Going to Colorado today! Stay tuned over the holiday to see the duck en croute fiasco (although, I think, my mom is already making noises about saying eff it, let's just cook duck l'orange). Happy happy long weekend to all of you.

P.S. This just in: we DID make duck l'orange and a bunch of other Julia stuff. More on Monday! xoxo

(Our mantle, last New Year's Eve, when I was super-excited about poladroid)

Well, here come the holidays. He-Mouse and I are off to Colorado this weekend, to hang with my fambly and eat and drink a lot of stuff. I'm excited about it, because this is the first year--ever--that I will have spent away from my parents at Christmas.* Our original plan was to stay here, cozy in Chicago, and have our first grown-up Christmas. We're becoming family, and we like the idea of creating our own traditions and celebrations. But then we had a brush up against time when a neighbor passed away over the summer, and He-Mouse decided he needed to go see his grandparents. Plus, it's my turn to go to Tucson for the holidays.

No snow. No scarves. No hot drinkies. Just cacti and desert and love.

So I put my foot down about doing some of our Christmas** here, before we go, in the appropriately cold and gloomy Chicago. We're getting a tree, dammit, I informed He-Mouse. "For only two weeks?" he said. "We'll pass on the cheer," I said. I got on Craigslist and found some college kids who are away from home for the first time. We'll donate our tree to them for the actual holiday.

That leaves us with making traditions. Here are the things we want to start:

- Making tamales on Christmas Eve (He-Mouse's idea, mmmmm)

- Trimming the tree together while singing (I like Santa Baby, he likes the Grinch song)

- Making somebody else's Christmas cheerier (check)

- And for New Years, a reprise of the very successful orangettes and resolution-Scrabble game

 

What do you do to mark the holidays, nice mice?

* Being a divorced family, that means Christmas morning with my mom and Christmas dinner with my dad and frantic shuttling back and forth, frequently in blizzards. Not to mention the additional logistical complications of going to see Country Mouse, who lives six hours away across at least one snarky mountain pass. Last year, mom and I spent twelve hours trying to get down there and nine hours trying to get back. Sigh. Good thing we love Country Mouse, Handyman, and the tiny people as much as we do.

** When I say "Christmas," for us that means "tree and presents" rather than a religious celebration. Go look at Souris Mariage for more on our feelings about church.

Saw this amazing room over on the Tiny House blog, in a fascinating article about building houses using whole trees. I love this idea.