A few months ago, when we took the girls to see Rango, we settled back in our seats with some popcorn to watch the movie preview marathon. (They’ve gotten longer, haven’t they?) It was all the usual stuff — Chipmunks and Gnomes, nothing terribly exciting — and then, suddenly, a huge ship plowing through a dark sea. On the side of the ship was written the word UNICORN and I heard Phoebe gasp. TINTIN! She screamed, then shrank back down in her seat when she saw that it wasn’t coming out until December 2011 — an eternity from then. I don’t know how I’m going to wait that long, she kept saying after the movie and seemingly every night at the dinner table since. It’s going to be torture. Phoebe has had a love affair [1] with the adventure stories of the Belgian boy-sleuth, and his sidekick wire fox terrier, Snowy, since we handed her all eighteen volumes back in 2008. For her, waiting for this movie to come out has been much harder than waiting for Christmas morning. (But it’s been great fun for us — nothing makes me happier than watching kids build up their patience muscles, since it seems there are so few opportunities left [2] to do so.) But now she only has to wait a few more days — it’s Number One on our Holiday Break To-Do, To-See, To-Read, To-Cook List. In case we don’t have time to weigh in next week, we thought we’d share the rest of the list, too.
1. See Tintin (and The Muppet Movie if we can swing it.)
2. Make a paella. (Recipe to come, but my friend Jen from Martha Stewart said she threw a few shrimp into this one [3] and it was simple.)
3. Steam a few lobsters [4] on New Year’s Eve.
4. Sit down to my mother-in-law’s Cranberry-Port Marinated Tenderloin [5].
5. Read Haruki Murakami’s IQ84 [6] (after I finish Art of Fielding [7] for book club).
6. Catch up on Homeland — I believe we are the last people on earth to watch this series.
7. Read this [8] and this [9] with the girls, if Santa honors their requests.
8. Download every single one of these “Apps to Keep Kids Happy [10]” for our looong drive down south.
9. Organize the basement.
10. Throw back a Clover Club Fizz at Husk [11]!
11. Dig into some of the Jasper Hill Farm [12] Bayley Hazel Blue cheese that Andy’s colleague (who is from Vermont, and knows from cheese) was kind enough to give him for Christmas.
12. And listen to this [13] as we eat said cheese.
13. Read an advance copy of Katherine Boo’s first — and, by all accounts, amazing — book, Behind the Beautiful Forevers [14].
14. Indulge obsessive compulsive tendencies by assembling Harry Potter Lego stuff.
15. Take one for the team, and pretend to have fun while doing a little ice skating.
16. Eat.
17. Nap while watching a football game.
18. Encourage kids to have some Christmas cookies [15] for breakfast. And then join them in eating Christmas cookies for breakfast.
19. Gain about 17 pounds.
20. Make some resolutions (#1: eat less).
Happy Holidays everyone!
Jenny & Andy