Christmas Green, Sprinkled with Red

I am a wrapping paper reuser - my gifts are unwrapped carefully and deliberately - I slide my finger under the seams, carefully through the tape, the packages removed, paper straightened and smoothed, and then re-rolled for later use.  Sometimes, when the paper is super wrinkly and crinkled, then the stops come out and the paper gets torn into, and then recycled afterward.  I am a Bert, less an Ernie (see Ernie and Bert's "Gift of the Magi" from "Christmas Eve on Sesame Street" - about 4:25 in), but I do love Ernie.  It's cheapness, but also greenness.  And it's a family trait, at least with the holiday gift wrapping.

Reused gift wrap, ribbons, and labels.

We also reuse our labels.  And I turn cards that my parents and I receive into holiday postcards.  I reuse the same boxes year after year. 

Reused boxes, and more ribbon and labels.

And this year, I raided the post-Christmas sales to buy Christmas fabric, and I am going to transition away from paper altogether - it's something I've thought about doing for years; now it's done - Mumsicle will have one pattern, Popsicle one, Sissy one, and LilBro one.  Perfect - can't wait for next year :)

And, since there was time on Christmas day (the luxury of free time), I attempted a bouche noelle - well, that was the original goal (inspired by "The Kitchen").  But I waited too long to roll, and the cake wasn't quite thin enough (maybe next time more liquid?) so instead it became a three layer chocolate cake loaf - boxed devil's food cake mix, with puréed black beans instead of the usual oil and eggs, with avocado frosting - a la Joy Bauer, although my avocado frosting was an Alton Brown similar recipe, without the lemon extract and only half as much confectioner's sugar (because I was raised on the desserts of a French/Vietnamese palate, not quite so tooth achingly sweet as American desserts), because it was the easiest one to find, even though I first saw avocado frosting on the Today Show with Joy.  Vanilla extract might have helped, though.  Anyway, I've been wanting to try it. 

Cake experiment - on my day off.

Not the prettiest dessert ever, but the cake part worked quite well - barely beany, and oh so much protein!  Plenty sweet as it was.  The frosting was fine - might have been more chocolatey had I had cocoa powder, and might have helped with some instant espresso, and avocados that were actually ripe, and maybe some vanilla extract.  Not the prettiest ever, but it was ok.  The cherries were just Christmas décor - not in season or very tasty.  Next time, maybe the acid that preserves the avocados will be orange juice, so orange zest can go in (and maybe in the cake too - to make the batter more liquidy and pliable?) - orange and chocolate have always played well together.  And if there are clementine segments as decoration, that would work beautifully.  Less bouche noelle, but it might be nice.  Overall, a good first try at a greener (avocado! vegan!) yule log cake.

The three day weekend was much needed.  Sometimes the mind and soul need a rest.

In the days before, there were other holiday rituals, including my absolute favorite - caroling and the tree lighting in Carl Schurz Park.

Carolers, and neighbors.

Our tree.

A little ladybug, still clinging on in early December.

Tree pit holiday greenery.

Holiday-lit trees.