Happy Holidays!

Every year I say it was the best Christmas ever, and every year I mean it. The morning is a quiet one, with “A Christmas Story” playing in the background while people have brunch and drink coffee. The family tradition is lox on a bagel with various odds and ends, but I made gluten free biscuits (much more successful than the last time, I think, but not perfect) as my “bagel”. Along with Mama Dazz, Burt-man, IB, and myself, we also had our good friend TD stay over from our Christmas Eve dinner. Uncle R came over in time for brunch and our day of board games, and his girlfriend AS came later.

Ahhh! It's the Lox Ness Monster!

The people in my life know me so well. Mama Dazz bought me a kindle, the same kind she bought Grandpa B when we visited them earlier this week. I was rendered speechless, and already I have quite a collection of free kindle books, many of them fairytales from all over the world, and some of them are classics I denied myself reading in my youth. (Sherlock Holmes is a great example.) I was also given books, and I was overjoyed to see my favorite cartoon artist Nick Galifianakis’ book If You Loved Me, You’d Think This Was Cute, Alton Brown’s Good Eats 3: The Later Years, and Potter’s Cooking For Geeks. The boyfriend went with me to purchase ski clothes for our week at Timberline in WV, and as one of my gifts he bought my ski pants for me.

Gift opening during brunch

In the afternoon I went over to Daddy-O and his wife A's lovely house for the Sands Family Christmas. All the cousins were there, including my cousin Amy, who is teaching English in China for a year to little kids (if you are interested, here is her blog). After dinner was eaten (I was still full from brunch and Christmas Eve’s duck dinner), we circled around the large Christmas tree where a huge pile of presents were sparkling under the Christmas lights. “Thank you” and “Oh, wow!” were heard from all over the room, and it was quite a sight. At my feet, there were Pink Floyd CDs, a rather stylish carrier bag, Gluten Free on a Shoestring, tangle-free and retractable headphones, a scarf, a slushy making mug, and much-needed funds. I was blown away by Uncle K and Aunt L’s graduation gift, and it is really going to help get my post-college life together (Thank you thank you thank you!).

Although the gifts I received were beyond amazing, it was such a humbling Christmas to have after my Christmas in Sweden. I was surrounded by loved ones, good food, and found my heart had grown three sizes in twenty-four hours. There was no Scrooge or Grinch to be found.

He and I are spending this week at Timberline Ski Resort in Davis, WV with his family and friends until the New Year. Russian is the language of choice, and it is so beautiful to hear. It is raining at the moment, and he is a tad under the weather, but I do aim to either ski or run while I’m here. Most of the food, as I anticipated, is not Morri-friendly, but I did bring provisions to keep my tummy happy.   

I end this post with a Merry Christmas, God Jul, Happy Boxing Day, and Happy New Year. Also, what does your traditional Christmas (or whatever you celebrate) look like in regards to food?