Happy Holidays!

The Pict clan and I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Best wishes of the festive season to one and all.

The perishing temperatures meant we had to resort to taking this year’s photo indoors.

Season’s Greetings!

From my household to yours, we wish you Merry Christmas to those who celebrate and best wishes of the festive season to all. I hope you all have a wonderful time and have the opportunity to eat, drink, and make merry spending quality time with the special people in your lives.

I did not send holiday cards this year for a variety of reasons. Instead, I donated what I would have spent on cards and postage to the DNA Doe Project. I did, however, take the traditional “look how much they’ve grown” photo of our sons and the cats to share with family and friends near and far.

2020 was rough; 2021 was worse. We are very glad to be bidding farewell to 2021 but – I am sure like many folk – are trepidatious about the New Year. Maybe 2022 will undersell and overdeliver – in a good way – but only time can tell.

I will sign off with an outtake from our photoshoot.

Happy Holidays!

I apologise for my absence during this last couple of months of 2020. Life is busy – as always – but not with anything that generates blog fodder. Nobody is clamouring to read about or see photos of me cooking and baking in my jammies, going for a donder around my neighborhood, or being tucked up on a sofa watching a movie. Now that the weather is colder and the pandemic is even worse than it has been, we Picts are in hibernation mode.

It is also the case that I am very burned out. In-person teaching during a pandemic is fatiguing on every level. Throw in supervising my own kids’ doing virtual learning on top of that and all of the usual business of daily family life and I am exhausted to my bones and crawling to the finish line of this year.

It seems ludicrous to state this during a year of “social distancing” but, now that I am on winter break, I am looking forward to a solid chunk of time in which I don’t have to deal with people. I need to not hear my voice say the word “mask” and I need a break from all the constant cleaning and sanitizing – and my skin really needs that break too.

So I am hoping to use this winter break to recharge my batteries and replenish myself through quality family time, lots of relaxation, and hopefully some art time – because my creative mojo has temporarily gone walkabout.

And so, as I sign off for now, I wish you all a wonderful festive season, happy celebrations to those who observe Christmas, and a safe and healthy new year.

Happy Holidays!

Thank you for finding and reading my blog and interacting with me for another year.  I shall not be sorry to say goodbye to 2019 – something I feel like I think every single year.  Is that why we look forward to the new year, because every single year of adulthood is just mentally taxing and emotionally exhausting?  Anyway, let’s see what 2020 has to offer.

From my family to yours, enjoy the festive season – whether or however you celebrate – I hope you dust off the cobwebs of 2019 and I wish you all the very best for 2020.

Laura

PS  Is 2020 the year in which I become the shortest member of my family?

Happy Holidays!

Apologies for my blog having gone so quiet lately.  It has become a bit like a wee ghost town with tumbleweeds breezing through.  Life has just become super busy but not with anything that would be a worthy subject of a blog post – even if I could find the time to blog.  However, the festive season should help me reset and I should be able to get things back on track in the new year.  I am putting my blogging on a brief break but will then return with more posts about slivers of family life, travel, trips, and art.  Until then, however, I wanted to wish you all Happy Holidays and send you best wishes for 2019.  The thing that keeps me motivated to blog is my interaction with all you readers and bloggers, either on my blogs or on yours, so please know that I appreciate each and every one of you and have so enjoyed our online chit-chats.  I look forward to more of that in the coming year.

A friendly festive Elf

I participate in a Secret Santa holiday gift exchange with a group of friends.  I gathered together a collection of gifts for my assigned friend with ease, as she is very easy to shop for, but I realised that I did not have an appropriate greetings card to send.  A couple of years ago, we decided to stop sending holiday cards.  We wanted to reduce our carbon footprint and more meaningfully invest the money that would have been spent on cards and postage (and international postage is expensive).  We, therefore, donate the money to a charity every year instead.  I wanted to send some kind of card or letter to my gift recipient, however, so I decided I would deploy my art skills to create a card.  The time between being assigned a friend’s name and having to send the parcel was very tight so I decided to keep things simple with a quick mixed media painting.  I have been transforming my preschool students into Elves so that gave me my inspiration: I decided to create a portrait of my friend as a festive Elf.  Her favourite colours are red and hot pink and her eyes are green so that gave me a (coincidentally festive) colour palette to work with.  I am not a portraitist but I actually managed to create a good likeness of my friend.  She should be able to recognise herself.  I hope it makes her giggle when she opens the parcel and finds this personalised greeting inside.

Christmas in the City

Following our early afternoon jaunt to Washington Crossing, we did something that appealed far more to the boys – we headed into the city to soak up some of the festive atmosphere.  I must confess that I am rather short of seasonal sparkle this year.  I think November arrived quickly and caught me off guard and I have felt like I have been playing catch up ever since.  I have also been very distracted by other things that have required my focus so I have had little time to think about Christmas.  That is all on top of the fact that for me the holiday season brings with it additional chores, tasks and errands to be ploughed through.  I am not feeling all bah humbug about it but nor am I excited and enthused about Christmas yet.  I was hoping, therefore, that a trip into Philadelphia to see the market and the lights would start to sprinkle me with glitter.

Our first port of call was the Christmas Village.  I learned that Philly had a Christmas market by reading a blog article on Phoodie and the Beast but maybe all of my distractions have led me to overlook promotion for it.  Sited in Love Park, it is quite a bit smaller than the European markets it is clearly emulating but the compact nature probably suited us best as there is only so much perusing of wares my kids will tolerate.  Swirling around a central Christmas tree, the little wooden shacks were selling all sorts of things.  There were lots of stalls that would interest if one was seeking handcrafted jewellery.  There were also lots of stalls selling lovely Christmas ornaments.  I rather liked wooden Santas, carved in Russia and Ukraine, but they were very much out of my price range.  We also liked a stall bedecked in blown glass baubles but I resisted temptation as I have found that glass baubles and small boys do not mix.  The boys were captivated by a stall selling puppets.  I think had they had deeper pockets, they could have spent a lot of pocket money at that stall.

It has been a few years since I was last at a Christmas market – the last one being in Glasgow – and I rather liked the experience.  There was enough to see and do without it being a time consuming slog or another episode of “dragging whining kids somewhere against their will”.  The atmosphere was friendly and warm, with plenty of people milling around, lots of glistening lights, and the smells of delicious foods filling the area and making my stomach rumble despite the fact I was still stuffed full from a late lunch / early dinner.  While the compact nature of this Christmas village was helpful to us as parents, it did mean that all the people milling about were like sardines.  I don’t like crowds because I do not like physical contact with random people so that was another reason we did not malinger too long in the market.  We did stay long enough to let the boys pick out two little Germanic houses that emit a charming glow when a candle is placed inside.

After the visit to the Christmas market, a hop, skip and a jump brought us to the Comcast Centre where – at the top of each hour – a “Holiday Spectacular” is broadcast on their gigantic screens in the entrance foyer.  We arrived with ten minutes to spare which was just as well as it fairly filled up after our arrival and the kids would not have gotten such a good view.  The show is broadcast on the vast LED screens in amazing high definition.  I am no technology junkie.  My husband might marvel at developments in TVs and such like but it is all lost on me.  However, as one might anticipate from a telecoms giant, the technology was incredible.  The figures on the screen looked entirely three dimensional.  There were snowy scenes, penguins, the Twelve Days of Christmas, The Nutcracker, giant piano keys, Dickensian London, and aerial scenes of central Philly.  It lasted about 15 minutes and my kids were spellbound throughout.  Nobody moaned about standing or about being hemmed in by other people.  That there is a Christmas miracle.  The whole presentation was very polished and actually quite enchanting.

Darkness had fallen completely while we were in the Comcast Centre but the air was still warm.  We are experiencing unseasonably warm temperatures in PA this December and are apparently on track for a record warm Christmas Day.  T-shirt weather in December!  The kids were loving it so we let them run around outside the building where there were spotlit trees and twinkly lights in branches to entertain them.  I disrupted their play to try and get a festive photo of all four of them together.  That did not go down well.

Next stop was Macy’s where I had heard there was a holiday light show at the top of each hour.  We made it on time by the skin of our teeth but finding a position on the shop floor that afforded us decent views was impossible.  The kids lost interest within minutes.  It was also uncomfortably hot because of the combined body heat of all those people crammed together indoors.  Frankly, the light show was also rather lacklustre compared to the broadcast we had just seen.  We, therefore, left after a few short minutes.  The kids were far more taken with the Macy’s window displays out on the street, a few of which were on a Peanuts theme.

We had not intended another stop off on our trip into Philly.  However, as we strolled past the Municipal Buildings Plaza, my kids were overtaken with a fit of nostalgia.  They had spent a lot of time playing in this plaza during our first ever trip into Philadelphia.  Their rosy glow was ironic given that that particular trip was a horrendous fail.  My husband having to take a lengthy work phone call combined with the kids pitching fits at every opportunity made it an incredibly stressful trip.  Apparently, however, they had fostered fond memories for this place.  The plaza is the location of a collection of sculptures depicting gigantic gaming pieces, dominoes, Monopoly markers.  A group of teenagers were using it as a skateboarding park but they were soon pushed to the edges by my mob who were excitedly running and climbing and leaping all over the place.  It was a fun conclusion to a fun evening.  I might even have felt the first twinkles of festive spirit stirring in my soul.

Holiday Traditions

One week into December and our holiday traditions are underway.  Despite not being Christians, we celebrate a secular version of Christmas as both Mr Pict and I were brought up with Christmas and wanted to keep those traditions going when we had kids of our own.  Of course, some of the traditions we had back in Britain have had to be mothballed since we emigrated to America.  Pantomimes, for instance, do happen here but are far too expensive for us to attend so no more pantomimes for us for the time being.  We have, however, started new traditions since moving here.  It seems those are already ingrained since the kids were determined that we were going to do the exact same things this year that we have done before.

First among these was the Holiday Light Show at Shady Brook Farm.  We first went in 2013 for our first American Christmas and then again last year.  I offered a suggestion that we do something different this year, another light show even, but the kids shot my suggestions down.  They want repetition and tradition.  So off to Shady Brook Farm we went.  I think the kids like that we drive through all the illuminations, cosy in the car, not having to wander around in the chill night.  They had fun seeing old favourites among the lights and spotting some new additions.  Then we parked up and got out to see the tree and buy some kettle corn and visit the farm shop.  The place was jam packed with people, however, so we didn’t stay too long.

December also means the return of advent traditions to help the kids count down to Christmas Day.  We have a small wooden chest full of drawers that gets open every day plus a Playmobil advent calendar, both traditions we have had since the kids were tiny wee, but now we also have Noel, our Elf on the Shelf.  Now there is a tradition I regret starting.  We don’t do the whole “magical” bit.  The kids know fine well it is me who moves the Elf each night and they know that the Elf is not reporting back to Santa.  For them, finding Noel each morning is just a fun wee treasure hunt.  They look forward to seeing what Elf s up to, either some kind of antics or else a message for them regarding a festive activity.  All harmless fun except that I have to remember to move the ruddy Elf every evening.  Already, a mere week in, I have had to get back out of bed in order to go and move him somewhere, having been jolted out of the land of Nod by the sudden remembrance that Noel is exactly where he was the 24 hours before.  I am also struggling to be very creative with him.  Some people do these amazingly elaborate set ups with their Elves.  Not me.  I just hide Noel somewhere.  If I do a set up, it’s usually something that makes the kids chuckle rather than create magic.  Noel pooped chocolate into a jar the other day.  On the first day, he was found under the Christmas tree with a bottle of liqueur.  That was just as well since I failed to move him that night and I had the excuse of an Elf hangover for why he hadn’t moved.

One day, Noel the Elf was found with a gingerbread house ready to be decorated.  I once baked a gingerbread house from scratch but I had a conniption trying to get the walls to stick together with icing and it ended up looking like a total hovel.  I discovered prefabricated gingerbread houses when we emigrated and, therefore, they can become part of our family’s holiday traditions without me losing the plot.  The three younger boys had a lot of sticky fun decorating the house and eating the surplus construction supplies.

We decorated the house for Christmas right after Thanksgiving.  Mr Pict would rather wait until later into December but all the hassle involved in decorating makes me want to have it last for a good few weeks, more return for my investment.  I don’t go overboard.  We don’t decorate the exterior of the house.  Yet.  Mr Pict wants to get stuff for outside but I don’t know that I could deal with the additional hassle.  Bah humbug.  Sorting out the twinkly lights for the Christmas tree was quite enough stress, thanks very much.  It was worth it though: the formal living room has a lovely glow to it now.

The sweetest thing, however, is that my 6 and 8 year old boys made their own advent calendar.  Playing outside in the garden one evening, they gathered up 12 rocks and decorated them with a sharpie in order to depict the Twelve Days of Christmas.  They then brought it indoors and arranged it on the kitchen floor as a surprise.  Which it was.  A delightful surprise.  I do love it when my kids are creative, experience a spark of inspiration.  We now have the rocks arranged on the windowsill.  Just to add to the cuteness, my youngest keeps singing that the third day is “three henchmen”.  I am now changing the lyrics in our household.  That’s another new holiday tradition.

 

 

Happy Holidays!

Have a wonderful festive season; eat, drink and be merry; enjoy spending time with family and friends; and best wishes for 2015.

Happy Holidays!

From my family to you and yours

Thanksgiving Weekend

I like Thanksgiving as a holiday and I am glad I now get to legitimately celebrate it.  As it is not related to a faith group or specific culture, it is inclusive (albeit that it is technically linked to a commemoration of colonising and persecuting an indigenous population) and everyone is off school and work at the same time.  There is no frenzy of gift buying and wrapping, no decking of the halls (at least not for us) and so the focus is just on togetherness and feasting.

Being relatively new to Thanksgiving, I am only just gradually trying and testing different traditions and seeing which fit and which do not.  This year, literally just two days before Thanksgiving, we had a painter in decorating our living rooms.  The house was topsy-turvy, with boxes of art work, ornaments, books and possessions, shelves and cushions stowed absolutely everywhere else in the house.  It was not conducive to organising anything and – in truth – I forgot to even meal plan until the day before.  And that was the day when my oldest son came down with a sickness bug so we were housebound.  Therefore, partly out of pragmatism and necessity and partly because I needed to use my time in other areas  – such as putting the house back together – I took some lazy options and decided to try some American traditional foods.

I love green bean casserole.  It’s delicious.  That is partly because I load it with even more strong cheese and wholegrain mustard than the recipe instructs but it is just entirely scrummy.  That’s a tradition I am totally on board with.  Brining the turkey ensured that it was succulent and juicy despite its massive bulk.  I am a roast potato fan but at least one of my kids claims he only likes potato if it is mashed so we decided to follow the American tradition of having mash.  To make it extra creamy, however, I added sour cream and cream cheese.  It was amazingly creamy and rich but my kids hated it.  No actually they loathed it.  Fail.  Back to the drawing board with the mash then.  We also used corn muffin mix rather than making them from scratch just because of time.  They were OK but not amazing.  The biggest fail of the day though was the stuffing.  In Britain, stuffing is normally based around sausage meat.  My intention, however, had been to make my mother-in-law’s recipe for rice and mushroom stuffing.  Again, however, my timings being scuppered we opted to try out traditional American stuffing which is based around seasoned bread.  It was horrid.  Nobody ate more than a morsel of it because it was so entirely bland both in flavour and texture.  Not doing that again.  None of our desserts were homemade this year either.  However, my husband and kids assure me that the pumpkin pie, pecan pie and fruit tart were delicious.  So our Thanksgiving feasting traditions will continue to evolve until we get a mixture of things we all enjoy – or which the majority of us enjoy at least.  And next year we won’t schedule lots of upheaval just before the holidays either.

The following evening, we took a trip out to Shady Brook Farm to see their Holiday Light Show.  This was another attempt at forging a tradition since we had also gone there last year.  The car drives through the displays of light which makes for some lazy spectating but keeps everyone contained and cosy.  My kids each had a blanket in the car with them.  The first section was themed around the song ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’ so we all sang the song, loudly, as we drove past each section of lights, often in a tuneless muddle but it was fun nevertheless.  We also liked the sea themed section, the landmarks of the world and fairy tale sections.  The displays all seemed to be the same designs as we had seen last year but that was OK as everyone enjoyed the twinkly lights – especially the tunnels of lights we drove through.

After the driving section, we parked up and wandered around the produce market section.  While festive music played and synchronised lights twinkled and flashed, people were toasting s’mores around fire pits and aromas of salty kettle popcorn, melting chocolate and fried

dough filled the air, wafting at us temptingly from the surrounding stalls.  We capitulated to temptation and bought a toasty hot funnel cake which the boys devoured in a matter of seconds, like hyenas ripping through a downed wildebeest.  I should have made funnel cake and s’mores for Thanksgiving dinner.

Happy Thanksgiving!