My Room Has A View

‘Home is where you hang your head’- Groucho Marx

     Heading home for Christmas was wonderful although it continues to amaze me how two and a half weeks can seem so long in one setting and unbearably short in another. I was greeted at the airport by a surprisingly friendly border control agent followed by an embarrassing ‘welcome home sign’ and a joyful cry of ‘thank god you haven’t gotten fat!’ I then proceeded to be one of those people hugging relatives as others struggled to pull their suitcases around me… well until my father declared I couldn’t hug him until I had showered my ‘plane germs off.’

So all in all… normal family moment.

     Over break I was either visiting as many people as I could (which of course means I did not get to see everyone I would have liked) or in the kitchen. I made six dozen cookies in two weeks (of course our puppy Mia ate two dozen of the sugar cookies… ) as well as Christmas dinner (which was actually Thanksgiving dinner) and a ridiculous amount of pizza dough. I help make my first full turkey as well! We had some seasoning technique picked out until my mom and I saw Gordon Ramsey on BBC America one morning essentially molesting a turkey with citrus butter and bacon… but the final result looked so delicious we couldn’t help ourselves. In the end it tasted so delicious that all of my guilt for treating an animal carcass in such a way was washed away with the help of his equally delicious gravy recipe.

     This Christmas was the first my parents and I spent back in the States in three years and while it was nice to wake up and go downstairs to open gifts I also realised that I really missed walking around a deserted foreign city on Christmas day… Rome was so quiet, except for church bells, that there is actually a picture of me alone on the Spanish steps… everyone was at church in Dublin and the morning walk was deserted so, although freezing, I was egged by my parents into climbing onto the Oscar Wilde statue for what might be the most awkward photo ever… and Amsterdam was quiet simply because everyone was sleeping off the Christmas Eve revelry. Apparently I was not the only one to realize that Christmas without a kid becomes about practicality…the gifts are necessities (most of the time) and are wrapped in newspaper (because being environmentally friendly outranks being festive when there is no kid to impress). I realised my mom must have missed it too when she announced we would go to Vienna for Christmas next year which is exciting for two reasons: first because Christmas abroad is always great and I’m glad we will be back to it next year (because for me gifts definitely come in second to a great trip) and second because Vienna is one of my picks.

     Each of my family has a sort of list of places they want to go… London, Hay, Florence have been from mine; Paris, Peru, and Prague have been from my mom’s; and Normandy was from my dad’s (he’ll tell you it wasn’t but don’t be fooled). But Vienna has been a pick since I first studied 18^th Century Europe…  it still seems a city of the Habsburgs with orchestras, art museums, and palaces. I will be in history nerdvana… and my dad will probably want to die.

     So yes I did enjoy Christmas, seeing friends and family, getting new boots (very useful), getting to see Jersey Boys (not useful but totally enjoyable), and my new Nook (I’m still sorting through my emotions for making the switch to an e-reader- for some of the year anyway- but I can’t deny that I was beginning to procure books at an alarming rate for someone 3,000 miles from where I can store them). But at first I was beginning to fear that Christmas has become practical and lost some of the magic… I really only felt ‘that Christmas feeling’ watching the George C. Scott ‘A Christmas Carol’ (the only one worth watching) like we do every year. But when we started talking about Vienna I realised some things never change… on the 26^th of December 2011, I was looking forward to next Christmas just as much as I did when I was ten years old.

Reviews for the week:

TV:

The Doctor Who Christmas Special: Crap. Well not total crap… I mean if Matt Smith is in a time machine it is at least worth watching… but by Doctor Who standards it was not good. I have already aired my issues with Moffat here before (except Sherlock- see below) but the whole idea was… not so good. Although this kid was great- perfect combo of Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. And Bill Bailey was fairly epic as well. 

Sherlock: It is BACK! Two episodes into series two and it is as wonderful as ever… completely laugh out loud and brilliant as always. My only complaint is that this Sunday the series ends again until next January… and possibly forever depending on the creators. If you have not watched it I do not excuse you and you must watch it immediately.

The Good Wife: It was back as well but not really in a climactic way… good solid episode. I am really glad they are going more Diane- centric this season because I want to be her one day. Except, you know, not a lawyer.

Revenge: Completely and utterly ridiculous and yet… oddly appealing. After a recommendation from a friend I watched the first half of this season while unpacking and reorganizing my room for second term (I had a few superfluous days essentially alone on campus). It has all of the selling points of season 1 of Desperate Housewives, in other words you hate all of the characters (except Nolan and Jack) and cannot believe anything they do and yet you are still entertained. I’m not saying I would sit down and watch it like Boardwalk or Sherlock but to have on in the background or for some family guilty pleasure… I can see the appeal. Plus everyone is pretty and dressed nicely all the time which I always find amusingly far- fetched.  

Books:

Mansfield Park: Yes, yes I know what you are going to say… ‘Danielle! Haven’t you read all of Jane Austen’s novels by now?’ The answer is no, I haven’t. I know the stories by heart but Austen’s writing is so wonderful and there are only six novels so I have been saving them. I only have Emma left now. But I enjoyed Mansfield much more than I initially thought I would. The world has been plagued with so many sub- par adaptations (the 1999 is interesting as a film but crap as an adaptation of the novel and the one with Billie Piper, although amusing, falls victim to time constraints) that everyone pretty much hates Fanny… and yet I now really really like her. She is quiet and kind and yet incredibly strong. She wants her family to love her yet when they want her to marry Crawford she refuses because she knows their characters cannot coexist happily. She sticks to her convictions despite immense pressure. Basically she exerts a woman’s only real right at the time (and one not even all of them had)… whether or not to marry. Most would have done it for the money and security or for the social standing but she gambled… and I respect that. So Fanny Price I hereby retract any negative statements I may have made about you. You rock.

The Hunger Games: yeah I am late to the table but I did enjoy them. Well written and interesting I read them in about 13 hours only taking a short lunch and dinner break. They were great examples of what young adult literature can be when it does not talk down or hide from readers. The first two I enjoyed immensely and will definitely re-read… the third I had some issues with (especially with character development and/or death) but still enjoyed. And I am most definitely looking forward to the movie.

Blogs:

I don’t really troll the internet for crazy blogs… most of my procrastination occurs on youtube, Netflix, or TIME.com, but this one is worth a look. An anonymous author has adopted the persona of Suri Cruise, the queen of Hollywood offspring to combine (as TIME wrote) ‘a Mean Girls attitude, celebrities and snarkiness’ into a thoroughly amusing tumblr the skewers pop- culture, celebrity obsessions, and being insanely wealthy. Although I do worry about these children when they go up and read this blog…

http://surisburnbook.tumblr.com/  

Well that is really all I have for you for the New Year… I hope your holidays were wonderful (although New Years was probably a disappointment- it always is- I mean Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin were just awkward) and that you are ready for 2012… I’m sure we’ll all be fine…

P.S. Watch Sherlock!