Happy Holidays
Celebrating American style
As we roll gently into the New Year — puffy eyed and red cheeked from the holidays — I wanted to mark the memories of a festive period that seems to have been in full flow since November.
Giving thanks
I’ll be honest, we had no idea what we were supposed to do at Thanksgiving. We knew about a turkey, but couldn’t be arsed — with Christmas around the corner, and the prospect of a prime beef rib.
A dude called Squanto
I made some small effort to engage the kids with both the official and unofficial Thanksgiving stories. One glossy version where the native Americans and English lived happily together side by side, and the other one that offers up a slightly less salubrious tale.
Be thankful for what you’ve got
Mainly, I tried to purport the idea of actually giving thanks for what you have, being grateful for friends and family and spending a day playing games, laughing and eating good food together.
I played and re-played William De Vaughn’s original record, placing great emphasis on the chorus so the boys knew that a) their Mum has great taste in music and b) she’s clever enough to spot a cryptic message in a tune now and then.
I also found this vegan video doing the rounds and it made me smile:
New friends
As luck would have it, we gracefully accepted an invite from my husband’s friend and colleague — whose family has a similar backstory and moved to California from the East Coast a few months ago. We dined in San Jose on a turkey from George Lucas, ate magic chocolate, engaged in some fine conversation and didn’t lift a finger. I could have stayed there for a week.
Christmas cheer
My husband had been banging on for ages about staying in a log cabin in Tahoe. He was desperate for a white christmas. And we got it. Beautiful Lake Tahoe in all it’s frozen glory, with real powder snow almost 12 inches deep, 3 foot icicles on the outside of our cabin, and two children shrieking with delight at every single festive sight. A chocolate box Christmas.
Peace of mind
Each time we set off on a skiing trip, I get to the point where I wonder if all the hassle is worth it. We’ve been trucking through the snow since the kids were 4 and 1 respectively. Sorting out kit, boots, lugging skis and kids from A to B nearly sends me straight to the attic with Mrs Rochester. But the minute we all get on the slopes, every single moment of hassle is worth it. The silence; the freedom.
Tahoe gave us all this and more. We skied at Squaw Valley, where my 6 year old sped like a demon down the slopes and my heart melted when my 3 year old went off with maximum enthusiasm for 3 hours, up and down the magic carpet, waddling like a happy penguin on his tiny skis.
Of course, there’s always the obligatory injury — we spilt blood with the toddler when our eldest son got trigger happy with the table football, and my brother dislocated his shoulder so badly it took 3 grown men on top of him to push it back in at the medical centre. He trooped right through it though.
On the up-side, we made friends with the local wildlife, welcomed surprise carol singers on Christmas day, spotted bear prints in the snow and finally sat down to eat that prime rib.
Back in the Bay
After a week of feeling like we were in Narnia, we left the snow behind and drove back to golden sunshine, where we finished off the holidays with walks in Muir Woods and Marin Headlands. One fine day, we walked along the coast at North Beach and had a family supper at the Cliff Cafe, watching some of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve ever seen. More memories made.
New Year shenanigans
I prefer celebrating on New Year’s Day — I’m not a big advocate of midnight malarkey on New Year’s Eve, but we had a cosy family meal in and saved the best for sunlight.
We adopted that all-authentic American tradition of some local Japanese Taiko drumming at one of our favourite restaurants, Sushi Ran. They doled out Saki, the kids got a kick out of the toddler chopsticks and we ate some stonkingly tasty food.
All that remained was to crack out my first run of the year along the waterfront.
With the San Francisco skyline in the distance, I looked back on what a crazy, turbulent and often wonderful year it’s been, felt lucky to be able to experience all this with my 2 beautiful children and all-round star of a husband, and mused on what on earth 2017 will bring. A good view can get me sentimental like that. But let’s not overdo it.
So to anyone reading this (if any), in the spirit of good tidings, I wish you a peaceful New Year and very much hope you continue to read my tales.
Thank you for getting this far.
