Home Again - Briefly

Route 12 South, Somewhere in New Hampshire
Boxing Day, 2013

So the trip to my Mom's house on Christmas Eve was uneventful. The skies were fairly clear, a little overcast here and there, but generally clear and dry. Yes, no precipitation fell on the 24th of December.

The further north we went, the colder it got. Back in the woods one could see evidence of the snow which had fallen on a couple of occasions earlier in the month. Quite honestly, I'm used to seeing a lot more snow in the northern reaches of Massachusetts and in the southern bits of western New Hampshire. But the winter is still young. There is plenty of time for the heavy snowfalls to sweep through this area.

But the little kid in me wanted to see snow. Lots of snow. Just not on the road. But on the trees, in the fields and the like.

At my Mom's house there was some snow, maybe three to four inches of old snow. But there were patches of bare grass, so the dream of a white Christmas was out the window.

But as I have related in the past, some snow can be nice. But ya need to be careful what you ask for!

Christmas itself was grand.

Mom, her two cats, Your's Truly, The Missus Herself, The Olde Vermonter, Missus Olde Vermonter (and I need to come up with a different nom de blog for her, she's "not comfortable" with having a moniker containing the word "olde" or any variant thereof, can't say I blame her), The Young Vermonter, City Girl and (of course) The Musician. Up from Boston for the occasion he was.

Much excellent food was consumed and of beverages there were many.

Now on Christmas Eve, I discovered a new found love for egg nog, especially when mixed with this -

The Musician brought a bottle of that nectar with him. He also brought a six-pack of this (which of course we sampled on Christmas Eve) -

Very nice I found this beverage. Now behind that bottle up top it says the following -

And yes, I do expect more from my beer!

Now the Christmas Day beverages consisted of more egg nog, plus the following selection which I had brought up from Little Rhody -

A Favorite!

The Sarge's Personal Favorite

Commented Favorably Upon

Sigh...
We never got to this one.

Of course it wasn't all booze and beer. We had numerous dishes.

Turkey, ham, meatballs, yams, broccoli and cheese casserole, stuffed celery, deviled eggs and a dish which I'd never had before - 

Tourtière

Tourtière is a meat pie originating from Lower Canada, usually made with finely diced pork and/or veal, or beef. Wild game is often added to enhance the taste of the pie.

I simply loved it! Perhaps it's my sang Québécois but never having tried it before, I loved it at first bite. Delicious and...

Oh my gosh, that's it! No more Missus Olde Vermonter, no. Henceforth, the wife of The Olde Vermonter shall be known as Madame Tourtière! Vive la Tourtière!

Watched some TV in the evening after The Olde Vermonter and his tribe headed home to the ancestral dwelling. Letting the food and beverages settle. (For those who might be wondering, there was also pie, made by my Mother, therefore delicious. There was apple and there was chocolate. If my family had a coat of arms, it would include chocolate. Somehow.)

Whilst watching various and sundry Christmas specials and news broadcasts, saw that the weather for Boxing Day was calling for snow. The white stuff. The day after Christmas! C'est dommage, quelle honte! And of course, Boxing Day we were traveling!

(What's that? What's Boxing Day? Well, you can read my Boxing Day post from last year. I think I explained it rather well.)

Sure enough, at around 1000 hours (local, 1700 GMT) it started snowing. We loaded up and headed out, as did The Musician. The further south we went (once we cleared the high country north of Keene) the less snow we saw. OTOH, The Musician had to abort. The path he took was nearly due east, he saw three, yes three, accidents before traveling ten miles from my Mother's house. He turned back.

When we were safely home in Little Rhody, we called Mom to let her know we had trapped safely aboard USS OAFS. She informed us that The Musician did actually get back on the road. About three hours later than his scheduled departure. Seems the snow had let up, the roads were plowed, the planets were aligned, etc., etc.

So we get to catch our breath and then launch again tomorrow. For it is off to Michigan for to visit with Big Time and his tribe. (Of course, The WSO and Little Bit will be there. As will The Nuke.) I anticipate a grand time.

So blogging may be light.

Of course, I said that it might be light over the Christmas holiday. And Tuna stepped up to the plate and delivered some quality material. So maybe he'll do that again.

We shall see.

As for all of you out there in the blogoverse, I hope you all had a joyous and wondrous Christmas with family and friends. Enjoy the remainder of 2013. I shall return...