Christmas.... VF

The Christmas tree in the picture was at Jamie's brother Jon's house in Long Beach, Mississippi. His wife Andrea is very into Christmas (as are most Americans compared to those of us from the Southern Hemisphere) and she had decorated the house and prepared all sorts of yummy treats. There was one dip made with honey and dates and cream cheese (I think(, along with lots of Christmas chocolates and delicious things. We stayed with Jamie's Mom who lives about 15 minutes away in Gulfport. This part of Mississippi is right on the Gulf of Mexico and lots of people go there to live because, despite the risk of hurricanes, the weather is quite mild, even in Winter. Alas this was not to be for us. They had the first 'White Christmas' in 50 years!!! (picture of the snow commencing above somewhere but not in chronological order). There was not a huge volume of snow - not like what we get in Michigan, but enough to eventualy settle on the rooftops and in the corner of the patio etc. We tried to say that we did not bring the snow from Michigan, but strangely enough, it was in the 70 degree (F) range before we arrived, and in the 60's after we left! We had Christmas lunch around 2pm after visiting Jamie's Dad in the nursing home and then went to see him again for dinner and continued with our lunch-time dessert around 7pm! Lunch included turkey (of course), our cranberry jelly (see previous post re: Thanksgiving), bean casserole, a corn roast, a vegetarian baked-roast dish, and other delicious things that are in the picture above. The dessert was pumpkin pie or pecan pie (or both or course!). I had made some treats to take with us (that were also useful for bribes on the way down - the check-in guy for letting us jump the queue, fellow passengers so that we could sit together, and the 'you-must-not-stop-your-car-here-Ma'am' man at Gulfport airport. These included pretzel sticks dipped in chococlate (surprisingly nice with the rock salt chunks and white, dark or milk chocolate), peanut-butter balls dipped in chocolate, pat's almond splinters and white chocolate/roasted coconut balls. We had quite the nice time (thanks Jon, Andrea and Mother!!) depsite the fact that we were only there for less than 48 hours. All too soon it was time to get back on our plane to Atlanta and then on to Detroit. We had planned to have dinner somewhere near home with Chad (Jamie's best man from our wedding) who is off to Iraq around 10th Jan - he is an Apache helicopter pilot but he phoned and said that he was tired after going to watch a football game and could we come over to his sisters? (where he was staying). So half-way home from the airport, we turned the car around and headed for Canada! We had our passports with us from flying, so we were all set for border-crossing etc. Windsor is kind of strange because it is South of Detroit. This time we had minimal border issues as Jamie has come up with a new way of answering the question that they ask which is "Citizenship?". Instead of saying "US and New Zealand" he says "US and my wife is from New Zealand with a permanent residency visa". They do ask to see my passport, but at least it is less confusing than the first time we went across and they scrutinised it severely with great whiperings and shut doors and barked questions at us out the window.

The Christmas Tree! 

Christmas scene... Andrea & Jon and 3 out of 4 dogs (including one with a coat on!) a nice fire (not a gas fire) and snow outside!  

It will Definitely be a White Christmas in Michigan! Last night it snowed - about 25-30cm worth of snow!!!! As previously mentioned, it has snowed every few days since the end of November and then it kind of melts after a couple of days. Last night about 10pm it started snowing.... a lot.... Jamie managed to almost slither home in the Lexus after about 10cm of snow everywhere and then decided to leave it at a tyre company ready to put the snow tyres on. I went and picked him up from there in the 4Runner around 1am as that has 4-wheel drive. We certainly awoke this morning to a LOT of snow. Here is the front of the house after we shovelled the driveway and front path (unfortunately the snow-blower wouldn't start so we had to do real shovelling!). You can see how deep it is - as high as the front step. The snow is light, fluffy and dry - not wet at all. It reminds me of the feel, colour and consistency of icing sugar. 

Here is our street (with our front hedge on the left) with the snow that we shovelled to clear the driveway this morning. 

Christmas Baskets! Jamie's work allocated some funds for him to send Christmas baskets to people at Christmas. It was a little strange as when I phoned the guy to ask for details he told me the $ limit and suggested that 'charity begins at home' and said that some people order cases of wine to themselves. Jamie thought that it would be good to send Christmas goodies to the techs and support people at both the hospitals that he works at rather than keeping things to ourselves. So I went to Costco (similar to 'The Warehouse') and purchased some pre-made baskets and lots of extra goodies because it seems to me that pre-made baskets are generally half-full of packaging. This way we got heaps more for the price rather than going through a delivery company, plus they get baskets that are completely full of cool stuff! I re-wrapped them and here they are ready to go!! (PS - if some of the aunties look closely they might even see their wedding presents in the background).  

Here is a picture of our little house with the snow falling around it yesterday. I raced out as it was starting to get dark (around 4.30pm) so that I could try and get a picture of the lights on the hedge. I find it quite amusing that the wires on the outdoor Christmas lights are white instead of green because most of the time they are up outside they are covered in snow (although I was about an hour too early for that in the picture)! Running out from the door to the gate, taking two photos and running back took about 40 seconds but my hands were numb and tingly as it was SO cold without gloves on. We think our lights are ever so much more stylie than the blow up Santas!! We might try and get a night-time photo with Jamie's camera as well. 

On Saturday night, we had a Christmas party at the church. We are on the social committee and when they were looking for ideas, we borrowed from Rebecca and Jeremy (see http://popsies.blogspot.com entry for Sunday October 10 2004) and their international day and suggested that the theme be 'an international Christmas' where people brought along food, Christmas music etc from a country that they are from or identify with. It was a huge success - some proclaimed it the best church social ever! We had a sign with a NZ flag saying "Christmas in New Zealand means summer sunshine, beach BBQs and friends and family celebrating the birth of Christ". So I made vegetarian kebabs (good BBQ-fare!), mini pavlovas with kiwifruit on them and a huge fruit platter with pineapple, rockmelon (cantaloupe) etc. Jamie had a recipe for a lime punch made with lemonade (that's Sprite or Sierra Mist here), and fresh limes and lime sorbet floating in it (hence the limes in the red container in the picture). We also made a delicious winter drink as we were responsible for bringing drinks. It is made with apple juice, cranberry juice, sugar, cloves and cinnamon sticks. I made it the night before so that the flavours could marinate and we had it heating in our new crock pot - it was incredible. Here is Jamie checking on the pavlovas before we left to ensure that they were suitable! Just as well as we didn't have any leftovers to bring home at all. It was amazing what people brought as there are people from all sorts of interesting countries such as Haiti, Dominican Republic, Brazil, Croatia, and Finland. Very yummy! 

Here is Jamie in his new jeans taken on the day that we took the pic of me below with my warm gear for the cold weather. 

And on the topic of lights (see below) here is the one from the hallway betwee the bedroom, study and bathroom. We thought this would kind of match the decor of the house. 

Dining Room. We took some photos of the house to send to Jamie's Mom, so I thought I'd put them on here too. This one shows the light we bought for over the table and our ponsettia that takes 1-2 glasses of water each day on account of the lack of humidity in the air. We have a humidifier (no, not a dehumidifier as I am used to in Auckland!) so I need to work out how to use it!  

Gaudy Christmas Decorations: I had said earlier about people decorating their houses for Christmas. Well here is one of the not so good options that people go for. Large blow-up figures.... The red/green blow-up entrace to the front door is an interestion option and then above the snowman you can see Santa and his reindeer landing near the chimney. We drove past this house the other day and Santa had protested about being out in the cold and had completely deflated. But his owners soon had him patched up as he was full of air again, larger than life by that evening. The Christmas tree on the right of the picture even has presents handing off it around the bottom. I am glad these are not right next door or across the road from us!  

COLD!!!!!!!!

Yesterday was cold. Almost as cold as one particular day when I was here in January when I swear that out in the wind it felt colder than I have ever felt wind in my life before. The thermometer in the car said it was 7 degrees (of course, that is farenheit). When we went out with friends Shelly & Mark to a Christmas programme at his church, it was so cold that walking the short distance from the car into the church gave you that feeling in your face and teeth like when you bite into cold ice-cream and it tingles in quite a painful manner. But that was nothing compared to what it must be like outside right now. Jamie has just driven off to work and on the radio it said "it is 6am here in Detroit, and outside it is 3 degrees with a wind chill of MINUS EIGHT!!!" Checking on the internet conversion scales (as I do every day for everything from miles, pounds, ounces, gallons as well as temperature in this country that for some reason has not fully embraced the metric system) and that gives me celcius numbers of minus 16 and minus 22!!! I will be staying at home today where it is very cozy and warm unless it gets warmer outside.

No "Merry Christmas" - VF

It seems that it is un-PC to say "Merry Christmas" in case you offend people who are not into Christmas. I find it quite strange (almost annoying) when everyone says "happy holidays" all the time (although not as strange as when everyone says 'happy mothers' day when you are not a mother - that has happened to me before when travelling here). At the Post Office they ask if you want 'holiday stamps' (BTW cards are normal price not a special 'cards only' price like in NZ, but more on that later); when you say yes you would like holiday stanps they ask 'which collection'? The Christmas ones have Christmas tree ornaments and snowmen etc on them, then there are 'Hannukah', 'Kwanzaa' and 'Eid Greetings' options. The Eid one looks like it is written in Arabic (which I would have thought would be un-PC, but maybe it is very correct to have that). I said 'Merry Christmas' to someone without even thinking at Jamie's work Christmas party and then thought 'oh, no; what if he is Jewish?'. Thankfully he was Catholic (most if not all of the partners are either Jewish or Catholic - a very interesting mix I would think).

Re: posting Christmas cards.... the ones we have are quite large (21cm x 17cm) and in NZ or Australia they would be more expensive to post as they are bigger than a letter, however as they are a rectangular size, and most importantly under 1oz in weight, they are a standard 37c to post. If you have a "non-regular" size, eg a small square envelope with dimensions of only 10cm x 10cm, then regardless of the weight you have to pay an extra 12c . We have a few to send that are smaller (to Jewish and Hindu people) and as I didnt have 49c stamps I just put the small cards inside the bigger envelope!

Warm Clothes 2

Just as well we bought me a warm coat as Winter has defintiely arrived. The snow that came a few days ago has not melted despite every day being sunny with blue sky. When I got in the car this afternoon at 4pm to go to the shops, the 'outside temperature' thing said 26F. Thats minus 3 celcius! They say the 'wind chill' is colder but I'm not quite up to even considering that as minus 3 is cold enough for me for now. The lady in the shop commented what a mild winter it has been so far. I said 'Mmmmmmmm really?' as I purchased a large 5kg bag of rock salt to put on the front steps so that the postman does not slip (actually they apparently refuse to deliver the mail if the steps are iced up as ours was today).

Weird names

I can't for the life of me understand why a take-away business would choose the name "Blimpy's", nor why one up the road from it would be "Tubby's". One would think the fat connotation would decrease their business....????

Warm Clothes: Yesterday we went shopping for some warm clothes for me. With all the snow and the below-freezing temperatures, I was requiring some more heavy-duty gear in addition to what we bought a month or so ago. Here I am in 4 woolly layers and my new indoor/outdoor snow-boots (warm pants tucked in so you can see the boots!). The jacket has a built in polar fleece that can zip in and out, thankfully the jacket is still light enough that you can wear other polar fleeces under it so it is not quite as bulky as going skiing - but it does feel similar when you step outside all rugged up! It's called 'titanium' but I havent yet worked out if it somehow has titanuim in it, or if it is to do with the fabric being lighter-weight than you would think when you pick it up.  

Today's snow in the back garden.... 

The week... VF

The week has gone by so fast and there has been so much coming and go-ing at the Berkley estate that I have hardly had time to e-mail or phone people, so apologies if you have not heard from us.

I had a nice birthday on Monday with many wishes from around the world, some special presents from special people as well as some nice phone calls. I am trying not to feel old but the numbers are getting quite high these days! I awoke to snow on the ground which was quite magical and then in the evening Jamie took me out for a most delicious dinner where we both ate a little too much!

The rest of the week continued with a stream of tradespeople coming and going. Quite frankly I am getting fed up with it despite knowing that it will all DEFINITELY be worthwhile in the end. Over the week we had two plumbers, three electricians, two bath resurfacing men on different days, a pest-control man and of course Brent & Brandon our resident builders who seem to have questions or require feedback every 15-20 minutes throughout the day. They are very good to us though (bringing banana nut bread for my birthday and making a CD of photos of the work for us to take to Jamie's parents for Christmas) and are doing the most fantastic work. However, I am getting a little tired of there always seeming to be a man in the loo (bathroom) whenever I need to go and having to wait and most frustrated that it is not my husband that I am waiting for. Thankfully Friday probably marks the end of the work upstairs (apart from new outside doors tomorrow), unless we decide to get painting done and also when the new cupboard for the dining room comes to get assembled in January. The next few days should also mark the end of the dust problem as the builders will have finished putting up the gib-board (dry-wall) down in the basement.

We have also had a couple of Christmas parties to attend for each of the hospitals Jamie works at so it was fun getting all dressed up formally and going out to do the "meet and greet" thing. One was at an old house - built in 1929 at a cost of $4 million US for a woman who was initally married to Mr Dodge (of early automobile fame) and then to a Mr Wilson who owned one of the large timbermills in Michigan. It is 80,000 square feet, the 4th largest house in America (the White House is 55,000 sq ft). We had a guided tour through it and it was quite amazing. Jamie's brother Joe and his wife Trish came too as he is an orthopaedic surgeon at that particular hospital as well.

Here is our Christmas wreath on the front door. It's a real one made from fir trees, pine cones and little conifer berries. The green door doesn't look too bad with it, but the door will eventually be stripped back to bare wood (hence the paint I peeled off around the letter-slot) and varnished. You can't see much snow as I cropped the pic so it would load here ok but there is a weeny bit at the bottom right sitting on the terracotta pot! Today we have electricians here and one of their tasks is to give us some outside plugs so that we can have Christmas lights out on the hedge, (oh, that's right - also so Jamie can vacuum the cars without having to bring cords outside etc). No we won't be going overboard on the garden decorations, just a few lights, but I will try and take some photos of some of the houses in the neighbourhood that are very seriously into the Christmas spirit with Santa sleighs on rooftops and lifesize moving reindeer in on the front lawns (i.e. front yards!). I wish I had taken photos of the neighbours Halloween decorations but unfortunately they all vanished on Nov 1st (I was not expecting that). There were lots of scarecrows, 2 metre tall dead corn stalks, graveyards (eg with 20 gravestones), hundreds of pumpkins etc etc. I was quite fascinated and will definitely get pics next year!