On December 24th, 1963, Philadelphia was hit with a rip-roaring
blizzard. I’ll never forget it. By evening, the drifts were well past
knee-high. Snowflakes swirled in the halos of streetlights. Driving
anywhere was out of the question. Wrapped up in coats, boots, gloves,
hats and scarves, and loaded down with bags of presents, my girlfriend
Bonnie, my mother and I set out on foot for Aunt Tilda’s house. What would have been a 7-minute drive turned into an hour trek. I
remember laughing so hard we could hardly walk. We knew we were crazy
to be slogging through such a storm, but we were determined to reach
our destination. It was Christmas Eve, and Aunt Tilda had prepared the
traditional Italian Feast of Seven Fishes.
Tilda’s house was decorated to the rafters. Twinkling lights
outlined every window. Tiny red and green Christmas balls hung from
each curtain ruffle. Swags of tinsel garland draped the mirrors. The
huge tree was covered with hundreds of ornaments she had been
collecting for decades. At its top perched a gossamer angel. And
beneath its bedecked branches, nestled the white and gold 30-piece
Nativity set that Tilda had stayed up into the wee hours painting on
many a sweltering summer night.
Christmas
Christmas
Mail Order Food
I associate mail order food with my father. When I was growing up, he and I had very few connections. He took me to only one professional football game. He never came to Back-to-School Night and had no interest in any of my hobbies. I remember him as dour, not very talkative and disapproving. I was part of his second family and he was, I’m certain, just a bit too old to have a young kid running around.
Added to that, my father was burdened by tragedy. He was the eldest son of a prosperous Jewish family in Odessa on the Black Sea. Unfortunately when the Russian Revolution swept across the country, Bolsheviks rampaged through his neighborhood, lining up and shooting many people, including my father’s family. Being Jewish and well-to-do were two strikes too many at a time when “line them up against the wall” was taken literally.
Luckily for my father, when all this happened, he was studying at the University of Kiev. He learned later that his mother had survived because she had very thick hair. When she was shot at point blank range, the gunpowder was apparently so weak that the bullet merely lodged in her hair, knocking her unconscious and otherwise leaving her unharmed. My father never returned home to Odessa, having been told that he needed to flee the country, which he promptly did.
Xmas Dinner at Scandia
When I was growing up, my favorite grown-up restaurant was SCANDIA in
Hollywood. Run by Ken Hanson, this award-winning Scandinavian eatery
was the place my family flocked to for holidays, not just birthday
dinners and Sweet 16 luncheons, but also un-Hallmark events—like when I
cut my head and all I wanted was Scandia’s Swedish meatballs so my dad
got them on his way home from the set of “The Untouchables” episode he
wrote.
At the time, there wasn’t a big L.A. take-out scene, but Scandia accommodated because it was elegant enough to be casual. Scandia was the treat I always chose when my mom and I collectively took the day off from life (for me, high school; for her, writing/editing and house stuff) to hang out together. And a few years after my mom died, I chose Scandia to go to the night a movie I wrote opened.
Toddlers and the Holidays: Mommy, Why are you so grouchy?
If you’re a mom or dad, you know how hectic it can get around the holidays. You wish there were more hours in a day, your mood is less than jovial and your toddler can feel it. But you don’t want him to get lost in the shuffle; he just wants to be a part of the planning, baking and all the wonderful festivities. Make time for the two of you. Not only is it fun, but a great way to calm down and enjoy the moment.
Here are some fun and easy holiday activities and recipes for you and your toddler to do together:
- Before the holiday begins, go to the library and pick up a few age appropriate holiday books and spend time reading with your child.
- Play holiday music in your home or car. The tunes are catchy and toddlers love to sing along.
- Buy him a holiday activity book. Put on holiday music and ask him to make some special pictures. Then decorate your home with his beautiful pictures!
Make Your Holiday Gifts Homemade
From the L.A. Times
Considering everybody on your holiday gift list – friends, family,
co-workers, neighbors, your kids' teachers – you might be needing a
stimulus package before you even get to the big-ticket items this year.
So why not take a page from your grandmother's playbook and make the
smaller gifts yourself?
Not only are homemade gifts less expensive, they also capture the
spirit of holiday giving in a way that purchased gifts simply can't.
And if you consider the ubiquitous traffic and holiday crowds, a
leisurely morning spent baking breadsticks or whipping up a batch of
homemade marshmallows seems positively Zen-like by comparison.
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