Recalling Christmas
Jan. 2nd, 2014 10:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fenchurchWe ended up having to change our travel plans rather quickly (for reasons I'll probably go into in another post, since this one is meant to be happy in tone), meaning we left almost a week earlier than originally intended. I still haven't sent out a single Christmas card, but intend to work on them this week. I figure as long as I get them in the mail by Twelfth Night, I'm good. Right?
Anyway, all things considered, it was a pretty decent Christmas... I love my in-laws and really value the time I get to spend with them (some of you may not know, but I was actually friends with two of my sisters-in-law before I ever dated their brother... and, in fact, it was one of his younger sisters who dared me into asking him out in the first place). And having grown up as an only child, often living far away from extended family, I don't think I'll ever get tired of having huge family Christmases!
So, some highlights:
My father-in-law is a retired chemistry professor (or, more accurately, he's a professor emeritus) and shortly before we got into town he'd seen a photo floating around Facebook of a "Chemist-Tree." He decided he had to build his own:
It was really fun watching him construct it... and it turned out to be quite festive!
I have a tradition of making trifle for Christmas... and this year was no different, with my standard layered dessert of pound cake, fruit, Jell-O and custard. What was different was the last minute decision to try to make an extra one that could be eaten by all of the various allergic people in the household. We have one severe (and several mild) nut allergies, a coconut allergy, a corn allergy (believe me, this was probably the hardest to work around), some berry allergies and my problems with cow's milk. I fell asleep thinking about this the night before Christmas Eve and woke up in the morning with a bit of a brainstorm. We hit the stores and, surprisingly, managed to find everything we needed... and the end result was incredibly delicious. I'll be doing it again.
We'd already used the trifle bowl for the traditional one, so we had to improvise and you can't see the layers as well... but wow, was it good. We found a chocolate cake mix without any of the allergens mentioned above to make up the bottom layer, then we drizzled it with the liquid from some canned pie cherries (with no corn!) followed by a layer of chopped pie cherries. Next up was another layer of cake followed by the epiphany I'd had of how to make the whole thing work: chocolate avocado mousse. Yep, we managed to find enough ripe avocados on Christmas Eve day to whip up some mousse! On top of that was a layer of crushed chocolate cookies (sans the previously mentioned allergens) and then I took the remaining mousse and got the brilliant idea to fold in some Tru-Whip (I sort of wish I'd done it for the first layer, too), and then sprinkled the top with Enjoy Life Mini Chocolate Chips! It was soooooo incredibly good! And I suspect I could make it gluten free, too, with a bit more warning. I'm still really pleased with how well it turned out for being such a last minute addition to the meal
The other thing that happened Christmas Eve was that I gave myself a festive slight concussion. Yeah, really.
I was chatting withrackham's youngest sister and, I think, something fell off her desk (I'm not entirely sure on that bit now). I bent down to retrieve it and came back up hard into the edge of her desk. It hurt like the dickens and I could almost immediately feel a bump forming... plus there was more than a bit of dizziness. I headed into the kitchen to ice it down, feeling just a bit weird, but not enough to worry me. It wasn't until a little bit later (with my head still pounding from where I got whacked), when I realized that I couldn't figure out how to use the sink in the bathroom (the thing had one of those lever style faucet handles and I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that there weren't knobs on the sides) that I started to get a bit worried. So, of course I headed out to the internet... found a good site with instructions on how to test for concussion and tried them out. First step, close your eyes and touch the tip of your finger to the tip of your nose. Right hand, no problem. Left hand? Um... problem. I couldn't do it. At all. Same with balancing on my left foot (no problem balancing on my right). About this time, I told Rackham what was up so he could keep an eye on me. The evening had a slightly surreal edge and I avoided driving for a few days, just in case, but thankfully seemed to have come through it okay. That's the sort of fun I could do without in the future.
Something that more than made up for the concussion, though, was Rackham's present for me. It took me completely by surprise and I actually started crying when I unwrapped it.
So, now for the explanation... As some of you know, Robert Heinlein is my favorite author. I first discovered his writing when I was ten years old and checked an album out from the library with "The Green Hills of Earth" on one side and "Gentlemen, Be Seated" on the other, both being read by Leonard Nimoy. Aside from the fact that it was being read by Spock, it was the album cover by Frank Kelly Freas that drew me in:
I got to meet the artist several times over the years and, once, see the original painting in person (he'd brought it along to a convention to display). There have never been any prints sold of it... I eventually tracked down my own copy of the album and have it framed to hang on the wall, but that's the closest I've gotten. Since the artist's death a few years ago, the family has slowly started selling some of his pieces... and the original for "The Green Hills of Earth" is actually for sale. And if I ever win the lottery, it's one of the first things I'll buy (it's horribly expensive). But my Christmas present this year? Is the original sketch FKF did for the piece to work out scale and sizing. It's beautiful and incredible and I can't wait to get it framed... and we even have the perfect spot to hang it (there's a lighted niche in the hallway that requires something wonderful).
Crossposted from my Livejournal.
Anyway, all things considered, it was a pretty decent Christmas... I love my in-laws and really value the time I get to spend with them (some of you may not know, but I was actually friends with two of my sisters-in-law before I ever dated their brother... and, in fact, it was one of his younger sisters who dared me into asking him out in the first place). And having grown up as an only child, often living far away from extended family, I don't think I'll ever get tired of having huge family Christmases!
So, some highlights:
My father-in-law is a retired chemistry professor (or, more accurately, he's a professor emeritus) and shortly before we got into town he'd seen a photo floating around Facebook of a "Chemist-Tree." He decided he had to build his own:
It was really fun watching him construct it... and it turned out to be quite festive!
I have a tradition of making trifle for Christmas... and this year was no different, with my standard layered dessert of pound cake, fruit, Jell-O and custard. What was different was the last minute decision to try to make an extra one that could be eaten by all of the various allergic people in the household. We have one severe (and several mild) nut allergies, a coconut allergy, a corn allergy (believe me, this was probably the hardest to work around), some berry allergies and my problems with cow's milk. I fell asleep thinking about this the night before Christmas Eve and woke up in the morning with a bit of a brainstorm. We hit the stores and, surprisingly, managed to find everything we needed... and the end result was incredibly delicious. I'll be doing it again.
We'd already used the trifle bowl for the traditional one, so we had to improvise and you can't see the layers as well... but wow, was it good. We found a chocolate cake mix without any of the allergens mentioned above to make up the bottom layer, then we drizzled it with the liquid from some canned pie cherries (with no corn!) followed by a layer of chopped pie cherries. Next up was another layer of cake followed by the epiphany I'd had of how to make the whole thing work: chocolate avocado mousse. Yep, we managed to find enough ripe avocados on Christmas Eve day to whip up some mousse! On top of that was a layer of crushed chocolate cookies (sans the previously mentioned allergens) and then I took the remaining mousse and got the brilliant idea to fold in some Tru-Whip (I sort of wish I'd done it for the first layer, too), and then sprinkled the top with Enjoy Life Mini Chocolate Chips! It was soooooo incredibly good! And I suspect I could make it gluten free, too, with a bit more warning. I'm still really pleased with how well it turned out for being such a last minute addition to the meal
The other thing that happened Christmas Eve was that I gave myself a festive slight concussion. Yeah, really.
I was chatting with
rackham's youngest sister and, I think, something fell off her desk (I'm not entirely sure on that bit now). I bent down to retrieve it and came back up hard into the edge of her desk. It hurt like the dickens and I could almost immediately feel a bump forming... plus there was more than a bit of dizziness. I headed into the kitchen to ice it down, feeling just a bit weird, but not enough to worry me. It wasn't until a little bit later (with my head still pounding from where I got whacked), when I realized that I couldn't figure out how to use the sink in the bathroom (the thing had one of those lever style faucet handles and I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that there weren't knobs on the sides) that I started to get a bit worried. So, of course I headed out to the internet... found a good site with instructions on how to test for concussion and tried them out. First step, close your eyes and touch the tip of your finger to the tip of your nose. Right hand, no problem. Left hand? Um... problem. I couldn't do it. At all. Same with balancing on my left foot (no problem balancing on my right). About this time, I told Rackham what was up so he could keep an eye on me. The evening had a slightly surreal edge and I avoided driving for a few days, just in case, but thankfully seemed to have come through it okay. That's the sort of fun I could do without in the future.Something that more than made up for the concussion, though, was Rackham's present for me. It took me completely by surprise and I actually started crying when I unwrapped it.
So, now for the explanation... As some of you know, Robert Heinlein is my favorite author. I first discovered his writing when I was ten years old and checked an album out from the library with "The Green Hills of Earth" on one side and "Gentlemen, Be Seated" on the other, both being read by Leonard Nimoy. Aside from the fact that it was being read by Spock, it was the album cover by Frank Kelly Freas that drew me in:
I got to meet the artist several times over the years and, once, see the original painting in person (he'd brought it along to a convention to display). There have never been any prints sold of it... I eventually tracked down my own copy of the album and have it framed to hang on the wall, but that's the closest I've gotten. Since the artist's death a few years ago, the family has slowly started selling some of his pieces... and the original for "The Green Hills of Earth" is actually for sale. And if I ever win the lottery, it's one of the first things I'll buy (it's horribly expensive). But my Christmas present this year? Is the original sketch FKF did for the piece to work out scale and sizing. It's beautiful and incredible and I can't wait to get it framed... and we even have the perfect spot to hang it (there's a lighted niche in the hallway that requires something wonderful).
Crossposted from my Livejournal.
