil, a touch of agave nectar, mint, chia seeds for crunch, and anise seeds. We still had green bean and artichoke skillet, cauliflower with cheese and mustard sauce, yorkshire puddings, and of course the roast beast. And the cake, which I think I have finally perfected and which Seaspouse has dubbed "Cake AND Death cake." I got a smaller roast so it would cook up fast and Seaspouse could have a bit of fresh dinner before he headed off to work. He's worked twelve-hour shifts all weekend, and I believe still has two days to go. At least he and his fellow warriors get to bring in treats and food to share while defending the country, and he is in a building down the road (FAR down the road, but still) rather than a tent somewhere in Bahrain or Iraq. For a military family, this is one of the best of Christmases.
We also got to watch A Muppet Christmas Carol together, as is tradition. I was mostly wandering between kitchen and pantry for the first viewing, so I'm watching it again to get the full experience.
It's sort of a calm before the storm day. Next week, all four puppies get their teeth cleaned, and Beau Piddles gets both his fat deposits removed and his eternally-wounded paw probed for any lodged foreign objects, after which everybody goes on a diet and Beau gets to grow accustomed to wearing a padded bootie when outside or playing (which pretty much means all the time he's conscious). SIL will at last be free of the job from hell, but that means finding another one, so there's that. Still in all, it's a year ending better than I dared hope, and with luck, next year will not start out quite so vicious.