I Love 2009 Not...

Time recently christened the 2000s the "Decade from Hell" for reasons ranging from the September 11th terror attacks back in 2001, to the Hurricane Katrina disaster in 2005, to the Iraq War and the advent of the Great Recession. My decade was a mixed bag; I spent part of it in high school, which I hated, in college, which I enjoyed, unemployed and struggling to find a job, and entering the adult world for the first time. On a personal level, I don't know that I can call it the Decade from Hell, but it was certainly a decade of many life changes for me. The past year, however, was largely quiet -- I was steadily employed, and I spent much of my time expanding and solidifying my social circle and enjoying the urban lifestyle. There were, however, some downsides to life in 2009, which I shall dutifully chronicle here:

• Most Annoying News Story of 2009: If there was one thing I was sick of hearing about in the news this year, it was grassroots Republican activism. I'm looking at you Glenn Beck, and you, the Tea Party people. Our country may have been founded in a revolution, but even the father of our country, George Washington, had no tolerance for anti-government rebellion. In 1791, the American citizenry was infuriated over a new tax on whiskey, levied by the federal government. When the people took up arms in protest, President Washington personally led US troops to suppress the insurrection. It was the only time in American history that a sitting president has ever personally commanded troops on the battlefield. It drives me crazy when these people invoke the will of our founders to justify their actions. To borrow one of the favorite memes of Glenn Beck, do you know what other fringe group got their start by bringing weapons to political rallies? The Nazis. As for Glenn Beck, he brings to mind another historical comparison -- Father Coughlin. In the 1930s, Father Coughlin harnessed the new medium of radio to attract a mass audience for his right-wing demagoguery. He openly espoused a pro-Fascist, anti-government philosophy and garnered millions of followers. He too sponsored a psuedo-revolutionary movement, the Christian Front, which was ultimately revealed to be plotting the assasination of government officials, "communists," and Jews. Today, we look back upon Father Coughlin and see the wrongness of his crusade. I can only hope that people open their eyes to Glenn Beck in the same way in 2010, and people stop paying attention to him as well.
• Worst Chicago Moment of 2009: While I would like to give this "honor" to the CTA for its atrocious financial planning and the service reductions that are in store for the new year, I think the saddest moment for my fair city came in October, when Chicago lost its Olympic bid. Fear mongering regarding taxes and traffic hampered the bid from garnering the kind of public support it needed to be successful, and now the city has nothing concrete to aspire to in our near future. I think the Olympics would have provided a strong motivation to deal with some of our city's woes (like our crumbling infrastructure for instance), but now we will have free reign to pass such problems on to future generations. Plus, on a purely selfish level, I won't be able to watch Olympic events from my balcony, and that is sad indeed.
• Biggest Earworm of 2009: It seems like I always have a song stuck in my head, but some are worse than others. In the past year perhaps no artist has been as as successful at making herself inescapable as Lady Gaga. She is a genius for keeping herself in the spotlight, and "Poker Face" was all over the airwaves in the first half of this year. It would get stuck in my head every time I heard it, and I am glad I don't have to hear it as often any more.
• Least Favorite Book of 2009: Having read Cormac McCarthy's The Road earlier this year and completely loved it, I decided to further explore the author's oeuvre by taking along Child of God to read during my European vacation. I selected it largely based on length (it was short, and would take up little space in my suitcase), but I made a huge mistake. Whereas I have no qualms watching Criminal Minds or shows from the CSI and Law & Order franchises and being exposed to serial killers and perverts, Child of God taught me that reading about such things from a first-person perspective is more disturbing than I can handle. Books are more immersive than television, and as it turns out, I don't want to be immersed in the thoughts and experiences of a necrophiliac sociopath. It certainly didn't put me in a vacation-y frame of mind either. Bad call.
• Worst Fashion Trend of 2009: I have yet to see the everyday woman who can pull off over-the-knee boots. Celebrities and models can handle a look that edgy, but every woman I've seen in them has either looked like a hooker or a pirate, and all of them have had a desperate fashion-victim vibe about them. I'd still rather see these on a woman than Uggs, but that's not saying much.

Phew! It feels good to let all of that out, and now that I have aired all of my beefs with the year that was, I can move into the new year with a clean slate. Next year will surely bring a new crop of annoyances, but at least they will be novel ones, at least initially. Frankly, if these are the worst things I can think of, then life is pretty good overall, I would say. Here's hoping my grievances in 2010 will be as light as they were in 2009!

I Love 2009...

I don't want to get into all the hours of my life that I have spent watching VH1's I Love the (Fill In The Blank) franchise of shows. Not that I regret it, mind you, it's just that it's a lot of hours, and I don't you to think that all I ever do is veg out in front of the television. The shows appeal to my interest in American culture (it was my second major in college after all), and my love of so many things kitschy. So, in the spirit of the television show and the rapidly approaching end of the calendar year, I thought I would take a moment to run down some of my favorite things from the year that was.

• Favorite Album of 2009: Andrew Bird's Noble Beast. Nothing else even remotely comes close for me. End of story.
• Favorite Movie of 2009: I only made it to 10 movies this year (I usually try to make one a month, but I was too busy with other things this year), but I felt that Up was the best of the bunch. Frost/Nixon was impeccable, but although I saw it in 2009, it was released in 2008. Precious was impressively acted, but it didn't strike the same emotional chord with me that Up did, even though it was a cartoon. Plus, Up is far more quotable. "Squirrel!!"
• Favorite Theatrical Experience of 2009: I'm choosing the dark horse candidate in this category and going with Spring Awakening. The performance of Hedwig and the Angry Inch that I attended with Lisa was phenomenal, but Spring Awakening was so transcendent that it motivated me to download the soundtrack the moment I got home, and I practically wore it out on my iPod in the weeks that followed. It also introduced me to Lea Michele, who originated the role of Wendla on Broadway, and now stars in Fox's Glee, which brings me to the next award...
• Favorite New Television Addiction of 2009: For the most part, I continued to watch the same portfolio of programs that I watched in 2008, with one exception -- my Wednesday night lineup. Where I once watched America's Next Top Model and Criminal Minds I have been prompted to abandon the former and catch the latter in syndication by Fox's scheduling of So You Think You Can Dance and Glee at the same time. I'll announce it right now: I'm a Gleek, and I'm proud! I've even gotten my Dad to start watching it, and turned him into a Lea Michele fan. If you aren't watching it, you should be.
• Favorite New Recipe of 2009, Entree: I cooked so many things this year that I had to divide this one into two categories. The best entree I prepared this year (and have prepared several times subsequently) is a pasta sauce that I added to my repertoire a couple months ago -- Sardinian Sausage Sauce. It has a pleasantly piquant kick from hot Italian sausage, and a subtle earthiness from saffron, the dish's secret ingredient. It feels a little luxurious and decadent to use saffron in a home cooking, which turns an otherwise humble dish into a special weeknight meal.
• Favorite New Recipe of 2009, Dessert: Oddly enough, despite the hours I dedicated to the Cookie Bonanza, and the elaborate linzer cookies and iced sugar cookies I prepared for it, and the time-consuming caramelized white chocolate ice cream I made with my new ice cream machine, the only dessert that made it into my recipe book this year (where I collect only the most worthy recipes that I know I want to replicate) was for peaches and cream popsicles. They were luscious, refreshing, and simple to make. Plus, there are few things better than a homemade popsicle eaten on the porch on a hot summer's day.
• Favorite Chicago Moment of 2009: I have had some great moments with my beloved city this year. I saw Riverace (Mr. Vincent Falk) twice, attended some great summer festivals, and realized my dream of riding all the CTA train lines, but my greatest Chicago moment this year was having my photo taken with Da Mare himself. It doesn't get any more Chicago than Mayor Daley, the two are practically one and the same.

There you have it ladies and gentlemen. Stay tuned for my thoughts on what was not so great in 2009, and what I won't miss in the year to come...

Merry Christmas...

Yes, I am fully aware that I am posting this on December 26th, and not December 25th. That's because the big Wyatt family celebration no longer occurs on the actual day of Christmas, so that it better fits into the packed holiday schedules of all the assorted branches, twigs, and leaves of our family tree. It's more important to us to be all together than to have the celebration on a specific day. We did have a smaller gathering on Christmas Day, but there were no presents and no special activities, just tasty food and good company, so I skimped on the photo-taking.

Today, however, I snapped away to my heart's content, so I thought I would walk you through a photo journal of all the day's festivities:

Three generations -- Me, Grandma Betsy, and Mom.

It's a little repetitive, but it's such a good photo of the two of us that I wanted to include this one too.

I'm not quite sure how I became the family expert in pigs-in-a-blanket making, but it has been my solemn duty for years now. This year's batch was by far my most challenging, as the cans of Crescent Rolls exploded dough shrapnel all over the kitchen, and I had to perform a salvage operation using the remaining scraps to wrap up the Little Smokies. It was touch and go for a while, but they turned out fine in the end.

New mommy Aimee with Mya.

Every year we try to take a group photo with all my cousins' kids, and every year, it's a struggle to get everyone to smile and/or at least look at the camera. This year it was Will's turn to cry (far right). From left, Braden, Madelyn (holding baby Mya), Avery, Ben, Abbie, Jalen, and Will. As a reward for sitting through the photo, we let the kids open their presents. So as to garner no accusations of favoritism, here is a picture of everyone:

Avery and Abbie are close in age, and were play buddies all day long. Here they are opening gifts together.

The one picture I got of Will when he wasn't crying, and he's picking his nose instead. Braden is on the left.

Baby Ben liked the wrapping paper almost as much as the gifts inside.

Madelyn, sporting a fetching ribbon necklace.

Jalen, completely engrossed in tearing open one of his gifts.

My default position for the weekend, cradling a sleeping Mya.

Mom and Dad had a great time calling the second annual Bingo game. My prize was a bright pink Snuggie, the photo of which I have omitted upon discovery that the Snuggie is perhaps the least figure-flattering contraption ever devised.

Grandma Betsy, playing Bingo.

Ben is a squirmy bundle of smiles, and he and Mom had a blast entertaining each other.

Abbie and I were headband twins, even though she left her red one at home.

It was a great day. Everyone had fun, and we narrowly avoided disaster when Aunt Brenda's dog Missy escaped its harness when it was being walked outside. Cousin Jason became the hero of the day when he found Missy down the street and brought her back. With a major crisis averted, we can all reflect fondly on a day of rambunctious children, traditions new (Bingo) and old (the pigs-in-blankets), good food, and family unity. I am blessed to have such a large and happy family, and that so many of us are able to be together for this special time each year. I, for one, am already eagerly looking forward to Christmas 2010!

Frosty The Snowman...

There is truly no rest for the weary. After the seven types of cookies I prepared for the Cookie Bonanza, I really didn't even want to think about cookies again until well into 2010, but today, after babysitting Mya, Grandma asked me to decorate some frosting-intensive cookies for the family children. Since there would be no wreath cookies to decorate this year, I agreed. As always, we established an assembly line in which Mom frosted and I embellished with candy. Evidently, the twelve hours I dedicated to cookies with royal icing this year does not cancel out the effects of tradition -- I will always be on red-hot placement duty at Grandma Betsy's.

Thankfully, these cookies were much faster to make than the ones I undertook. Grandma made them from a Pillsbury slice-and-bake loaf, and the decorating took less than thirty minutes. If you want to copy them for next year, all you need is chocolate chips for the eyes, candy corn for the nose, and red-hots for the mouth.

Theoretically, they were intended for child consumption, but they were pretty popular with a certain grown-up frosting enthusiast.

Baby, Baby, It's A Wild World...

Today, Mom and I headed over to my cousin Aimee's house to watch her brand-new baby daughter, Mya, whilst her parents made a diaper run and completed other assorted pre-Christmas errands. Although I generally don't have the touch when it comes to babies (clearly, I am far, far, far away from being ready to have children of my own), Mya and I got along rather well this weekend, probably on account of Mya's impressive sleeping skills. She'll sleep through anything, as long as it's daytime and the adults in her life aren't trying to get any rest of their own. As a result, I spent a lot of time holding, napping with, and playing "baby paparazzi" with my littlest cousin. Here are the results of today's photo shoot:

Mya likes to lay with her legs crossed. Her parents keep mittens on her to protect her perfect complexion after she scratched her nose last week.

It's a rare thing to catch her with her eyes open, but there they are!

Someday, she will not appreciate that I captured this moment, but for now, I think it's pretty great.

More yawning. It's hard to be a newborn!

Smiley Mya.

It's a little scary for me to think about the fact that Aimee is the family member who is closest to me in age, and she already has a child. We used to play "house" together growing up, and now she has a real husband and baby of her own. Logically, I know that I'm still young, that I have plenty of time, and that everyone's life takes a different path, but it's times like this that I feel very much like I'm still a kid, playing a game called "life as a grown-up." I'm sure someday I will reflect fondly on these days before I had a husband, a family, and real responsibilites, but for now I feel like I'm still waiting for my "real" life to start. For the moment though, I'm still pretty content to be able to enjoy the cuteness of my cousins' children from afar. After all, when they aren't yours, you can always hand them back when there's a dirty diaper...

I'll Be Home For Christmas...

The State of Haley will be on hiatus through the end of the week while I travel downstate to spend Christmas with the Wyatt side of the family. I hope you and your family have a lovely holiday, complete with cherished traditions, newly created memories, and, of course, delicious festive treats!

Merry Christmas!

Joyful And Triumphant...

Phew! After three days in the kitchen, I finished baking the 320-ish cookies that comprised the 2009 Cookie Bonanza. I packed them into seasonal-printed boxes (from Martha Stewart, naturally) with clear-acetate tops so that you would be able to see the bounty within. I also printed and included a paper insert for each box with warm wishes for the holiday season and a description of the contents of the packages. Everyone received the following assortment of cookies:

• 2 iced sugar cookies
• 2 chocolate peppermint cookies
• 2 cashew caramel linzer cookies
• 3 chocolate gingerbread cookies
• 3 maple pecan shortbreads
• 4 lemon ginger cookies
• 5 vanilla spritz cookies

I packed six boxes for my favorite coworkers, and a large bag of miscellaneous cookies to place in the office kitchen for those not lucky enough to be on my list for individual boxes. The cookies were very well-received. I got emails and office visits from appreciative colleagues all day long, and even one hug. It may have been a ton of work, but the true joy of the season is all in the giving.

Reflecting on this year's Cookie Bonanza, I feel pretty good about my offerings. I was proud to have increased the selection from last year's five cookies to seven this year, owing to better advance planning. I think I had a good balance of flavors, and I represented a wide array of techniques, with three drop cookies, one pressed cookie, three cut-out cookies, one of which was a sandwich cookie and one of which I decorated with royal icing for the first time. There might have been a slight bias towards shortbread-textured cookies, but I think that's acceptable. My only regret was not having a thumbprint-style cookie, but I felt I already had enough chocolate offerings and the only thumbprint cookies that caught my interest this year boasted chocolate fillings. Besides, it's good to leave something to aspire to for the Cookie Bonanza 2010.

I must say though, I am thoroughly sick of cookies. Besides one of the cashew caramel linzer cookies that I forced myself to eat to assess whether they were worthy of sharing with people, a few spritz cookies, and a lemon ginger cookie that I broke removing from the cookie sheet, I've barely eaten any of my own production. I get exhausted just thinking about all of them. But I am happy to have made other people happy, and that's what the Christmas spirit is all about.