Winter Magic

(Again, I know that it is well past Holiday time. And that this blog post title is somewhat oxymoronic considering that it is 80 degrees outside right now. But still, I'm playing catch-up.)

I absolutely love the winter Holiday season, particularly Christmastime. I don't know what it is about it, but even as I have gotten older, and perhaps even a little more jaded in life, Christmas has just never seemed to lose its magic. It carries with it a vibe, an aura. A memory. Christmas means the smell of smoke-burning fireplaces on the cold night air and 24-hour-a-day Christmas music on the radio. It means pumpkin pie for breakfast. And thousands of twinkling lights on the neighborhood houses (you'll notice that I specifically said neighborhood houses, as my dad has refused to put lights up on our house for years now. Bah!) And of course, what Christmas would be complete without spending hours on end shopping?

Growing up, my family had several Christmas traditions. However, as the kids have gotten older, and the family members at home for the holidays have become fewer, many of these traditions have fallen by the wayside. Mostly due to lack of desire to expend energy. However, the one tradition that has stood the test of time is Christmas Eve dinner. I know what you're saying – "Courtney, everybody eats Christmas dinner. And a lot of people eat it on Christmas Eve like you. What makes your family tradition so different?"

Well, I'll tell you. It's all the little eccentricities that make our Christmas dinner so quintessentially Sudweeks.

First of all, my Mother hates turkey. So for Christmas dinner, we used to cook a turkey, a honeybaked ham, and then a small chicken for my Mom. But then everybody started eating her chicken, and leaving the turkey untouched. And my Mom would get totally annoyed because everyone was stealing her poultry. So the turkey part of the dinner was eventually discontinued, and the size of the chicken was upgraded. A la, turkey-less Christmas dinner.

Second of all, our side dishes are not exactly typical. They are traditional......but with a twist. Instead of yams with marshmallows on top, we have a concoction of yams and apples marinated in a sweet sauce. Instead of mashed potatoes, we have my Dad's famous cheesy scalloped potatoes. And who needs cranberry sauce when you have strawberry Jell-o (with real strawberry pieces and bananas in it)!

[Side note: This past Thanksgiving, my parents somehow forgot to buy the strawberry Jell-o. But instead of running out to the store, they decided to use whatever they had on hand. Which was watermelon and orange-flavored Jell-o (left over from when my dad could only eat non-red clear liquids prior to having a colonoscopy, I might add). Mixed together. With strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, and bananas…..

……I'm not really sure what they were thinking, but as appetizing as that may look/sound, it ended up tasting more like a jiggly, chewy Jolly Rancher. Bonus points for creativity, though.]

Thirdly, every year, WITHOUT FAIL, we burn the crescent rolls. Every. Bloody. Year. And every year, we laugh at our repeated offense and swear we won't do it again. It really takes a certain talent, if you ask me. So sad, because crescent rolls are yummy.

Lastly, Christmas dinner may as well be called Christmas dessert in our house, because that's really the main event. Every year, even if there are just a few of us at home for the holidays, we make an abundance of pies and other delectable goodies to consume. This Christmas we made three pumpkin pies, one cherry pie, one lemon meringue pie, one apple crisp, and one lemon swirl cheesecake.

That's seven desserts. For four people. Gluttony what?

After dinner, we decided to go check out the Christmas lights at a couple different San Diego spots. The first place we went was Seaport Village, which is located on San Diego Harbor. But as it was Christmas Eve, and most of the little shops with lights had closed early, there wasn't too much to see. BUT, several of the historical ships in the harbor were decorated with lights.

At this point, we decided to head to Balboa Park, another historical San Diego location with lots of beautiful architecture, museums, gardens, and theaters. I love this place. It's one of the few places from my childhood that feels unchanged and untouched, and I could spend hours just meandering through it. And at Christmastime, they usually go Christmas light crazy.

Balboa Park is actually not very far from Seaport Village – a fact that I did not realize, having not lived in that part of San Diego since I was ten. This fact was quickly pointed out to me by my mother, however, who scoffed when I asked her if I should get out the GPS. She reminded me that both she and my father had worked in that area early on in their marriage, and knew it like the back of their hands.

Okayeeee.......... Fine.

We begin driving, and my mom started playing front-seat navigator to my dad. Which worked for a little while. Until we started driving through tent cities of homeless people and being directed the wrong way down one-way streets. Apparently my mother had forgotten more than she thought since moving to North County.

Up in the front seats, my parents argued and debated. "No, we just need to find 5th street. That'll take us straight there! That way!! No – turn here!!" Blythe and I just sat there in the back seat, giggling our heads off as quietly as we could at my parents....who were so lost, but just couldn't admit it. I tell you, I felt like I was watching an episode of The Muppet Show, you know, with the two old men who are constantly bickering and mocking each other. Yeah, that was my parents trying to get themselves to Balboa Park at 10:00 at night on Christmas Eve 2010. So funny.

Finally, after about 15 minutes of this comedy act, Blythe whipped out her phone and GPS'd our destination. We got there in 3 minutes.

Haha.

Anyway, once we got there, we walked around for a bit, looking at the lights, etc. But, I would have to say that the pinnacle of the evening was sitting on Santa's lap. That's right – the big guy himself.

Blythe and I are 30 and 32, respectively. Why do you ask? ;o)

All in all, the 2010 holidays were quiet and relaxing, which was probably what we all needed anyway, since we kept catching and re-infecting each other with the flu for the whole two weeks.

That’s okay, though. Because you know how they say that the older you get, the faster time flies? Well, 2010 felt like a literal blur, and I still swear that we skipped May and September somewhere in there. So I'm sure that Christmas 2011 will be here before I know it…..with an all new set of adventures!

Halloweekend

(Note: Yes, I know that it is January 2011. And yes, I know that this is a Halloween post. But c'mon people! The holidays are a busy time! And when have I ever been punctual when it comes to blogging, huh? Anyway, here goes...)

So, typically, I am NOT a fan of Halloween. I know, Bah Humbug and all. But I find the whole occasion to be quite stressful, mostly because I hate having to think up a decent costume to wear. My creative juices just don't revolve around fashion.

This year, however, I actually had a pretty decent Halloween weekend. Friday night (October 29th), there was a huge regional YSA party/dance that I went to with a bunch of friends. My roomie, Rachel, dressed up as Snooki, and I have to say that she pretty much nailed it. Except for the bright orange hands (she got a-ONE too many spray tans in pursuit of the cause). But hey, GTL as you see fit.

As for myself, I managed to put together a makeshift sexy kitty costume (which was repeatedly mistaken for a sexy mouse costume.....idiots).

Even though the party was EXTREMELY crowded and hot, and even though I felt like I was babysitting half the time because I was surrounded by hundreds of 18-year-old twits, I actually had a pretty good time.

I give my friend, Todd, the award for most creative costume. Can you guess what he is? Can you?

A bar of soap.

I know, right? Ew. But somehow coming from Todd, it's not as offensive.

Afterwards, we all went out to Denny's for some food.

And then on the way home, I got pulled over by some power-hungry cops who claimed that they were doing so because I had tinted front windows.

Seriously?! Tinted windows? Could they even tell if my windows were tinted at that time of night? And by the way, they are NOT.

Apparently that was the only excuse they could come up with to pull me over to see if I was drunk, which totally bugs, because I wasn't even speeding or driving recklessly or anything. And they didn't even ask me if I HAD been drinking; they asked me HOW MUCH I had had to drink that night. What the?!?!

So, here is when Snarky Courtney comes out - when supposed authority figures try to attack/accuse me without justification. I was probably a little sassier with the cop than I should have been......after all, I had done NOTHING wrong. Even though I told him that I had not been drinking that night, and that I would take a breathalizer test to prove it, he still made me follow his finger back and forth until he was satisfied that I was sober. At that point, he let me go with a "warning" about my supposedly illegal tinted windows, and that was it.

To his credit, it must have looked pretty suspicious to have a 31-year-old dressed as a cat, with smeared cat makeup, driving around with a blonde bar of soap at 3 o'clock in the morning. And I guess that I would rather have him being safe than sorry when it comes to drunk drivers. But still! I felt so violated!

The next night (Saturday, October 30th), a group of us decided to go up to the Haunted Hayride at Griffith Park.

I wasn't quite sure how I was going to feel about this activity, as I really HATE being scared. In fact, my automatic reflex when something jumps out at me is to swat at it. And I was pretty sure that the Haunted Hayride people weren't going to look kindly on my physically abusing their staff.

There were about 30 people per hayride, and we were being driven around a trail which went through the old Griffith Park Zoo. There were about 8 different scary displays - with the subject matter ranging from clowns to demons to axe murderers. They had it all. And some of these displays were inside the old animal cages that used to be part of the zoo - which was both cool and creepy.

Now, I was told that the actors were not allowed to touch the riders. Which was true. But, BOY did they do everything but. They would jump onto the side of the vehicle, banging it with metal objects as they did. They stuck their heads into the center of the group, reaching for us and gruesomely yelling out our names (Yes, they were smart.....they listened to conversations going on and picked up on passengers' names......and then used them to freak us out!).

I didn't think that it was possible to both scream in horror and laugh with glee at the same time, but I did throughout the entire adventure. When it ended, I wanted to go again - which says a lot for a chicken like me.

Here are some pics from the night:

(You can see that Rachel’s hand is still a lovely shade of dark orange….hehe.)

(Waiting in line. YES, there was a 45 minute line to take a ride on some hay. Where don’t you have to wait in LA anymore?!)

(In the metal pen they herd you into right before the ride. MOO!!)

(YAY!! We actually made it on!!)

(Some of the aftermath….)

 

By the time we got to Halloween day (Sunday, October 31st), we were so pooped from our late nights of fun and debauchery, that we just sat around in our pajamas, ate pizza and ice cream, and watched "Hocus Pocus."

Just my kind of Halloween. And yes, I know that makes me old and boring. But I just don't care anymore.