Road Tips

Bah Humbug!

I hate Christmas.  I hate it with a passion.  I've hated this day for years and years.  I try to get into the Christmas season and enjoy the lights, the music, the candles, the Charlie Brown Christmas special - everything that goes into making the season pleasant.  Every year, the day comes and I try to be happy, but I can't.  And this year, I had an even harder time getting into it.  And as Christmas approached my disposition has gotten worse. 

I've had some bad Christmas' in the past and I've already told everyone that is coming today (our kids, Leah, Sara, and Eric; and Cindy's dad, John L., and his lady friend, Shirley) that if I do or say something that is out of kilter for me that I apologize beforehand.  But this year, I just can't wait for Christmas to end, New Year's to come and let's get it over with.   

I popped a beer at noon yesterday and Cindy said, "Having a tough time already today?"  She's gonna be really thinking there's something wrong when I pop one at 9:30 this morning.

You don't know how I want to enjoy this day, but it's tough.  I hate the over-commercialism of Christmas.  I hate the build-up from all directions and the lack of joy that Christmas brings every year.  It's supposed to be a wonderful time of year, but I just can't bring myself to be happy at this time of year.  It's probably best that Cindy locks me up in the basement from December 20 to December 27. 

But Merry Christmas from the Veber's, nonetheless...

Front row - Sara, Cindy (holding Bear), Leah
Back row - Eric, Will

Christmas Tree Redux

The Christmas tree saga continued for a couple three days after we went out to look at trees and was shocked as to how much they were wanting for the firs.  I reiterated to Cindy on a couple of occasions earlier in the week that I wasn't about to spend $60 bucks for a tree.  And I knew that she didn't want a tree that had long needles. 

It was an impasse.

Monday, Cindy called home from work and said, "Go out to Kap's and get a tree."  I said that I wasn't going out there and besides, Kap's last day he was open was Sunday.  Tuesday, she called home and asked, "Did you go get a tree?"

I said, "No, I didn't.  I'm tellin' ya, I'm not going to go get a $60 dollar tree and toss it out in less than three weeks.  And I'm certainly not going to go out and get ANY tree without you being with me." 

So, last night, she called on her way home and said, "I've got to stop somewhere on my way home."  She got home a little after five and in her trunk was a little 6' tree - with long needles. 

We brought it into the house, put it in the stand and took the binding wrap off.  It was still kind of bunched up and it needed to droop for 24 hours before we decorated it.  It smelled wonderful, very fresh, very Christmas-y. 

We decorated it tonight...

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving around the Veber house is not like Thanksgiving in most other homes across America. Well, it is and it isn't. We don't do turkey at our house. I never cared for turkey growing up, when we got older and my parents would go away to one of my older sister's for Thanksgiving, the remaining Veber kids would end up doing Italian Beef. A couple of years, we did a game feed with rabbit, pheasant and other road kill provided by friends.

Oh, we still have the staples of Thanksgiving - stuffing, Cindy's great garlic mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, some sort of fruit salid, pumpkin pie - but no turkey.

In the past, I've cooked ham or a pork roast. One year, the ham didn't turn out very well and we had to go pick up a pizza for Thanksgiving dinner. My step-son, Eric, still gets a kick out the time we had pizza for Thanksgiving dinner.

This year, Cindy's kids, Sara and Eric, and my daughter, Leah (who I gave up for adoption to the husband of my long ago girlfriend), came to Davenport for Thanksgiving. Leah decided this spring that she wanted to know her biological father, we've been getting along fine, and this was the first Thanksgiving we had together.

I made a 5.75 pound beef tenderloin on the Weber grill. I marinated it in Worcestershire sauce, and topped it garlic powder and cracked black pepper. I closed it up in aluminum foil and let it sit in the fridge for two days. I cooked it for a little over 2 hours on the Weber at 275 to 300 degrees (F) with a little bit of cherry wood to give it a touch of a smoky flavor.

I let it sit for about 10 minutes before I cut into it. Oh, man! It was just perfect. We had a couple bottles of the Ferrari Carano 2001 Tresor wine along with it and everything in the world was right.

Other than it was the coldest Thanksgiving Day in 49 years in the Quad Cities (it only got to 22 (F) for a high) it was still a great day.