Christmas – Dear Liza

Happy Christmas, Merry Hanukkah

Dear Liza,

This year, Christmas Day evening was also the first night of Hanukkah, so of course we combined the two and had a fine time with Auntie Katie and the Cousins.

But first, there was a pork roast to start, presents from out of town to open, and a table to set. It was a wonderful, if slightly overwhelming, morning.

But once things were settled, and before company arrived, I needed to take a walk out in the fresh, rainy air of the neighborhood. My pretty new scarf from Grandpa Nelson goes perfectly with my sweater and hat from Donna! Whoever thought I would be wearing a coordinating, purple outfit?

Outside, the puddles were wide and no one was out, but it was the quiet and calm I needed in a busy day.

And once the family showed up, all was well. We ate and talked and were silly, like always. I love that with kids, every year is different. Their tastes, ideas, and conversation always surprise and amaze me.

After dinner we lit the candles for the first day of Hanukkah, and Katie set them up with some tin foil. “Putting the candles in the window is a mitzvah,” she explained. “Dripping wax on the sill isn’t.” Auntie Bridgett agreed. I like this picture of the menorah and reflections, through the window to John and Stacy’s balcony lights.

We opened presents, including a book of Charlie Brown mad libs and some fabulous books from Katie’s shop. There will be some good reading on these chilly winter days.

Then came the dessert/ artsy portion of the evening. My Christmas pudding was delicious but wouldn’t light… let’s hope the superstition about that (no flame, no good luck) is inaccurate.

Other activities were more successful. Katie and the Cousins had spent their day baking sugar cookies and making royal icing, and we all got to decorate, if we wanted.

Just like doing art online with Ruthie, we all enjoyed each others company while doing our own thing.

I love that Katie has a huge variety of cookie cutters, collected over many years. We had Teddy bears, ninjas, duckies, stars, and what seem to be tiny, baby monsters… wonderful, odd, and sincere. Like us!

Katie even made sense out of Grandma Billie’s Santa shape. It looked wonderful, with gummy bears coming out of the sack!

We watched an old Dr. Who episode which included Vincent Van Gogh, which I enjoyed very much, and then took a group photo… with some difficulty.

Balancing a thin iPhone on a flower vase and then pushing the button with JUST enough force to activate the timer but not enough to knock the phone over is a tricky maneuver. But after many tries, it worked!

And here we are, our own silly selves.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Bringing Christmas Inside

Dear Liza,

We headed over to the Belmont Boys Christmas Tree lot the other day, and, as always, Lawrence helped us find a fine 7 foot Nordman. The day was really cold and a bit breezy, so we made our choice quickly, got the tree on the car, and headed for home.

Because the tree is so tall and thin, Bridgett named it Slim. Grandpa Nelson put the lights on, bringing Slim to life.

Next… well, you see those two boxes stacked up? Those are Christmas tree decorations! So that’s what came next.

The first decoration to go up was part of the Ugly Duckling set that your Mommy Olga helped me pick out at the Hans Christian Andersen Museum in Odense.

It was a gift for Bridgett, who loves the story. Now, she loves the ornaments, too!

Another ornament we got in Denmark was this felt Viking ship. They are sweet Vikings, more fluffy than fierce.

I love that our ornaments bring distant friends close. This Santa rubber duckie reminds us of Kitty, Mike, Isaac and Rhys, who are celebrating in Ireland this year.

And some ornaments even travel through time. This fragile pine cone belonged to my Momma years before I was born, and now it lives with all my new friends helping our tree tell our story.

Happy Seasoning!!

Love,
Grandma Judy

A Merry Covid Christmas

Dear Liza,

While you were off in the wilds of Norway in search of the Northern Lights, we were spending a quiet, rainy Christmas Day here in Portland. Grandpa Nelson has caught Covid and had a bad few days of sleeping and being miserable, but now seems to be on the mend.

We had a very helpful Zoom visit with a Nurse Practitioner named Ronnie, who prescribed meds, gave advice, and provided some much-needed confidence.

For Christmas Eve dinner, we had hoped for our traditional dinner of take out pizza, but Straight from New York on Belmont closed early and it was too cold to look further. Bridgett proposed pancakes, which suited me just fine. I’m pretty sure red wine and Hennessy goes with pancakes, right?

Auntie Katie picked up groceries for us, and some lovely tulips, as well. Our table was lovely.

On Christmas Day we opened presents, then had FaceTime visits with Bridgett’s family in San Diego and Auntie Katie and the Cousins just across town. They built wonderful gingerbread houses!

Our Christmas dinner was Danish meatballs, pasta and roasted veggies. Special Christmas plates from Aunt Chris, placemats from friend Julie, and Katie’s tulips made for a festive view.

Auntie Bridgett and I played Bananagrams, watched an episode of the Great British Baking Show Holiday special, and snuggled with Mouse on the couch. Then it was time to give Grandpa Nelson his medicine and head for bed.

Merry Christmas, get home safe, and we’ll chat soon.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Filling the Advent Calendar

Dear Liza,

You’ve seen the advent calendar that Auntie Bridgett made years ago. It is adorably decorated paper sacks that we hang on a ribbon. We’ve now used it in three different houses!

We re-use the bags every year by filling them with sweet things, which become evening surprises as we approach the holiday.

But candy every evening isn’t so good for our house of grown-ups, so I need to get more creative. Our staircase lends itself to tossing games. This year I will employ my folding top hat and some soft balls and set up a challenge. Toss the ball towards the hat and if you get it into the hat two out of three times, you get a treat. Treats can include snacks, a glass of wine, or getting to choose the movie of the evening.

If you don’t make your shots, you have to do a trick. Those can include fetching treats for a spouse, naming four of Santa’s reindeer, or other silly thing.

We also have bits of trivia about the creators of some of our favorite Christmas stories… Jim Henson, Dr. Seuss, and Charles Dickens.

I like being the Advent Queen! It is as close as I ever want to get to doing lesson plans again.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Christmas Morning

Dear Liza,

There was so much going on here at Christmas, I’m going to have to tell it in chapters!

Christmas morning dawned COLD, with snow predicted. Auntie Bridgett and I had breakfast and did our online French lesson as usual, enjoying the glowing Christmas tree and waiting for Grandpa Nelson to wake up and have his breakfast.When he did, we got to the very important business of opening presents!

There were lots of wonderful books, jewelry , hats and games. I had made Auntie Bridgett a French Scrabble game, using regular English tiles and altering the scores and number of them as needed, because French uses more vowels than English. I made a Paris map fabric bag to keep them in. She seemed pleased! Of course, there was a French Scrabble dictionary, as well. We are going to get so smart.

Warm, very stylish hats for everyone came from Auntie Bridgett’s Mom, Donna. Here is me in my Irish wool Claudaugh.

I started the pork loin in the slow cooker and we enjoyed our new toys. Grandpa Nelson read us funny bits from a new book called “Cows on Ice and Owls in the Bog”, by Katarina Montnemery, about funny idioms from Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. Idioms are sayings like “Go jump in a lake”, where you don’t really mean what you say. So far my favorite is a Danish saying, ”Just pat the horse.” It means to calm down.

We spent a very slow, glowing morning, feeling blessed to be snuggled in, as warm as a cat. This cat, to be exact.

Love,

Grandma Judy

What Comes in the Mail

Dear Liza,

Since our family and friends are spread up and down California and Oregon, and giving gifts in person is just not possible this year, we have started sending more gifts of food. Companies like Pittman and Davis, Hickory Farms, Harry and David, The Fruit Company, Temecula Olive Oil Company, Nut Cravings, and Barnett’s make and send pastries, nuts, and fruit that are not inexpensive, but always delicious. Food is the perfect gift to send to folks you love but don’t see very often. It doesn’t clutter up the house (at least not for long!), it is always the right size, and it makes for interesting snacking.

This year, with so many wonderful treats coming to our front door, I have gotten good at making whole meals out of them! The Chipotle cheese from Auntie Bridgett’s brother became a spicy quesadilla, eaten alongside an orange from her Aunt Chris. Afternoon snacks of almonds and dried fruit from your own family make for healthy mid-afternoon eating, and the lemon olive oil from Julie will help turn some weary kale into a tasty salad.

Besides the professionally packaged gifts, we have gotten boxes full of wrapped presents. Auntie Christy and Cousin Kyle sent theirs padded with pages and pages of the Los Angeles Times newspaper! It was so much fun reading the articles. She even included the funny pages, and we saw that that clever woman does the LA Times crossword and Sudoku…in ink! Very impressive.

Of course, with three of us in the house, and all of us ordering some things that we couldn’t find in town, the new rule is, if it’s not addressed to you, don’t open it! We don’t want to spoil the surprise.

I hope you get lots of wonderful presents!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Donna’s Cookies

Dear Liza,

Auntie Bridgett’s momma Donna makes really good sugar cookies. I mean, REALLY good. And this year, with no travel, we had to make our own!

Fortunately, Donna gave us HER recipe, so we are just fine. We creamed the butter, eggs, and vanilla together, then sifted in the flour, baking powder and a dash of salt, mixed it up and put it in the fridge. While it chilled I hunted for cookies cutters. We don’t have many, since I passed most of them onto Auntie Katie long ago. But we had enough to make it work.

I made some to be left plain, because Grandpa Nelson prefers the cookies just by themselves, and some to make pretty to share with neighbors. I even changed from my usual buttercream and tried royal icing, a new (to me) type of cookie icing that dries smooth and shiny.

When the icing was fresh, it was very runny and hard to control, but after it sat in the fridge (in an airtight container) for a while, it worked much better.

I used the piping bag and Auntie Bridgett used her skill with a butter knife, and together we made some pretty cookies.

Now they just need to dry overnight (covered and protected from curious kittens!) and they will be ready to pass along. Baking is something I do to make me happy, and something I can share with others. It takes the love I have inside and allows me hand it out on little plates.

Merry Christmas!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Happy Hanukkah!

Dear Liza,

Our household celebrates both Christian and Jewish holidays, so this time of year is extra festive. We have our Christmas tree up and the menorah on the table. We have delivered small gifts across town to Auntie Katie and the cousins and wrapped presents for each other in red and green paper.

Our brass menorah, bought from the now-closed Do Re Me Music in Carmel about 38 years ago, was the first piece of Judaica we owned. We love it because it is an abstraction of the word “Hanukkah”, which means dedication, and is different from any menorah we have ever seen. We keep it on the piano all year ‘round, as a piece of art.

The only problem with it is that when the lower candles are all lit, the upper one tends to ….. well….. melt. A slight design flaw. But a small price to pay.

This year we are not making latkes. They are traditional and I love eating them, but for just Auntie Bridgett and me (Grandpa Nelson doesn’t like them) it is a lot of grating and frying mess. Also, we have an extremely nervous smoke detector. So we will pass for now and hope for better things next year.

Because it usually happens so close to Christmas, people sometimes try to make Hanukah an equivalent holiday, but it just isn’t. It is not nearly as important to Judaism as Passover, Rose Hosannah, or Yom Kippur.

But in the middle of a cold dark season, candles are always good.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Cats at Christmas

Dear Liza,

You know our cat, Mouse, is part of our family. She is 9 years old already, older than you! She enjoys many of the same things we do.
Snuggling….

Listening to stories….

Decorating for Christmas,

and getting to know the neighbors.

Sometimes she is even part of the decor.

So of course she gets Christmas presents.

I have sewn cat toys for our Mouse and Auntie Katie’s cat, Pixel. Pixel is 15, and a real old lady cat, but she likes toys, too.

It doesn’t take much! Some felt leftover from other projects, part of an old shredded sheet for stuffing, and some cat nip from the grocery store. A little bit goes a long way! And since cats are not very critical, this is a low-stress art project.

I like being able to celebrate Christmas with all my loved ones, even the furry ones!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Christmas Day in Retrospect

Dear Liza,

It is now the day after Christmas and I am still full to the brim from the feasting and family. Our Christmas celebration started around 10 in the morning when the rest of the family woke up (Auntie Bridgett and I are early risers), and went until after 9 that night when tired Grandkids headed home.

First there were cinnamon rolls and coffee, and presents for and from Auntie Christy and Cousin Kyle. We were all pleased with the Hogwarts’ goodies, so perfect for us and our chilly winters here in Portland.

Auntie Katie and the Cousins came later, bringing more gifts and a delicious ad- libbed cream pie.

Kyle, being the Dungeon Master of the day, had prepared a Dungeons and Dragons adventure for Jasper and Kestrel, and the three of them developed characters and played while the older folks chatted, ate and drank, and played music.

Jasper, Kes and Kyle working in character development

Katie and I were the only ones who wanted a walk, so we headed off to Laurelhurst. I wore my new Hogwarts scarf, and met a fellow Hufflepuff! Her name is May. She is a delight and I hope we see each other again. We also did some serious bird-watching, Katie sharing her Great Grandma Billie’s love of feathered friends.

Watching the Bullock’s Orioles in the park

Katie is always good company. She and I talked about my story and she gave me some good advice on how to make it better as I go forward.

We got home and had dinner, which was, as always, a team effort and delicious.

Then came more presents! Harry Potter and Wonder Woman and weird little Hands for Handy Hand to hang out with. What a day!

Then there was more music, with harmonies and extra verses. As everyone’s energy level started to sag, no one wanted the day to end!

Kyle and Jasper played a video game on the sofa while the rest of us watched The Grinch (the original, with Boris Karloff’s voice) and the White Christmas, with which we sang along.

Finally, we had a game of Kozo, then Dreidle, and then we had to just own up that it was time to go to bed.

I am so blessed to have this life full of loving people, safety and abundance, ideas, music and surprise.

Love,

Grandma Judy