The Cuban Way

The wife's family celebrates Christmas together on Christmas Eve. We gather at Cousin Jim's house... he's expected to have 30 guests. The torch was passed last year - meaning, the gathering used to be at the wife's Aunt and Uncles house. The older generation decided that the younger ones need to take on some responsibility for the gatherings. Our day is coming. Not neccesarily for Christmas but, some other holiday gathering. Anyway, the traditional Cuban meal consists of a roasted pig, rice, plantains, yucca with all of it smothered in mojo sauce. I can tell you, for me, mojo has been an aquired taste. It's a citrus, onion sauce with various spices - don't ask me I'm not Cuban. Jim and his Abuelo ordered the pig a few weeks back. Today they picked it up at the store and brought it home. They spread it apart onto a wire rack and then Jim's Abuela starts stabbing it with a knife and inserting a mojo paste deep inside the flesh with her fingers. Then she smears the whole outside with the paste. Jim then returns it to the store where his Abuelo works and they graciously put it back in their cooler for the evening. Bright and early tomorrow morning they will pick it up and take it to Jim's house where they insert it into the pig roaster. It's filled with a bed of charcoal and then slowcooked all day. Periodically they baste it with mojo sauce. By the time we arrive at 6 pm it's all cooked. It's so tender and juicy. I'll try to get some pictures of it before they carve it up and post them. The women folk don't really care to look at it as it still has it's head in place with it's eyes giving you the staredown. When we all arrive we stand around, gab, eat appetizers and drink - all in anticipation of the carving. Usually, people can't wait and grab pieces of it while it's being cut (narrowly missing fingers or hands). This year we're in charge of the rice... 7 uncooked cups of the stuff. After the pig is carved, we then gather together for a blessing. Afterwards, it's survival of the fittest. People pushing and shoving to get their place in line to get some food. No, it's not that bad but, these damn Cubans go nuts over this stuff. Like I said before, it's taken me 7 long years but, I now enjoy mojo. It really is a good meal. Dessert follows with some delectable treats.

The family then engages in the yearly tradition of the "White Elephant". There are many versions of this gift giving game, which I'm sure most people have played. We have a $25 limit and we buy gender specific gifts. We then get to pick a gift or steal someone else's if we so desire. A particular gift can only be stolen three times and then it's retired. This year it's a little different. We used to mix in shitty gifts with the good ones. Someone always ended up with a "White Elephant". One year I received gold lamay underwear - xxxl. Another time some unexpecting guest received a thong and nipple tassels. Let's see... someone always seems to get stuck with a triple F bra or some crazy thing like that. Well, the older folks decided that we no longer should get the crappy gifts. It seems that one of the Grandparents always ended up with the thong or something. I guess it was embarassing for them - I can't imagine why. The thing is, the cousins liked to buy the outlandish gifts and the old folks are in for some surprises this year. Cousin Jim and I have some malicious ideas in our head. It's going to be the best year yet.

Another surprise that no one knows about is the appearance of Santa. Cousin Jim is going to get dressed up in a Santa suit for the boy and some other kids that are coming. The only people that know about it is Cousin Jim, his wife and me. It's going to be a lot of fun. I can't wait to see the boy's reaction.

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

I haven't had much time or the desire to post anything lately, for obvious reasons... tis the season. Things are coming together and although it's always hectic, we're better prepared than we have been in the past. We're done buying for the boy and all of his things are wrapped. I have a few minor things to get for the wife and we've got small things for other family members to purchase but, they consist of things like books, movie tickets or gift cards. All of those things can be purchased at the last minute if need be. I bought a number of items online. Every year I buy more gifts online. I personally can't stand shopping at the mall or stores. People are so stressed out that they begin to do crazy things... one of the many reasons why I stay away. I'm expecting a few more things to be shipped - I've gotten to know the UPS man pretty well in the last few weeks. With all the chaos that the delivery guys have to deal with they have been very friendly. So much so that they take the time to chat for a minute or two. Since I've been home more this year, I've gotten to know the mail carrier fairly well. He came to the door last night at 6 pm with a package from my father. His normal delivery time is around 3 pm. He looked like he had been pulled through the ringer. He's counting the days till it all ends.

Since Sunday, the boy has been with his grandparents in South Carolina. We miss him but, the wife and I have enjoyed the time alone. We've gotten a number of things accomplished without our "shadow" following us. The remarkable thing is the quietness in the house. It's kind of spooky. Grandma and Grandpa are bringing him back tonight - I think they are ready. They are used to a sendentary lifestyle and the boy is far removed from that.

Tonight we have a little family get together for a cousin that came into town with her family from Ohio. They have a daughter that is a few months older than the boy, so we are going to exchange gifts with them and have a little dinner. My sister-in-law is flying in Friday and the in-laws are coming back in Saturday. The sister-in-law is going to take the boy to see Santa, although he's seen him at the wife's work party already. Can't the kids tell the difference between these imposters?

I'm gearing up for baking in the next few days. Following what my Grandfather always made, I am going to make a batch of Chex party mix, chocolate chip cookies and a couple of pies - apple and pumpkin. One thing I do miss is his pizelles. He had an old waffle iron that his father had passed to him and now my father has it. I'm pretty sure they don't use it and I would love to try it out a time or two. Grandma and Grandpa would be at the stove working as a team to make dozens upon dozens of the things. The pizelles had a black licorice taste to them and they would make so many that they would have to freeze them so they wouldn't go to waste. Grandpa would call my sister and I to come help him make cookies. We would spend a whole day helping him. I can smell the baked goods and hear Bing Crosby in the background now. Grandma would help with the pizelles but, all the other baking was done by him. She would come into the kitchen once in a while to refill her Tab and then retreat into the living room to read her blabber papers. What a wonderful teacher he was... ahhh I'm lost in thought now.

Err ahh, where was I? Um, yeah I'm not going all out like he did but, just enough to bring back those precious memories. For the most part Christmas Day dinner is going to be your standard fare of ham, scalloped potatoes, asparagus with hollandaise sauce, creamed corn and dinner rolls. One tradition from my mother's side was oyster stew on Christmas Eve. We are going to be celebrating the wife's Cuban tradition that night so, the stew will have to wait till Christmas Night. Well, that's about all for now. I've got to keep marking off my list of things to do. In the next few days I'll post thoughts on my wife's traditions which are quite different from mine. Till then...

Bacon, ohhh what a treat!

The in-laws came into town early Saturday morning so the wife and I could get some things accomplished without our shadow (the boy) chasing us around. The wife spent most of the day Christmas shopping while I helped one of the cousins with some auto related issues. His "service engine" light had been on for the last six months. While he wasn't experiencing any serious problems with the truck, he couldn't renew his tag because the vehicle wouldn't pass the emissions test. The problem was a vacuum line that had a hole in it. It was in the fuel vapor recovery system - which has to do with the emissions. While we were under the hood we performed some minor maintenance. We replaced the spark plugs/wires, air filter, fuel filter, another hose for the fuel vapor recovery system and changed the oil. It took us a good five hours between diagnosing, buying the parts and actually doing the work.
Later that evening we all attended a family friends Christmas party. It was a nice party and the food was great... which leads me into BACON. What is there not to like when it comes to bacon? Think about it. When I think of bacon, I think of the master multitasker of foods. You can use it as a primary ingredient. It can stand alone on a plate. Bacon really could and should be considered a spice. As far as I'm concerned bacon compliments most any other food. I love BACON! Well, here's the thing... they had these little tiny weiners wrapped in a thick, sumptuous layer of bacon. If that wasn't enough, a mixture of real maple syrup and brown sugar had been drizzled all over them and baked to a wonderful lightly crusted texture. I liked them. I liked them ALOT! Fortunately for me, there were three cookie sheets filled with these delightful little bursts of salty, sweet, treasures of goodness. Okay, I know I'm getting a little carried away but, for the love of God, we're talking about a hotdog wrapped in BACON. My mouth is watering right this minute. This is how bad it was. Everytime I took a few of them and put them on my plate, I looked around to see if anyone was watching me. Later on, towards the end of the evening, I didn't give a damn. I loaded my plate and ate with gusto. This was a Christmas party! Live it up! Ahhhh... the little things.
Sunday the out-laws helped us decorate the house and the tree. Last year they gave the boy those annoying Hallmark dancing Santa and piano playing Snowman singing, dog yelpers from hell. Oh all right! I don't really mind them that much. The boy loves them and insists on playing all three at the same time. What bothers me is that they are so damn loud. What the hell do they need to be so loud for? I'm not kidding when I say that he played with them for an hour today - nonstop. I finally made him play with them on the couch because it absorbed some of the racket that had previously been echoing off the glass coffee table.
We had a scheduled appointment today for some holiday photos but, I cancelled them early this morning when it was evident that he was not going to be cooperative today. It's amazing how out of wack he get's when his sleep schedule is disrupted. He didn't go to bed until 10:30 Saturday evening because of the Christmas party. Today we just took it easy. The rest of the week looks chaotic. Rest while you can... that's my motto.

Scary Santa

This is our tree. It's in our lower level family room. I put it up on Monday evening and installed the lights on Tuesday. We're going to try and decorate it this weekend. I'm not sure I like it where it is... it's blocking my view of the tv. I've got my priorities - you know?

This is "Scary Santa" - for reasons you can obviously see. The boy was terrified of this thing last year, but has taken to dragging it around by it's hat this year. He talks to it and constantly tells it what to bring him for Christmas. My in-laws gave us this a few years ago. When the father in-law worked for Coca-Cola he was given this hideous thing. Evidently, it was a promotional item. Anyway, he brought it home for his daughters and it scared the crap out of them. If you look real close on the left hand side of the picture, under his mustache you can see some dark colored crud. The boy thinks it's blood and has told "Scary Santa" a number of times that he needs to go to the doctor for a shot. I think it's gum. This next picture really gives you the idea that it's a troll in Santa's clothes. I wonder if someone in the marketing department at Coke got fired over this?

I'm a little disappointed tonight. My beloved "The Office" was nowhere to be seen. It's the only television show that I am addicted to. Oh well, I'll go watch a rerun (commercial free I might add) to make myself feel better. Toodles.

Ba badoo ba.

The wife is stuck in Milwaukee. She left Tuesday afternoon and attended a conference in Philadelphia. Late on Wednesday she flew out to Milwaukee to run some trials at one of their mills. The trials are for one of their products that they are trying to launch by the end of the year, so it's been critical and stressful for her. Evidently things went well yesterday but, the trials ran late and she missed the last flight out to Atlanta. Well, it wouldn't have been a problem but, Milwaukee got hit with a snowstorm last night that dumped twelve inches so far and it's continuing to fall. This mornings flight was cancelled and the one o'clock is full. It looks like she's not going to get out of there until five - if all goes well. I feel bad for her. She's stuck in a hotel room, exhausted from her travels and she can't get home. She called a few minutes ago and I could tell she's getting very antsy. I'm also worried because her drive to the airport is normally twenty minutes and now, who knows how long it will take. Furthermore, she hasn't driven in that much snow since we left northern Pennsylvania ten years ago.

The boy and I are just hanging today. A cold front pushed through this morning and brought with it a lot of wind and rain. I see in the back yard that we have a number of tree limbs down. The temperature has dropped twenty five degrees from what is was yesterday. So, we've stayed inside. He watched "The Jungle Book" which has become his new favorite and now he's taking his nap.

Some random Christmas thoughts that I have been thinking of was the time our family and grandparents made the trek from northern Pennsylvania to northern Virginia to spend the holidays with my Aunt, Uncle and Cousin. The excitement of the trip set in once my sister and I learned of it. It was always exciting to go visit my cousin, but going for Christmas was unbelievable! A few things I remember from the trip are the deer that we saw on the front lawn on Christmas morning. Then there was my sister getting up to go look at the presents under the tree and the adults were just getting into bed. I don't think she slept a wink that night. I don't know if that was the year that we received our Atari from Santa but, my cousin got one and we played that thing nonstop, for the remainder of the trip. There's a picture of my uncle sitting on a toilet in the middle of the living room. My grandparents brought a toilet with them because a bathroom was being built in the basement and they put the toilet under the tree with a bow on it. We all went to Eve Mass and my cousin and I couldn't stop laughing all the way through. Stern looks were given by all the adults... but we didn't care. It was Christmas. My mind is kind of foggy about the details, because it was some years ago but, I will tell you this - it was a damn good time.