Holidailies 1
Oh, the weather outside is frightful...
No, seriously, it really is. I'm not just singing a song. We've been having a lot of freezing rain this week, which always makes things exciting when your car doors freeze shut under a quarter-inch thick layer of ice, or when you walk out the front door of your house onto steps coated in that same layer of ice. Freezing rain is probably my least favorite thing about winter.
The weather's been so bad that my evening commute has been taking even longer than normal. Luckily, I have a bunch of Christmas CDs to listen to. Some are old favorites that I first loved on vinyl (the Elvis Christmas album, Bing Crosby's White Christmas), and some are CDs I bought long ago (The Carpenters' Christmas Portrait). I also have some oddities in there -- a German double CD called "An American Christmas," for example, which I found at Karstadt last year when I was feeling a little homesick. And one of my favorites right now is the Houston Symphony Orchestra's Christmas Festival. It's not just because I know someone in the symphony!
Bing Crosby's album was a special favorite of my sister's and mine when we were young. Dixie had a whole dance routine worked out to "Christmas in Killarney," and I loved the songs featuring the Andrews Sisters best of all. I'm still mystified by the presence of "Faith of our Fathers," though. As far as I can tell, that's just a regular old hymn, not a Christmas song, no matter how many vocal flourishes Bing Crosby gives it. Also, this album always reminds me that the lyrics to God rest ye merry, Gentlemen are somewhat nonsensical to the modern ear. Especially when Bing sings three or four verses of it, past the part where it sounds like he's calling the virgin mary a "witch." (Of course, any Christmas carol that mentions Satan is a little unusual these days.)
There are many Elvis Christmas albums, but the real one begins with "Blue Christmas." Accept no substitutes! That first deep "uh-huh" is the true harbinger of the holidays in our house. (My other favorite songs on that album are "Santa Claus is back in town" and "Santa bring my baby back to me.")
Even with my long commute home, I managed to get dinner on the table before 7 pm tonight. Ph3ar me (and my slow cooker)! We had a German theme dinner, with "Bavarian beef" (a crock pot recipe), real Spätzle, and gravy thickened with crushed gingersnaps. Plus, homemade whole wheat bread from the bread machine. Not too shabby!
No, seriously, it really is. I'm not just singing a song. We've been having a lot of freezing rain this week, which always makes things exciting when your car doors freeze shut under a quarter-inch thick layer of ice, or when you walk out the front door of your house onto steps coated in that same layer of ice. Freezing rain is probably my least favorite thing about winter.
The weather's been so bad that my evening commute has been taking even longer than normal. Luckily, I have a bunch of Christmas CDs to listen to. Some are old favorites that I first loved on vinyl (the Elvis Christmas album, Bing Crosby's White Christmas), and some are CDs I bought long ago (The Carpenters' Christmas Portrait). I also have some oddities in there -- a German double CD called "An American Christmas," for example, which I found at Karstadt last year when I was feeling a little homesick. And one of my favorites right now is the Houston Symphony Orchestra's Christmas Festival. It's not just because I know someone in the symphony!
Bing Crosby's album was a special favorite of my sister's and mine when we were young. Dixie had a whole dance routine worked out to "Christmas in Killarney," and I loved the songs featuring the Andrews Sisters best of all. I'm still mystified by the presence of "Faith of our Fathers," though. As far as I can tell, that's just a regular old hymn, not a Christmas song, no matter how many vocal flourishes Bing Crosby gives it. Also, this album always reminds me that the lyrics to God rest ye merry, Gentlemen are somewhat nonsensical to the modern ear. Especially when Bing sings three or four verses of it, past the part where it sounds like he's calling the virgin mary a "witch." (Of course, any Christmas carol that mentions Satan is a little unusual these days.)
There are many Elvis Christmas albums, but the real one begins with "Blue Christmas." Accept no substitutes! That first deep "uh-huh" is the true harbinger of the holidays in our house. (My other favorite songs on that album are "Santa Claus is back in town" and "Santa bring my baby back to me.")
Even with my long commute home, I managed to get dinner on the table before 7 pm tonight. Ph3ar me (and my slow cooker)! We had a German theme dinner, with "Bavarian beef" (a crock pot recipe), real Spätzle, and gravy thickened with crushed gingersnaps. Plus, homemade whole wheat bread from the bread machine. Not too shabby!
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