Christmastime is Here

If there was any question about the holidays being here, it was most definitely answered this week. You know Christmastime is here when suddenly it's Friday afternoon and the last thing you remember is listening to The Splendid Table on Sunday morning. Instead of calling the week that's been a mess/disaster/other negative term that I'm apt to use, I'm instead taking the week at face value: a lovely week of family and Christmas preparations and maybe not so much getting work done.

Lezbehonest, there's been a lot of the bare minimum going on around here when it comes to work, but if we can't let go of endless to-do lists when the holidays draw nigh, what kind curmudgeons are we?

The Etsy holiday rush basically wrapped up on Monday and I took that as my cue to put my feet up and have another cup of tea. All week I've been looking at the work to-do list and asking the following questions: What do I want to get done today? What needs to get done today? What will happen if it doesn't get done? Can it wait until after Christmas? I realize this sounds a bit like procrastination, but I assure you it's more about lowering expectations, because it's ridiculous to expect that we can maintain a typical workweek (at least when you have the luxury of working from home) and wrap all de presents, do Christmas baking, and have a clean and festively decorated home.

My brother and his girlfriend were around at the start of the week for a quick holiday visit and Andy and I got into town on both Monday and Wednesday to spend some time with them. Despite the fact that the heavens like to open forth with snow whenever my brother and I are near (whether it's on his turf in Michigan or here in MN), safe travels and good visits were enjoyed by all.

Mom made us pose for a Christmas card photo

We received a slight reprieve from the subzero temps throughout the week. That said, it's been below zero more often than not this week. This fact has not stopped Andy from using the new snowmobile. He just puts on approximately 40 lbs of clothing and heads out regardless.

Folks dressed up like Eskimos

We finally got our Christmas tree yesterday. I was kind of thinking that we might be able to get away with not having a tree this year, thinking that perhaps the assortment of holiday knick-knacks would be good enough. That said, I'm glad we got the tree (even if it does displace some living room furniture in a cabin with no place for displaced furniture) - it's so nice to have the Christmas lights on in the morning and evening, especially as the darkest day of the year approaches tomorrow.

Except for one last outstanding package, all of the presents have been wrapped and placed beneath the tree with care. I'm glad to see the presents all gathered in one place because it makes it so clear where my holiday gift budget went. I'm not even mad.

The Christmas baking is basically done, except for some quick stuff on Christmas Eve (Is it bad that I'm already kind of weary of Christmas cookies?) and all of holiday cards and packages have been mailed. I'm so prepared for Christmas that I'm going to have to start doing actual work. Le sigh.

Andy and I went for a ride down the snowmobile trails yesterday. It was pretty, but cold. I'm pulling on the bib snowpants next time.

Happy Solstice!

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Heigh Ho Holidays

Two holiday traditions have come and gone for 2012. A batch of peanut butter balls shitballs has been made and I took part in a wonderful (albeit, very subdued) holiday get-together on Friday evening.

Shitballs 2012: They ended up with little caps this year to use up some of the extra melted chocolate

Friday night's festivities - a wine and cheese party/surprise baby shower/slumber party - turned into a slumber party holiday movie-a-thon, heavy on the slumber, although a glass or two of wine and some delicious cheese (mmmmm cranberry stilton) was consumed by all. (Being an adult can be so cool sometimes.)

Our baby mama didn't make it due to a cruddy weather forecast, but we had a wonderful time playing games and eating cake!

On Saturday, I caught Catch Me If You Can (meh - I wouldn't recommend it) at the Minneapolis Orpheum and I spent yesterday with my brother who was home for the weekend. Oh, and I also slept 11 hours last night. (Back to the whole being a super cool adult thing . . . ;)

So now I'm back at the cabin, attempting to not turn into a holiday stress-bot.

A rather extensive holiday to-do list remains:

• Wrap presents
• Make Christmas cookies 
• Get tree
• Decorate tree and cabin 
• Send Christmas cards 
• Send Christmas packages 
• Finish buying stocking stuffers

Andy stated last night that some the Christmas stuff probably needs to trump some of our work "to-do" lists this week and I think he's right.

I'm having an interesting holiday season as a retailer for the first time ever. There's not only Etsy orders rolling in, I'm also doing some gift shop sales as part of my day job. Turns out, people really do wait until the last minute to do their shopping. Although I know there's nothing I can do about getting packages to people in time once I hand over the orders to the mail lady, I still worry about gifts making it under the Christmas tree on time! I implore of all you tardy Christmas shops - place those orders now!

On another Christmas-y, gift-y note, check out this amazing bread recipe that I posted as part of Margot's Christmas Cookie Countdown at Newfoundlander at Heart.

 Can you believe it'll be Christmas Eve in just a week? What the heck?!

As we all look forward to the holidays ahead and also work to comprehend Friday's events in CT, I hope we can all keep the true spirit of the holiday season close to heart. Regardless of the season, the most important thing we are charged with each and every day is letting our loved ones know just how much they're loved.

 

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Holiday Traditions

I spent a little time this week thinking about holiday traditions that have developed in my life over the years. As I made a mental list, I was surprised by a pretty obvious trend: my holiday traditions center around friendships rather than family.

Source: fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net via Nicolas on Pinterest

I suppose it's silly to be shocked by this revelation. My maternal grandparents were snowbirds during almost my entire childhood and as their only grandchildren, we didn't develop any holiday traditions on that side of the family, although we usually did (and do) have one sort of holiday gathering with my aunt and uncle. My father's family all hails from Chicagoland and although Christmas trips to Chi-town dominate my childhood holiday memories, since both my brother and I graduated high school, our trips to Chicago have become increasingly infrequent and less tied to the holiday season.So, for the time being, friends get to dominate my holiday season. It's quite lovely.

Here's a list of some of my favorite holiday traditions:

An annual wine, cheese, and gab fest with the girls from my college's student newspaper. For a bunch of former muckrakers, we clean up rather nicely. ;) This year's get-together is tomorrow. Eeeee! Excitement!

Make a batch of shitballs (peanut butter balls) with my friend Sarah. We've been making these each Christmas (although sometimes not until February, depending on how accommodating our schedules are) since we were sophomores in college, when we made the dreadful mistake of adding water to our melted chocolate. (Oh, the culinary mistakes one makes at age 19.) The chocolate ceased and our peanut balls took on a less than appetizing appearance, although I remember them still tasting pretty good. You say, shitballs. I say, warm Christmas feelings.  

Of course holiday movies factor into my Christmas traditions. Each season I like to watch Love Actually by myself or with my mom, Elf with anyone who happens to be around, and The Holiday . . . because Jude Law in glasses totally makes up Cameron Diaz's less than amazing performance. I got pretty brunt out A Christmas Story during my teenage years, but it's still a classic, I will watch a scene or two if it's on in the background.

The annual craft-o-thon over New Year's with a wonderful group of women bonded by crafts, college, and Ireland is a newer (and wonderful) addition to my holiday festivities. The picture below is the only one I could find in my files where we all look relatively normal. And trust me, any appearance of normalcy is clearly a facade.

Find the perfect Christmas tree with Andy. We have yet to do this. We've been holiday spirit procrastinators this year.

Not quite a holiday tradition yet since I've only done it twice, but I do try to make a batch of potato latkes at some point during Hanukkah each year.

 
What are some of your holiday traditions?
 

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All I Want For Christmas . . .

For the last week or so, my social media feeds have been bombarded with tales of holiday decorating. Around here, it's been hard to get into the holiday spirit - mostly because it's been feeling more like late March than early December outside.

Today, temps soared into the 40s, which means a lot of the snow we received over Thanksgiving weekend disappeared. I can't say I'm sad about the warmer temps, but it is a little disconcerting. Holiday spirit feels a little sparse at the moment, but it will finds its way to this little cabin in the woods soon enough.

In the meantime, I'm doing my best to come up with a Christmas wishlist, but you guys, it's looking disturbingly and disappointingly adult-ish. Back in my teenage years, I used to love creating my Christmas lists. Now, I find myself struggling each year to come up with a decent list. I really do try to live as simply as possible - partly because of principle, partly because of necessity (the cabin is pretty small) - and I've never been much of a shopper. We are so blessed, that we don't really need new stuff and I hate having stuff that just sits around.

So without further adieu, here's my amazingly awesome Christmas wishlist of 2012:

Item #1 . . . the super sexy, ultra fun two drawer file cabinet!!!

But seriously, I need this. The elastic on the accordion file that I've had since college is just this side of shot. And it's so fun to get all your paperwork in order. Am I right?

Next up?! Paper towels!

Okay, I actually think these reuseable towels from Mamamade on Etsy actually are pretty kick-ass. I'm not sure I can totally divorce paper towels, but I love the idea of have these available to wipe up the vast majority of kitchen messes.

Speaking of messes in the kitchen, we could use a new compost bin.

Turns out that compost bins that have been hijacked (aka bitten) by black bears are actually kind of leaky. After reading that last sentence, I'm kind of embarrassed that I just admitted that we've been using a damaged compost bin for the last year +. How cheap am I? (Answer: very cheap.)  

I've been dying to get my hands on a copy of Marisa McClellan's Food in Jars  since it released this spring.  She's my canning guru.

Ooo, and some more ReCap lids for my Mason jars would be awesome!

One actual shopper-ish item that I've been lusting over for years are the Gussy Sews products. I just think they're adorable.

Posey Market Tote

Dashing Deer Pouch

Other more frivolous favorites:

This print from G is for Grow on Etsy:

Happy London Print

And this Minnesota necklace from Shop Oh So Antsy on Etsy. Except the heart must be moved to the Arrowhead region. Sorry Cities dwellers - the Twin Cities is not where my heart is!

Minnesota Necklace

What are you hoping to find under the Christmas tree this year?

 

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Holidays Done Right

Happy Solstice everyone! Not sure we're going to get any sunlight today on this shortest day of the year, but it does look like a very blue sky is trying to peep out from behind some dramatic grey, purple, and pink clouds. Today we have just over 8 hours of daylight; about 9.5 hours of visible light. Although we will start gaining daylight by just seconds starting tomorrow, it's always nice to make it over the hump.

After I get a few more hours of work in today, I'll be hitting the hot and dusty (or should I say, the curvy and icy) and heading into town for the night. Tomorrow, I'll accompany my parents to Chicagoland, where we'll be spending a week with my paternal grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. We'll be meeting up with my brother and his girlfriend while we're down there as well. On the return trip, I'll be dropped off for another crafting extravaganza. I won't be back to the cabin until the new year!

Andy is understandable somewhat miffed by all of this, but someone's got to stay home to watch the cabin and make some money. ;) And before you feel too bad for Andy, keep in mind that his mom'll be up to spend the holiday with him and he has family gatherings to attend. He will be fine. I think.. . . There is plenty of food in the freezer, so hopefully he won't spend too many nights eating his bachelor standby: cold refried beans smeared on an unheated tortilla.

There have been lots of posts on the blogsphere lately about trying to find Christmas tree, so I thought I'd focus this post on some of the positive aspects of the holidays. Here are a few things I'm glad I've done so far this holiday season:

Bought local gifts. I always have good intentions of buying my presents locally. Then when push comes to shove, I inevitably end up buying all my presents from Amazon. (It's so easy!) But this past Friday, I spent some time downtown and finished up my Christmas shopping in town. Not all my presents were bought locally, mind you, but it did feel good to know that some of my Christmas dollars were going to cycle right back through my community.  

Made holiday cookies in limited quantities. Everyone loves a treat. But ubiquitous Christmas cookies just tend to make people ill, and eventually, after all that sugar's worn off, downright grumpy. This year's Christmas cookie baking has been limited to the cookie baking extravaganza with my mom's family (and the majority of those cookies were donated to a community cookie sale) and one batch of Danish puff. My waistline thanks me.

Stayed focused.  This holiday season, I kept my head down and kept working. I banked hours, I got things done ahead of time. It really wasn't fun. But it means that I can leave for the next week and a half and not worry about not working. I've earned my holiday this year and won't experience a dip in income over the holidays. *whew!*

Family time. I have not spent a Christmas with my father's family since 2005. My grandparents are in their 80s. That means Christmases to come are probably finite. Since I am able to, it feels like the right thing to spend the holidays with them. 

Come what may. Earlier in the month, I just wasn't feeling the Christmas cheer.But rather than let the calendar dictate my feelings, I waited to go through the Christmas decorations until I was actually interested in rooting through the box and decorating the cabin. We got the tree later than usual, but we were both ready to have a tree by the time it did go up. The holidays have unfolded naturally which made it all a little less stressful. Now I'm ready (I think!) to be full of cheer and goodwill to men.

What things are you glad you did this holiday season?

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O' Christmas Tree

We finally got our Christmas tree this weekend. I'd like to tell you how we tramped out into the woods on Saturday morning through the freshly fallen snow in search of the perfect tree. How we paused to make snow angels. How we hemmed and hawed over which tree to bring home. How a spontaneous snowball fight broke out.

In truth, we looked at exactly one tree - which from a distance looked pretty but ended up being a spruce tree and spruce trees, in my honest opinion, smell like cat piss - before settling on the balsam fir that's currently in the living room. The entire process of getting out of the truck, selecting the tree, chopping down the tree, and throwing it into the pick up bed took approximately 4 minutes.

I explained to Andy that our Christmas tree reconnaissance was going to look kind of half-assed on the blog. "Hey, we got an awesome tree," he said.

It's true.

This year we opted for a vertical, slim tree, rather than a short and squat tree. The slender tree takes up no more space than the chair that was sitting in its place. It's nice to have the twinkly lights and sparkle of the tree without having the tree take over the room. We aren't constantly bumping into tree branches and that seems to be keeping the ubiquitous balsam needles at bay as well, at least for now.

I have no desire to having a "matchy" or "elegant" Christmas tree. My mismatch of ornaments and Christmas decorations come from all sorts of stages in my life. We don't have a whole lot of homemade ornaments, which I suppose is indicative of the fact that we have no children (our own or nieces or nephews) in our lives. We have just a handful of homemade decorations:

My aunt made this little bell out of a teeny flower pot back in 1994. I know that, because "Ada '94" is written on the top of it. For a while, my aunt painted flower pots of all sizes to sell for supplemental income. The small business never really took off. I wonder where she'd go with an Etsy account . . .

Here's a "Tantalizer" circa 1970 via 2011 New Year's Crafting weekend. It is hideous. Therefore, I chose to display it as prominently as possible.

The vast majority of ornaments on the tree are mine. But Andy made this painted globe back in the day. The picture doesn't do it justice, but it really is quite pretty.

The most ornaments on the tree are Hallmark ornaments. That's because my grandmother is a Hallmark fanatic - we're talking like Hallmark Club card holding fanatic. It just isn't Christmas until you've gotten this year's ornament from Gramma.

As you might guess, through the last 25 Christmases, I've amassed quite a collection. These are some of my favorites:

Madame Alexander Irish Dancer. I got this either the Christmas before or the Christmas after I spent a semester in western Ireland.

I'm not sure when I got this little angel, but she reminds me so much of all the Sunday school Christmas pageants I was in. In fact, when you press her halo, she recites a Bible verse my mother said I once read during a pageant. I don't remember.

I got this little suitcase the Christmas during my six months living and working in London. My real life suitcase is almost identical to this ornament, right down to all the bulges!

This isn't a Hallmark ornament - it came from Harrod's Christmas World display. I picked it up during my time in London. Harrod's is well known for its teddy bears so a Christmas tree ornament that featured a teddy bear and the Harrod's green doorman outfit was just too much to resist.

Andy's declared this year's tree the prettiest Christmas tree that's ever been in the cabin. I've only seen two Christmas trees in the cabin - this year's and last year's- but if those are indeed the only two trees that have graced the cabin's living space then yes, I totally agree. Prettiest Christmas tree ever.

Is your Christmas tree up? What are some of your favorite ornaments? 

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Elves, elves, everywhere!

I have further excuse for giving "Holiday Season 2011"  a squinty, slightly cynical "grain of salt" once over.

At the annual cookie bake this past Friday, my mom lent me a copy of David Sedaris's Holidays on Ice. The collection includes Sedaris's now infamous "Santaland Diaries," which chronicles the Christmas season he spent working at Macy's, along with several other holiday essays and short stories. 

Now, ladies and gentlemen, if you live in a cabin in the middle of the woods, far removed from the onslaught of CHRISTMAS! that television and other media spew out at America from about November 1st onward, reading David Sedaris is going to give you a slightly skewed perspective on the whole holiday season. Rather than focusing on the warm fuzziness that's meant to bond us all during these snowy, present filled days, Sedaris tends to highlight the strange (and often strained) absurdity that really makes the holidays a universal experience.  He is snarky, irreverent, and often downright ridiculous.

Since posting last week about this holiday season taking a little longer than usual to kick in for me, I've found many others who are feeling a little low on the Christmas cheer meter so far. (We must not be singing loud enough!) This most wonderful time of the year can bring about a lot of unique stress - presents and subsequent money worries, get-togethers, winter driving, balancing family time and work obligations - that doesn't happen any other time of the year. Keeping hold of the reigns of the holiday season is tricky, exhausting, and sometimes, just downright impossible.

So I posted the line from Elf that pays homage to "Santaland Diaries" on Facebook to see if anyone else was feeling rather Crumpet-ish. (Crumpet was Sedaris's elf name.)

Instead this happened:

An honest to goodness Elf quote off.

It reminds me of, what I personally think, is the wisest part of Sedaris's "Santaland Diaries", the part when he acknowledges just how alike all humans are:

All of the adults ask for a Gold Card or a BMW and they rock with laughter, thinking they are the first person brazen enough to request such pleasures.


Santa says, I'll see what I can do.


All of us take pride and pleasure in the fact that we are unique, but I'm afraid that when all is said and done the police are right: it all comes down to fingerprints.

But being alike isn't necessarily a bad thing. In fact, when it comes to Elf quote-offs, it can be downright comforting. 

What's your favorite holiday reading material? What's your favorite holiday movie? 

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Skating Through Life

Remember how I went on and on about how unusual it is to get good skating conditions around here? Disregard.

The center of the lake had been steadily freezing over last week and when Andy and I set out across the moon-soaked nightscape on Friday evening to investigate the ice's progress, we found a good 4 inches of ice out there. The MN DNR says 4" is safe for people and that's good enough for me! While I may skate on 1.5 inches in the bay, when ice is the only thing between me and a 70 ft drop to the bottom of the lake, I like to play by the rules. 

Christmas may come once a year, but skating conditions like this come about once a decade. This weekend's skating totally rivals skating on the Grand Marais harbor when I was six.

There's something wrong with Andy's skates

When we were out on the very clear ice, I said to Andy, "Wouldn't be crazy if we saw a fish?" So far I've found two. On a Saturday, I screeched to a halt when I spied a crappy lying on its side under the ice. Yes, a crappie. Then yesterday, I found this cisco. Andy acts like you see fish all the time like this, but I don't think so.

Truly, it was a weekend full of things to marvel at. One of those times, when you take a minute to pause and think, wow, this is pretty darn incredible, how lucky am I?

What did you get up to this weekend?

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Ding-Dong Merrily

There's eggnog in the fridge and a Christmas card on the shelf. 
There are presents in the making and budgets to be kept. 
Yet despite the cold, the darkness and the snow,
this Advent season is quickly ticking by and I've nothing to show. 

Lately, the blogosphere has been filled with merry posts about holiday decorating, holiday baking, and kids in Santa hats. It's lovely and it's fun, but it's making me feel like this:

Because this is how far I've got with my holiday decorating so far:
1) Open closet door
2) Pull down holiday decoration container
3) Shut closet door.
4) Open container.
5) Throw autumn/Halloween decorations into container.
6) Walk away.

And mind you, this happened a week ago. I have not walked back yet. The container is still sitting there in the corner, although I did move it farther out of sight this morning so I'd stop feeling so guilty about it.

It was pretty common place during my childhood for our Christmas tree and decorations to go up the day after Thanksgiving. However, Andy prefers we wait a little longer than that and considering the finite amount of space in the cabin and  my finite tolerance for Christmas trees weeping balsam needles all over the floor, the wait makes sense. So maybe a tree this weekend. Maybe.

To be honest, things are kind of a beautiful disaster at the moment. I'm up to my ears in deadlines and freelance projects. The house is such a disgusting pit that we try to intercept any visitors (namely, the UPS man) on the deck before they can catch a glimpse inside. We are still processing that frackin' deer.  (Don't worry, it's been frozen, we're just in the midst of round 2 of the sausage making.)

And my attempt to call off Christmas? Foiled. Foiled completely, my friends. After making my very mature and very important announcements that I was not doing presents nor Christmas cards this year, (Sorry guys. Sorry USPS) Andy started dogearing catalogs (I'm taking creative license with this fact) and then just this evening suggested that perhaps we should . . . send Christmas cards this year.

I'm off to get myself one strong glass of eggnog . . .  

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It's Teatime!

Alexis, over at North on Harper, wants to bring back the tea party. And this morning, as I stumbled out into the kitchen to put on the kettle for my morning cup of English Breakfast tea, I decided she was right. What this world really needs right now  is more tea parties. 

I've always loved a good tea party. Back in the day, my brother and I used to fill up my miniature Peter Rabbit teapot with water and host tea parties between us and our stuffed animals on our bedroom floor. If we were really lucky we got a couple brownies or cookies from Mom to serve as a teatime nibbles. My family often made real, live tea in the evening (usually herbal) as a way to relax and unwind after an eventful day.

As I grew up, I became well-steeped in English literature and my fascination with all things English, especially the tea party, only grew.

In college, several friends and I made tea parties a semi-tradition. The events always involved way too much sugar and usually ended with a sort of tea party hangover. (No, we weren't drinking sweet tea . . .)

To be honest, a good tea party, in my book at least, should end with an upset stomach and insomnia: it's a natural side effect of one too many scones all washed down with caffeinated tea.

While in London, I even got to have a grown-up tea party at the Ritz. We felt pretty fancy.

And really, when's the last time you got all gussied up to drink a cup of coffee? Tea speaks of elegance and tradition; it's fun and stately at the same time.

While I love a good cup of Starbucks when I can get it, the vast majority of my mornings kick off with a cup of tea. To me, a cup of tea means everything is going to be all right. 

Who's with me on the tea party thing? I'm tired of drinking my daily tea at laptop, staring at the screen through sleep-deprived eyes as I hammer out the morning blog post. What I need right now is an excuse for romance and charm. So let's put on party dresses, decorate the back garden with paper lanterns, and pull out our best china. Remember, pinkies up! 

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Saying Thank You

Thank-you Note I wanted small pierced earrings (gold). You gave me slippers (gray). My mother said that she would scold Unless I wrote to say How much I liked them. Not much.
- Judith Viorst

I'm not sure when it started, middle school probably, but a long time ago, I got on a kick of writing thank-you notes for all the Christmas gifts I received from relatives. Just another manifestation of a good-two-shoes personality, I suppose. Writing the notes made me feel somewhat morally superior, but more than that (and unlike the narrator in the poem above), they made me feel good and more aware of my blessings and gifts.


I still write thank you cards, but they've become more of an obligation: just another line on the to-do lists, something I mean and want to do, but which often get bumped down on the priorities. The thank you notes get sent out later and later each year and I spend more time wondering if I really need to do that again this year.


Yet every holiday season, I am overwhelmed with gifts and an abundance of good food. Beyond gifts of lovely things, this holiday season has also brought  time to spend with family and friends. On Christmas, after all the festivities had wrapped up, my brother came home with Andy and I to spend the night. Yesterday morning we sat in the living room, drinking coffee and talking about life as we know it at this current moment. And I realized something about this life in the cabin. 

It might not be the most exciting life. It certainly isn't the most lucrative. But it's a very happy life.

I believe happiness is an accomplishment. And those who contribute to our happiness deserve more thanks than we can word. And they definitely get a card . . .



Thanks
 
Listen
with the night falling we are saying thank you
we are stopping on the bridges to bow for the railings
we are running out of the glass rooms
with our mouths full of food to look at the sky
and say thank you
we are standing by the water looking out
in different directions.
back from a series of hospitals back from a mugging
after funerals we are saying thank you
after the news of the dead
whether or not we knew them we are saying thank you
looking up from tables we are saying thank you
in a culture up to its chin in shame
living in the stench it has chosen we are saying thank you
over telephones we are saying thank you
in doorways and in the backs of cars and in elevators
remembering wars and the police at the back door
and the beatings on stairs we are saying thank you
in the banks that use us we are saying thank you
with the crooks in office with the rich and fashionable
unchanged we go on saying thank you thank you
with the animals dying around us
our lost feelings we are saying thank you
with the forests falling faster than the minutes
of our lives we are saying thank you
with the words going out like cells of a brain
with the cities growing over us like the earth
we are saying thank you faster and faster
with nobody listening we are saying thank you
we are saying thank you and waving
dark though it is
       -- W.S. Merwin

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The Christmas Balls

This marks Andy and my third Christmas together and ever since that first December, Andy has been waxing poetic about bourbon balls. I had no idea what bourbon balls were when he first dropped them into conversation. Coming from a rather teetotaler household, we only ever made peanut butter balls (also called Buckeyes in some parts of the country) for the holidays, but it turns out bourbon balls are quite similar: bourbon soaked pecans mixed with powdered sugar, butter, rolled into balls and dipped in melted chocolate. Despite his talking about bourbon balls every December, for the last two Christmases, we just didn't get around to making them. Maybe I was just a little nervous about trying out something new . . .

As a college kid, fresh to the adult world and anxious to engage in Christmas merriment, my roommates and I almost always did some holiday baking. Despite all being pretty confident (and competent) in the kitchen, when working with unknown and unreliable appliances, these Christmas baking adventures resulted in a number of notable disasters.

My freshman year, my roommates and I decided to make sugar cookie in the dorm kitchen. A number of sprinkles got on the cookie sheets before they went into the oven and while the cookies were baking, the sprinkles proceeded to burn. The smoke alarm went off and the entire building was evacuated. (Luckily, it was 6 p.m. on a Friday night -- not a whole lot of people were affected.) I remember standing in the neighboring building, clutching a pair of hot pads to my chest, while we watched the emergency vehicles arrive.

Oh look, the fire engine . . .

Funny story . . .

Then my sophomore year, my dear friend (and at the time roommate), Sarah, decided to make peanut butter balls. I had made peanut balls a ton of times with my mother, but had never done it by myself. I think the same goes for Sarah. When it got to the part where you melt the chocolate, Sarah and I decided the chocolate didn't look smooth enough . . .so we added water. Of course the chocolate immediately ceased and we ended up with peanut butter balls dabbed with bits of chunky chocolate. We dubbed them Shitballs. They tasted delicious though.

Ever since, Shitballs, aka, peanut butter balls, have been a holiday tradition, something that Sarah and I make together almost every Christmas. Because of something pesky call being adults and have hundreds of miles in between us and crappy schedules, Sarah and I didn't get around to making Shitballs this year, so it only made sense that bourbon balls fill the void. 

After making a test batch last week, Andy tweaked the recipe a little bit and prepared a second batch to share with coworkers, family, friends, etc. The chocolate didn't cease, the butter in the balls didn't melt in the chocolate, and the fire alarm didn't go off. Boring really.

I still prefer the Shitballs (yes, I do choose peanut butter over bourbon) however it's been fun to watch Andy so diligently plug away at a project. Perhaps a new Christmas tradition has been born.

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