Tis' the Season to Be...

Would it be nice if this was a weekly blog?  Yes, yes it would.  Is that going to happen every time?  No, it most certainly isn't.  So here we go, a bit of a re-cap over the past few weeks and the end of one holiday as we approach another.

We last saw Oz at the build up to Thanksgiving.  It was pretty funny to have an American holiday here.  Everyone really seemed to enjoy it.  I got to experience what it is to spend almost the entire day cooking.  I started the day before with broccoli salad, a personal favorite of mine which I think may have stolen the show.  I made it the next week for a family function in Dublin and everyone kept saying, "It's so different, but it's so good!"  So if people ask you if the food is different in Ireland I think we have confirmed the answer.  There were honey glazed carrots, green bean casserole (thanks Mom), stuffing, mashed potatoes, HOMEMADE rolls involving YEAST and a chocolate pie made by Toto and me.  PS, we couldn't get the meringue to work so we substituted it with whipped cream.  We'll be doing this again.  It was a nice night to just sit around, get stuffed and play Bop It.  Oh, and look what my crazy father-in-law got for me!

Yes, it is a turkey hat.  No, I did not cook the turkey.  I've had a bad turkey cooking experience so I left it to my FIL, the expert. He had a friend in the States secretly send him some Thanksgiving decorations, including the hat.  It was so sweet.  I think the American flags are going to be a new tradition in our house.  Besides, what's more American than Thanksgiving?

Limerick has now gone Christmas-crazy.  Both the city centre and Crescent shopping center have fully decked their halls.  The only two topics that anyone seems to be talking about now are the recent budget (pretty scary) and Christmas.  A true conversation now contains both.  Scarecrow and I have been getting ready bit by bit.  We looked at each other one night and said, "Are we really getting ready for Christmas together?  This seems so normal!".  This is, in fact, our first Christmas EVER together.  Can you believe that?  We've known each other nearly 6 years and have never once spent Christmas together.  I've always come over here around New Year's so we've actually rung in a couple of new year's together.  We put up the Christmas decorations and decorated the tree the other night.  It's a real tree that our neighbor grew.  He dragged it through the yard Friday morning and said, "Here you go!".  That night we decorated the tree and in general just relaxed.  Christmas is BY FAR the Scarecrow's favorite holiday.  He could have told you in July how many sleeps till Christmas.  Even if I'm in a bad mood, feeling sorry for myself or what have you, he is brim full of Christmas cheer and it's infectious.

This week it's finishing up Christmas shopping for our American side and shipping that off, Christmas caroling with the youth on Wednesday and two Christmas parties.  Oh yes, tis' the season to be jolly.