Five Words--Holiday Addendum Edition

1. Parade--Ummm, not as good as remembered. The whole first hour was celebrity interviews with people I've never heard of (as we don't watch tv except for The Office, which we download from iTunes). Lots of Broadway show bits. By the time the parade really commenced, an hour later, I was over it.

2. Nutcracker--Oh boy. I decided this was going to be the year kidlet wanted to float about like a sugar plum fairy but I think I decided this about 2 years too early. We pop in the video, I'm bursting with excitement. Kidlet is rapt. Then the tree grows, mice appear, ominous music, the Nutcracker turned into a Macaulay Culkin with a beard...oh dear. "Turn it off! Turn it off! I'm scary!" Ok, that will be put away for a few years. Maybe I'll have to pick up a Muppet Christmas Carol to make up for it.

3. Stress--What is it about holidays that makes me stress out even though we weren't officially doing the giga-feasting thing yesterday? (That's coming tomorrow.) I was snappy on and off all day. It started when I strayed from my pancake breakfast tendencies to make salmon scrambled eggs with mashed potato cakes. Nothing was done at the same time, kidlet was whiny, dogs wanted in and out of the house...oy vey. I'll have to figure out what sets me off. Maybe it was all those tv celebs on the parade broadcast that got under my skin.

4. Pie--I made apple pie yesterday and I think I am getting closer to my pie goals. It wasn't pretty, as they suggested an egg wash which just made it look overdone, hence no photo. But I worked more with the crust recipe and I have some ideas in mind to make it work for me. The filling was pretty good, but could have been a wee bit better. I think by strawberry-rhubarb season, I'll have this down.

5. Nora--The sweet doggina in the photo. One thing I am definitely thankful for this holiday is that she's still kicking and doing well (knock wood). It's too dang cute when kidlet goes up to Nora, puts her arms around Nora's neck and coos "Nora, my sweet dog". Nora looks stoically ahead and never loses her temper with kidlet. Keep on, keepin' on my sweet dog.