what did you do today? (2008-2015) (closed)

[ohyes]

Mostly a quiet day at home. Parents drove over to have lunch with our 31 yo who is visiting from Maine. DH and i stayed home to allow them a more intimate visit; they have not seen him in over a year.

We visited a favorite pub this evening. Had first ever shot of pickle juice and Jameson, i kid you not. A guy was buying them for everybody. Not bad....my first time to drink Jameson and to drink pickle juice.

Watching Weather Channel. We had hopes that central AR was getting some serious snow on Christmas Day. Now they are calling for just rain.

Bah & Humbug.

 

[KMyer]

I gave our daughter and ten of her friends a winter hayride this evening. We had a birthday party to celebrate her becoming a teenager.

 

[Notmuchlonger]

I made the best damn lamb steak I've ever had in my life. Kind of exciting.

 

[Sarah in SC]

I made the best damn lamb steak I've ever had in my life. Kind of exciting.

Gee Wally, you live in the fast lane!
But that is a pretty good thing to report!

 

[MichaelB]

DW made a big pot of lentil and sausage soup yesterday, too much for us, so I brought some over to a neighbor. They were happy. They went out shopping and she bought me a small pack of bratwurst with blood sausage. I've never tried that combination but I love blood sausage so that may be breakfast today.

 

[Moemg]

I am busy cooking for Christmas Eve .In about three hours our house will be invaded . We Are having shrimp , turkey , Ham , cheese , seafood dip , scalloped potatoes, pineapple stuffing , and a salad with chocolate cake & cookies for dessert . Tomorrow I will spend in my PJ's recuperating !

 

[Bestwifeever]

I am busy cooking for Christmas Eve .In about three hours our house will be invaded . We Are having shrimp , turkey , Ham , cheese , seafood dip , scalloped potatoes, pineapple stuffing , and a salad with chocolate cake & cookies for dessert . Tomorrow I will spend in my PJ's recuperating !

Let me just say YUM!

DH is making veggie chilli and add-ons for tomorrow and I am putting together some brunchy bread pudding and stuff. We are going to DD's and she doesn't cook but has the grandchild to entice us anyway. Other grands will bring other stuff.

 

[imoldernu]

Our first Christmas alone.
We are looking forward to this, after so many years of squeezing a year of living into a day of Family.

Oh yes, we'll have a week of adventure, with visits from our kids, neighbors and friends, but that will happen after Christmas.
For 20+ years we've been in Florida, the month of December has been a whirlwind of Christmas parties, Golf Cart Parades, Luncheons, Decorating, Dances, Caroling, culminating in dinner on Christmas Eve.

This year, we're in Illinois, and will be alone on Christmas day, taking a pass on the Senior Dinner in our up-north community.

DW and I have been luxuriating in the quiet. Curled up by the fireplace, and reminiscing over 65 years of being together (54 married years). A few TV Christmas movies and a final trip to "walk the mall"... our daily trek. The joy of mixing with the last minute shoppers. Tonite, our Christmas lights ride around the neighborhood...

And tomorrow... Watch part of the Disney Parade, and then, a ride to Starved Rock, to check on the eagles, and to Grand Bear Lodge to see how many Chicago folks will spend Christmas day at their condos. Back home for the basketball game. Then for dinner for two... our mutual choice... meatloaf supreme. Candlelight and wine, and maybe a game of scrabble, then back to the fireplace and the recliners, to watch The Christmas Story for the 30th time. Finally, a long winter's nap.

Yep... Boring... Utterly, completely, wonderfully boring.

Life is good!

 

[W2R]

Tonight we join F's huge extended family for their traditional Christmas Eve dinner at a fine local Italian restaurant. So, we are skipping breakfast and lunch. I know that as we all descend en masse upon that restaurant, we will be silently thinking about and missing those relatives who have passed on and can't join us. On the other hand, I can't believe how much all his little nieces and nephews have been growing lately. It's been hard to get their names right, because I keep calling the little ones by their older siblings' names. And the ones I think should be teenagers, are all grown up.

Life is good.

 

[braumeister]

Learned of the death of a very close friend. Dug out a bottle of what some consider the world's best beer, Westvleteren 12, and chilled it a bit for the most appropriate way I knew of toasting 35 years of great memories. He would have heartily approved.

 

[Sarah in SC]

Brau, surely a fitting tribute. So sorry for your loss.

 

[MichaelB]

Braumeister, condolences. A great way to remember a friend and say goodby.

 

[davemartin88]

Sister and BIL stayed a night with us as they drove through on the way to see their daughter. We had a really nice visit and they were on their way for the last few hours of their trip by 11 am. Not long after they left, it started snowing and we have a couple of inches on the ground, guess it will be a white christmas. Still coming down slowly.

 

[NW-Bound]

I finally made the terrine that I started yesterday, but the meat was still frozen then, and I had to wait for it to thaw. Anyway it has just finished baking in the oven. Maybe I will serve it tomorrow as a sidedish for the party that I host.

Today's evening, I will go to my brother for Xmas Eve dinner. I have some bottles of Lithuanian beer that I want to share. Never had that before, but what caught my eye was that the beer was 12% alcohol. Whoo wee! Never saw beer that strong before.

Just found the label on the Web to link here.

 

[Nords]

Dawn patrol. We'll be back tomorrow for our traditional Christmas Day surf session.

The vog is unbelievable today. Honolulu/Diamond Head actually looked like they had a layer of pollution hovering over the streets. This month is the 29th anniversary of Kilauea's continuous eruption.

Helped a neighbor fix her garage door keypad, which probably lost its programming when its backup battery died and the HECO power went out. She somehow persuaded a Sears employee to print out the entire 71-page manual. Programming required closing the door, stationing one of us outside at the keypad pressing/holding one button, having her inside pushing/holding two others, and watching the light on the motor flickering its Morse code to acknowledge that it had the new combination.

But she rewarded me with W2R's favorite snack food:

 

[REWahoo]

The vog is unbelievable today. Honolulu/Diamond Head actually looked like they had a layer of pollution hovering over the streets.

This is very visible in the scenery shots shown during the Hawaii Bowl currently underway. Not a particularly good promotion for Hawaii tourism...

 

[Dawg52]

Beautiful day here today. Temp around 70 degrees. Took the mutt on a hike and a little jogging. Unfortunately a beautiful MS day in December usually means poor weather to follow. Tomorrow tornado's are in the forecast. Hopefully they miss us.

Watching George Bailey right now. Got to make sure his guardian angel gets his wings.

 

[W2R]

Dawn patrol. We'll be back tomorrow for our traditional Christmas Day surf session.

The vog is unbelievable today. Honolulu/Diamond Head actually looked like they had a layer of pollution hovering over the streets. This month is the 29th anniversary of Kilauea's continuous eruption.

Helped a neighbor fix her garage door keypad, which probably lost its programming when its backup battery died and the HECO power went out. She somehow persuaded a Sears employee to print out the entire 71-page manual. Programming required closing the door, stationing one of us outside at the keypad pressing/holding one button, having her inside pushing/holding two others, and watching the light on the motor flickering its Morse code to acknowledge that it had the new combination.

But she rewarded me with W2R's favorite snack food:

OMG, Leonards malasadas? Yummmmm! you lucky!

Not that I could eat another thing at the moment. The parmesan crusted redfish topped with shrimp and crab and sauce and yummy stuff was out of this world, and this being Christmas Eve, I just had to order the bread pudding afterwards...

 

[Nords]

This is very visible in the scenery shots shown during the Hawaii Bowl currently underway. Not a particularly good promotion for Hawaii tourism...

Yeah, I'm surprised that the local crowd hasn't vented its spleen on June Jones. That was our last athletic director/coach drama before the most recent one, so maybe our collective memories have forgiven him by now.

But I guess we'll have to wait for another chance to showcase the islands with the Pro Bowl...

The network broadcasters need to show more shots of the lava flowing into the ocean off the east rift. It broke out from its tunnels a couple weeks ago, and there've been lots of people flying to the Big Island for the spectacle.

Just don't sign up for this guy's tour:

 

[NW-Bound]

Today's evening, I will go to my brother for Xmas Eve dinner. I have some bottles of Lithuanian beer that I want to share. Never had that before, but what caught my eye was that the beer was 12% alcohol. Whoo wee! Never saw beer that strong before.

So, we tried the beer above last night. It was drinkable, but nothing spectacular. Then, afterwards I thought of looking it up on the Web, and it got very poor ratings. Hmmm... Didn't think it was that bad. That's telling me something about my knowledge of beers, which I already know is close to zilch. I don't know what the "triple bock" on the beer label means, but a Web site said that it was "Doppelbock" style. Don't know what that means either.

However, we also tried the following beer from the same brewer, and I found it to be tastier. The Web site said that this was a "Belgian dark ale style". I may buy more of this. It also got a better rating.

 

[Ronstar]

So, we tried the beer above last night. It was drinkable, but nothing spectacular. Then, afterwards I thought of looking it up on the Web, and it got very poor ratings. Hmmm... Didn't think it was that bad. That's telling me something about my knowledge of beers, which I already know is close to zilch. I don't know what the "triple bock" on the beer label means, but a Web site said that it was "Doppelbock" style. Don't know what that means either.

However, we also tried the following beer from the same brewer, and I found it to be tastier. The Web site said that this was a "Belgian dark ale style". I may buy more of this. It also got a better rating.

Beer Advocate has a great rating system. If you need a beer with a kick, try one of these:

Bourbon Barrel Aged Vanilla Bean Dark Lord - Three Floyds Brewing Co. & Brewpub - Munster, IN - BeerAdvocate

 

[Nords]

The usual Christmas Day tradition-- dawn patrol. I got a couple good shots of my daughter, but it's always hard to juggle the camera and my reading glasses and the longboard and the four-foot wave heading toward you.

We really enjoyed seeing all the presents that Santa Dude brought the surfer community. The Santa hats were everywhere, too.

 

[Walt34]

And in contrast, the scene in my back yard yesterday morning:

 

[MichaelB]

And in contrast, the scene in my back yard yesterday morning:

Very nice photo.

Last night we got around to watching "Amahl and the Night Visitors". It must be more than 40 years since I last saw or heard that show but it all came back and I could almost sing along.

 

[Dreamer]

And in contrast, the scene in my back yard yesterday morning:

I think that I like Nords scene better. Posted from another person living in WV.