Happy Pre-New Year's Friday!

I AM GOING TO DISNEYLAND FOR NEW YEAR’S EVE!

A few of my friends and I have been talking about taking this trip in very vague dreamy terms for several years now.  But this is the first year that any of us took any of the others seriously enough to make a plan.  And so suddenly “wouldn’t it be cool to go to Disneyland for New Year’s?” turned into shopping for hotel/park pass deals online and assessing how much we all had in our savings accounts to make it work.

And so it is!

When I was younger, New Year’s was always one of those lame holidays that came with obligatory gatherings, but no one really cared about.  For many years, we just drank too much Martinelli’s sparkling cider and tried to look fancy.

As my friends and I grew up, we came up with our own traditions, including spending time out at the beach in Manzanita, having family dinners, drinking cheap champagne, and playing HOURS of bitter and spiteful Monopoly or trying not to freeze while watching amateur fireworks outside.

Be happy and safe as this year comes to a close and a new one begins.  I will see you again in 2012 my friends!

*image from here

Happy Shortest Day of the Year Wednesday!

I’ve never quite understood why the first day of Winter wasn’t until the end of December.  I say that, knowing full well that it has everything to do with splitting the year into even parts, and probably something to do with farmers or daylight savings time too. 

According to the most reliable source on the web, it might even have something to do with old cultures’ starvation.

But really.  Winter starts much earlier than today.

Even in Oregon, where we are so unlikely to get any significant amount of snow, outside of the Snowpocalypse(s) and Snowmageddon(s) of years past, it gets cold and terrible much earlier than today. 

Perhaps it is time to propose a whole new season, maybe know as Finter, or Fanter. 

Here are the benefits of creating Finter/Fanter:

·         It’ll more accurately describe the time between November 1^st and December 20^th. 

·         It will make Oregon infinitely cooler than any other state due to our innovative 5 season plan. 

·         It will give us many new names for retail sales.

·         Both are cool to say.

I appreciate you supporting my Finter/Fanter cause in advance.  Donation checks can be made out to “CASH.”  It’s just easier that way.

Happy break/shortest day of the year/last day of Finter/Fanter Wednesday everyone!

(*NOTE: articles related to -pocalypses and -geddons are old.  Do not panic.)

Image from here.

Happy Virginia Friday

I read the Yes, Virginia letter every year.  More than any movie, song, or epic sweater, it makes me feel the merriest and least Scrooge-like.

I’ve always really loved the idea of Santa Claus.  In my family, he is still very real and very well-represented on Christmas Eve.  I’ll be honest, if I had my way, I would still believe in Santa.

So, even if Christmas or Santa Claus aren’t part of your life, I encourage you to read this.  It’s really about the Spirit of the season.  

Be jolly and joyful.  Enjoy whatever lovely break you may have from work and have a beautiful, healthy, happy, and safe end of the year, however you celebrate it.

image from here.

Happy Wally World Friday!

Over the last several years, my mom has started a new tradition.  Out with the old fashioned end of year mass mail letter to family detailing our every moment in a cheerful tone!  Out with pictures included in cards for odd holidays like Arbor Day!  Out with personal cards to every member of the family and everyone else loosely connected to us!

My mother, being ever so family focused and making an attempt to share the joy she finds each day with everyone she now spends days creating a photo book showing what we have been up to as a family for the past year.  Each year now, starting around mid-November, every moment or photo comes with an exclamation of, "this will be great for the book!"

The year my brother got married, the book was enormous in order to include all of the vital moments.  When I brought my dog, Stevie, home, the book was full of more pictures of a sleeping dachshund than I ever thought possible.

This year it will have some big travel moments and pretty excellent birthday celebrations, but the best part will be the cover.

I'm not much for staged family photos using a timer where everyone is wearing an ugly sweater, but that's what we've got this year.  Plus something a little extra special. 

Think Wally World, 1989, “save the neck for me, Clark!,” Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and non-nutritive cereal varnishes.

Happy family holiday card season my Friday Friends!

*image from here

Happy Leaf Crunching Friday!

It’s not often that we have crunchy leaves here in Oregon.  Usually we have the smushy, rainy, slightly dissolved leaves under foot.  But every once in a while, we are lucky enough to have the icy sun come out and dry out all of our leaves enough to make them into crispy, crunchy bits of autumn joy.

This is when it is best to be outside.  When it’s best to take long, leaping, stomping steps, similar to those you used to take when trying to keep up with a parent who would walk too fast.

We’ve got some sunny days the rest of the week so stomp away!

*image from here.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving in my family has always been full of “adventure.”

There was the year of the Turducken, which was exactly the disaster it seems like it would be.  My dad and aunts stayed up all night trying to get the thing to cook all the way through.  It is still questionable whether or not they succeeded.  That was the Turducken’s one and only invitation to the Kross family table. 

Years before that, my dad (somehow) was responsible for the mashed potatoes.  (My dad has, on EVERY attempt, made Kraft Macaroni and Cheese incorrectly.)  However, Grandma Magno felt that he needed to participate that year.  She set him up with her ancient Kitchenaid mixer, a pile of hand-peeled potatoes, and several sticks of butter and told him to get going while she went to dig who knows what out of the basement refrigerator.  Probably one of these.

When she returned to the kitchen, she caught my dad scraping mashed potatoes off of her kitchen cabinets and back into the bowl to continue mixing.  Frankly, they were pretty delicious that year. 

Come to think of it, maybe it’s really just my dad that makes Thanksgiving such an adventure.

Images from here and here.

The Winter Blues Friday

I am feeling it this week my Friday friends!  I don’t know about you, but this is the time of year when I feel like wearing sweatpants, getting the fire going in the fireplace, and drinking an unnecessary amount of apple cider and/or hot chocolate.

I was born in the Chicago suburbs where the middle of Autumn meant stinging cold wind and lots of layers, but still a bright sun in the sky.

Here in Portland, with approximately 155 days of rain per year, it seems I am more likely to end up with Vitamin D blah-ness than I ever was while living in the Midwest.  Incidentally, SAD is a real thing, both cruelly and awesomely named.

So for those of us who are feeling SAD lately (as in sad-face, as well as Seasonal Affective Disorder-face), here are a few images to cheer you up a bit.

Happy Break Out of the Winter Blues Friday!

Images from here and here