Holiday Traditions
Well, here we are- the big week at last! I have three days off in a row- my usual Tuesday and Wednesday, and then I’m off on Thursday for… Festivus. Yes, we take Festivus very seriously around here! I had to do a bit of finagling to get the day off. Obviously I didn’t tell my boss why I needed the day off- I vaguely alluded to an important “family celebration” and I had to get someone to cover my shift. And guess what… my sister sent me this: It’s hard to explain how Festivus evolved for our family. In the early days, we used to air grievances, but that ended up getting out of control, ha ha, and didn’t feel very nice two days before Christmas. One year we also tried to replicate the Festivus dinner that George’s mom served, and that was pretty funny. The Festivus dinner was meatloaf on a bed of lettuce, and we modified that to be a Tofurkey roast on a bed of lettuce, with a bowl of peas on the side. While that was fun, it wasn’t extremely appetizing so we also dropped that. Over the years, our Festivus traditions have solidified into basically our own holiday, with a couple nods to the Seinfeld original. First things first! We go out for a bagel brunch. Bagels are obviously a Festivus food (thank you, Kramer.) Here’s a picture from several years ago- the Festivus bagel brunch: This picture must have been about five years ago- both my kids have much shorter hair now! Also, fun fact: that purple cup contains my giant iced tea. I was training for a marathon and had run 20 miles that morning! It still stands out in my mind as being one of the best Festivus’s ever. After the bagels, we split up; my husband leaves to do ALL his Christmas shopping. Yes, he waits until December 23rd. He’s insane, but in his defense, this is an extremely busy time for him, work-wise, and Christmas just kind of sneaks up on him. It’s so funny to me because I’ll have been working for weeks, getting all the kids’ presents bought and wrapped, stocking stuffers ready, etc. Then on the 23rd he’s like “I guess I should go to the store!” Surprisingly, he usually gets us some pretty good presents. Maybe there’s a lesson to be learned there! The kids and I do a little of our own shopping. We usually end up at Old Navy, and they pick out some things for my husband. One year we also went to Bed Bath and Beyond- earlier in the month my husband announced that he wanted a new steam mop for Christmas. I said, “Don’t be RIDICULOUS! That’s not a Christmas present!” But then on Festivus we bought his steam mop, wrapped it up really fancy, and hid it behind the tree. On Christmas morning we waited until everything else had been unwrapped, and then re-enacted the scene from Christmas Story where the kid thinks he didn’t get his BB gun. “Wait! What’s that? There’s one more present behind the tree…” The kids and I were laughing so hard and my husband had no idea what was going on- UNTIL HE UNWRAPPED HIS NEW STEAM MOP! Anyway, after the Festivus shopping trip, the kids and I go home and have a big wrapping party. (My husband is usually working at this point.) Of course the “Santa” present are already wrapped and still hidden away, but we wrap all the presents we’re giving each other- we really go all out and try to make them as pretty as possible. Then we arrange them under the tree… And at night we watch The Polar Express and have hot chocolate (you have to have hot chocolate when you’re watching The Polar Express!) So… our Festivus really has little to do with the original “holiday.” It’s really just a special day I spend with my kids. But we take it very seriously! Festivus has to be on the 23rd, and we have to do our usual activities. On Christmas Eve we have another set of traditions. For the last ten years, my friend and her two girls have come over and we decorate cookies “for Santa.” Her girls are one year older and one year younger than my daughter, and although my son is now 19 and the girls are 11,12 and 13, we still decorate the Santa cookies. Then we either have a Christmas Eve dinner or lunch with them. It depends on whether it’s an “early” or “late” year. The year we started this tradition, my friend was going through a divorce. Every year she and her husband alternate- on “early” years, she has the girls until 4:00 and then they go to their father. On “late” years, she doesn’t get them until 4:00. We just adjust our schedule to accommodate them. On “late” years they’ll stay at our house really late, and we’ll go for a walk after dinner to look at Christmas lights. On “early” years, we’ll finish the cookie decorating and lunch by 4:00 pm, and my kids and I will watch Christmas shows at night- Charlie Brown, Rudolph, The Grinch… all the classics. Once again, my husband will be working (he’s a trumpet player and always has a church gig on Christmas Eve.) Christmas morning we open presents and make cinnamon rolls. Then the rest of the day is spent lazily at home- no one comes over and we don’t go anywhere. I love it! It’s a nice way to end the busy, busy season. If anyone was eavesdropping on our family, they would think we were extremely strange. “Mom, is this an early or a late year?” “Did you get someone to cover your shift on Festivus yet?” Our holidays might be a little unusual, but I think traditions are important. My kids will definitely have a lot of happy Christmases to look back on. How about you?
Weekly Rundown-Festive Chaos
OOF. You know what’s hilarious? The fact that I though NOVEMBER was a busy month. What??? November was cinch-y! All I had to do was cook one big dinner! Now that we’re one week away from Christmas, things have gotten REALLY crazy. As always, I’m joining Kim and Deborah for this weekly rundown. Let’s just see what happened this week… Monday Started the day with a 30 minute slow flow yoga class. As always, my yoga classes were on the Peloton app with Denis Morton. Then… work. Work has been so, so crazy lately. We’re overbooked and understaffed, and the people who come in seem to have more extreme pain and/or anxiety than usual. One woman was hit by a bus. One woman had brain surgery and can’t move her left hand. Another client’s niece was murdered. Another’s infant grandchild is undergoing chemo… and on and on. Really, really terrible situations. I’m longing for the good old days where people just came in with a sore neck. Anyway… Monday was particularly hard, with several clients requiring deep, deep pressure. There’s a reason I mention this! Let’s read on to find out. Tuesday Day off from work, phew. Started the day with a three mile run. Yay! The rest of this day was my last big shopping day for Christmas presents and supplies. At night my daughter had a concert at school. Fun day! Wednesday Second day off from work. I started this day with a 45 minute power yoga class. Great class! Only, I noticed it was a little hard for me to get my right wrist extended. Something just seemed a little off during the poses where my hands need to be flat on the floor (like down dog, planks, etc.). Oh well! I’m sure everything will be fine. I spent a HUGE part of this day wrapping presents. Why is wrapping presents so tiring? And why does it take so long? One of the mysteries of life. Thursday Again, started the day with a three mile run. My foot had been pretty good all week, but for some reason my heel was really achy today. Not achy as in, an injury to a tendon or ligament… more like someone hit it repeatedly with a hammer. That kind of achy! Meanwhile, the doctor’s office called to tell me my orthotics wee ready. Seriously? I could have picked them up any time during the previous two days, but now that I was back at work, there was no way I could get there. Arg. AND, as soon as I started my first massage it was clear that my wrist was very sore. NOOOOOOOOOO! I really hadn’t been paying close enough attention, but when I looked back I could see that I definitely hurt it while working on Monday. I just can’t, can’t, CAN’T have an injured wrist! This was a hard day to get through- I continued to work while trying not to put pressure on that wrist (which was practically impossible.). I wonder what life would be like if I weren’t constantly hurting myself? At night my daughter had her final concert of the season. Phew! Lots of concerts this year, and I loved every one of them. Friday Well, let’s see! I had an achy heel and wrist. I decided to do a little bit of yoga and a little bit of running, and see what happened. I started with a 15 minute hamstring focus flow- I purposely chose a very short class, and I didn’t extend my wrist at all. Instead, I tented my fingers rather than putting my hands flat on the floor. It worked fine for such a short class, but I wouldn’t want to do that any longer, for fear of hurting some other part of my hand. Then, I did a two mile run, and- go figure- my foot felt fine! Things are looking up! I was super careful of my wrist again at work, and again it was a hard day to get through. But I felt that my wrist was possibly a little better, so that was encouraging. After work, I did my second favorite thing (sarcasm) and drove to the airport during rush hour. But it was all worth it because i was PICKING UP MY SON! HE’S HOME!!! So here’s the thing. Ever notice how some people just seem to bring a swirl of chaos wherever they go? That’s my son! He’s such a great person, but I’ve realized how much calmer life is when he’s not here here. As soon as we got home, he unpacked his suitcase in the middle of the living room, showered us all with gifts, and demanded large quantities of food. By bedtime, my head was spinning, and I decided to sleep late (7:30) on Saturday, figuring I would either run or do yoga later in the day. Well… Saturday It felt weird to get up and start getting ready for work right away. The good news is, I had all easy clients and my wrist is starting to feel better. The bad news is, my son realized he left two important items at school. So… after work i did my #1 favorite thing (#2 being driving to the airport during Friday rush hour) and WENT TO THE MALL. Actually I like the mall. But there are some important “mall rules,” and one is, never, ever go to the the mall on the Saturday before Christmas. But, my son needed a watch charger and black dress pants, so there was nowhere else to go. Well… we got what we needed, but I stand by that mall rule. I’m hoping to never go again the weekend before Christmas. As I was making dinner I realized I never did do that workout. And that’s why, if you really, really want to exercise, you should do it first thing in the morning! Otherwise you never know what the day will bring. Sunday Another busy day, so
Vegan, Keto Christmas Cookies (What???)
Sunday was my cookie baking extravaganza! Although I set aside the whole day, I didn’t get as much done as I had hoped (how does that happen?) I made orange-chocolate chip biscotti, iced gingerbread oatmeal cookies, a sugar-free cookie for myself, and the dough for gingerbread cutout cookies. The gingerbread dough is sitting in the fridge, patiently waiting to be rolled, cut and baked. All these cookies were vegan (but only the sugar-free one was keto.) If you’re interested in making vegan cookies, you can do one of two things: a) simply pick a recipe that’s already vegan, or b) take a non-vegan recipe and make vegan substitutions. For this cookie baking party, I did both. I got the recipe for the iced gingerbread oatmeal cookies from Sally’s Baking Addiction. This is not a vegan blog. But her recipes are so delicious- I’ve made several of her cookies and use vegan substitutions. If it calls for milk, I use oatmilk, soymilk, or almond milk. For the butter, I use Earth Balance vegan buttery sticks. You can usually find them in a regular grocery store, and they act and taste just like butter in a recipe. Eggs are the most challenging thing to substitute. For most cookies, I’ve found that a flax egg works great. A flax egg is one tablespoon of ground flaxseed mixed with three tablespoons of water. Mix it, let it sit for a few minutes, and it becomes thick and gloppy- like the texture of an egg. I usually stick to recipes that only call for one egg. If there are multiple eggs, then it seems like a pretty important part of the recipe and I don’t want to mess with that. There are plenty other recipes to choose from! Like… anything from Isa Chandra Moskowitz, the queen of vegan cookies. For my gingerbread cutout cookie dough, I used her recipe from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. And I used her recipe for the biscotti from Veganomicon. Her orange-chocolate chip biscotti are insanely delicious. One year we gave some to my son’s teacher and he wrote me a note telling me that they were the most delicious biscotti he had ever tasted, vegan or otherwise. The recipe in the book is actually for almond-anise biscotti, but she gives a variation for orange biscotti. I’ve never made the almond anise version. Maybe someday I will, but I don’t see how they could compare with the orange chocolate chip. As you can imagine, my house smelled AMAZING. First with the gingerbread spices, and then with the orange and chocolate. I got inspired to make my own cookies, and used this recipe for keto chocolate chip cookies from Chocolate Covered Katie. I do NOT follow a ketogenic diet! But if I find a vegan, keto cookie recipe I’ll make it every once in a while. If the recipe is keto I know it has no sugar. Her version calls for erythritol, but I used this: The maple-flavored syrup is sweetened with monkfruit, and the chocolate chips are sweetened with stevia and erythritol. If I eat too much erythritol is bothers my stomach, but in moderation it’s okay. I added the zest of an orange to these cookies and they were yummy! I ate ONE and put the rest away. If these cookies had sugar in them, I would have kept eating and eating them. I would have eaten until I felt ill, and that’s why I don’t eat sugar. Most of the cookies went into the freezer. I still have a couple more cookies to bake, but it feels good to have a large stash already made. I’ll take them out over the next couple of weeks to add to gifts, and of course for my family to eat. I had my son in mind when I made the gingerbread oat cookies- he’s a big oatmeal cookie fan. The gingerbread cutout cookie dough will be used to make our gingerbread houses! I’ll bake the pieces of the house this week, build the houses on Saturday, and we’ll decorate them on Sunday. I’ve learned over the years that this project is best done in stages. How about you- do you bake cookies? What’s your favorite cookie?
Weekly Rundown- The Calm Before the Storm
Hey guys! After a crazy week last week, it felt like time slowed down and allowed me to catch my breath. I got a lot done and feel like I’m in good shape going into the next couple of weeks- it’s going to be a wild ride from here on out. As always, I’m linking up with Kim and Deborah for this rundown. Let’s get started! Monday I started the week with a 45 minute slow flow yoga class. Yes, even though my month of yoga is over, I still did a lot of yoga this week. As always, all classes were on the Peloton app with Denis Morton. Tuesday Started the day with a three mile run. Hooray! Every running day is a good day. Then I went to the podiatrist for my fifth shockwave treatment. While I was there he did the scans for my orthotics! My next shockwave treatment is in four weeks, and the orthotics should be ready by then. Hang in there, foot- help is on the way! Wednesday 45 minute power yoga class. Good class! Lots of single leg strength elements and balance. Thursday Another three mile run to start the day. Here’s the thing: NOW, the arch of my foot is aching. I mean, in addition to the heel (plantar fasciitis) and the side of the foot (insertional peroneal tendinitis.) It doesn’t feel like an injury- just like a sore, achy arch of my foot. It doesn’t hurt when I run, but a couple times in the middle of the night I woke up with it aching. Poor foot! Friday Started the day with another 45 minute power yoga class. For the last couple weeks I’ve been doing a Friday evening run, but because of the achy arch situation I decided to skip it this week. But, all is not lost! I had a very dire situation to address. Last Sunday, I announced that I was going to put up the outdoor Christmas lights. But when I walked out the door, it was 84 degrees, sunny and humid. NOOOO! I just couldn’t do it. So I foolishly put it off, hoping the weather would improve. Well, the days went on and our weather has stayed hot and humid. Meanwhile, I had to look at every else’s Christmas lights while my house remained dark. The situation was becoming desperate, because I knew that next week is another busy week. I decided to just get the lights around the top of the house up, and I thought that doing it later in the day would be cooler. Well, it was cooler but as the sun started to set, I got about 97 mosquito bites. Christmastime in Florida- it’s special! I did get those top lights up though, and felt triumphant, and itchy. Saturday First thing in the morning I did a 30 minute core focus yoga class. Then, I went to work where I had my hardest client. He gets a 90 minute massage with the deepest pressure I can possibly give. He’s a super nice guy, always appreciative, and tips well. And I get a second workout! But I’m glad I only see him once a month. After work…. I finished the Christmas lights! Victory!!! Now you may be wondering why my husband doesn’t help with this. The answer is- it’s just not his thing. He likes the way it looks with the lights up, but if left up to him, he wouldn’t do it. In addition, this is his busiest time of year, work-wise. So this has become my job, and I’m fine with it. Somehow I felt like, with all the time I spent it should be more spectacular than this. We have a couple neighbors who really go all out- lights covering every inch of their yard and house, and one additionally has an entire Nativity scene on the roof. No, that’s not me! My lights are good enough- I can say I decorated the house and feel good about it. Phew- that task is done for another year. Sunday I tried something different today. I did the beginning of a yoga quad focus flow. It’s a quad focus because Denis calls your attention to your quads in each pose, but it was a real hip activation with chair, humble lunge (why is that one so hard?) and warrior 3. I paused the class before the final poses and went for a four mile run. Then I came back and re-joined the class for the final poses, so I got some good stretching in. It was a fun way to mix things up! And now… today will be my cookie baking extravaganza! I know- my last post was all about how I don’t eat sugar. And I don’t! But I still enjoy baking cookies. It will be fun, and feel good to get a big chunk of baking out of the way. I’ll put most of the cookies in the freezer and pull them out as needed. And I’ll probably find the time to make a “special’ batch of my own cookies. I’ll be sharing it all on Tuesday! Next week gets crazy again. My daughter has two more concerts and my son comes home on Friday! And there will be lots of present wrapping. This time of year is stressful, but it’s all good stress. I love it. How was your week? Are you extra busy or not so much? Do you put up outdoor lights? And do you go all out, or more minimalistic?