The Holidays

How will I spend the holidays this year? For some just mentioning “the holidays” can bring a shudder with all the stress, planning, traveling and overspending. But with some thought I think we can alleviate some of the bad vibes that come along with the entire hubbub of the holidays.

My yoga instructor said to try and take the holidays easier this year. Make it simple as part of our practice. Make that your gift to yourself and those around you. The wintertime should be a time to hunker down, stay warm and take care of yourself for the coming spring. There’s a lot to be said in that. I’m taking heed in her advice this year.

We are spreading things out over November and December. While we have a lot of traveling to do we aren’t doing it all in the same couple of weeks. I won’t get out all my decorations, just my favorite ones. I am choosing to do those things I love to do for the holidays. I also plan to create whenever I can fit it in and I will continue with my yoga practice and my exercise regime. That will keep me calm and centered. I will also remember to drink lots of water. Keeping hydrated is important and then you won’t fill up and overeat.

We opted to have Thanksgiving at home with my daughter and her boyfriend with all the trimmings. We will have all of our favorites. Turkey, stuffing, gravy, mash potatoes and pumpkin pie are on my list. I love the smells of Thanksgiving and the warmth of the kitchen while everything is cooking. Then we will celebrate with friends with our “Saturday after Thanksgiving” party. A tradition we have done for the past few years. All of our friends get together from all over and we have another giant feast. People make great effort to get there sometimes. It’s a lovely way to get together before everyone scatters for December. It’s great to carve out time to see our friends and celebrate with them.




I love to go into San Francisco’s Union Square at night when all the Christmas lights are up and people are shopping. There’s a chill in the air and puppies and kittens in the windows at Macy’s. Hot chocolate and window shopping bundled up in my wool coat. I don’t necessarily buy anything, I just like to go observe and breathe in the spirit wherever I can find it, take a few photos and people watch. I love big cities. I find a comfortable place to sit and watch all the people buzzing by. I find calmness and rhythm while sitting in the middle of chaos just observing.




We will be celebrating in early December with my son and his family in the Seattle area. We are bringing my parents and they will be meeting their first great-grandchild. We have rented an apartment at a retro-motel in their town and plan on making it a mini vacation. We will take in all the sites of Seattle and the surrounding area and have a lovely family dinner at my son’s house. Early December allows my daughter-in-law time with her family when they come to visit at Christmas and it allows us to attend my mom’s Christmas Eve celebration in Southern California. Hence, I get to do all my favorite things. Hug my new grandbaby, visit a big city, connect with family, continue and start traditions.

I’m thinking a fun New’s Years Eve party at our house with our friends might be fun. But I’m leaving that up in the air right now. Whatever happens, happens. Go with the flow.

I want to thank Cynthia Morris for her post that inspired me and reminded me of how to enjoy the holiday season.

Sweetpotatoes or Yams?

All of our friends always get together the Saturday after Thanksgiving and have a big party. We basically do another Thanksgiving feast and everyone brings their favorite dishes and our hosts deep fry the turkey outside. The men really enjoy this part because there is always the threat of danger when deep frying a turkey. Thankfully they know what they are doing and haven't burned the house down. This year I am bringing my little sweetpotato pies. The recipe is simple and my family always devours every one of them.

We plan our parties by email. We are quite effiecient at planning that way, since we are all so busy. A controversy started when my dish was listed under dessert instead of side dishes on the menu. Someone said we didn't have any yams. Someone else stated they remember seeing sweetpotato pie on the menu. Someone else said pie and sweetpotato spuds are not the same and yams were completely different. It was also pointed out that we still needed yams because pie would be a mungie concoction and collection of ingredients blended to a pulp. While a whole yam or sweetpotato cooked the way God meant it to be-baked at 350 until ready (about an hour) was also still needed on the menu. I guess everyone has their own opinion as to the best recipe for sweetpotatoes and/or yams.

Just to be clear according to the Sweetpotato Council of California all yams in the United States are actually sweetpotatoes. They belong to the morning glory family and are native to tropical areas of the Americas. Apparently the sweetpotatos and yams that we always see in the grocery store are actually both sweetpotatoes. Yes, even the dark orange one is a sweetpotato. I guess that's why I'm always confused as to which is which when I go to the store. Yams actually come from a different plant species and is a native of Africa. They are not usually grown in the United States nor are they marketed here. Although they are very similar and can be substituted for sweet potatoes in most recipes.

So we will be having both "yams" and sweet potato pie, but I will be using the orange sweetpotato for my pie because it's a little sweeter.

Here's my mom's recipe for little sweetpotato pies. It's never really been written down before so I'll walk you through it. You bake whole sweetpotatoes, I use the orange ones, at 350 for about an hour until they are cooked through. Let them cool off enough to handle and scoop the insides out into a bowl. Mash it up. Then you fill individual serving size graham cracker crusts with the sweetpotatoes, add a pat of butter and sprinkle with brown sugar. Bake until heated through and butter and sugar melt in a 350 oven, about 15-30 minutes depending on if your potatos were still warm or had cooled completely off. So, no, it's not a mungie concoction and collection of ingredients. I don't even think mungie is a word, but it wasn't my word!

No matter how you serve your sweetpotatoes or yams this Thanksgiving, I hope you spend it the people you love. Have a happy Thanksgiving!