Christmas Dinner this year

Ah, one of the favorite times of this year for our family and friends is our annual Christmas dinner. Every year, I change things around on the menu, to which they all love and enjoy every year. I always make sure each person has at least one thing on the menu that they enjoy, along with new things that I add to keep it interesting.

This year, my oldest daughter, who is 15 years old, told me "Mom, I think the appetizers should be the Main Course this year! You make the best appetizers, and I'd rather have those than the turkey dinner with mashed potatoes!"

So, I decided to compromise with her, her siblings and the other kids who come for Christmas dinner, whom all agree with her. I will still keep my traditional appetizer time at 12:30 PM, dinner at 3:30 or 4:00 PM and desserts around 6:30 or 7:00 PM. However, I decided, listening to the kids and their wants this year, that I would mainly focus on the appetizers and keep the dinner to just turkey and the trimmings instead of several meats and a variety of vegetable sides. Needless to say, they're all excited- hopefully, our adult guests will be, too- although, I have no doubt they will be thrilled, as they always love the appetizers that I make every year and stuff themselves into oblivion and barely get their appetites back three hours later for dinner.

So, here is our Christmas Dinner list for this year:

Appetizers-

Sweet and Sour Kielbasa

Cocktail meatballs

Cheese, Pepperoni, Cheese spread and Crackers

Spinach pastry puffs

Shrimp cocktail

Fruit and dip (grapes- red and green, watermelon, pineapple, cantaloupe and honeydew melon)

Stuffed olives (with cream cheese, a family favorite my Mom used to make!) as well as Stuffed Celery

Antipasto salad

Crab Rangoon

Shrimp toast

Juices- Eggnog, CranGrape and others

Our Dinner, which is much less than the variety that I usually have, usually with several meats and veggie side dishes:

Turkey

Mashed potatoes

Sweet potatoes

Gravy

Green bean bake

Cranberry sauce

Stuffing

Homemade bread and butter

Juices, Hawaiian Punch- red, orange

And, get this- the children all decided less pies, and more of their favorite desserts that they don't get all year long! I MUST make French Silk pie for my friend Robin and Pecan Pie for my best friend Jamie as well as myself and my husband, as well as Pumpkin Pie- one of Robin's sons loves this, so I have to make it for him:

Desserts:

French Silk pie- Robin's pie, I call this one!

Raspberry cake- for my son, who wanted this instead of his usual Blueberry pie that he loves so much!

Apple Crisp- both of my daughters wanted this AND an apple pie- I told them they had to choose between one, as there are too many damn apples to peel for both desserts. They chose the Crisp for this year. :)

Pecan Pie- a favorite of Jamie's, my husband and I- not giving this up on Christmas day!

Pumpkin Pie- a favorite of my friend Robin's son- must have this one!

Boston Cream Pie- my youngest daughter wants to have this as well, I figured why not

Cookie assortment- chocolate chip, oatmeal, Mormor’s Syltkakors and others- got to have those cookies!

Sodas- Coke, Diet Coke, Ginger Ale, coffee, tea, hot chocolate- the only time of the meal that I allow soda- I figure we all don't need to get dehydrated on Christmas day, heh heh.

Making this list out tonight, along with the grocery list, is making me hungry. :)

Hoping everyone is enjoying their Christmas season so far!

Blast from the past- the band Jigsaw

Ah, the 70's- what a fun time to grow up! All kinds of music to please even the most fickle music fan. From hard rock, to soft rock, disco, and folk, many great bands made names for themselves back then that are still popular today, while others had one hit wonders, though their songs are far from forgotten.

One such "two hit wonder", if you will, band that I always loved but could never understand why they weren't as popular back then like other bands was Jigsaw. Funny, how they didn't get much press back then, nor were they considered a favorite of many, until recently. All of the sudden, it seems folks from the 70's remember the two songs this band had and claim how much they loved them! How can this be? Where was the love for this band back in the 70's when these guys, a classy band that wrote romantic ballads, put out two great hits, one of them, Sky High, and the other, Love Fire?

Another thing I don't understand, is why there is nary a mention about these guys on the internet. I mean, nada, nothing, zip. I knew of a couple of band members names, and even tried looking them up, to see if anything came up. Nothing. Why?

The only reasoning that I can come up with is that it is very possible that there were so many talented bands that emerged in the 70's, that Jigsaw got lost in the shuffle. They were a mix of soft rock and disco, so they had no main category of music that they exclusively belonged to. The drummer, who seems to be the lead singer in this band, has one of the most beautiful voices that have ever touched my ears, how he hit those notes back then without cracking is amazing to me to this day. How I wish I could have seen them live back in the day, and wish they had been more popular. Perhaps if they had had different management or promoters, maybe they would have more hits out and had been more popular.

Anyhow, for those other Jigsaw fans besides myself, I bring you their two hits from You Tube (thanks to user Billy42 and DiscoVisionSF) and Daily Motion (thanks to user xyzmikey):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOu7JlQqiaA- Original video of Sky High posted by DiscoVisionSF at You Tube, thanks, DiscoVisonSF!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vQdX-u5Iws - Sky High (the band is in the video in this one- great find, this one has the lyrics posted in the vidoe- thanks, Billy42!!!!!)

http://www.dailymotion.com/visited/search/jigsaw/video/xora1_jigsaw-love-fire - Love Fire- small introduction to the band, only pictures of the band are in this video, but hey, it's the song that counts!

Goons or no goons in Hockey?

I remember the first time I ever watched a Boston Bruins game. I was four years old, and Bobby Orr was on the team along with Phil Esposito, Pie McKenzie, Gerry "Cheesy" Cheevers, Derek Sanderson, Don Marcotte, Ken Hodge, Don Awry, just to name a few. Back then, hockey was a fun and passionate game to watch. I was in awe of all these guys skating around on the ice in leather skates, a time of no helmets and very little safety equipment, trying to get a rubber disc in the net with their sticks. Passion, grit, hard work- these guys never stopped trying to score a goal, no matter what the score was or how late in the game it may be. Goalies were fair game, if they dared to wander from the crease!

Guys tried so hard to get goals, that the passion on their faces was just incredible. They would fight for that puck, if need be. Guys fought for themselves- no one had to stick up for them, there was no need for an "enforcer" aka "hockey goon". All the guys could skate, shoot, score, fight and play hockey. Many of these guys played for the love of the game, got paid peanuts and worked second jobs during the off season to help supplement their incomes, as a hockey income wasn't enough to pay the bills and feed a family all year long. Oh, and most of those guys had no front teeth by the time they were in their mid twenties. Bobby Orr, the best defenseman to ever lace up skates in the game of hockey, was the best well rounded player ever to grace the NHL. He could score goals, but also stand up for himself, he didn't need to goon to take care of business.

Now, we have what I would call a European type of style of hockey played in the NHL today. Hardly any hitting or checking is done, fighting is down from years ago, and even the role of the Enforcer, which was created to help keep the meanies away from guys like Wayne Gretzky, is being fazed out little by little.

I somewhat blame the Wayne Gretzky era along with the insurgence of the European players for this boring brand of hockey we watch today- remember Wayne, supposedly the best player in hockey? Sure, in terms of goals and assists, this guy was amazing, but was he a well rounded player? No. How many hits did Gretzky throw in his career? How many did he receive, should any player be daring enough to try to get near him without Dave Semenko charging after them, ready to pummel the player who dared engage Wayne into a physical game of hockey? Could you imagine Bobby Orr not throwing a check or fighting for himself during his tenure in the NHL? I think Bobby would rather die a thousand deaths than to have someone stand up for himself, when he was perfectly capable of doing it himself. What makes players like Wayne so special that they can't take care of business themselves, and why are they paid higher salaries than the likes of Orr and former NHLers who played a hard working, passionate game of hockey every night? Why are these guys getting paid millions of dollars every year, when all that's expected of them is to produce goals?

The Gretzky era, to me, was the turning point in hockey. Star players no longer had to play physical- somebody else would do the dirty work for them, while they just chased pucks and tried to set up other players to score. Hence, a new brand of hockey was born, and a new job position opened up for all the teams- The Enforcer. Slowly, but surely, teams were no longer playing every man for himself, as their enforcer would take care of the meanies on the opposition, at a much lower cost than the rest of the team.

I sometimes wonder the fairness of it all. Key players get paid more to put the puck in the net, while enforcers, who get their faces beaten up every night- from broken noses, black eyes, teeth knocked out, bloody lips and noses, get paid peanuts and very little playing time. Cosmetically, these guys place their looks on the back burner so players like Gretzky can look might purty out there every night, while they happily chase the puck down and try to score, without having to face one check (or throw one), never stand up for themselves, all to the tune of a high salary, often in the millions today. Truth be told, a lot of these millionaires don't earn their money every night, but that's getting off topic here, heh heh.

I was watching a game on NESN Thursday night, and they had PJ Stock, a retired former Bruin enforcer, and Ron Duguay, known more for his time on the New York Rangers (oooohhhhhhh, la la, Doogie!) on during an intermission, promoting their "Friends of Hockey" games being played in Boston. Just about every Bruin fan loved PJ for his heart, he was and still is definitely a fan favorite and probably always will be. PJ was discussing how the game is changing and that it is less passionate than from when he played in the league, which was just a mere four years ago. He acknowledged that the role of an enforcer is becoming diminished in the league now, and that some guys who have a lot of passion for the game but have limited hockey skills, are losing their jobs to more skilled players. Although I miss PJ very much in Boston, I have to admit, his limited skills were what got him demoted to the AHL, where his career ended sadly due to an eye injury in a brawl while he played for the Phantoms. We are seeing more and more skilled players on the third and fourth lines now in the NHL- that's a great thing indeed. However, we're not seeing much passion and hitting now, which is a bore for the fans.

Ron Duguay had said that even he misses the old time hockey along with the fans. Hockey has definitely changed over the years, going from hard hitting, passionate playing, fights and brawls to a more European (my opinion, not Ron Duguays!) type of hockey where there's no checking involved and barely any fights. Not appealing to many old time hockey fans like myself, to say the least, and apparently Ron and former NHLers agree with the fans.

Back to the argument- do we need enforcers? Well, many fans want the fighting in hockey. My opinion? The heck with the enforcers, make every guy earn his paycheck on the team and play passionate hockey for themselves. Never mind expecting the third and fourth liners doing all the dirty work- all players should hit, fight, and play a passionate game of hockey. If they don't, let them ride the pine and give the guys who care more about the name on the front of the jersey than on the back of the jersey play. I would much rather watch guys get into a fight while in the heat of the moment during the game, then to have two goons say at the face off "you want to go?" and then watch them drop the gloves after the face off is taken, just for the sake of fighting. I'm not saying every guy on the team has to fight, but at least throw some checks out there, and stand up for your teammates at least, if you see one being taken down unfairly or you witness one of your teammates being the recipient of a dirty and illegal check- go after that player and throw a check on them, send them message that this won't be tolerated.

That's my take on enforcers, and I'm sticking to it! :)

Have a great day!