Christmas 2006 was rather quiet and nice. Granted I am a bit run down, but nothing that rest can’t take care of. 2007 is almost upon us, and no matter who I speak with, no one can believe how fast the year has flown.

Things that I am grateful for:
· The health of my family & myself
· Having a job to support me and a roof over my head
· My TRUE friends
· Being able to go away several times this past year on mini-vacations
· Pooka & Cro`i being as wonderful as they are and the upcoming arrival of our new puppy Vixen

Some of the items I got as Christmas gifts:

· 3-piece luggage set
· Leather vest w/ fur
· Sterling silver 1 ct. tennis bracelet
· Heart pendant and chain with stones
· Puppy chew toy & photo album for Vixen

2007 New Years Resolutions:
· Lose 10 pounds
· Try to control my anxiety on my own
· Be less sarcastic (yeah right...as if that will happen)
· Curse less
· Write. Start my story that I’ve had rattling around in my head. Perhaps it will wind up as a blog for all to enjoy. Or maybe I will take the leap and try to have it published as a book

Christmas weekend was a flurry of events, although it was a quiet holiday. Saturday night mom, Ida & I went to Nelson’s for a lovely dinner. Of course I ate way too much as there was: turkey, stuffing, turnips and potatoes. The house looked lovely, and Peter truly had outdone himself with decorating. Sunday the three of us cooked, and cleaned, and ran amuck in our house getting ready for Christmas day. We were so exhausted, that we never even made it to Midnight Mass. That was disappointing, as we have ALWAYS gone to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. Anyway Christmas morning, we opened gifts, had eggnog bread pudding for breakfast and went to Mass. Dinner was a standing rib roast, lasagna and the trimmings. Nelson and Peter had dinner with us, and Cousin Tom joined us for coffee.

Without further ado....please meet Vixen!

Tuesday night in to Wednesday morning I was unable to sleep. It was the worst case of insomnia I had had in weeks. I mean totally wide awake until 4:30-5:00am. I had taken the Tuesday off because I had a stomach virus, so knew I really shouldn't take Wednesday off and braved the office. But I know why I was having trouble sleeping that night. And in a way, that's a relief.

After a harrowing puppy search, visiting a kennel....calling numerous shelters, and searching the web it has come to a conclussion. For months, my heart had been set on bringing a Boxer in to our home, where as mom had said no buying a dog. Ida on the other hand was wanting either a Labradoodle or a Boxer. All our lives, from when they were kids, and up until now we have NEVER bought a dog. It has always been a rescue type thing. So even though I love Boxers, it killed me to think about paying $1,500. for a pet. Yes I had attempted to contact several Boxer rescue groups, and never got a return call or e-mail. I had surfed the net and had no luck there either.

Then on Monday, from the office I decided to surf a site: www.petfinder.org to see what I could come up with. And lo and behold my prayers had been answered from the puppy gods. No, she wasn't a Boxer...but she just melted my heart. A rescue group called Fur Babies had rescued a pregnant American Staffordshire Terrier from a high-kill shelter and the momma dog had given birth to a healthy litter of six pups. So I called Ida, and all but yelled in to the phone 'I found our puppy!', and then launched in to telling her all the information the pupy named Vixen had in her profile. Ida gave me the green light and I contacted Fur Babies and filled out an adoption application. Upon discussing this with mom and Ida, we've even decided to keep the pups name, as it is so cute.

I just woke up to go to the bathroom and grab a drink, and decided to check my e-mail. And it is with a soaring heart to announce that Vixen is ours, as of next month. The delay is she is waiting to be spayed and get her vaccinations as is the deal with the adoption process. I strongly support pet rescue & adoption, and strongly urge those of you looking for a pet to search www.petfinder.org as they can locate animals in your area. Thank you to Fur Babies and Kris for saving Holly, and in turn bringing Vixen in to my family. Without further ado, I present Vixen to you.

Letter to the Hawthorne Hotel

Christmas fact # 5: Wreaths - In ancient Rome, people hung decorative wreaths as sign of victory. The hanging of Christmas wreath seems to have derived from this. Denoting the victory of God over Satan with Jesus' birth into the world.

I have posted in the past my dislike for making e-mails between people public on web sites or blogs, etc. However, due to a certain situation that has transpired...I thought my letter to The Hawthorne Hotel should be made public. That way there would be no hard feelings, or have any of their staff members feeel that I have been unfair to them or unjustly written harsh words about the establishment. My blog is for myself, and my friends to read, enjoy and comment on. I have no problems with ANYONE reading my blog or commenting on it...but still feel the need to put this to rest misunderstanding to rest. The manager of The Hawthorne Hotel ha posted in part 2 of my Salem Thanksgiving trip which is what prompted my e-mail to her. So without further ado, I give you my e-mail:

Subject: Please forward message to Juli Lederhaus

Dear Juli,

I am writing this e-mail to you to clear up some hard feelings that seem to exist between the Hawthorne Hotel and myself. Under no circumstances did I set out to offend or hurt you or any of your staff as you seem to feel I’ve done, by reading and then posting in my blog: Sarcasm & Cynicism...served up by Single Grl
Just by the title of my blog alone, you could expect that some of the things I say would be sarcastic…but I do speak the truth in each post…that is for sure.
Perhaps I should start from the beginning in this e-mail to you, so you could understand why I would dub the Hawthorne Hotel as ‘evil’, but yet sing its praises in the blog. I do note that you failed to acknowledge the nice things I had said about the establishment. Back in June, my aunt and I had visited Salem for the first time, and although we didn’t get the chance to visit the Hawthorne, made up our minds to stay there in the future. Fast forward a few months, to my trying to make reservations to have my family spend time in Salem for Thanksgiving. What I had wanted to do was spend two nights at The Salem Inn (where I had stayed previously) and two nights at The Hawthorne Hotel as well as have Thanksgiving dinner at The Hawthorne Hotel. My one challenge was that we’d be bringing my two cats with us this trip….two gentle cats that are not destructive. You could imagine my surprise when I was quoted a price of $20.00 per cat per day by the reservationists of The Hawthorne Hotel, and was informed that it was a non-negotionable fee as I was bringing animals with me. Don’t get me wrong, I understand the need to keep the establishment in pristine condition, and concern about pets doing damage to a room or soiling it. However my cats have a litter box, and do not mess on the floor…and everyone would agree that the upkeep of a cat is easier than a dog. So I was a little disheartened, that I would have to pay $80.00 for my cats to be guests at the hotel…where as when I made my reservations at The Salem Inn for this visit was also informed of a pet fee. However…they made an exception and told me we’d be charged $20 per day for the two cats. I am very pleased to announce that when I checked out of The Salem Inn on my last stay, which was for the whole of my visit due to the information I got from your hotel, they (The Salem Inn) only charged me $20.00 for my cats for the whole visit. It is the little extra steps that The Salem Inn took on both of my stays with them that have made me decide to only stay with them on my trips to Salem.
As for my Thanksgiving dinner plans, those two had gone awry, when I attempted to make them at The Hawthorne Hotel. I had called to make dinner reservations for 2:30 on Thanksgiving day, in the beginning of October. When I had spoken to the restaurant, was told that they could seat my party of 3 people at 11:30am for Thanksgiving dinner, as they were not ready to make afternoon seating charts yet. Now, I don’t know about you…but I have never eaten stuffing, and corn and yams, not to mention turkey at 11:30am. I was offered to be put on a waiting list to have a reservation for the afternoon, ‘once the manager got around to making the table seatings.’ I took that option, giving the hotel the benefit of the doubt. Again, my plans to have a pleasant Thanksgiving experience at The Hawthorne Hotel was dashed, when I got a call on November 10th from the Dining Service Manager of the Hawthorne Hotel, James Kluge who was very pleasant yet offered me a seating for Thanksgiving dinner at 11:00am. Yeah, I was still going to have to pass on having dinner for breakfast sorry. But I do note, and in my blog acknowledge that I got a call back, and that Mr. Kluge had tried to accommodate us with a seating. So my mom, aunt and I had Thanksgiving dinner at The Omni Parker House in Boston, and it was a lovely experience.
We did manage to have coffee and dessert in the Tavern at The Hawthorne Hotel on November 24th, and got to experience Santa arriving and coming down off the roof of the hotel. In part 2 of my blog, in which you had e-mailed me as to why I called the hotel ‘evil’ I did comment: Mom had a lot of fun...and after there we did a bit of ghost hunting by foot, followed by coffee and dessert at The (evil) Hawthorne Hotel. Although I do have to give credit when credit is do...and the Hawthorne is a beautiful building, and the dessert was awesome. Ida had strawberry parfait, mom had lemon torte, and I had bread pudding. That last part is a direct quote from the blog entry. In all fairness, you should see my point of view…both dinner and staying plans had not been met by the hotel. Granted my family is not the only people whose needs are desired to be met. However as I have to deal in customer relations for my department, where I work…I do also know that sometimes you need to go that extra step to make a customer or potential customer happy. I too also understand that your staff has many people to tend to, many guests and events to accommodate…and I take that in to consideration as well. In part two of my blog, when I referred to the hotel as The (evil) Hawthorne Hotel, I was being sarcastic, and keeping in the same tune as my original post of my dealings with the hotel. I apologize if you took offense to my comments. My blog is a diary of sorts that my friends read….and my friends know and understand my sense of humor or manner of writing. There are no hard feelings towards The Hawthorne Hotel staff at all, other than my disappointment that Thanksgiving didn’t work out there. But on my next visit to Salem, will gladly dine at your hotel.

Kindest regards, and warmest holiday wishes,

Rose (Last name being ommitted from here for my own privacy.)
(Company signiture was here. I am erasing it for blog)

Salem MA, Thanksgiving trip 2006 (Part 2)

So here we are, part 2 of the Salem Thanksgiving trip 2006. Without further ado, I'm going to jump right in to the rest of the story. Here, to the left of the paragraph is me, being silly after we got back to the Inn on Thanksgiving night. I pulled my hair in to two pony tails, threw my jammies on, and we all watched the tube. In this room, we had 2 twin sized beds, and a roll-away which was way better than the roll away on the 4th floor. We had eben undecided if we were going to go down to Boston on Friday, or stay and see sites in Salem. Since mom had never been to Salem before she asked if we could do the sites there.

Friday morning, we had another delicious breakfast in the dining area, and the lady who works it filled us up with mini muffins and packets of hot chocolate to snack on. From there, we went to an antique store and mom did some shopping, and then decided to go to The House of Seven Gabels museum, which the grounds also hold the birth house of Nathanial Hawthorne. Mom had really wanted to do it, and I was all for it, because Ida and I hadn't done the tour last time we were there. The red house below is the birth home of Nathanial Hawthorne. Our tour guide was very knoweldgeable, and kept infomring us that the curator now has done so much for the estate and grounds within 5 years than was done in the past 50 years.

We were not allowed to take photos in either of the house due to the security system. But in all honesty, I was cool with not taking photos inside. At one point, they make you climb up this hidden staircase, and the tour guide made mom go first. She almost freaked, because it was so narrow...and she is clustophobic. But I am proud of her, because hse made it up, however she did accidentally closed the door on the rest of us, and I thought we were all trapped. Going down they allowed us to use a different staircase which was much bigger. We were all a bit famished after the tour was over, so Ida mom and I went and had a late lunch, early dinner at The Witches Brew Cafe.

After lunch, the three of us headed to one of the coolest museum's, the Pirate Museum. Ida and I wondered if we'd get the same tour guide, but we didn't. This guide was way hotter looking. Also, instead of it being just Ida and I on the tour...we had a nice sized group. Mom had a lot of fun...and after there we did a bit of ghost hunting by foot, followed by coffee and dessert at The (evil) Hawthorne Hotel. Although I do have to give credit when credit is do...and the Hawthorne is a beautiful building, and the dessert was awesome. Ida had strawberry parfiet, mom had lemon torte, and I had bread pudding.

Saturday it was time for us to start heading home, and I could tell that none of us, not even Pooka & Cro`i really wanted to leave. We had met so many nice people who were on vacation, or who live up in the Salem area. Pooka was easy to get back in to the carrier, but it took us about 15 minutes to finally catch Cro`i (practically tackle her) and get her in the case to. After a saddened good-bye to the staff, and a promise that I'd be back in June for my birthday, we decided to hit Pickering Warf for some light shopping. I did a bit of Christmas gift purchasing, and got myself a sweatshirt, pin and coffee mug. I hope you enjoy our tale, and the photos!

Christmas = Christmas Cookies

Christmas fact # 4: Father Christmas - Developed from several pagan gods. The Roman Saturnalia, a giant who brought food, wine, joy and revelry once a year to all and Odin, who would sweep across the land during the winter. Always portrayed as a giant with a robe lined with fur and holly with ivy or mistletoe on his head and carrying a Yule Log.

Each year at Christmas, my house smells like a cookie factory. I have to say, my family has never been rich, and financially….but we’re rich with the love, and memories, and traditions that have been passed on from generation to generation. So even at the age of 30, come Christmas, mom, Ida and I are dashing about the kitchen making cookies to share with friends and loved ones. Two years ago I had wanted to have a holiday open house, and had made hundreds; (no lie there) of cookies…as it was just going to be a snack party. Well, the day of our open house, we got hit with a freak blizzard, and had cookies coming out the ying-yang.

Last year we threw a Christmas tea party for our lady-friends which went way better. Nice weather, and not as many cookies…but more than enough to go around. So now it has come to baking Christmas cookies again, and we’ve been trying to narrow which cookies to make. It’s really difficult, because there are some favorites which you just HAVE to make each year, and of course there are ones that are specialty so this is the only time of year you make them. But there are so many different types of cookies it is hard to decide. Anyway, this year here are some of the cookies we’ve decided upon. Hope they make your mouth water:

1. Chocolate Chip Cookies
2. Sugar Cookies
3. Gingerbread Cookies with Snowflake Fondant icing
4. Almond Snowball Cookies
5. Tri-colored Cookies
6. Peanut Butter Cookies
7. Italian Knot Cookies
8. Sherry Butter Nut Drops Cookies
9. Maamoul: Stuffed Date-Orange Cookies
10. Jam Thumbprint Cookies
    
    And that’s just to name a few!

Sunday...in the park...wish it was a day in July

**I’m slacking! I had promised a Christmas blurb each day until December 25th, and ‘tis already December 5th and I only gave you guy’s one Christmas fact. So to make up for it, I’m including two Christmas facts in this post today. Enjoy, and please accept my apologies for being a slacker. Christmas fact # 2: Candy Canes - A 18th century English candy maker decided to make a candy commemorating Christmas (this was during the time that Christmas celebrating was outlawed in England) [see 12 days of Christmas], the result was a candy cane representing the Shepherds staff and upside down, a letter for Jesus. Made of white candy to represent purity with 3 red stripes for the Trinity and 1 large red stripe for Jesus' blood later shed. Some dispute this.**

So lots going on in my neck of the wood, and I have no idea where to start. All I can say is that mom had me freeze my nu-nu’s off Sunday. Don’t ask me what the hell my nu-nu’s are, as I have no idea myself what they are. But as I’m actually trying to keep this a PG rating today, decided to use that word. Anyway, I digress.

Sunday, as I am busting my butt, trying to put together my Ab Scissor, as I had finally carried the pieces upstairs, to the little room, mom comes in and announces to Ida and I that our friend Ann had invited us to a Christmas tree lighting. Ann has been a little blue the past month, and we love her (and her cookies) so I had said to mom yes, I would go along even though we had tones of things to do. Mom told me that the tree lighting ceremony would be no more than an hour. Which that worked out great, because Ida and I wanted to go to a store, and plus I was STARVING, so we had planned on getting something to eat after the tree lighting and before going to the store.

Fast forward to the park where this wonderful event would be taking place. Mom and I milled, talking to people we knew as the stage was set up. One of our friends had asked where Ida was, and we told them home, as she would be too cold. At that point I find out that this snow-riffic event was not an hour long. OH NO! It was going to be 2 hours long. Two hours. In the cold. Which I HATE the COLD. HATE IT…with the furry of a million snow flakes. And if that wasn’t enough…I got bum rushed up on stage with my mother and her friends to sing Christmas carols. Singing…in public….with a microphone. I am shy when it comes to stuff like that, and here I was in a park singing in front of some people I knew and A LOT more people that I DIDN’T know.

To wrap up the two-hour singing cold fest, mom and I joined the throng of people on line for hot chocolate. The way the hot chocolate people were distributing the beverage was so asinine. They would not allow any people in to the little room to pick up their cup of cocoa (because of the fire hazard body count), but I almost got NO hot chocolate because I went in to the room twice, thinking that was what you were supposed to do. Tre bad planning hot chocolate people tre bad indeed! No one should be yelled at for not following the hot chocolate receivable directions when they are not posted. All I had to hear was a ‘NO HOT CHOCOLATE FOR YOU!!!’ yelled at me, and I would have believed I was in a Seinfeld episode.

All in all we had a nice, yet cold afternoon. And somewhere on the Chamber of Commerce web site will be pictures of me singing on stage. Singing Christmas songs. In public!

Christmas fact # 3: Stamps - On Christmas day 1898, Canada started its Penny Postal System and issued a stamp to commemorate Christmas, this proved very popular and many other countries have since done also.

Time flies as you get older...not necessarily having fun.

Hey there everybody! I had been trying to get my Thanksgiving trip blog up before December 1st, but as normal...things didn't work out just how I expected them to. I promise however that the post will be up either by tonight or tomorrow morning...it's 1/2 done. Also, I decided to get in to the holiday spirit each day I am going to post some sort of holiday trivia, fact or something until we get to the big DECEMBER 2-5.

It's funny how fast the year flies by as you are an adult. I remember being a kid, and the year seemed to drag....forever until my birthday....Christmas is eons away.....Halloween is never going to get here. But as an adult, it feels like just yesterday we were taking down decorations to put away. Another year a blur...another year goes by without goals achieved or dreams fulfilled. But I am greatful. I have learned A LOT about myself, and my household over the past couple of months. My mother and I may fight and my mother and Ida may argue. And we do it hard, and we do it with passion. But we love one another even harder and fiercer. So be thankful for those you have, and those you love. With that, enjoy holiday treat #1. :-)

1. Mistletoe - Ancient Celtic priests calls Druids around the New Year would collect mistletoe from their holy oak tree and offer some as a sacrifice to the gods. Some would be hung up during a ceremony which people would stand under it and kiss showing an end to their old grievances with each other. This later practice never actually died out.