#Microblog Monday 423: Merry Update
Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.
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As a non-Christmas celebrator, I love hearing what other people did, ate, received, gave for the holiday.
So tell me, what did you do, eat, receive, or give? Which is a bigger deal in your world — Christmas Eve or Christmas Day? And what is your favourite way to spend the day after?
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Christmas Day is the big day for most in NZ. Christmas Eve is for last minute preparations, and a peaceful cup of tea and mince pie or piece of Christmas cake when it’s all done! There was no giving or receiving at our house this year. It just adds stress and expense, and we don’t need anything (and we’re planning on spending lots on a trip next year). So it’s all about the food! Less about the main event and more about the dessert! Pavlova and lots of summer berries. Oh, and my new tradition of Christmas baclava with berry fruit mince. And champagne, of course! Boxing Day (the day after) is over already, but I just love the feeling of renewal, and the true beginning of summer that it brings. I can do anything or nothing and it doesn’t matter, it’s still good. Today, I blogged. And ate leftovers. Perfect!
We have mixed it up over the years. We used to have our immediate family dinner on Christmas Eve (maybe with my mom’s mom too until she moved). Then we would open gifts on Christmas morning and go to my dad’s family for Christmas dinner. Once no one believed in Santa, presents were opened on Christmas Eve. Church would be in the mix somewhere. My most interesting memory of that was the time we went to 5:00 mass on Christmas Eve, so the candles exceeded the guards (glass columns that went around the candles). A lady going to Communion backed up into one to let someone by and set the fur on her parka on fire (it was quickly put out by other mass-goers).
This year, we went to my SIL’s for Christmas Eve and stayed home on Christmas Day. My daughter bought me wireless headphones that I needed and I got her…pretty much everything she wanted and then some. The dogs got a bunch of new toys. Even the hamster got a treat (though he is almost 3 years old and practically bald and seems close to death.)
Because we’ve been watching Gilmore Girls, and they were going to serve them at Lorelai’ wedding to Dean that never was, I made Cornish hens for Christmas dinner. There was much complaining about the look, but none about the taste.
No #MM post from me this week… we are at my elderly parents’ house and my time/schedule is definitely not my own! We have been eating well: not quite as much baking as in previous years, but we still had one kind of shortbread when we got here, and we baked butter tarts. Dad got Nanaimo bars at the grocery store, and Mom had some homemade apple pies made by local church ladies in the freezer. We had pickerel (walleye) on Christmas Eve, and turkey for Christmas Day, perogies and cabbage rolls. We’ve cut back a LOT on gifts in recent years, but everyone still had one present to open on Christmas Eve and a stocking with a few well-chosen items on Christmas Day. Nightly card games too! 🙂
Boxing Day is a statutory holiday here in Canada, so not much open, at least not in the small town where my parents live. (There are big Boxing Day sales in the cities, kind of like Black Friday in the States.) My sister has to work Wednesday/Thursday/Friday so they went back to the city today. We played more cards and ate up some of the leftovers.
In my Scandinavian-American family, Christmas Eve is the bigger deal. I made a roasted pork tenderloin with a butter-herb rub, roasted root vegetables, steamed green beans, cranberry relish, garlic-rosemary rolls (which made the house smell amazing!), and a pear-cranberry pie. Christmas Day, I made a turkey breast, mashed potatoes, gravy, and carrots. Christmas Eve was just me and my husband: dinner, presents, a viewing of the Muppet Christmas Carol, and Mass at 10 PM. Christmas Day was very quiet, mostly spent knitting. And yesterday I finally went grocery shopping, along with seemingly the entire rest of the city; Target was an absolute zoo, with everyone stocking up after Christmas which was preceded by a big snowstorm and nasty cold snap.
Ack, I missed Microblog Mondays completely! We did most of our own stuff on Christmas Eve because family phone calls take over the actual Christmas Day. We had steak and mashed potatoes and green beans, and then on Christmas Day we had a vegetarian Hello Fresh (Apricot, Almond, and Chickpea Tagine) which was absolutely perfect. You know, I think we did the Icelandic Book Flood on Christmas Eve because Bryce got me a beautiful stack of 9 books and chocolates from Isle Au Haut, Maine — so books and chocolate and coziness abounded. 🙂