Lise's Ramblings

Celebrating the season with my family, immediate and extended, has always involved Christmas crackers. If you've never given Christmas crackers a try, I encourage you to pick some up (they'll be marked down this week) and experience what has charmed millions upon millions since the mid-1800s. Tissue-paper crowns, decades-old jokes and surprise gizmos. Everything tucked inside thin, rolled cardboard, which is wrapped in colourful foil or decorative paper, then tied to look like bon-bons. Some people prefer to go solo by ripping open a cracker with both hands. We always sought out a partner-in-crime seated next to us or across from us, then counted down from three before the cracker's contents spill onto the dinner table. For years, my aunt made our Christmas crackers. Our table settings looked festive and gorgeous, graced with handmade crackers with treats inside that were more special than store-bought ones. (Thank you for all that effort and care, Aunt Marion!)

December ushers in time with loved ones as well as a season of feasting . In past years, I wrote about festive foods , including pomegranates and clementines , among other sweet treats, but I overlooked some faves and the message bears repeating. Family and friends scurry to cook, bake, ship and serve all orders of yumminess. So, indulge in the English trifle, tortières, gingerbread ,chocolates, mints, Dutch hagel, stuffing, pets de sœurs, nuts, pastries, Christmas pudding, squares and shortbread cookies, bûches de Noël, Allsorts, cranberry cocktails, marzipan,and many other delicious and festive treats. Your usual food regimen can resume come January, when the rich and tasty foods are gone for another year. Enjoy the onslaught of Christmas calories.       AWESOME!

Unless you have an experience like Hansel and Gretel's, what's not to like about gingerbread? I mean really, you have a perfect storm of: spiced cookies and houses; candies of all kinds; and, heaps of icing. Plus, it's tempting to nibble as you go, followed by egg nog, hot chocolate or Christmas-cheer chasers.   The best part of all: gingerbread forms a part of a Christmas tradition of making delicious creations together.       AWESOME! P.S. In the interest of full disclosure, I snapped this photo, but didn't help out with the gingerbread house. Two young cousins collaborated on this masterpiece before I arrived, so today's post is inspired by the cookie decorating to come later this morning. P.P.S. If you haven't started your gingerbread house or cookies, then check out the many useful tips and shortcuts on the From the Kitchen to the Table website. 

Belly buttons are far more than lint traps. According to scientists , we collect tons of bacteria there too. In fact, the bacterial combination you find in your belly button may be as unique to you as your fingerprint. No need to be grossed out. Most bacteria is good for us. Besides, think how much fun you had collecting all that bacteria, especially if most of it is stockpiled drool, trapped there from zerbert-fests (slobbery raspberries on bare bellies). As children, we heard that unscrewing belly buttons led to dire consequences; bums would fall off. Instead of horrifying us, that statement made us giggle. Yes, i nnies and outies alike fascinate us. Gazing at, swabbing and playing with our own navels isn't always enough either. Some people even encourage extra attention by adorning belly buttons with piercings, bling and tattoos. Having an umbilical scar that can identify us, entertain and so much more...       AWESOME! Dennis Lee's "Big bad belly"

Now that snow has arrived, our chances of spotting large flocks of snow buntings increase. source: Brian Zwiebel on Naturescapes.net These birds are aptly nicknamed snowflakes and snowbirds. Their white plumage and seasonal arrival are obvious reasons for their names, but their behaviour also seems fitting. When snow buntings move, they do so in sudden blasts of activity. Flitting up from the roadside, in a single blustery motion, the flock ressembles a winter wind gust. If you're fortunate enough to observe a flock before something disturbs the birds, you may even spot a horned lark or two milling about with the snow buntings. Winter is my least favourite season, but these fluffy snow buntings surprise me by scattering joy on cold days.       AWE SOME!

  Source: dailymail.co.uk via Is Marraconis on Pinterest Health practitioners, nursing home staff and early-childhood educators have long recognized the positive powers of pet therapy, and I don't mean that in the Hollywoodized, my-chihuahua-needs-psychotherapy sense.   Studies continue to show that a minimum of 20  minutes interacting with a dog can lower blood-pressure rates, reduce crankiness and improve social behaviours of the elderly, children and patients from all walks of life. Last week, I heard about efforts to bring similar benefits to over-caffeinated, sleep-deprived, overwhelmed, post-secondary students. My alma mater tweeted that McGill's Redpath Library (@McGillLib) staff set up a room for students to hang out with therapeutic dogs as an exam de-stressor. I'm sure that the Brandy, Whiskey, Elvis and the other canine participants made a world of difference. To seal the deal, there was free hot chocolate at peak t

When it comes to vaccines, have you ever whined about a bruised arm, long lines at a clinic, a tiny blood speck on your shirt sleeve, or inconvenient opening hours at your doctor's office? I know I'm guilty, but I encourage you to stop for a minute to ponder how fortunate we are to live during a time when vaccines exist. Or for that matter, in a country where vaccines are available to us, in many cases, even covered under health care plans.  As adults, we tend to think about vaccines when we face potential harm. Step on a rusty nail and you wonder, "When was my last tetanus shot?" You're taking a trip and realize you should get to a travel clinic early for a Hepatitis A/B needle. Or, fall arrives, bringing seasonal influenza along for the ride.   And what a ride! The flu pulled a hit-and-run on my hubby this week. It's sobering to see what the flu can do to someone who eats well, is fit and has more get-up-and-go than the Energizer bunny. Mike hasn'

When November rolls around, organizers and participants kick the Movember campaign into high gear to raise awareness and funds for men's health. This year, instead of merely donating to the cause, something possessed my hubby to get involved and grow a mustache.  Eeeeek. I'm sooooo not a fan of hair sprouting from faces, especially when the person I snog is the one who takes up pogonotrophy . (Various reference sources define as pogonotrophy as the "act of cultivating, or growing and grooming, a mustache, beard, sideburns or other facial hair.") Fortunately, December 1st brought a return to order. Bye-bye, mustachioed man; hello, handsome. Apart from attaining campaign goals, Movember also served to make me appreciate that for 11 months of the year I share my home with a clean-shaven dude. That's right, bring on the pogonotrophy-free life.       AWESOME! Yes, my hubby is serving a lifetime of consecutive 11-month, pogonotrophy-free se

At bedtime, children implore parents and grandparents to read another story. Sure, stall tactics may be involved, but I like to believe that the desire to have someone read a tale aloud is at the heart of most pleadings. After all, some books can be appreciated the most when you hear the words roll off someone's tongue. Dr. Seuss stories come to mind.  Before ebooks, printed books or even scrolls, people relied on storytellers to entertain, enlighten, connect, and hand down oral histories and cultural experiences.  Aside from broader communities, reading aloud can also serve to strengthen bonds within families.  At our house, my hubby rarely sits still long enough to read. When he picks up something to read it tends to be a short piece from a newspaper’s business section, a hobbyist magazine or an instruction manual (yes, he's a rare breed). More often than not, his reading schedule coincides with bathroom breaks, because he optimizes every minute of his day.

Today, it operates as a national museum of immigration, but in its heyday, Halifax’s Pier 21 was Canada’s ocean gateway, welcoming more than a million new immigrants and refugees to our shores. (For my American readers, Pier 21 was our Ellis Island from 1928 to 1971.)    While I’ve walked through the museum’s collections and exhibits, I, like one in five Canadians, also share a personal connection to Pier 21. In October 1941, my grandfather , along with his fellow Royal Canadian Air Force servicemen, other military personnel and plenty of frozen mutton, shipped out of Halifax on the HMT Mataroa to support our allies.  Years later, my British grandmother was one of nearly 50,000 war brides who sailed to Canada for fresh starts with colonial hubbies they met during the Second World War. I believe Mom-mom arrived on Cunard’s RMS Mauretania , before she passed through the doors of Pier 21’s immigration shed. Pier 21 marked a transition point for so many. I can only imagine the swe

Not in the hold-that-pose-for-30-seconds kind of stretching. I mean the stretching that causes you to leap beyond your comfort zone's outer limits. Life is busy. A perfect excuse for not stretching. After all, taking risk requires more effort and time than sticking to what we know. Add to that the strain of weighing all those what-if scenarios. Any wonder we stick to routine. Sure, familiarity breeds comfort and a sense of security. But, beware the trap. When everything comes to you too easily, you risk stagnating.  Take if from me, stepping outside that comfort zone can be as exhilarating as it is frightening. Even if you don't succeed on as many levels as you would within your usual sphere, it’s uplifting to just push the boundaries of your comfort zone. For example, I'm taking baby steps outside my comfort zone. During November, you won’t see two to three random ramblings per week, because I’ll be engrossed with s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g. How? NaNoWriMo. That stands for N

If you ever visit Austria during July or August, do take in the opera or a play at the Bregenzer Festspiele. That festival has a Seebühne , a floating stage, which organizers change up in elaborate ways. The set below from Giuseppe Verde's "Un ballo in maschera" (a.k.a. "A Masked Ball") seemed fitting for my Hallowe'en blog post. Source: frommoon2moon.tumblr.com via Lise on Pinterest Bonus piece of trivia for James Bond and Daniel Craig fans: a scene from "Quantum of Solace" featured the stage as a giant eye, which was the 2008 set for Giacomo Puccini's "Tosca" at the Bregenzer Festspiele. Interested in other Seebühne set designs? Catch Wolfgang Mozart's " The Magic Flute " during summer 2013 to experience the stage in person, or look online to  check out past sets  for they are       BRILLIANT!