Week 52

It was a Boise Christmas, and after the last few weeks we've had, it was an especially sweet time to be with my mom and dad. At the ages we all are now, the rambunctious Christmas mornings have given way to quieter, reflective ones, but they feel no less filled with anticipation, joy and silliness. Luna joined us and I think she is still a little melancholy to be back in Spokane after living her best Boise life with extra affection, table side scraps, leashless walks and no cats.

It was so refreshing to spend time away from screens and to do a little reading and knitting. There was quite a bit of time spent working on a puzzle Joel had custom-made from a photo he took on our trip to Buenos Aires. That was a fun surprise, and fun to complete with both Joel and Dad. One night we played a few good rounds of Code Names with my brother and his family, and Scrabble with Mom and Dad on another.

On Christmas Eve we stayed up late to attend the 11 p.m. candlelight service at Mom and Dad's church. When the organ cuts out to allow just the voices to sing the final verse of "Silent Night," my voice cuts out, too.

I also got to sit in on my friends' book club again, as I did back in October. And I met my brother's new puppy, Lucy. She is way too adorable.

The sun came out most days and it felt good to walk around in my hometown, both around the neighborhood and along the Boise River.

Mom asked us on our last night what our Christmas "comfort food" is, and I realized all of my favorite elements were there this year.

Watching

When we got back to Spokane on Thursday, we watched the final episode of the "My Brilliant Friend" series and I was just as outraged as I was after reading the ending. They did it so well. I hope it wins awards, and that they do the rest of the books.

In Boise, we watched Holiday Inn, or as my dad calls it, the original White Christmas. Joel also introduced my folks to one of his favorites, which has also become one of mine, Cinema Paradiso. It's a movie-lovers movie, and if that little Toto doesn't melt you with his smile, you have a heart of stone. I get teary just hearing the Ennio Morricone theme. If you've never seen it, it's streaming on Netflix until January 1! (Beware that there are two versions of this movie - you don't want to see the other one, which tacks on 20 belabored minutes. The one on Netflix is the 2 hour 4 minute version, and the best.)

I also watched Ellen DeGeneres's comedy special, "Relatable," on Netflix. Ellen had a slight edge you don't see in her daytime show, but her overarching message was unwavering: be who you are and be kind.

Saturday morning we headed to the movie theater to see Vice. Christian Bale, man. I don't know how he does it.

Reading

I'll be done with Garlic and Sapphires before my vacation is over, I'm certain, as long as I don't get carried away reading various recaps of the year that come out this week.

Listening

As of Christmas Eve, my parents now live with Alexa. Dad tested her on her back catalogue of old pop standards, and we were delighted to find that she could retrieve Dinah Shore's "Sweet Violets."

We listened to The Daily's round-up of the top news stories of 2018 on the drive and I was left feeling like the year has been an especially long one, and one in which we took so many steps backward. I appreciated the perspective, though, and wondered what it would be like to listen to this same episode in a few years, to understand what each of these events truly meant.

Recipes

When we arrived in Boise, Mom had a pot of delicious beef and barley soup in the slow cooker. It is my favorite way to be welcomed home. Joel made chicken tinga the next night, and Christmas Eve brought our family's favorite Fondue Italiano. For Christmas brunch, though, we broke with tradition somewhat in making breakfast tacos, mostly because we had lots of good stuff left from the tinga dish to contribute to it. One tradition that made it in was Joel's family's coffee cake - a cinnamon and raisin bread - which I experimented with for quantity's sake. It turned out as good as I remembered it. It is best enjoyed in the morning with the first cup of coffee, with the second slice accompanied by the clementine you pulled out of the toe of your stocking.

Mom made the rave-worthy Christmas turkey.

Of course there were chocolate krinkles (yes, spelled with a "k"), lebkuchen and peanut butter balls to parse out after each meal.

When we got back to Spokane, I tried out a recipe from Milk Street for toasted pearl couscous with chicken and chickpeas, which I think we both really liked for the bright flavors and interesting combination of textures. I'd make it again. 

So, here we are. I kept it going. I blogged my whole year, week by week. (For the most part...just don't count the time I was in Italy.)

After I publish this post, I plan to spend some time reading back through my year. I know it will be a kind of time capsule that will make me wistful. This whole blog - even before my week-in-review year - is basically a never-ending, woefully unedited memoir that has helped me reflect on everything from my travels to childhood shenanigans to cooking wins and baking fails. This year has been more of an accounting of activities than years past, and each of these posts contain dozens of related, unwritten memories between the lines that will probably fade as time passes, but in posting here, I feel I have preserved them just a fraction longer than my memory would have otherwise. This project has made me think a lot about how I spend my time, and how I want to remember and share it. It's been nice to reflect throughout the week about what I'll write each Sunday, sometimes writing things throughout the week as I think of them. As someone who is an internal processor, blogging gives me a way to compose and a place to house some of my thoughts, but it also makes me realize how I need to work harder at saying these things aloud among people I love. Something to work on. 

Will I do this again in 2019? This question has been on my mind for the last couple of weeks. When I (frequently) ask myself why I blog, my answer is often about preserving something of my life, and doing so on a public forum provides a sort of accountability. Giving myself a weekly goal has helped create a better writing habit, and a healthy habit of reflection. As of now, I hope to continue some form of regular posting, but it might not happen on Sundays, or in the same format.

If there's any theme that has stayed with me throughout all my years of documenting life here, it is the importance of looking around me and taking in the world. It changes so fast, and we evolve through its seasons. I hope to capture that in some way for a long time.

Readers, thanks for being along for the ride.