Tell Me About Your Christmas (Rockland, China: transplants, house, to buy)
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I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas. Thought it might be interesting to share our Christmas day we just spent with each other.
Mine was good, with the exception that it is the first one I have ever spent without my Mother or son. That part was a little tough. I did go up and see my Mom. ( she is in a nursing home) and she was sick with a stomach virus. So I didn't get to stay long. But she is better now. My son called me twice that day and so that made it better. He moved to Virginia two months ago. I spent Christmas Eve with my brother, sister, daughter, nieces and nephews. We ate turkey, green beans, squash, mac & cheese, rolls, and pies, cakes and banana pudding. Yummo!! Then on Christmas day, my daughter and her family came out and we did a brunch, with sausage and egg cassarole and hashbrown cassarole, biscuits and coffee. After we ate, we opened presents and visited for couple of hours. Then they left and I cleaned up, then took a well deserved nap. All in All, it was a good day. So thankful to of had another Christmas to share with family and friends.
We had a wonderful time with our family and friends, as well. We started Sunday at DH's mom's with his brother and his wife. It was a nice afternoon. MIL bought us a very nice camcorder - spent WAY more than her usual allowance for each of us - but we may not be here next Christmas, so she says we're not getting anything next year but a bag of M&Ms!! That's ok. The camera is awfully nice, and we promised her a steady supply of DVDs of the kids after we move. I'm pretty sure that was her primary motivation!
We spent Monday afternoon with our family for the last Christmas Eve at Grandma's. It was very hard. We were all ok for the afternoon, until it was time for everyone to start leaving. The tears started flowing! It was so sad!!
They made the formal announcement that it was the last year there, and they are moving her in with my aunt in January and the house will be on the market. The family gathering will be moved up to my aunt and uncles, so we'll still be with Grandma while we're able.
I can't imagine after 38 years of "going to Grandma's" NOT being able to go there anymore. Such is the cycle of life - one door closes and a new one opens. I've shed my tears for the last few days, I've photographed every nook and cranny of her home so we don't forget anything, and I'm now ready for the new adventure that is headed our way! I've been thinking about how I can, as a mother, continue building special tradtitions for my own children and their children to come based on the traditions my grandma created for us.
After Grandma's, my parents and siblings and their families came to our house for a relaxed evening of MORE food, mulled wine (I finally made it right - it was delish!!) and hot wassail. We exchanged a few gifts, visited and finally crawled into bed around 1am.I was exhausted.
DH had to work Christmas day for 24 hours, so I went to the station and cooked a nice Christmas lunch for the guys. We enjoyed the day laughing and playing with them. We're all like family around there, and they play with our kids like they are their own. It's nice.
Santa finally came Tuesday night, Daddy came home and we've been playing ever since! Happy year!!
I can totally relate to the "last time" at your Grandma's house. It is the same with my Mom's. We will be leaving in May or June so it was our last time at my Mom's also. It is sad, and after spending every christmas there, it is bittersweet. But like you said, when one door closes, another opens and am working on starting new traditions. I know I feel a sense of loss because things seem to be changing all around me. Some good, some bad. But I guess this is that thing they call Life. So I am hanging on for the ride.
We had the usual; family drama, my sister gave me back the gift I sent her and lectured me about what a bad choice it was. :P But my uncles flew in to visit and we had a wonderful time with them. We did a grown-ups only Xmas Eve and went to Cinque Terre for their tasting menu. It was wonderful. The lobster ravioli was supreme. The atmosphere was great too.
Then we had a great time opening gifts with the kids. My son decided our overnight French toast would cook better with the plastic wrap on but despite the possibility of plastic leaching it was still edible.
Then yesterday we walked down Commercial Street and ended up in Mims Brasserie. The food there was all wonderful. The pickles were incredible. When I bit in to one at first my mouth filled with a cooling, mild vinegary taste, then there was an explosion of heat. Not overly burning but tingling with flavor. I am not a fan of pickles so I had to know what these were. I asked the waiter what kind they were and he thought they were just dill pickle's. I said, they can't be just dill's. So he asked the chef. It turns out they make them there. They are called Half-sour pickles. I looked them up on the net tonight and this is a quote I found In The Dill Crock (1984), John Thorne describes half-sours as "cucumbers still, not pickles-little cucumbers who [have] died and gone to heaven." That is exactly right as far as I am concerned. Thank God I am not pregnant or Mims would end up with my life savings.
I fed our livestock, and started up our wood stove, then KAF and her hubby came over.
We enjoyed a breakfast of cinnamon rolls, fruit salad and orange juice.
We all went outside and we shot a 22 rifle for a standing-position contest, and then we handed out prizes.
Then we had a hot chocolate break.
We did a peanut race, and then we handed out prizes.
Followed by a paint-ball war.
Then we had an herbed-oil fondue with pork, beef and kielbasa.
Then another 22 rifle competition this time from a bench rest with sand bags, and we inspected each others nanny goats. And then we handed out prizes.
Then we had a hot chocolate break.
Then we had a pistol shooting contest and a balloon-shaving contest, and then we handed out prizes.
Then everyone had to tend livestock
Then we got back together and had cheese fondue and quiche.
And we played poker, and then we handed out prizes.
And then we had a chocolate fondue.
Then we played more poker, and then we handed out prizes.
Then we played blackjack. And then we handed out prizes. Then KAF and hubby went home.
I called my father in Arizona, we talked briefly, then my son talked to his grandfather briefly, and then my DW had a long talk with my father's wife.
I called my mother in California, but she was not home, so I left a message.
I think that I left something out, but I dont recall what
KAF What did I leave out?
I don't think you left anything out actually! Reads right to me. I did get a kick out of "inspecting each other's nanny goats". You are too cute. Oh, I know another funny part, not neccesarily something you left out, but our impromtu balloon stomping contest.
I don't think you left anything out actually! Reads right to me. I did get a kick out of "inspecting each other's nanny goats". You are too cute. Oh, I know another funny part, not neccesarily something you left out, but our impromtu balloon stomping contest.
I thought that "inspecting each other's nanny goats" sounded more polite that what you were really inspecting. Besides that might not be allowed on the forum.
My family had a great Christmas - but I came down with a cold that went into my chest and I'm still trying to get over it. I was too sick to make our Christmas Eve dinner so my family did their best to put a good meal on the table. They forgot to do a few things but all in all, it was a good dinner. We opened packages Christmas Eve and I got an older Annalee Mobiltee doll (don't like the new ones, they're made in China) and a new 3 qt. cookpot to take to Eastport. Hubby got a new wet tile saw and an extra blade, some sweats and a book on building fences, sheds and garages. Also to go to Eastport.
We had a nice quiet Christmas, punctuated only by my sneezing, coughing and blowing. We played Classical Christmas music, watched some Christmas specials on TV and snacked on some goodies I baked earlier in the week.
Our philosophy for the last couple of years and the next two years is to buy each other gifts that will be useful and used in Eastport. We're selling here, don't need anything for here.
I'm a bit of a lurker here, so pardon my pop-in. But it is so lovely to read how you spent your respective Christmases. (And those pickles sound devine!)
DH and I drove south and made the rounds to various relatives in NC and SC (all transplants from NY & NJ). (Short visits = less family drama. )
We're hoping that Christmas 2008 will find us in your great state as residents. Really want to be in Rockland when the next lobster trap Christmas tree is lit!
My family had a great Christmas - but I came down with a cold that went into my chest and I'm still trying to get over it. I was too sick to make our Christmas Eve dinner so my family did their best to put a good meal on the table. They forgot to do a few things but all in all, it was a good dinner. We opened packages Christmas Eve and I got an older Annalee Mobiltee doll (don't like the new ones, they're made in China) and a new 3 qt. cookpot to take to Eastport. Hubby got a new wet tile saw and an extra blade, some sweats and a book on building fences, sheds and garages. Also to go to Eastport.
We had a nice quiet Christmas, punctuated only by my sneezing, coughing and blowing. We played Classical Christmas music, watched some Christmas specials on TV and snacked on some goodies I baked earlier in the week.
Our philosophy for the last couple of years and the next two years is to buy each other gifts that will be useful and used in Eastport. We're selling here, don't need anything for here.
Happy you all had a great Christmas, best wishes. But very sad when saw corgis wrote "(don't like the new ones, they're made in China)", not everything made in China are bad...
I am a Chinese girl, I love my hometown like you
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That's ok. The camera is awfully nice, and we promised her a steady supply of DVDs of the kids after we move. I'm pretty sure that was her primary motivation!
I was exhausted.
