Little Town in Bethlehem

I'm not entirely sure how the tradition started.


My mom had a couple Nativities while I was growing up, notably these first three.

(this one's a puzzle)


(this one always seemed super breakable)



And I think this was the first one I bought her, when I went to Costa Rica in seventh grade.


And several she's added on her own.

(we've had this one a long time, too)











And one I made.


And one I printed out.


And two I got in Spain.





And one my sister in law's mom sent all the way from Kyrgyzstan--not even knowing about the collection.


The others are from Ten Thousand Villages, originally from all over the world.






I've given my mom at least one Nativity for maybe the past 6-7 Christmases?









(something happened to poor Joseph)

Somehow she's gotten to 25.


Will there be another one under the tree tomorrow?

A Fitting Homecoming

My mom took me to the Strip on our way home from the airport when I got in on Wednesday, only four days before Christmas. There's nothing quite like the Strip at the worst of times for feeling like the heart of Pittsburgh and smack dab in the middle of the Christmas and Steelers season? Perfection.



I wish I'd taken more photos--I wasn't sure how they'd come out, but they ended up being pretty decent. The day was briefly sunny, too, in between some early clouds and overcast and a late absolute downpour.























I was feeling blasé about being home, but this trip to the Strip was exactly what I needed to put me into the Pittsburgh spirit!

Things that mark me as a "foreigner"

....and it's okay.

I spend a lot of time assimilating to Minnesota. There are some things I didn't get at first but now love and defend/accept as fiercely as any native--hockey, snow, flatness, the Twin Cities (they really are two separate places). And so on. There are some things I don't get or didn't get to participate in and feel sad about--like the Great Halloween Blizzard of '91 that everyone talks about constantly. Or things I missed growing up, like skating on frozen ponds until dinner and going back out after (if people actually did that, idk). And knee hockey (which one of my coworkers constantly remembers fondly).

There are some things, however, that I still don't get, and am somewhat proud to not get. Things that mark me as an outsider, things I'll always treat like "whatever Minnsotans."

Here's a couple...

1. Lefse.

It's this Scandinavian holiday treat that is a thin "crepe" rolled up with butter and brown sugar. The "crepe" is made out of potato and flour and the whole thing tastes like a buttered, sugared cotton ball. I have no clue why this food causes ecstasy among all my friends. It's disgusting.

2. Minnesota sports. (except the Wild)

I really enjoy being from Pittsburgh whenever sports come up. Pittsburgh is insanely successful. Being a Minnesota sports fan is a horrible fate filled with disappointment and more disappointment. Suckas.

I also find it strange and disconcerting that the teams don't have the same colors. What?

3. Rut beer.

No picture because I have no clue what rut beer is. You guys mean root beer? True story: one time I took this canoe class and my professor was all "we're gonna go play rut beer ball" and I was like "rut beer ball? I wonder what kind of wild game that is." and we got to the spot and he whips out a cooler with root beer and the lightbulb went on and I was like "OH he means ROOT beer ball." It'd be better with alcohol, but basically you play kickball with an open can of ROOT beer.

I really thought he was taking about ruts though.

4. Hot dish.

I don't even know what to say, except the word "hot dish" freaks me out so much. You basically take all the leftovers in the fridge and throw them in a casserole dish (or a hot dish dish I suppose) and then eat it. And I have never met a hot dish I liked.

5. Bars.

Bars are the dessert cousin of hot dish. I do like bars, though I still find the word use very odd.

6. Duck, duck, gray duck.

(picture showing how the game is MEANT to be played)
Clearly the proper terms are "duck, duck, goose." I heard some children at a school learning this game one day, and it took all my willpower not to bust into the room and shout "IT'S DUCK DUCK GOOSE!!!!!!!!!" Because it is. I mean, how do you know the first two ducks aren't gray??


I'm sure there are more, but those are some things that make me grit my teeth when they come up.

A fridge full of food!

Dear lord but I was productive in the kitchen tonight. I got home around 7 from a game (in which I recorded a satisfying 2-0 shutout wooo) which, in retrospect, was a little late to tackle such lofty goals but hey. I haven't been getting to sleep until like 1 am this past week anyway (which I hate but that's another story).

I started out making Mom's Chicken Shells, which has always been a favorite of mine.


Here's what you need:

Also some jumbo pasta shells, not pictured. I threw this photo together after the fact anyway, and knew I'd forget something....

I made about a half recipe, but here is it in full.
1 box of jumbo pasta shells
6 chicken breast halfs
carrots and celery (maybe one each for each chicken breast half?? dunno. you judge.) throw some onion in there if you want
1 box stovetop stuffing
3/4 to 1 C Miracle Whip
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1-2 canfuls of broth (store bought or from cooking chicken)

Cook your shells and drain.

Throw the chicken in boiling water for 45-60 minutes. Add celery and carrots, chopped.

Cool and cube chicken.

Add stuffing to chicken/veggies. Moisten with miracle whip. Stuff into the shells.

Place shells in a single layer in a large pan. Combine broth and cream of chicken for sauce (more cream of chicken than broth--I did about 1:1 and it turned out too liquidy). Pour sauce over shells.

Cover with foil (I forgot this step--shells got a little hard). Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.

Eat!

You can also freeze the stuffed shells prior to oven-cooking, but mom suggests freezing shells and sauce separately--or make fresh sauce when you unfreeze.


While my chicken was cooking, I did the dishes and made the sausage balls you can see on the left here. Whew! But now I have lots of frozen meals, ready to pop in the oven after work someday. Yum yum yum yum yum!

Puck Markings

Puck has some very silly markings.


This was hard to get a photo of. The backsides of her front paws have some splotches. Her pads are also randomly pink and black.


One of her legs. The other is all black.


Her tiger stripes.


Her little black nose.


"Yes, I know I'm fabulous."

Puck Attacks! And the results thereof...

Here she is attacking the little nubbin on top of my Penguins cap.


Here she is pretending she'd never eat my plant. Look at her carefully turning away from it. "What, that? I don't even know what that is."


Suuuuuuure you don't. It ate itself, I'm sure.


Sleeping on this plastic bag after she spent a good ten minutes ripping it up.