Hiatus chat thread

[Princess Jes]

Hey guys, as I mentioned in chat before the show ended, why not have a chatter thread, for things that may not be directly related to Disney but so we all stay in touch!

We can share all sorts of things, plans for Christmas, any trips coming up, recipes you can't spend Christmas without, whatever!

I'll start.

I'm not going anywhere over the holidays. Working right through and only get the main days off (Christmas, Boxing Day, New Year's Day) it's a busy time in retail so for the most part, it's all hands on deck, even for head office/HQ staff.

Having breakfast at my suster's house, we usually have ham cheese and tomato croissants, and watch my niece open her presents and show us what Santa brought her (speaking of which, how does Santa leave gifts at your houses? Growing up, he left unwrapped presents at the foot of our bed. The wrapped presents under the tree were from my dad)
Then lunch with the in-laws, which will be magical this year with Leigh's dad being well enough to be up and about!!
Then we all head to my other sisters house for the afternoon (hopefully swimming all afternoon!!) and then dinner.
My family will all be there (dad, sisters x2, one brother in law, niece, myself and hubs) as well as my younger sister's hubs family (his parents, sister and her hubs) and this year, my BIL's Aunty and kids are coming too.
So a big day, howl fully it's hot so we can enjoy the pool and a huge dinner!!

 

[rteetz]

Not going anywhere for the holidays but will be having our entire family over as we always do. We will treat it as a special one as it could be one of the last ones for my grandma but hopefully it is not.

I go back to school on Jan. 4th but then leave for WDW at 3 PM on the 5th!

 

[Princess Jes]

Not going anywhere for the holidays but will be having our entire family over as we always do. We will treat it as a special one as it could be one of the last ones for my grandma but hopefully it is not.

I go back to school on Jan. 4th but then leave for WDW at 3 PM on the 5th!

Back to school for one day? Why bother?
I give you permission to skip school and get packed and ready for your trip!!

 

[rteetz]

Back to school for one day? Why bother?
I give you permission to skip school and get packed and ready for your trip!!

If only my mom was like that haha

 

[samsteele]

My Christmas holiday plans are changed up a bit this year. I usually spend a few days with my parents in the home town that I grew up in, but this year they are traveling and won't return until Boxing Day (Dec.26). So I have been appointed the official "cookie" and will be preparing and cooking our traditional Christmas meal at my house and then packing it up and taking it to my parents' home on the 26th. A bit of pay back for all the years my Mom worked for days in advance to get the big dinner ready. I do a turkey, with stuffing, cranberry sauce and cheesy whipped potatoes plus mashed turnip (actually swede but we call it turnip in Canada). I will also bake at least 2 pumpkin pies (with whipped cream) and 3 or 4 varieties of Christmas cookies. I always do a Butterball turkey (pre-basted) because I get guaranteed results of a moist, tasty bird. Organic turkeys seem to be the rage but the reality is that a turkey is one of the most difficult dishes anyone can prepare because of the dark and light meat and its different densities/distribution on the carcass means it is hard to cook evenly. A Butterball is a no brainer and I use my Mom's stuffing recipe so everyone is happy. I've tried to baste both an organic turkey and a utility turkey and its a huge amount of extra work for the end result of a dry bird. I enjoy cooking so no hardship and it will keep me busy and occupied on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

This Christmas will also be the first one in memory that I will actually buy a real Christmas tree as other years I was worried about a dry tree being a fire hazard in the house when I was away. I always put up a little artificial tree in my kitchen so this year I will have 2 trees! I feel decadent and a bit indulgy but so what. Its Christmas! I'm off early tomorrow morning to buy my tree. I'm looking for a small, little Charlie Brown tree as I don't want to have to struggle with a huge big heavy thing. I already picked up a tree bag to put underneath it. That way, when I am in a hurry to take it down on Christmas Day night (as I have to leave early the following morning for my parents' home), I can just pull the lights & ornaments off, pull the bag up and then stash in my garage until I return. If anyone is interested in some Canadian holiday recipes, let me know. Many are very similar to my American cousins' goodies. But always fun to try something different. The glossy magazine recipes look incredible but many don't turn out well because they aren't time tested the way family recipes are.

It is a mild, dark & dreary 40F/5C here this afternoon in Ontario, Canada, on the north shore of Lake Ontario, so I am looking forward to some colder temps and a little snow for Christmas. After 2 hard, viciously cold winters, it has been a treat to have mild weather. But for the holidays, it is better to have something a bit more seasonal. To all my DIS friends, have a safe and wonderful Christmas and holiday wherever you are!

 

[Princess Jes]

We don't do a big turkey in Australia for Christmas. they're not as readily available (but lots of frozen ones are in the supermarkets for Christmas)
In our family, for lunch we have the whole spread... keep in mind, this is for 4 people.
Prawn cocktail (shrimp to you northern folk) for entrée (entrée is the starter here as its the "entrance" to the meal) but with Leigh's dad just having a lung transplant, shellfish is off the menu forever.. so not sure if we will get it. Prawns were his favourite food, and I've told Leigh it's quite selfish to expect his mum to get it and his dad to watch us eat it, at least for the first Christmas while he's adjusting.
Then lunch is Ham (cold, not hot) roast lamb or beef (I prefer lamb) and a rolled turkey. No stuffing or cranberries though. just regular gravy (we use a gravy powder to make ours, not with the meat juices or fat) roast potatoes, butternut pumpkin, carrots, and some greens like peas (worst. vegetable. ever!!) broccoli etc
then plum pudding with custard and cream for dessert.

then for dinner, we usually have a similar meal, we sometimes have oysters Kilpatrick for starter also, definitely a lamb, maybe a roast pork with crackling, a big leg of ham, roasted veggies and probably a salad too. (remember, it's usually around, if not over 30 degrees celcius for us here, a hot day to run ovens all day)
I'll make a chocolate ripple cake for dessert (if you don't know what this is, holy crap, its amazing... will post recipe later), along with plum puddings with the trimmings, home made cannoli's (my younger sister's husband is half Maltese, so his mum makes great cannoli's)

in the past, we've had a BBQ Christmas, just because it's easy and then the men have to deal with the cooking, and we just prepare salads and bread etc. but it's just not the same.

We don't prepare stuff for days in advance. what is it that takes days to prepare?

We just have 3-4 women in the kitchen for dinner getting things sorted. Yelling and screaming at each other, the whole nine yards. its awesome! lol. us three girls were raised by my dad alone, so we are used to being in the kitchen together, and are very close, so its all normal yelling and no harm done

 

[samsteele]

We don't prepare stuff for days in advance. what is it that takes days to prepare?

Big frozen turkeys take at least a day or two to defrost safely in a cold water bath. I usually cook a 16-20 lb'er so it needs time. I use my utility tub/sink in my laundry room. I wash the sink out well and then fill it 3/4 with icy cold water and then float the frozen turkey in it. The turkey is still wrapped in its plastic wrapper. Every 6-8 hrs or so, I replace the water with fresh very cold water. That way no food poisoning. When the turkey has thawed, it then takes most of the morning to cook and a few hrs into the afternoon. I'd rather over cook a pre-basted Butterball (more forgiving to over cook when it is pre-basted) than under cook. In our kitchens, usually no more than 2 women/men do the food preparation because of space, elbow room and well, arguments. Go figure! So rather than spending most of Christmas Eve or Christmas Day peeling potatos, peeling turnip, mashing, doing dishes, and then doing pastry for pies, etc., we will do as much prep work as possible in the days before and then store in the fridge so we can actually enjoy some Christmas time as well. The alternative would be potluck where family/friends each bring a dish or two that is already made. That would be wonderful but is pretty rare in our family gatherings!

 

[samsteele]

roast lamb or beef (I prefer lamb)

Yumm! We don't have a commercially viable lamb industry in Canada so our lamb is almost completely imported from Australia & NZ. Very expensive. I remember my Grandmother roasting a leg of lamb at Easter with mint jelly and roasted fingerling potatos. But she knew a farmer an hr south of our village who would trade for sawmill endcuts (poorer quality boards). A wonderful treat for us & made exceptional foodie memories for a child!

 

[samsteele]

I'll make a chocolate ripple cake for dessert (if you don't know what this is, holy crap, its amazing... will post recipe later),

Yes, please! We'll have to post/trade some Aussie-Canuck Christmas recipes on this thread when we find the time. Sounds wonderful!

 

[Princess Jes]

Yumm! We don't have a commercially viable lamb industry in Canada so our lamb is almost completely imported from Australia & NZ. Very expensive. I remember my Grandmother roasting a leg of lamb at Easter with mint jelly and roasted fingerling potatos. But she knew a farmer an hr south of our village who would trade for sawmill endcuts (poorer quality boards). A wonderful treat for us & made exceptional foodie memories for a child!

just so you know, its bloody expensive here too!! mainly because well... all our lamb gets exported so we aren't left with much. It's my favourite meat, soak it in thick mint sauce and gravy, oh boy. It does give me an upset tummy, but I deal with it because its so darn delicious!!

Yes, please! We'll have to post/trade some Aussie-Canuck Christmas recipes on this thread when we find the time. Sounds wonderful!

Cool. Its super easy and you probably have a similar recipe there, but i'll post later!!

Oh also, a Pavlova usually makes an appearance, they're delicious too.
And a cheesecake of some sort. Fresh fruit platter with watermelon, berries, stone fruits like mangoes and peaches... all my favourate fruits!!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

For the first time in a while we won't be home for Christmas as we will be traveling to my in-laws in central Pennsylvania. I am able to take off from work more than my wife's siblings this year so easier for us to go out there. So this year we really haven't put up much decorations and didn't get a real tree - just put up a small fake tree to have something (and something to put all the Disney ornaments on )

We put all the presents under the tree wrapped but obviously the ones from Santa only go under Christmas Eve after the kids go to bed. Big present this year for the kids is Disney Infinity 3.0 (we have 2.0 and is one game the kids play together really well with .... playing nicely with others is the theme of gifts this year

Not sure what the food plans are, though I assume we will make Chrusciki which is a traditional Polish Christmas cookie

 

[samsteele]

we will make Chrusciki which is a traditional Polish Christmas cookie

What is in a Chrusciki? And what would be the closest cookie/bar that tastes like it?

 

[TheMaxRebo]

What is in a Chrusciki? And what would be the closest cookie/bar that tastes like it?

Here's is an image from the web:

They are basically like thin cookies that you roll out flat, cut into strips and then cut a slit in the middle and pull through to make a twist/braid type shape

They are also referred to as "angel wings"

They are fairly plain as far as ingredients (basically just eggs, sugar, flour, vanilla extract, salt) but you do fry them in oil so they are pretty crisp. And then you like cover them with powdered sugar.

Almost like really thin/crisp beignets

 

[samsteele]

They look wonderful! Thank you for your pic

 

[Princess Jes]

Here's is an image from the web:

They are basically like thin cookies that you roll out flat, cut into strips and then cut a slit in the middle and pull through to make a twist/braid type shape

They are also referred to as "angel wings"

They are fairly plain as far as ingredients (basically just eggs, sugar, flour, vanilla extract, salt) but you do fry them in oil so they are pretty crisp. And then you like cover them with powdered sugar.

Almost like really thin/crisp beignets

I've had similar things and they're so delicious!!! yum yum!!!

 

[superme80]

If we can kick this cough, we are going to my parents for an early Christmas on Sunday. Then they will come to us for DS #2's 1st Church Christmas Program. The in-laws for Christmas eve, and staying home on Christmas day.
So here is my Christmas shopping irritation. My mom told me what to buy her. She then goes out and buys it! At least it is fancy hand wash, so she can always use more. Then she bought my oldest what I was going to buy him. Since I already ordered it from Amazon, I made her return hers! My oldest is obsessed with Super Mario Bros and I bought him the Connect 4. I told her to get him checkers or the memory game.

 

[samsteele]

If we can kick this cough, we are going to my parents for an early Christmas on Sunday. Then they will come to us for DS #2's 1st Church Christmas Program.

Lots of colds & bugs going around North America this time of year. I picked up a nasty cold on my flight back from Orlando weeks ago and am just now getting over the last lingering cough. Wishing you well!

 

[superme80]

Lots of colds & bugs going around North America this time of year. I picked up a nasty cold on my flight back from Orlando weeks ago and am just now getting over the last lingering cough. Wishing you well!

Thank you. As long as no one vomits I am ok!

 

[pjweaver]

I am a guy that likes to cook. We do Christmas eve with my wife's sister, who hosts roughly 60 people for dinner. I will do a whole fillet of beef wrapped in bacon, perogies, and a bone in ham all with the standard sides. We usually get everyone out by 1:00, then clean up and pass out.

Christmas day my wife and I will make the 3 drive to my parents. Once in "lower slower" Delaware, my mother will have a large turkey with a bacon lattice covering the bird. I will make prime rib and jello salad (lime jello with tiny apple cubes and walnuts) and apple pies...enough to feed the 8 of us for three days. We will also make sugar, chocolate, chocolate chip, molasses, and ginger cookies. All that, plus plenty of drinks and sarcasm from my brother and sister that will result in a scene worthy of a Chevy Chase movie that usually ends in someone getting injured or setting fire to something. Perhaps it's best if we don't dring so much, but then I wouldn't have the story of shooting my brother in the forehead with a staple gun.

In the end we will all be cranky and fall asleep early. We won't have eaten much of the food, and the gossip will be over with. Every year I tell my wife we should just go to Florida and avoid this, but no. This is family, and that is really what holidays are about. Therefore I will suffer and smile at the same time while I open the gag underwear my brother will buy me after watching my wife open another kitchen tool she will never use that we now have to regift.

(If any family members are reading this, just buy me a nice bottle of scotch)

 

[TiggerTrigger]

Feeling a bit off this year since we're not doing many of our traditional things. Normally we have this massive Christmas campout with some long-time family friends at the beginning of December...complete with singing around the bonfire, skits, football, pinata, etc. BUT...the dam on the piece of forested camping land gave out due to the flooding rains and washed out the roads...so, no campout this year. And as exciting as it is that we're going to Disneyland/LA/skiing at Christmas, that means no massive outdoor light display in our yard, no fresh tree (we have several artificial, but it's not the same), no wrapping gifts until the wee hours of the morning on Christmas/Christmas Eve, and no drinking potent egg nog and scotch all night. On the upside...we are going on this big trip to California, and since we celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah, I'm using the 8 nights of Hanukkah and the 12 days of Christmas to gift the kids with all kinds of stuff for the trip. The younger one still believes in Santa, so I have to keep the magic alive. Needless to say, managing 20 days of gift giving while dealing with final trip details, being a mom, and working full time...well, I'm losing my proverbial mind! We'll also be having my MIL over on Christmas Eve, and since things have been tense with her of late...just hoping that goes well.

Since I am not doing outdoor lights this year, I brought in some of my favorite lights and turned my dining room table into a color changing snowscape...

The kids are also trying to keep spirits up by dressing in holiday pjs nearly every day, and this one keeps thinking she's Rudolph...

...while this one keeps jingling everywhere with bells always around her neck.

Beyond that, I made a huge batch of Hanukkah latkes the other night...

(this is only 1/4 of them)

The homemade cookies don't happen until Christmas Eve or Christmas Eve eve...and those are usually filled or decorated shortbread. I'm a big fan of dipping them in chocolate, filling them with raspberry jam, and then nonpareils for the chocolate before they totally cool. Example- last year's cookies.

(oooops- just noticed the feet!)

I do custom cakes on the side, but minus kid bdays, I am on a long-term cake hiatus and have no plans of making the ugly holiday sweater cake I envisioned for this year. It doesn't help that my holiday cake last year was a nightmare, but my snow globe cake with edible figures from 2 years ago remains one of my faves.

Beyond that, I have some holiday work festivities next week and helped put together and wrap our annual Adopt an Angel gifts for some of the underprivileged kids we "adopted" to play Santa for them for the holidays.

And now that I've probably bored you to death with all of this ...stay tuned for my trip report in January. I've never posted one on DISboards, so this should be interesting (hopefully, in the good way!).