Roses for Mom

16"x20", Acrylic, Gloss Media and Beads on canvas. Made with love for Christmas for my Mother who cultivates blossoms better than anyone and surrounds herself with their beauty.

Have a Looky at my Christmas Cookies

I had a super Christmassy weekend- it was so fun accomplishing several items on my December To-Do list! The weekend started with seeing David Sedaris’ Santaland Diaries at the Horizon Theater. I laughed so hard- it's a great and fun show and the Atlanta cast is marvelous. I also made my winter-themed playlist.

The best part though was being invited to bake a million, okay a dozen, different kinds of Christmas cookies with my dear friend Sandy. It was a perfectly Christmassy Saturday in her and Jack's beautiful home. As we baked cookies, Jack and his daughter Katy put up their Christmas tree in the living room. Our soundtrack was the holiday albums of the divas: Dolly Parton, Better Midler and Diana Krall. It isn't Christmas until you hear Dolly sing "We Three Kings" I tell you!

We made Gingerbread men and women, my favorite being the three-eyed Alien Gingerman in the corner:


We made Jack's favorite macaroons and delicious wedding cookies (referred to as "Nut Balls" on Sandy's mom's recipe cards):


We made several kinds of nutty cookies, including these hazelnut cookies dipped in chocolate:



I laughed so hard the whole time I was decorating these Mafiosa Snowmen- one is Robert De Niro and the other is Joe Viterelli (a.k.a. Jelly from Analyze This):


But my favorite cookies of all are the Ginger Rosemary cookies:


Sweet and savory at once, and they smell like rosemary heaven. Enjoy the recipe- my Christmas Cookie gift to you!

Ginger Rosemary cookies

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons dried rosemary
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar, plus more for dusting
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses

Directions:

Crush rosemary with a mortar and pestal or a bowl and the back end of a knife. YOu don't need to grind the rosemary, just break it into smaller pieces.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, rosemary and cloves. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds. Gradually add the 1 cup of sugar; beat until fluffy. Add the egg and molasses; beat well. Stir dry mixture into egg mixture.

Shape dough into 1 1/2-inch balls (1 heaping tablespoon of dough each). Place about two tablespoons of sugar in a small bowl. Roll balls in the sugar and place on ungreased cookie sheets about 2 1/2 inches apart; add sugar to the bowl as needed.

Bake in a 350-degree oven about 10 minutes or until light brown but still puffed. (Do not overbake.) Let stand on cookie sheets for 2 minutes; transfer to a wire rack and let cool. Makes about 24 cookies.

Prison Origami

One of may favorite things about the holidays is the variety of homemade Christmas greetings I receive from people in Georgia prisons. Some of the time, I don't even know the person sending them. It is extremely special to me that men with so little who don't know me but know my work make and send paper tidings with messages of gratitude. Today I got a great haul- a sweet little crayoned card, an origami reindeer and a paper tree:

The best part is the tree - so not to be crushed in the mail - came wrapped in a Little Debbie Strawberry Shortcake package from the prison commissary:


These simple gestures mean so much to me, and remind me why we do this and who we do it for.

A Charming Little Tree

Yesterday, I bought my first ever living Christmas tree. Ela and I had a lovely time decorating it last night and I am already in love with it:

In years past I would get a Poinsettia and decorate it for my home in Atlanta. Because I spend Christmas in Chicago every year it made sense not to have a tree. The tree at my parent's house is beautiful and filled with ornaments bearing their own stories and memories of our family. I was surprised that in my first tree in my home ever, that my little stories came by simply and that they were stories unique to my life in Atlanta.

In addition to several beautiful big and little birds that I have used on my poinsettia in the past, I have a portrait of my home that Ela painted the year I moved in here, a blue star garland from Mica, a cat from Tiffani sitting next to the tree and it all sits on a kuffiyeh from Mohammad.

Even though I've been struggling with a migraine all day, my charming little tree makes me smile each time my eyes drift its way.

Carwash Whistled Jingle Bells

There's a homeless man who has lived on my street for many more years than I have. He goes by the name Carwash. He rides his bicycle up and down the street and gets by doing odd jobs for my neighbors and I plus the help of the nearby church. Sometimes in the very early morning he whistles eerie but beautiful symphonies as he cycles. His song has come to feel like the soundtrack of Mead Street in my head.

I wake up around 5am every day. Usually its because of my cat Eek standing on my chest meowing loudly for me to let him outside (a horrible, horrible habit that I cannot seem to break him of), or my chronic light sleeping and insomnia that doesn't allow for more than 3 consecutive hours asleep. This morning though, I woke up to Christmas songs in my head.

Listening closer, I realized I actually could hear music. It was pure, impeccably in-tune whistling. It was Jingle Bells, and it was of course, Carwash. After completing Jingle Bells, he didn't miss a beat going into Silver Bells. Then it was Joy to the World. I laid in bed and drifted back to sleep to his singular perfect notes floating through the air.

One night, as my friend and I were pulling out of my street to go to dinner, I saw Carwash sitting in his usual plastic chair on the sidewalk in front of my neighbor's house. To my surprise, he had a barbecue going in front of him. He was hanging out and cooking sausages! He was alone and clearly enjoying himself. My friend and I laughed hard; this sort of scene is exactly why I love Atlanta so.

When I got home later that night I chatted with him for a minute. He commented on the beautiful night sky and the stars we rarely get to see through our thick city smog. I couldn't help but think of Oscar Wilde writing:

We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.

When I asked Carwash how he was doing and how his night was, he simply replied, "Blessed."

This morning when I was leaving for work I saw Carwash on his bike which he has decorated with a sprig of holly (possibly from the bush in my front yard) across the handlebars. When I asked him how he was doing this December morning, he replied again, "Blessed."

My December To-Do List

I can’t help my excitement about wintertime this year. Since that first day in Atlanta when the air had teeth, visions of sugar plums have been dancing in my head. Perhaps it’s that I had two back-to-back trips planned to cold places – Chicago for Thanksgiving- or perhaps it’s that Thanksgiving is a week later than usual this year, I’m so impatient for Christmastime.

I know I’m not the only one who is reveling in Yule anticipation either. From the Facebook status updates wistful and longing for the beauty that comes with the coldest time of year to my favorite paper Creative Loafing’s hilarious DIY Atlanta Christmas suggestions, folks seem more than ready for the most wonderful time of the year.

So for all of you out there that can’t help but grin at the Christmas songs already playing in some shops, and those of you feeling more Grinchy, here is my to do list for December to help celebrate and get you in the spirit of the season. I would welcome company so if any of these strike your fancy, let me know. I’d also love to hear other ideas!

• Ice-skating outside – either in Atlanta at Centennial Park or Chicago at Millennium Park.
• Go to an Evil Santa party.
• Decorate a giant Poinsettia (my tree tradition) at my Atlanta home.
• See David Sedaris’ Santaland Diaries at the Horizon Theater.
• Consume lots of creamy after-dinner drinks. Think Baileys on the rocks, Grasshoppers, White Russians. Maybe Tequila Rose on New Years Eve.
• Abstain from the rampant seasonal consumerism and make as many of my Christmas gifts as possible.
• Listen to Twisted Sister’s Christmas album, aptly title “A Very Twisted Christmas” while wrapping gifts. The best is their version of the 12 Days of Christmas – “On my heavy metal Christmas my true love gave to me a tattoo of Ozzy.”
• Shovel snow with my mom at night while flakes land on our already wet-gloved hands.
• Sing the Alleluia Chorus of Handel’s Messiah in harmony with my siblings on Christmas Eve.
• Go to Binny’s (the local booze store) with my Dad to shop for our New Year’s Eve Party. “One of each, good man!”
• Make a million kinds of cookies with Sandy.
• Make a Christmas/winter-themed playlist.
• Stare at hundreds of Christmas lights every day.

And finally, my only Christmas to-don't:
• Not slip on black ice and break my elbow like I did last year.

Little Help? The Greatest Thanksgiving TV and Movie Moments

I'm really getting in the spirit of the holidays this year y'all. This is my partial list of greatest Thanksgiving TV/Movie moments of all time. I know I'm probably missing a million- little help? So far I have only 6 and 2 are from Addam's Family Values. What? It's my blog.

1. Wednesday Addam's soliloquy stopping the Thanksgiving feast in Addams Family Values:

Wednesday: Wait! We cannot break bread with you.
Amanda: Huh? Becky, what's going on?
Becky: [whispered] Wednesday!
Wednesday: You have taken the land which is rightfully ours. Years from now my people will be forced to live in mobile homes on reservations. Your people will wear cardigans, and drink highballs. We will sell our bracelets by the road sides, you will play golf, and enjoy hot hors d'oeuvres. My people will have pain and degradation. Your people will have stick shifts. The gods of my tribe have spoken. They have said, "Do not trust the Pilgrims, especially Sarah Miller."
Amanda: Gary, she's changing the words.
Wednesday: And for all these reasons I have decided to scalp you and burn your village to the ground.

2. Charlie Brown making toast instead of turkey in A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving:

Charlie Brown: I can't cook a Thanksgiving dinner. All I can make is cold cereal and maybe toast.
Linus van Pelt: That's right. I've seen you make toast.

(later) Peppermint Patty: What kind of Thanksgiving dinner is this? Where's the turkey, Chuck? Don't you know anything about Thanksgiving dinners? Where's the mashed potatoes? Where's the cranberry sauce? Where's the pumpkin pie?

3. Grandpa Simpson's explanation of the Walking Bird (The Simpsons "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy"):

... Anyway, about my washtub. I'd just used it that morning to wash my turkey, which in those days was known as a walking bird. We'd always have walking bird on Thanksgiving with all the trimmings: cranberries, injun eyes, yams stuffed with gunpowder. Then we'd all watch football, which in those days was called "baseball"...

4. Pugsley Addam's "Eat Me! I'm a Turkey" song from Addam's Family Values (as part of Gary's vision of course):

Camp Children: Eat us! Hey, its Thanksgiving Day! Eat us, we make a nice buffet! We lost the race with Farmer Ed, eat us 'cause we're good and dead. White man or red man from east, north or south, chop off our legs, and put 'em in your mouth!
Pugsley: Eat me!
Camp Children: Sautéed or barbecued!
Pugsley: Eat me!
Camp Children: We once were pets but now we're food! We won't stay fresh for very long! So eat us before we finish this song! Eat us before we finish this song!

5. The Friends Episode when Monica puts a turkey on her head to cheer up Chandler:



6. Beverly Hills 90210: Brandon Walsh decides to invite Jack, a homeless veteran, to his family's house for Thanksgiving dinner. Jim, Brandon's dad, is a bit wary ("Did you ever see such a literal interpretation of the Golden Rule?") but then gives in when a bath and fresh clothes let the real, respectable Jack shine through.

7. The Family Guy episode when they spoof what John Goodman's family would look like at Thanksgiving:

Lois: You know some people would be happy to have this food, like John Goodman's family.

8. The Ice Storm, the Thanksgiving angst scene where Ms. Ricci has yet another diatribe about the plundering and pillaging of the red man by the white man:



9. and thanks to William's suggestion, pretty much all of Planes, Trains and Automobiles as Steve Martin and John Candy try to make their way home to Chicago for Thanksgiving. A ton of great quotes are here.

10. And from Mica, Home for the Holidays:



11. From Kori, the Thanksgiving episode of Everyboday Hates Chris when Chris gives a speech to his class about how he is grateful that he is not Native American:

12. From Tiffani, the infamous Gobble episode of South Park: