When to Take Your Christmas Tree Down

This year, I was especially angry to see people taking their trees down on December 26th. Maybe it's because I'm still waiting for snow, and still half expecting to wake up in PA on Christmas morning. Or it could be because it's January 4th and I still haven't received all of my Christmas gifts in the mail. Or it could be because I woke up on New Year's Day not able to move my head - with a tweaked shoulder injury thing and I literally can't take the ornaments off the tree yet.

Anyway, I researched it and it's actually bad luck to take your tree down before the 12 days of Christmas and Epiphany are over (so ha!). Sidenote - Google autofilled my search query and asked if I meant "when to take pregnancy test" or "when to take creatine." No, Google. Stop. These days, Epiphany may be celebrated on the Sunday between January 2nd and 8th, so today is probably the first day it's okay to take the tree down without getting a hefty heap of bad luck this year. I might take down my snowmen/tacky ceramic figurines/non-tree Christmas crap today and wait til Tuesday to take the tree down. I seriously don't need any more bad luck this year - I already can't look to the left.

I grew up in a Protestant household, going to church more often than I probably wanted and I never knew the 12 days of Christmas started on Christmas and lasted til the Epiphany on January 6th. I mean - what? The Christmas season doesn't start on Black Friday? We're supposed to get trees on Christmas Eve? We really shouldn't be working til after Epiphany? Tell that to Ebenezer "Corporation" Scrooge. Although come to think of it, January 6th was the day my grandmother always took her tree down. And wait, what's Epiphany again? Oh, when the 3 Wise Men finally made it to visit Jesus in the manger. You mean, they camped out in a barn for two weeks, waiting for these foreign dudes to bring them gold and... herbs used for embalming mummies and in face creams? Something like that.

But your tree is dying and making a mess? How about don't put it up in November next time. Or get a fake one and some pine scented candles. There was also that time when I was in high school that we left the tree up til Valentine's Day and put cut-out, paper hearts on it - according to my scientific research project, that's bad luck too because you're taking the old into the new - bringing your baggage along. You have a small window to get that tree down and out - don't screw it up. 

PS Epiphany is a Christian feast day, so don't forget to make your 3rd turkey in a month. How sick are you of turkey at this point? I'm contemplating going to Mexico for Thanksgiving 2015 and drinking margaritas instead. I don't think I can stomach turkey leftovers ever again and we didn't have turkey on Christmas - I'm just still sick of Thanksgiving turkeys. But really - in England (the Motherland) - Wikipedia tells us to light up the yule log, have mulled cider, fruitcake, and such. After Epiphany, we head into Carnival season - leading up to Mardi Gras. Worlds collide.

I think somewhere along the way, we truly lost the meaning of Christmas. These traditions and meanings are being taken out with the garbage bags of wrapping paper. Truly sad. Is it just like that in America? I feel like traditions aren't as wispy in Europe. Is that true?

Which brings me to my other "issue" - how am I still not living in England? Why did my family have to emigrate? Can we go back to 1701 and tell ol' Pappy to just chill out and enjoy the beautiful countryside and the lovely accents of our people and stay put? Then we wouldn't have to work during the 12 days of Christmas and we'd be enjoying a fruitcake today, planning out our next 6 week vacation. Bah! Humbug.

Home Away from Home on Christmas

I wasn't in PA for Christmas for maybe the second time ever in life. I missed seeing everyone and keeping up the traditions we've had forever, but it was nice staying home, avoiding airports, and making new traditions.

On Christmas Eve, after I was done prepping for Christmas Day brunch (press cookies, egg bake, cinnamon buns, bourbon eggnog...), Shaun and I wandered around the Hotel del Coronado. We sat on the beach in the dark and then drove around looking at Christmas lights.

Christmas Eve at the Hotel del Coronado

Christmas morning, we Skyped with my family, had Shaun's mom and sister over for brunch - complete with cinnamon sugar bacon, Cards Against Humanity, and a yule log fire on the big screen TV. We stopped at a friend's house on Christmas night for wine and made friends with a drag queen.

Eggnog

Christmas Morning at Home

On the 26th, we spent our gift cards at the mall and had dinner with new friends downtown. On the 27th, we explored a new neighborhood and visited a new tourist attraction. All in all, a good holiday, despite a bad case of the Sunday blues today due to having to work this week.

Downtown San Diego

Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery

1st Annual Cookies and Cocoa Party

It's hard to get into the holiday spirit when it's always 70 and sunny in SoCal, so I hosted a cookie exchange for the first time!

According to my research, people are really organized with their cookie exchanges. I did more of a lazy hostess version - I told everyone to bring at least a dozen cookies in a Facebook invite. Then later, I said it was okay if they bought cookies instead of baked because I didn't want to be TOO demanding. At least I'm not the host that says you have to make 8 dozen, package up 7 dozen in matching gift tins, labeled, with recipe, and put the other dozen on a holiday themed plate for tasting and for voting. I just said 'bring cookies.' And it worked out really well! No one made the same kind, even though we didn't talk about who was doing what. We set them ALL on the table to snack on (we used gift tags as labels), and at the end, everyone grabbed a paper plate and piled it up with a mixture of no calorie treats, threw some plastic wrap on it (and maybe a bow) and probably finished them up for dinner like I did! Simple!

The best part besides the guests and cookies was the hot cocoa bar. And honestly I didn't even drink hot cocoa because we also had holiday sangria. But it was so much fun to put together. Two hours before the party, I made hot cocoa in the Crock Pot. I did about a cup per person. I set out pretty much everything you would want to put into hot cocoa and more - a few favorites were the Reese's peanut butter chips, homemade whipped cream, Chocolate Cherry Bailey's, and homemade cupcake marshmallows (custom recipe below!). I even made a sign. Gosh, I'm cute.

Since I got a little manic on Pinterest, I just had to make gingerbread dip with graham crackers. I also thought we needed something healthy to go with all the desserts, so I whipped up chocolate dipped clementines with sea salt (we are not going to call them Cuties - ever) and wine soaked grapes. Hey, it's still fruit!

All in all, a successful Sunday. Who wants to come to the cookies and cocoa party next year? Or next weekend?

Cupcake Marshmallows
(adapted from Butter Baked Goods and Martha Stewart)
2/3 cups water 
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1.5 cups sugar
2/3 cup light corn syrup
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp cupcake syrup (why doesn't Starbucks have this??)
powdered sugar to coat them at the end - around a cup
butter or cooking spray for your pan

Tools: Baking pan; saucepan, stand mixer, spatula, measuring cups, parchment paper, plastic wrap

Directions 

1. Prep your baking pan - I put parchment paper in the bottom and sprayed with cooking spray. You could also butter or spray the pan instead & skip the parchment paper - just be generous with the coating. 
2. In a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, pour in 1/3 cup of the water and  sprinkle with the gelatin. Set aside so it can soak. 
3. In a medium saucepan, bring sugar, corn syrup, salt and remaining 1/3 cup water to a rolling boil - continue boiling for 1 minute and then remove from heat. 
4. Turn the mixer on low and mix the gross gelatin to combine with the water. Slowly and carefully add the hot sugar mixture, pour down the side of the mixing bowl - away from the beaters. It's molten sugar! Mix on low. 
5. When it feels safe, crank up the mixer to high and whip for 10-12 minutes - the batter will become thick and expand. Scrape down the sides the bowl as it mixes. Stop the mixer and add the vanilla & cupcake syrup. Try not to face plant into it because it smells so good. Whip briefly to combine.
6. Transfer to the buttered baking pan and use a spatula to spread evenly.
7. Stick a buttered or sprayed sheet of plastic wrap across the top. Press down firmly to seal it up - this is also a good time to flatten out the slab and make it more even. 
8. I let it sit at room temp overnight - at least 3 hours though. 
9. When it's been 3 hours or more - sprinkle a cutting board with powdered sugar. Remove the top plastic wrap. Flip the pan upside down and it should come right out if you prepped your pan in step 1. Rub the slab with powdered sugar. Use cookie cutters (sprayed with cooking spray) or a knife to cut up. Roll each piece into powdered sugar so they're not so sticky to handle. If you use cookie cutters, you can cut up the scraps into smaller, misshaped pieces that are good for snacking.
10. Toss into hot cocoa. Store at room temp for up to a week in a sealed container.

All I Want for Christmas Is a Comeback

I can't take that my last blog post was over two and a half years ago. Or that the last two posts are just old financial articles I wrote, squatting on my fun and witty blog because they had no where to go when their home was removed from the interwebs.

Alas, my dreams of becoming a famous and wealthy blogger will wait for no one, including me. So what I'm saying is that the blog must come back. It probably won't be pretty at first (kind of like this little blogger space I've created.) I just can't figure out how to get a picture to go all the way across the top or how to insert a recipe so that it can be indexed on Pinterest - what's it called, the java hash script thingy? Don't tell anyone I work in digital marketing.

I spent the last two years trying to decide what my comeback post would be about. It's just a lot of pressure! It has to be good enough that people (you) want to come back. It can't rip off of the other bloggers I've grown to love and envy, it should include a fabulous recipe, and some high-qual photography.

But I'm just a little bit too lazy to re-launch with that much pizzazz. 

I'm narrowing down that list to focus on the most important list of the year. My Christmukkah list. Okay, I never really make a list for myself. I just drop lots of hints, because I'm too focused on my giant Excel spreadsheet tracking what I'm getting for everyone else, including item, store, date ordered, shipping information and price. Every year I end up spending around the same thing, even though I never set a budget upfront. Isn't that weird?

You're welcome in advance for all but sticking the bow on my own gifts this year. 

Dear Santa or anyone who cares,
I want:

• This Fresh Cream flavored (scented?) perfume. Because it would be awesome to smell like whipped cream all the days of my life. And I haven't even smelled it yet.
• A beach cruiser bike - probably in a pastel color with a wicker basket and bell with my name written on it in glitter
• Lifetime supply of these age-defying products because I'm going to be stupid THIRTY next year.
• Kitchen stuff (because who has time to wait for a registry?): Blender, pots, pans, silverware, plates, coffee maker, espresso machine, apple corer, ice cream maker, slotted spoon, kitchen scissors, garlic mincer, round cake pans (tiered and non-tiered), & Magic Bullet
• So I can pretend to know how to curl my hair: Chi Air Expert Classic Tourmaline Ceramic 1-Inch Flat Iron
• Makeup - just all of it
• Tea & Sympathy candles preferably Milk & Cookies but Biscuits & Berries is good too - sold out everywhere, so good luck
• A Christmas Pickle so I can hide it on the tree and then find it and get an extra gift
• Sparkly, diamondy stuff
• Kindle/Amazon gift cards so I can read Outlander for the rest of time. (Jamie = Swoon)
• Yoga stuff
• Iron because I have an empty place on a far-off closet shelf
• Piano, otherwise that decade of lessons just keeps going to waste
• Kate Spade discontinued sprinkles makeup bag
• Taylor Swift album (preferably on Spotify)
• Ugg slippers so my feet can sweat in our non-stop 80 degree San Diego weather 
• Invite to the Star Wars premiere

And while we're asking....

• A bunch of vacation
• A life in Europe
• Hovercraft
• Role on a successful sitcom
• Unlimited free miles and fancy hotel rooms

Sincerely,
Ellyn

Christmas in California

I'm spending my first holiday season on the West Coast, specifically in a place where the only sign of winter is at Starbucks. Palm tree leaves don't turn red and orange, and it's pretty much still 70 degrees and sunny. I'm writing from a plane on the way to Indianapolis for Shaun's holiday party, and I had to search for my coat. I was sad to bring it. It's bulky and it felt like having another carry-on. I refused to pack mittens or a hat, even though it will be about 30 degrees in Indiana tonight, mostly because I forgot my mittens at work (It's so cold in my office, I wear fingerless mittens to avoid hand cramping).

I spent my first Thanksgiving away from Pennsylvania. Thinking back, I can't remember ever missing a turkey dinner at Grammy's house. I know one year we went to Palm Springs for Christmas (quite awful trip, thank you) and I missed a bunch of Easters since America doesn't give days off for the Resurrection. But this was the first Thanksgiving away. My mom and sister came to San Diego, which was nice in theory. Their visit would've been less stressful if we didn't have to prepare a feast, if there weren't four cooks in the mini apartment kitchen, and if I had an inkling of how to actually prepare a turkey. Luckily my mom took over, and all I ended up making was a gross pumpkin pie (I hate pumpkin pie but it seemed necessary) and some butternut squash soup which took all of ten minutes to concoct (and from which I got a 3rd degree burn on my wrist right under my Om tattoo... Om is right). I felt like a hostess failure. I've decided that I'd much rather go to Cabo next Thanksgiving, no flights, no feast, no family. Okay well I guess there would be a flight and a feast of Mexican food and tequila. Sounds harsh, but when you're crying in the bathroom on the morning of Thanksgiving because you're so overwhelmed it makes you wonder why you bother. I had much more fun once we opened and consumed about five bottles of wine between six people.

For Christmas, I'm flying home for a week. I haven't been home for a week since college, so 4.5 years ago. I'm sort of afraid, but I'll break up the visit by going to NYC for a night (or 2) and visiting friends in PA/NJ. I'm really stressed about the flights, and I hope they're on time. I hope the weather isn't bad so I don't get stuck anywhere. And another thing, I'm not flying to PA until Christmas Eve, and the FAA says no wrapped gifts. Grinchtastic! So I guess I'm wrapping at some point during Christmas Eve dinner and/or using CVS bags and bows. I always imagined myself as a Martha Stewart, totally graceful, organized, and perfect. I would never use folding chairs at Thanksgiving or serve something out of a can. I'd always wrap unique, thoughtful gifts in beautiful custom paper. I'd host wine and cheese parties in designer clothes and send out Christmas cards written in calligraphy. But yeah, I guess that's not who I really am. I'm impatient, I procrastinate, and I forget things. I suppose I'm human (and not a criminal) which makes it all okay right?

I digress (isn't that the most pretentious phrase?) Does being in CA for the holidays make me want to move back East? Not really, but the fact that I'm missing my best friends' bridal showers, and have to fly back to NJ and PA literally at least five times in 2012 does. I really hate flying, it's expensive, my nose runs, and the mini bathrooms freak me out. Also I don't get how the planes stay in the air! But I would hate to miss weddings, graduations and everything else even more. I hate that I have to choose which events to attend, because I can't go to all of them. Then again, I live in a beautiful place where there's no traffic, I walk to work, and I always said I would move to CA so I can cross that off the list. I don't know if I'll move back, but I  know I have to move forward and adjust to air travel and life away from life, at least for now. Time to ice skate on the beach.