The Chronicle

2024

December 2024

December 2

A few notes on Thanksgiving and the start of Advent, with hopes to manage a fuller write up of Thanksgiving but typewriter soon.

Thanksgiving

• We had a busy November, with Grandma Mizer visiting two weekends before Thanksgiving, then the American Anthropological Association conference right after. Dad got back the Saturday before Thanksgiving
• Still, we did all right. Andie did a lot of pre-planning and we made a lot in advance
• The big takeaway in prep lessons is to have the kids help with house preparations in the weeks leading up and then be out of the way on the day of the event. They'll always do 75-90%, which you can fix with little stress if it's a week or two before
• Alex Goss, Jerry and Willa Zheng, and Skylar Merritt joined us for Thanksgiving
• It snowed, first snow of the year, on Thanksgiving

Advent

We went to Bob's Trees again this year, but left earlier in the day. We had lunch there. The live music was nice but the food was just okay. Better to leave early and get done in time to have lunch on the way home.

They had plenty of snow out there, which made it seem magical. We all liked going the weekend after Thanksgiving instead of later.

Next year, bring a tarp. Also it's probably easier to just carry the tree is you have 2-3 people than to carry it.

The tree fell almost straight down without falling over when we cut it, which means it fell right on Maddie.

Next year we think we'd like colored lights.

We only have a few days all together for Advent this year, so we leaned in heavy these first few nights. Last night we made rock and natural object ornaments. Tonight we watched Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas and made simpler ornaments like a paper chain and pom poms. Otto out a pipe cleaner through the tree he made (he painted green on paper and Mom cut it out) and he was very proud to hang it on the tree.

September

September 28

I’m trying out the idea of writing chronicle post in Markdown, then exporting the html into the Github repository. I don’t actually know, maybe github can already conver markdown to html? This could still be easier?

January

January 5

It's Epiphany Eve, and we're taking in the last glow of the lights from the Christmas tree as Otto sleeps on Andie. A storm is coming in tomorrow, our first real snow storm of the winter. They're projecting 5-7 inches, and the Breens had to move their Advent Spiral party, already rescheduled from last month, to Sunday. I pulled out all of our containers into the dining room today, so that we can put away the decorations in an organized way tomorrow, and I finished our inventory of decorations, records, and movies. Still need to do the books.

We wanted to take some time to reflect on our Christmas tonight. The tree is the best we've ever had in our life, and is still looking great. Otto likes shaking the branches, and Willow climbed up in it. Just as we were about to do presents with Grandma Kelli, the tree fell over. Maddie says that Grandpa knocked it down so she could put the star on. We made a garland of oranges, that makes the tree perfectly whimsical. Andie made the peg doll family, Otto's first Christmas picture, and Corduroy's footprint. Maddie added a yarn star, and Evelyn bought Andie Lord Voldemort.

We had a lot of family visits during Advent--Grandma Kelli in the first week, then Nina and Opa stayed for a week. We think that's part of why there was a lot of bustle for us at the end, because we slowed down in the middle of the month.

On Christmas Eve, Maddie and Evelyn both performed in the service. It was Evelyn's first time performing for an audience, and when Marie gave her the book of sheet music, she said "I'm not doing it" the whole way home in the car. James was very encouraging. We had the traditional macaroni & cheese that night, without meat for the first time. The sauce was perfect for the first time--low and slow on the heat, keep the fat content high, put the cheese in bit by bit, and don't stop stirring. The girls opened one present each, their flannel sheets. Evelyn was a little disappointed not to receive Christmas jammies, but loved the sheets. We didn't realize how important the pajamas were, and are thinking about a plan to all have semi-matched pajamas in the future

Another new thing we did this year was to keep the feast table going for the whole season, especially during the octave. Each night we would pack up the perishables, and bring them out the next day, refreshing as needed. We also worked on the idea of progressive feasting; using leftovers and adding new ingredients/dishes as you go.

• Roasted nuts: soaking in brine was good, try without vinegar next time. Maybe holiday spice it?
• Sea foam: turned out more toffee bits this year, but the mixed spice coating was perfect
• Cheese and olives from THe Cheese Traveler and Cardonas
• Warm egg nog made by Andie
• Candied orange peel, which was good and got better
• Candied fruit; kiwis were the best
• Grissini, crackers, foccacia
• Pistachio feta dip
• Meats from Cardona's
• White chocolate covered pretzels, some with sprinkles, some with peppermint chunks
• Lasagna
• Quiche
• Wassail, Maddie's favorite
• Pudding: turned out perfect; the candied peel made it. Want to get holly sprig for next year, and maybe eat it sooner? We forgot to make the sauce
• Apple turnovers, which Evelyn just gave to the Ruas
• Sausage cream cheese rolls for Christmas breakfast; make sure to drain out all the grease and let the sausage cool before assembling
• Port
• Boxed wine
• Brunch for dinner

• Thumprint cookies with strawberry jam--next year, make an assortment of fillings
• Pignoli, Nick's favorite. Rumor has it Trader Joe's has the cheapest pine nuts. The co-op definitely does not
• Sugar cookies--recipe is perfect in the binder, and they're ripe for variations
• Rum balls--Try Tante Heidi's recommended rum. Andie had to work hard to fix these. Get Jimmy sprinkles
• Italian cookies--They didn't turn out as they were supposed to be, but are good coffee biscuits. Try again.
• Peanut butter cookies. Yes.
• Oatmeal raisin cookies, which Evelyn mostly gave to the Ruas
• Not a type of cookie, but Nick put some cookies on paper plates and was able to give them out to people panhandling

The feast is definitely a marathon. We could have taken it a little easier those first few days and still had plenty of celebrating left to do. There were two distinct phases: the octave, which ends on New Year's Eve, and the final days, when the kids go back to school and you start winding back down towards the more ordinary time of Epiphany.

Nick and Andie tried snapdragon, which should be played outside and with a lower proof rum than we used.

New Year's Day is for divination. We did tea leaves, melted wax, and tarot. We did three card spread for each of the girls, and a Celtic Cross for the family. We took pictures, so I'll add that later.

We put up the colored lights in the garden arches, and it made the garden so pretty

Otto got to sleep in the living room with us when we watched movies at night

Andie really liked having the garland on the coal stove and the hall duct

Spreading out the presents was a big hit. The girls were a little resistant at first, but then we got to get up and do presents for three days in a row. It made it all feel so much bigger and longer, and reduced that sad "it's all over" feeling at the end of a single present gorge. We also managed to put away our presents as we got them, and I think we remember and appreciate them more

We never did play cards this Christmas.

Fondue ended up being on January 3rd this year. New Year's Eve is really the night to do it. I made the broth using the last of the Thanksgiving stock, and tossed in bay leaf, vegetables, seasonings, and meat scraps from trimming the meat for cooking, then strained it all before putting it in the pot. We need to get the other cord sooon. Marinades can be made far in advance, and the meat can be cubed and marinated, then frozen far in advance. It took about four hours this year, all at one go. Should be spread out more. The broth can also be made far in advance. We had filet mignon (one small steak was a good amount for 5 people), chicken thighs, potatoes (parboiled first), broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots (partly steamed first), and mushrooms (balsamic marinade was great). Rolls on the side. Shrimp.

Dad and Maddie went ice skating on the 30th. Free rentals on Saturdays, but it gets a little crowded

We recorded almost all the present opening, and would like to do that again but would like a real camcorder and/or a tripod

The stockings this year were a lot of homemade treats--sea foam, beef jerky, candied peel.

New Year's Eve, we were planning to go to the club, but timings got off, and Otto needed sleep, so Nick, Andie, and Maddie just picked up Taco Bell after dropping off Evelyn and James at Lessa's. We plated all the food very nicely and ate it all with fork and knife. We also dressed up for the event, which shall heretofore be called Fancy New Year's. Then we watched a couple of Adventure Times, a David Blaine special, and flipped through NYE celebrations around the world. Maddie "took a nap" around 11, from which she could not be awoken until the next morning.

• Cookie decorating with the girls but no gingerbread houses! It didn't even get assembled this year
• Planning Epiphany gifts--maybe everyone makes a new decoration and unveils it on Epiphany

2023

December

December 23

The first entry in the chronicle, and wouldn't you know it, it's too short and fairly incomplete. I suppose that's fitting the theme, here. Today we spent almost the entire day in the kitchen, baking and cooking in preparation for Christmas. We were pretty wiped by the end of it. Major successes include Andie's pignoli, Nick's cheese sauce, and Evelyn's oatmeal molasses cookies. James came over, and he and Evelyn exchanged gifts. He also gave us a nice bottle of olive oil that he and his family helped make on one of their trips to Italy. It was fitting because Andie and Nick had just been talking about how they had to ration the remaining olive oil so they had enough for both breadsticks and foccacia.

We certainly feel a little behind with Christmas Eve tomorrow, even though we've been working very hard to get preparations made that will help us celebrate on Christmas morning but also get us ahead on cooking and such so that we can relax and feast in the days to come. Still a lot of tidying to do tomorrow, and gifts to complete (like this one, the website) and wrap.

I'm very glad to have Christmas ahead of us, and am excited to see Evelyn and Maddie perform in the Christmas Eve service tomorrow!