The Holiday Letter You Didn't Get From Me

Dear Friends and Family,

Hello! And happy holidays.

Yes, I know that Christmas is long passed, and you may have received a card from me with no personal message written on it. Not even a signature. Or maybe you thought you'd get a card, but then I got side-tracked and never made that second trip to the post office. Feel free to call me names.

If you were remembering the clever little missives of the past, just know that I didn't manage to get myself together in time to do that this year. To those of you who did, you earned your humble brags just by having the foresight to write your Christmas letter (I actually like these Christmas letters, although that seems to be an unpopular sentiment. But keep them coming!)

And if you didn't get a Christmas card out this year, no sweat. Your great-aunt is probably silently judging you (or not-so-silently judging you, or not-so-silently comparing you to your cousin Eileen  - Did you see Eileen's Christmas letter? She has four kids and an organic hand soap business and SHE managed to send a letter... (dramatic pause).

2014 brought me travel and adventure! To recap:

Flight map of the South on the day we were trying
to get to Birmingham. I'm not sure what that little plane
was trying to do, because there was
nowhere to land.

Winter 2014
The year started off with a trip to Nashville, TN: Music City! Of course, I had originally been attempting to go to Birmingham, AL, but due to a freak storm we were re-routed. 

If you have never been to Nashville, I can recommend the airport, where you can while away the hours in such pursuits as sitting, listening to country music stars give pre-recorded messages about how great Nashville is, and talking to the pleasant Southwest staff members about which cast members from the show Nashville they have seen in the airport.

You may never want to leave the airport, but if you do, the airport area has many fine hotels where you can attempt to get some dinner from the single waitress on staff. Get up early to get back to the airport to return home, never having reached your final destination.




Spring 2014
As spring rolled in, I was excited to find a special offer in my mail, that you can see at right. It really is amazing all the wonderful things that you can get these days, if you just pay attention to the coupons in your weekly mail. Personally, I enjoy redeeming free cremations as often as possible. You never know know when you'll need one!

Summer 2014
Ah summer! There's nothing like a Houston summer, when the air coats your skin like a hot wet blanket has been wrapped around you, tighter and tighter until you  think that you might need to redeem a free cremation any minute. When the weather is so delightfully warm that your thighs stick together every time you walk down the street, it's the perfect opportunity to explore the activities that summer brings.

My friend Melanie and I decided that we would try the wooden roller coaster at Kemah Boardwalk, little realizing that people in their thirties are perhaps not the target audience for a contraption made of match sticks which tosses you back and forth  at high speeds. While we had a great time, we also came out looking like car crash victims due to the gigantic bruises we acquired. I'm not sure if there's a ride at the boardwalk that involves sitting and drinking wine, but if there is, next time we'll try that.

Photo tip: When taking pictures of
sidewalks, make sure that your shadow
is not in the picture. You'll treasure
these sidewalk pictures for years to come.

Fall 2014
Fall brought the trip of a lifetime, as my Mom and I visited our ancestral homeland of Spain! We enjoyed the fine cuisine, such a chicken stew surrounded by French fries, chicken on a bed of French fries, and French fries with hot sauce. And ham. We also enjoyed the many cobblestone and tiled streets and alleys, which my mother urged me to document in photos as often as possible. 

There's nothing like foreign travel to test the mother daughter bond, but luckily we passed with flying colors. So... to all of you who asked, "You're spending how long with your mother?" I can tell you that it was amazing. As long as I agreed to get to the train station an hour or more before every leg of the trip, nothing could come between us!

I hope that you had as wonderful of a 2014 as I. As for 2015, I give you the words of Warren Zevon:

"Don't let us get sick
Don't let us get old
Don't let us get stupid, all right?

Just make us be brave,
Make us play nice,
And let us be together tonight."

Love, your friend
Catfish

Do You Believe in Santa?

Day 24: Do you believe in Santa Claus?

When my sister was about nine or ten, she came to the realization that the presents under the tree that were labeled "From Santa" might actually have been put there by our parents. She stomped around the house, demanding to know, "Is Santa real?"

To which my ever-wise mother answered: "He's real in your heart."

"I don't want to know if he's real in my heart! IS SANTA REAL?"

My mother, like a Buddhist teacher with a particularly stubborn student, continued to repeat: "He's real in your heart."

This, in my mind, is the only possible true answer to this question. 

Sure, scientists and adventurers have been to the North Pole, and lo and behold, they did not find a gingerbread village filled with dancing elves creating lovably quaint wooden toys. Physicists have calculated the speed necessary for Santa to travel and deliver all those presents, speeds which would cause him to be invisible to the eye. The facts indicate that Santa is not real.

And I know many parents who don't "do" Santa (or even Christmas) because there seems to be something fundamentally wrong to them in the idea of intentionally causing their children to believe in a wonderful figure that isn't real. Others, rightly, point out that the American Santa appears to be a fundamentally unjust figure who gives wealthy children better toys than poor ones, tying wealth inextricably to goodness.

I see those points. Yet I don't think the definitions of "true" or "real" can be so simple, and myths like Santa Claus fall into a different kind of category. Myths can be true in a sense without conforming to scientific reality, because they use stories to express essential truths about the reality of the human condition. In a world where children will face disease, war, financial distress, and just plain ol' existential angst, believing in Santa for awhile can teach invaluable ways of being: to have faith in the face of long odds, to persist when faith seems lost, to show grace in cold times.

I "believed" in Santa for much longer than other children, because I saw his sleigh flying past my window on Christmas Eve when I was about six. I didn't "think" I saw the sleigh, or "dream" I saw the sleigh - I saw it, as I sat on my knees on my bed. It flew around the neighbor's house, a comet of light, casting an indelible arc in my memory as it turned to approach our roof. For years after that, my faith in Santa was unshakable. I don't have any explanation for what I saw, and I don't try to explain it. What's real in our hearts is often inexplicable.

St. Nicholas of Myra throws coins through
the window of three virgins who had no money for
a dowry. Santa Claus was born.

24 Days to Christmas: Days 22-23

Day 22: When do you open presents?
Day 23: Favorite Christmas Eve tradition

As I mentioned yesterday, my family opens most of their presents on Christmas morning. However, most of our holiday traditions revolve around Christmas Eve, which is also my sister's birthday.

For lunch on Christmas Eve, we celebrate my sister's birthday by going to lunch at a Spokane restaurant called Clinkerdagger, that overlooks the falls of the Spokane River. The place is always decorated to the nines during the holidays. Usually we eat so much that we aren't really hungry for dinner. Although we've tried over the years to plan Christmas Eve suppers, our current thinking is that hors d'oeuvres and birthday cake are plenty.

In our family we open one present on Christmas Eve. I know that in some families there are strictures on just what can be opened -- Christmas pyjamas seem to be common -- but we can open anything that is under the tree at that moment. This involves some careful thought and planning... you don't want to choose something disappointing (socks!) because it's your only gift until morning. Especially when we were kids, when we wanted to play with our gifts for a little while before bed, we didn't want to choose something that didn't allow for that.

However, there seems to be an unspoken rule that you can't go for your biggest present, either, or something that is going to be the same as your sister's. So, there are usually only a couple of viable options.

After the presents, we usually read some holiday stories - 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, and The Polar Express. Although this is my favorite part of the holiday, in recent years we haven't always done it because my nephews sometimes want to go to bed (!). 

24 Days to Christmas: Days 20-21

Day 20: What do you do on Christmas morning?

Because we lived about a thousand miles from our extended family, we usually spent Christmas just the four of us (mom, dad and sister). In fact, we spent most holidays with just the four of us, which means that my archetype for all holidays is not hustle and bustle, but a long, lazy day with good food and some time spent reading. Basically perfect - no dressing up, no driving, no arguments.

Usually, we woke up and opened presents - you were allowed to open your stocking before parents were up, but nothing else. 

Last night, my mom and I were talking about the fairly modest Christmases we had as kids. When I was little, we didn't have a ton of money; plus my parents were sort of social-activist types who didn't believe in kids having sugary cereals, gum, soda, or flashy presents.I know that the gifts in this photo probably look quaint and small through today's eyes, but many of those toys have become hallmarks of my childhood. Though not the drum. I think maybe I put a drumstick through the paper top.

After presents, we usually had a Swiss bread called "grittibanz" (sometimes called "grittibaenz") for breakfast with orange juice. There's no particular reason - we're not Swiss or anything (Russian and Spanish/Guatemalan - probably the farthest you can get from Swiss, if the military history of these countries is any indication). Mom just saw the recipe in a magazine and liked the idea of it.

Grittibanz are giant bread boys - kind of like gingerbread boys - flavored with cardamom and glazed with an egg wash. It's very hard to make a grittibanz that actually looks like a boy - they rise in the oven and then their faces get all misshapen. However, they are always delicious.

The grittibanz at right is one that my mother made. However, in searching for pics of grittibanz, I nearly had my childhood destroyed. Naughty grittibanz came up. I'm not having any of that. My grittibanz are pure of heart and spirit!

It became clear through my search that grittibanz can also be quite scary -- check out this ad campaign:

I'll put those guys right up there with scary clowns, thank you very much.

Day 21: What do you eat for Christmas dinner?

This one's easy! Nothing!

No, not that we didn't eat Christmas dinner. We did. It's just that we didn't really have any Christmas dinner traditions in my family. My mom's family ate beef Wellington, so we had that a couple of times. That's a lot of work for four people, though. Sometimes we had Italian crepes (crepes with ricotta and red sauce). A few years my dad made a curried corn chowder with chutney, for some British-Indian-US fusion.

However, most of my family's holiday food traditions (except the grittibanz), are linked to Christmas Eve...

so more to come.

24 Days to Christmas: Day 19

Day 19: Favorite Holiday Scent

Photo: WhitePineAcres.com

As a Northwest girl, I've got to say that my favorite smell during the holidays is the smell of pine. (Side note: there's a song called "Christmas in the Northwest" which states that the titular holiday is a "... gift God wrapped in green." We're all about the trees at Christmas.) Pine also happens to be one of my favorite words. I'm not sure why, exactly -- I think partly because it reminds me of Christmas.

Since I don't have a cut tree for Christmas, I like to find pine-scented items to keep in my house. The most robust are the Mrs. Meyers "Iowa Pine" line, which is available only during the holidays. Sometimes it can be hard to find, so I stock up whenever I run across a stash. Both the hand soap and the soy candle are great for faking the scent of a Washington-state Christmas - it's basically like bringing a tree farm into your house.

And while we're talking about pines, why don't you listen to A Fine Frenzy sing "Pinesong" from  her album Pines. While not technically a holiday album, it reminds me of wintry woods (yes, it's a concept album about a sentient tree. Get over it.)

24 Days to Christmas: Days 16, 17, and 18

Day 16: Where do You Spend the Holidays?

Every year, around this time, I begin to think to myself: why? Why do you torture yourself?

You see, every year I leave the balmy, 68 degree days of Texas winter, the swaying palm trees and the Christmas tamales, in favor of ... slush, snow, and cold that my Texas wardrobe just doesn't match.

However, I do it for these guys:

Day 17: Favorite Place for Christmas Shopping

I do most of my Christmas shopping online, but I do enjoy actually getting out with the crowds from time to time. In fact, since I do most of my shopping online, it makes going out a lot nicer, because there's no pressure to buy actual gifts while I'm at the brick-and-mortar places.

Probably my favorite place to go during the holidays is CostPlus World Market.  I enjoy looking at the ornaments and the wrappings, and all of the FOOD! It's so fun to see the Christmas fare from around the world - Turkish delight and Panettone, gluwhein and Christmas ale.

Yule log cake.
Photo: wikipedia

I had a funny moment in the  World Market food section a few weeks ago when a dad standing near me called his daughters over to look at a bûche de Noël, which is a Yule-log cake. It's a tradition in my family to have a "buche" - as we call it -- as my sister's birthday cake on Christmas Eve. The man thought it was absolutely crazy that a cake would look like a tree stump. I was laughing to myself as he kept saying, "Girls, do you want a cake that looks like WOOD!?! Girls, it's a LOG!" I guess he's not up on his French holiday traditions; his daughters definitely did not seem as awed as he was. 

It's got to be hard to be a goofy dad when kids have access 24-7 to entertainment that trumps the sight of a log-shaped cake.

Day 18: Favorite Decorating Theme

My friend Kelly suggested this category because Kelly is the official Queen of Christmas. She's not-so-secretly annoyed that she can't be allowed to win the neighborhood decorating contest every year (just because you've won before, doesn't mean you're not still the best).

Her theme is "Peppermint Palace."

I don't really have a favorite theme, but this year I was inspired by some magazine articles in decorating magazines to add more greenery to my house (it's all fake). I guess you could call it "Winter Woodland."

24 Days to Christmas: Day 15

Day 15: Favorite Holiday Song By A Popular Singer

This. Always, this:

24 Days to Christmas: Day 14

Day 14: Favorite Christmas Memory

I have three favorite memories from spending the Christmas season in Ireland and Scotland the year I graduated from college.

Memory 1: 

Traditional wren boys.
Photo: Sligoheritage.com

As I mentioned a few days ago, one of my favorite Christmas books when I was young was called The Book of Christmas. It described winter holiday traditions from around the world, including the "hunting of the wren" in Europe. Traditionally, a wren would be hunted and killed and then "wren boys" would put the wren on a pole and parade it through town, asking for money or treats - a little like trick-or-treating but with a dead bird. It's thought to be a tradition descended from druidic rituals, with the wren symbolizing the old year.

Anyway, years later, I was in a pub in county Sligo with my friends a couple of days after Christmas. We were at a "session" which is a traditional Irish jam session. My friend Kelly had just spilled a whole half-Guinness with black currant on the table. A couple of folks came in with what looked like soot on their faces, banging pots and pans and asking for money. They kept saying they were "wrenning." The landlord didn't take too kindly to them panhandling in his pub, but I realized that they were using the old tradition to try to rack up some coin. Despite the fact that it didn't work out for them, I was excited that I was seeing the old tradition play out (albeit in a somewhat mutated form).

Memory 2: 
A day or two later, we were driving through the Gap of Dunloe, and we came across a little cafe called The Strawberry Field. From their website, it looks as though they do a brisk business when the weather's fine, but this was a rainy winter day and we were the only ones there. The family that owned the place (I think they were Danish) were burning the remnants of their Christmas tree in the woodstove, so the place smelled of pine. We ate scones and cream, with coffee and strawberry tea, talking to the owners while the father braided his daughter's hair. It was just a little step out of time when everything was still and pleasant, and strangers were friends for a few moments.

Memory 3: Partway through the trip, a couple of friends flew to Italy while those of us who were a bit more cash-poor took the night coach to Scotland; my friend was an exchange student there and we stayed in her apartment at the University of Edinburgh. One day we took the train over to Glasgow. It was a chilly day (this whole trip was very cold) and we walked and walked, heading up into the city's Necropolis - a vast cemetery that borders Glasgow Cathedral. We stepped into the cathedral to get out of the cold, to find that they still had a sparkling Christmas tree, and that the organist was practicing carols. Another moment where time stopped, and we enjoyed the last moments of the holiday season.

It didn't look exactly like this, but close.

Photo of Glasgow Cathedral, Carola Ceballos (Creative Commons License)

24 Days to Christmas: Day 13 (a day late)

Day 13: Favorite Ornament

Olive wood carved Nativity bell from Ten Thousand Villages. No story behind it - I just like it.

24 Days to Christmas: Day 12

Day 12: Tree - real or fake?

Growing up in the great Northwest the idea of a fake Christmas tree seemed like a morally-bankrupt proposition, a choice of lifeless plastic over fresh-cut pine boughs. I'd never seen a fake Christmas tree except in stores, and I'd heard Charlie Brown espouse the spirit of a little, real tree. 

Moving to Texas, however, I realized that Christmas trees aren't just waiting outside every city's limits to be cut and taken home.

Last year, I wrote at length about the relative environmental advantages and disadvantages of various kinds of trees. Currently, I have an artificial tree that I picked up at Goodwill. Suffice it to say, it's a little Charlie Brown-ish. There was a much fluffier, full-branched tree in the store that day that I could have taken home - but I didn't. Some of the sections don't have lights that work (I turn those to the back). But I love the tree, and I'm glad that it was able to find a home.

Want to follow the countdown on Pinterest?

Follow Catlin Goodrow's board 24 Days to Christmas Countdown on Pinterest.

24 Days to Christmas: Day 11

Day 11: Favorite Tip For Making the Holidays Easier or More Organized

This is a reprint from last year (Titled: What to do with the Christmas cards you receive: an idea for lazy people) but it's still my favorite holiday tip:

Do you ever look on Pinterest, or on craft websites, and see something, and think: there is no way in hell that I will ever do that?

That's my reaction when I see what some people do with the Christmas cards they receive each year. They make wreaths or ornaments or garlands or coasters or placemats or scrapbooks.

That's all very nice, but I don't have time for that. 

However, just recycling the Christmas cards seems wasteful. And unChristmassy. After all, these are expressions of joy and fellowship from friends and insurance companies. It's a bit cold to toss them in the bin without a second glance.

This is the binder

Many of my friends take the Christmas cards and create a refrigerator collage that they leave up throughout the new year, replacing it when Christmas comes around again and the cards start rolling in. But that just delays the inevitable for another year.

Therefore, I've solved the problem of the lingering Christmas cards with a simple solution that is excellent for lazy people like me. First, I bought a binder. 

Inside the binder.

Then I filled it with sheet protectors. Each family that sends me cards gets its own sheet protector (the insurance company cards DO go in the recycle bin). Then, when it's time to take the Christmas cards off the refrigerator, I just put them in the sheet protector for that family. It's kind of like a scrapbook, but without the gluing and craft paper and effort. Instead, it takes about two minutes of my time.

I like to flip through it, pulling out the cards and seeing how each family has grown over the years. I also put in birth announcements, wedding invites, etc., so I have a family chronicle for each of the families close to me.

24 Days to Christmas: Day 10

Day 10: Favorite Holiday Craft

I love these yarn wreaths - as someone with a lot of yarn in the house (because of my knitting habit), it's an easy way to use up my stash, as well as bits and pieces of scraps from other crafts. You just take a wreath form (you can get these at craft stores or disassemble a thrift store wreath), tie the yarn on, and then wrap it around the wreath until it's completely covered. Then you use some hot glue and ribbons, ornaments, or pieces of garland to decorate the wreath. To make the felt rosettes that I used to adorn the wreaths below, just follow this tutorial.

24 Days to Christmas: Day 9

Day 9: Best Gift Received As An Adult

Yesterday, I mentioned that my family never had a computer when I was growing up. Now, part of that was the times - for most of my childhood, computers were something of a luxury item or something mostly used for business. In the small town where I lived, the gifted students were allowed to use a computer once a week at school. Everyone else on campus was out of luck.

Even when we moved to the city, I had to go to a friends' house to play Oregon Trail. My family wasn't into spending money on major purchases that were unnecessary (unless they were used cars bought with trade-ins). In high school, I had an electric typewriter and used the computer lab at school. I taught myself typing from a book. Before I went away to college, I received a Brother word processor. 

I often asked my parents if we could get a computer, but no such luck. And I had to admit, the Brother got the job done. Many philosophy papers on the meaning of life and aesthetic theory were typed on that thing.

One Christmas - I think I was still in college -- I opened a present from my dad; I had no idea what it was. And inside, my dream come true: a laptop! This was well after computers were standard for any professional adult, and college students all had them. The best thing about this gift was that it was a complete surprise. I never actually thought I would get a computer.

Man, I loved that machine. It was a refurbished Dell. I quickly grabbed myself an AOL disk from the grocery store, and entered the internet age.

The best thing about this vintage item -- which I will never give up -- was the size. You know those commercials where they show that an iPad is thinner than a pencil? Well, here's my computer:

Let's see that up close, shall we?

 Nevertheless, it was mine all mine, and remains the most memorable gift I've gotten as a child or adult.

24 Days to Christmas: Day 8

Day 7: Best Gift You Received As a Child

I really hate it when you ask people what they want for Christmas and they say something like, "I just want everyone to have a happy and safe holiday." Or when you ask what someone's best gift is, and they say, "The love of my family." Gag. My parents probably wanted to roll their eyes every time I put "world peace" on my Christmas list. (But c'mon... I couldn't not put it on the list, just in case the only reason we hadn't achieved world peace was that no one had yet asked Santa for it. Santa's magic. He probably could do it.)

"Why are you letting this three-year-old hold me?"

So I'll make you vomit a little by saying that my best childhood Christmas gift was my sister.

Awww.

She was born on Christmas Eve, and I wanted her to be a boy. I don't really remember what I thought of her, and as a kid I probably wouldn't have said she was the best gift ever -- although she did get to come home from the hospital in a giant stocking.  However, looking back, she's not too bad.

However, I'll temper the sappiness of saying my sister was my best Christmas gift by telling a story about cheating her out of another gift.

I don't remember a lot of particular Christmas gifts, mostly because we got fairly modest things for Christmas most years (Barbies, Star Wars "guys", books). I think I mostly asked for smaller things anyway, or really big things that my parents were never going to get us -- I always wanted our family to get a computer, but we never did.

One year, we each got a baby doll. I think maybe we were around 3 and 6, or 4 and 7. One of the dolls was dressed in pink and had sweet little baby clothes and I think a bottle. She had molded plastic hair.

The other doll was Sasha baby. You can see Sasha baby at right. She's an adorable little doll, with a sweet face, right? I'm just not sure why she has crazy white hair. Had she been frightened, and her hair turned white? Suffered an extreme illness? I didn't know, but I did not want a baby with old lady hair.

But Sasha baby was my gift, and I was not going to appear ungrateful. So somehow I convinced my younger sister (because three-year-olds are easily manipulated) that she really wanted Sasha baby, and because I was a nice sister, I said I would trade with her. Which we did, and I got the doll with the molded plastic hair.

Somehow, though, I've ended up with Sasha baby, and she's still in my bedroom, one of the few toys that I s have from childhood. Apparently, Sasha dolls were made by a Swiss artist. They wanted their dolls to represent universality, so they gave them skin that was a mix of all the skin tones on Earth. However, I still don't know why my Sasha baby has white hair. No child has that color of hair. Still, I love Sasha baby and she's a good reminder that I shouldn't try to manipulate my little sister.

24 Days to Christmas: Day 7

Day 7: Favorite Holiday Drink


They say that St. Nicholas dropped gold into the stockings of three sisters who could not afford a dowry; the stockings were hanging by the fire to dry, and the gold was melted by the fire and formed a ball in the toe of each stocking.

The legend goes, people put oranges in stockings to represent those gold balls.

Few people today get oranges in their stockings (I always got a chocolate orange in mine), but to me, oranges and other citrus fruits still signify Christmas.

That's me, at the sangria station for one of my
holiday parties.

That's why I think sangria is the perfect holiday party drink.  It's citrusy, easy, and it serves lots of people. Plus, the red color says holiday to me.

Here's my holiday party sangria recipe: 

For about 20-25 people:
On the morning of the party: Slice up a couple of oranges, a lemon, a grapefruit, and a Granny Smith apple. Put those in a bowl and pour brandy over to cover (you can use the cheap brandy) and put it in the fridge.

About 2-3 hours before the party, put about a half cup of sugar in a half cup of water and microwave it for 1-2 minutes, until the sugar is dissolved - you've got simple syrup. Spoon the fruit and about a cup of the brandy into a large pitcher or punch bowl. Add the simple syrup. Add 1 1/2 cups orange juice, and 2 large bottles of a cheap, dry red wine (like St. Genevieve Cabernet Sauvignon). Put the whole thing in the fridge until shortly before party time. Just before the guests arrive, add a liter of club soda. Here's the deal - you don't have to be exacting with the proportions or ingredients. You can use different kinds of fruit, substitute cranberry juice for orange juice ... whatever you want.

24 Days to Christmas: Day 6

Day 6: Favorite Christmas Cookie

Pan de Polvo!

These are Spanish shortbreads covered with cinnamon and sugar. Around Christmas time, if you are lucky enough to teach in a Mexican-American community (as I was), your niños will often bring you Christmas treats like tamales, buñuelos, and pan de polvo. There are many other communities that have a cookie similar to pan de polvo - they are close to the Russian tea cakes that my great-grandmother used to make.

Pan de polvo can be addictive. Usually, they are made with lard, but since I don't eat pork, I make them with butter. Still delicious! (Click here for the recipe).