A Very Covid Christmas

Strangely enough, this is my 1- year anniversary. The anniversary of me saying, "I think I'm coming down with a sinus infection..." which turned out, over New Year's Day, to be diagnosed as COVID-19. A year later, I've finally got my sense of taste & smell back about 85%. 

And our family finally got together to celebrate. Sort of. Both my sister and I are considered "compromised," and my mom is in her mid-80s, so that puts her in a position where she's also got to be careful. 

The day before our Xmas Eve celebration, my brother calls and says, "We're out." I wondered, frankly, if there was some family drama. Well, not the way I thought. One of the kids tested positive, and they had all been in close proximity. Everyone was getting tested, and not coming to my mom's house. That was 6 people. 

Then I got a text that one of my sister's kids was also exposed. There went 2 more. 

My mom, thankfully, said, "NOPE, you are NOT coming into my house if you are waiting for test results." And one of my kids was out of town, so we were down 1 person. 

Our usual complement of 20 was down to 11 - but we had the dinner catered for 20...so there was a LOT of food left over. 

This was also the first Christmas that Hubby and I did nothing except bake cookies and potica. Normally, we put on about 90% of the dinner. My niece did do baked beans - and let me tell you, her name is now "Queen of Beans." She not only did baked beans, but FROM SCRATCH. Including soaking them overnight, rinsing, picking through, and preparing them on the stovetop in a Dutch Oven. And they were DELICIOUS. 

Me? Well, yeah, I've made them from scratch, but I honestly would've opened a couple cans of Bush's Vegetarian Beans, added some crushed pineapple, a little spicy mustard, some leeks or shallots, and then bacon (yeah, irony in the fact that I'm adding bacon to vegetarian beans). 

Anyway, it was a surprising Christmas due to the following text exchange:

Kid One: "What's your favorite Bing Crosby Christmas song?

Me: His duet with David Bowie, "Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy."

Kid: "Wrong."

Me: What?

Kid: "I'll be home for Christmas." 

Me: Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

And then I didn't tell anyone. I wanted to give everyone a nice surprise. My mom's face was pretty priceless and so was my sister's. Kid & my brother visited (VERY socially distant) when my brother did a drive-by to pick up his packet of cookies. 

That gave Kid an idea for the return trip home. I was packing a lunch and sending home a large platter of cookies, but it was requested that I provide the same packet of cookies that I gave my brother. I guess that's now another "new tradition."

The Baking...

Well, I didn't get a good picture of a cookie tray. But it definitely felt weird to only bake 6 kinds of cookies. No, that's not a humble-brag. It's a recognition that this has been a freaky 2 years. As a family, we give cookies for Christmas. That's our thing. 

But since Covid, we haven't because people are, understandably, a little sketchy about home-baked or home-made anything. 

I do, however, have a picture of the platter of potica. Because they were so freakishly big, we didn't use our usual Santa plate. It ended up that we used a regular cookie tray, and ended up cutting slightly thicker slices. 

My mom said it was good, said the balance of dough and filling was good, and that "sometimes, dough is freaky." Yeah... 

I also sold one to a friend, and was told it was "delicious." I always get a tad nervous selling these, and especially when they're so outsized and not "normal" to my eyes. 

We have one extra, which is for Easter. Then, next year, I'm going to have to suck it up and make a double batch. We'll see what happens then. Last time I had a double-batch bake, I ended up with 7 (yes, SEVEN) regular-sized loaves. "Regular" is about 1.5 - 2 pounds. These babies this year? Each was almost 3.5 pounds. 

Everyone seemed to like the cookies, even though I deviated from the list. I didn't do the chocolate shortbread; I just wasn't up to standing there cutting out cookies, so I did Snow on the Mountain (chocolate crinkle cookies). 

The Knitting...

The cowls... I need to get you pictures of the cowls! So, again, both knit of the same yarn, just 2 different colors. I wasn't sure which one I was going to keep for myself, but it turns out that the cream one is mine. (picture at right is the grey one)

Mainly because I made some mistakes that I don't want to give to someone as a gift. I'm kind of a casual knitter, actually. So if there's one stitch out of place, I'm going with "personalized design element." But this cowl has a bit of a problem in the front at the point, and there's another little nasty spot at the back, which isn't as big of a deal, since it's hidden by a jacket collar or the like. 

I can always use another cowl, so I'm not heartbroken. I am, however, a bit miffed at myself for being overly confident in knitting the point of the cream one, because to me, the error is obvious. I know, though, that 90% of people who are going to look at it won't see a single thing wrong with it. I'll tell you: there are a few misplaced stitches, and it's crooked. 

But for me? I can live with it for myself. Much like I can live with my socks with 2 different heels (what happens when you lose the directions...).

And the advantage of doing two of these back-to-back is that I'm really confident now in my short-rows. 

My 8x8 rib socks are coming along nicely. I can't for the life of me find the colorway of the yarn, though. I'm 99% sure it's Lorna's Laces, but I can't find the colorway, even on Lorna's site itself. I'm about positive that I'm going to do a plain foot. I actually prefer a plain foot, because to me it fits more comfortably in my shoes. 

Do I love a fancy sock? Heck yeah. But I have a few, particularly the ribbed ones, where I've taken the pattern down the foot, and I just don't like the way they feel in clogs or shoes. 

As I knit with this yarn, I've noticed pretty big chunks of "busy" and then big chunks of "orange." So it'll be interesting to see how this comes out. I'm going to do the regular heel flap I do (though this might change to a Strong Heel -- I'm still meditating on that one) and then a rounded toe. 

I know I did a couple pairs with a star toe, which really fits my feet better, but for the life of me, I can't find those notes either. Lately, everything seems to be disorganized, and I'm pretty sure that it's kind of a reflection of the past couple of years, where everything seems to be topsy-turvy. 

Random Picture...

I don't know what Hubby's secret is, but we have Christmas orchids! He's very proud of them, as he should be. All but one of his plants are showing new growth or are popping out flower stems. 

When Kid was visiting, we were treated to some pictures of rather unique orchids. I could actually see the wheels moving in Hubby's head.... "Where can I put a couple of those???" So we'll see. We may end up with at least one unique plant. 

They discussed the various ways to grow these plants; Kid lives in a dry climate, so cactus are easier than orchids, unless one has a specific room. Here in the Midwest, we can beef up the humidity in the house, and we have grow lights. 

They're kind of like potato chips; you can't have just one. 

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