Tag Archives: musical instruments

Hessen, holidays

Christmas 2025… one for the ages!

Happy Boxing Day, everybody. Bill has gone off to work today, and I’m sitting here tying up loose ends from our Christmas celebration. It was actually a pretty good day for us. The weather was appropriately bitterly cold, so we got to light a fire, which we kept going for most of the day. We got lots of cool stuff, mostly for the kitchen. I got a new banjo, which was a bucket list item for me, ever since I was a child. Bill says there’s more stuff coming; unfortunately, he ordered from a place that is shipping from China. 😬

Our morning started off with Eggs Benedict, excellent Peet’s Big Bang coffee, and orange juice…

Yum! Or… at least I think so!

Then, after I started our fire going and turned on some Christmas music, we sat down to open the presents. As usual, I bought most of them, so Bill did most of the unwrapping. I got lots of photos of that…

We got some cool Italian designed kitchen and dining gadgets, several new cookbooks featuring cuisine from Turkey, the Baltic countries, and the Caucasus countries, a new coffeemaker and a new blender, tarot cards, glasses and glass drinking straws, and a couple of Jungian books for Bill… I got him two new Alpa sweaters from Finland, and sweater soap, a new pen and Moleskine writing pad, a new bread knife, Chemex carafe, and mixing bowls, bags for the sous vide, food storage containers, and ginger jam… Charlie was there to supervise, while Noyzi stayed in his “room” upstairs.

This is a really interesting looking book about our favorite chocolatier!

And then came the most exciting gift of all…

Bill ordered a bluegrass banjo from Ireland. It came from McNeela, the same company that made the bodhran drum Bill got me last year at Christmas. I am very impressed with the quality. It was a lot heavier than I was expecting it to be, which is why Bill is holding it in the photo! I’ve always been fascinated by banjos, and have always wanted to learn how to play one… So we’ll see how it goes. I’m still working on my guitar(s), after all!

I had to do a little rearranging of my “studio” to accommodate the new banjo. And now I have space for two more instruments!

Below are a couple more photos of noteworthy Christmas gifts. I was particularly amused by the Eggsecutor, a handy device used to open boiled eggs. I loved the witty description of it on the box! Bill said it was kind of like a guillotine for eggs!

An amusing read!
I bought a set of these tumblers and glass straws from a German company.

All in all, it was a pleasant holiday celebration for us… and I managed to capture a few moments on video…

My laugh is annoying… sorry! Maybe my mother-in-law will watch this.

And then for dinner, Bill cooked duck legs, roasted potatoes, and green beans, fresh baked bread, Italian red wine, and brownies and ice cream for dessert…

Man… how did I get so lucky? My husband is an absolute KEEPER. He’s a great cook and bartender, and a wonderful lover and friend!

Below is a photo of this morning’s breakfast. Bill made the bread, and “eggsecuted” the egg with our new gadget! At the end of the above video, you can see how it works!

We’ve got one more week to go before this annus horribilus is finally over… But I am grateful that I get to spend this time with my dearest friend and husband, Bill, who always makes me smile and lets me live life in high style. 😘

I hope those of you who have taken the time to read this also had a great holiday! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all!

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Charlie and Noyzi, Hessen, holidays

Happy New Year…

New Year’s 2024-25 has come and gone, and now it’s back to the grind. We had a pretty boring holiday. It was the usual drinking of beer and wine, listening to music, eating too much… basically like every day at our house, except there were fireworks and Christmas trees. But I did take some photos and videos, which I will dutifully share here for the interested. Here’s a video of the scene when the clock struck midnight.

Crazy! This wasn’t even all of the footage I got.

On New Year’s Eve, we had quesadillas, mainly because we both ate heavy leftovers for lunch and weren’t very hungry. And, as usual, there were lots of people outside in the frigid weather, setting off the fireworks they’re only allowed to use at New Year’s. I tried out my new camera, which wasn’t that great at catching the fireworks. I need to play with the settings a bit.

I think we got to bed at about 2:00 AM or so… then we slept in until about 9. It was cold, but sunny… unlike this morning, which is cold and rainy. Bill cooked a lovely New Year’s Day dinner. He used the sous vide to cook prime rib, baked some potatoes and cloverleaf rolls, and, of course, served black-eyed peas and green beans.

I couldn’t finish this.

One other thing that happened is Charlie finally got up on the bench. If you know us, you know that Arran and Zane, our beagles, used to get on the bench with us all the time. Charlie has been wanting to get up there, too. I finally gave him a boost. Now, we have a monster. It’s like Charlie won’t do anything like that on his own until we give him “permission”. Then, once he has “permission”, he takes the initiative.

Below is a video of their budding bromance… I swear, I think Arran is lurking in Charlie’s soul.

Charlie has turned into a cuddler.

I’m usually relieved when the holidays end. This year, I’m pretty nervous about what the future holds. But at least we had relatively pleasant 2024 holidays. There was no drama. And Bill’s last present to me arrived the other day. He bought me a Bodhran drum from a shop in Ireland, which I’m sure I’ll be beating on a lot, as things get weirder. It’s always nice to have new musical instruments!

Happy New Year, everyone. Hope it turns out okay for all of us.

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