Advent Memories Day 19 : Cramming It In

When it comes to the Holidays, I want to cram in as much as I can. Multiple parties, all the best shops, lots of baking, time with family, seeing every close friend I can, etc.... Christmas of 2000 was a crazy one where I tried to see most of my favorite people even though they lived in different cities! I celebrated Jesus' birth with my family in California then flew back to Texas and drove to Missouri to see my high school friends. After a few days in CoMo, I hit the road back to Texas and that very evening, flew out with some of my favorite Dallas people to spend New Years in Vegas! Ahhhh....craziness! It was so fun, though. I remember feeling satisfied afterwards...I'd gotten to spend quality time with so many loved ones and was ready to start a new year!

Advent Memories Day 18 : Christmas Tea

One year while living in Dallas, I decided to host a Christmas Tea in my apartment.  I sent out invitations (real ones...in the mail!).  I think there ended up being 16 or 18 girls at my apartment that day.  It was a tight squeeze, but I added 2 tables in my living room and we made it work.  I got to put all my Christmas dishes and glasses to use for the occasion.  For teacups, I borrowed from my grandmothers stash.  She had several different sets of china and they all had teacups and saucers.  I loved the idea of having a variety of teacups, so I borrowed several from her.  I made two kinds of tea...a cold Almond flavored one (it's delish!) and a hot peachy flavored one that was also quite good.  For food, I went the traditional English tea route.  We started with plates full of mini sandwiches...cucumber on white, chicken salad on pumpernickel, and egg salad on wheat.  The next course was scones...my only time to make scones, but they were so easy.  I just made plain scones and served them with berries and whipped cream...so yum.  The final course was the mini desserts...chocolate covered strawberries, mini tarts, and sugar cookies (of course I can't have a party without sugar cookies!).  It was such a fun party and I've been wanting to have another tea party ever since!

Advent Memories Day 17 : Cali Christmases

I mentioned in my first blog of this series that I can't remember how many Christmases I spent in California.  My parents lived there for seven Christmases...1998-2004.  I know for sure I was there in 1998 and 2000.  Beyond that, I'm just not sure but I'm guessing there was another one or two Christmases in Cali.  California Christmases are different.  You're basically at the beach!  Which is weird when you don't grow up having Christmas at the beach.  I remember there being at least one year that it was warm enough that I actually laid out at the beach.  These Christmases felt like more of a vacation to me (but probably not to my parents).  We got to do all my favorite things in San Diego and explore new places as well.  Trips to Coronado Island (where we always picked up one of the annual Christmas ornaments at Hotel Del), wandering around La Jolla, shopping at the mall near my parent's home, maybe a trip to LA or across the border into Mexico, etc...  And there was also a lot of time to relax since I didn't have any friends there.  It was just me and my parents and Beth.  Oh, I'd really like a Christmas like that again!  Like I said earlier...Hawaii 2011!  I'm gonna make it happen.

Advent Memories Day 16 : Special Gift from Paris

My sister lived in Paris for three years and for three Christmases (she did make it back to the states for one of those Christmases). Her first Christmas in Paris was in 1996 (really? that long ago? Nuts!) and she'd only been living there about 3 months. I was soooo excited to get a Christmas gift all the way from Paris! A box arrived to my parent's house with wrapped gifts for all of us. The gifts were placed under the tree until Christmas day. It was the gift I was most excited about opening that year - I couldn't wait! I had no idea what it was, but it was from Paris and it would be fabulous!! So, Christmas day arrived and I opened the tiny little package with my name on it and, well, this is as anti-climatic of a story as it was a gift. It was a packet of kleenex. Yep, kleenex...all the way from Paris.
It would be dishonest for me to say I wasn't disappointed. I was. Granted, they were those really cute Kleenex and they were Frenchy (had Eiffel towers or something all over them). And it was the very first time I'd ever seen those cute kleenex that you see everywhere today, so they did seem a little special. But I still saw it as just a packet of kleenex. I remember seeing my cousin shortly after this (not sure why I got to see her...we didn't see each other much during our college years). Nicole was as excited about the idea of a gift from Paris as I was. She wanted to know all about what Beth had sent me. Surely it was something grand - from Paris! She, too, was disappointed that it was simply kleenex. Ah, well. I suppose I've gotten over it.
I should cut Beth a little slack because she was a nanny making next to nothing...she couldn't afford us nice gifts that year. I do still give her a hard time about it though. My first year in New York, I hid her real gift in another room and I only placed a wrapped packet of cute NYC kleenex under the tree for her. I could see the look of disappointment on her face when she opened them and I waited until the very end of the gift opening to bring out her real gift! I think I proved my point that day :)

Advent Memories Day 15 : Special Guests

My Junior year of college, I was blessed to have 2 of my roommates come up to Columbia for a few days of the Holiday break.  It was so much fun to be able to show my two very best friends (at the time) where I was from.  I lived with Becca for 2.5 years and Sara for 3 years....we were very close friends.  And, well, Becca is probably my closest friend ever (there are a couple others who come darn close, though!).  The girls flew in to Kansas City on the same flight from Dallas (Sara is from Dallas and Becca flew to Dallas from Amarillo).  I picked them up in KC and we all jumped for joy and hugged...not just because we were all together in Missouri, but Becca had gotten engaged a few days prior...my first friend to get engaged, and my best friend, at that!  We spent some time on the KC Plaza before driving to CoMo.  I can't remember what we did in Columbia, other than eating pizza at Shakespeare's one day...of, course!  I also remember it was extremely hot and we put on shorts and took my car to the DIY car wash.  After a couple of days in Columbia, the girls had the privilege of driving back to Dallas with me.  I thought they were going to DIE about 1/2 way through Oklahoma.  I'd been doing the trip at least twice a year since I was three, so I was used to it and never thought much of it.  And once I started doing it on my own, I found the long drive kind of therapeutic.  They thought it was the worst thing ever.  Too funny.  But, it was so great to spend part of the Holidays with my best friends!

Advent Memories Day 14 : Scripture Reading

One Christmas during college (most likely my Senior year), I was already back in Columbia for the Holiday when I received a phone call. It was the worship minister at our church and he was wondering if I would read scripture at the Christmas Eve service. I was kind of confused by this as there had been some turn-over in staff at our church since I had left for college and I really didn't know the pastor or the worship minister at all. Why would they call me to do this? I still don't really know the answer, but I think they involved several people from different stages of life in the program that year, so I suppose I was their token "college student who came back home for Christmas." He picked the scripture, so all I had to do was get comfortable with it and then read it in front of a crowd! I wish I could remember the passage I was given...I think it was maybe a Psalm, but I'm really not sure. That night, I was a little bit nervous, but it actually ended up being fun. I think our family enjoyed being involved in the service in a small way that year. And, I think that's when I discovered that I actually like speaking in front of people. Well, so long as it's not something I have to write or something that's not super personal to me...that makes me super nervous!!

Advent Memories Day 13 : Mammaw's Creme Puffs

My Mammaw was known for her cooking.  She had some specialties we all loved and we each had our personal favorites (mine was probably her blackberry cobbler....so yum!)  Mammaw's Creme Puffs were a big hit with just about everyone, but especially my dad.  They were not the easiest thing to make, so she would usually only make them when my family was in town (which led to just a little bit of bitterness from family who lived right there and had to wait until my dad came in to get their creme puffs!).  One year, however, I did learn that the Texas fam was often treated to a little taste of creme puffs when their family from Missouri wasn't in town.  My cousin, Nicole, and I spent the night at Mammaw's on Christmas Day one year.  I'm not sure why it was just the two of us because usually all the cousin's would spend the night together.  I think Beth was sick this particular year and maybe Mammaw just invited the older girls to come or something.  That evening, Nicole let me in on a little secret...Mammaw would sometimes whip them up a little batch of creme puff filling and serve that for a little snacky snack before bed.  I thought it sounded a little strange at first...creme with no puff?  Weird.  But, upon Nicole's request Mammaw got to it and shortly after we were sitting at the table with individual bowls full of white custard and eating it by the spoonful.  It was actually delicious!  The first and last time I've had creme without the puff!