After Christmas, and an ice exhibit

It wasn't until after Christmas that I felt that my vacation started.  For the first two weeks of my vacation, I felt hunted, guilty.  There was school work I could be doing.  There was the uncertainty around Christmas.  I felt tense, like at any moment something terrible was going to happen.  It affected my sleep--I would get up once or twice every night.

But after Christmas, it was like I suddenly had permission to be happy.  Look, everyone around me was happy! Look everyone else was enjoying Christmas, with the presents, and the food.  I had seen my parents and my brother, and nothing bad happened.  I stopped second guessing myself for everything I did.  I went on holiday.

I'm happy to say that early the day after Christmas my husband took me to Target and Sam's Club, and we got some nice, I'll call them "scrapbook style" Christmas cards--cards that aren't flat, but have ribbons or cut-out letters pasted on top, for a more 3D effect. We're set for Christmas cards for the next two or three years!  (Or next year, we must include my husband's and my coworkers.)

We ate breakfast at a little place near our apartment.  They make the most delicious cheese grits.  They also have popovers, which I don't often see served anywhere.  I want to attempt popovers in the near future.  This means I'll finally have to buy a muffin pan, which I've managed to not buy in the nearly 4 years I've been here. (I've been converting muffin recipes to cake recipes instead, with varying degrees of success.)

And then, I started playing Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.  I had gotten for my birthday, and now, two weeks later, I was finally playing it. I played it like a fiend. In earlier weeks of my vacation, I'd get up, eat breakfast, do laundry or dishes, go to my in-laws place to do some work. Now, I was getting up, playing AC:B until 2 or 3 in the afternoon, realize, "Oh, I should eat", and snack on something, so that I would still be hungry for dinner. Being irresponsible felt great.

A couple of days before New Year's my husband and I went to one of the suburbs to see a carved ice exhibit. But before that, we visited the suburb's old downtown, and had a late lunch with my husband's family at a downtown restaurant (Tolbert's). After lunch, we walked around downtown. The area was heavily decorated for the holidays, with trees, lights, and wreaths. Holiday themed animatronics were set up in the central park, and across the street there was a giant Santa Claus next to the sign declaring the town to the Christmas capital of the state. The downtown also had a boulangerie. Being a bit of a Francophile, I had to stop in. I ordered a 'chocolate croissant' and an Orangina (not to be consumed at the same time). Turns out the chocolate croissant is a pain au chocolat. I find it funny that a store should have "Boulangerie" out front, and then, on the inside, call the pain au chocolat a 'chocolate croissant', especially since it's a bit of a misnomer, as the pastry isn't crescent shaped. It was still buttery and flaky and delicious, though.

(When I was younger, we'd make 'pain au chocolat' at home by putting pieces of chocolate inside a French baguette and warming it in the microwave until the chocolate melted. Much better than putting Nutella in the middle, if you ask me.)

The ice exhibit was in a gigantic hotel complex. It was much more popular than we anticipated: when we got to the ticket booth, we found out that they let people into the exhibit in groups, and the earliest available group was in two and a half hours. So, we wandered the hotel complex. It wasn't too bad, actually, as it was heavily decorated for the holidays--there were even games and a scavenger hunt set up for children to play. There was a life size gingerbread house, and plenty of 'trails' to walk around.

Finally, the ice exhibit: The theme was "A Charlie Brown Christmas."  First, we entered a holding area where we were welcomed and given precautions ("Please do not lick the ice!") There was a special tent set up to house the exhibit, which was kept at 9 degrees Fahrenheit. Everyone was issued a heavy blue coat. And then in we went.

All the major scenes in the movie were represented in ice.  I apologize for the low photo quality--the exhibit was darkened, except for lights showcasing the work.  Here is the link to the photo album: http://picasaweb.google.com/2by15blog/CharlieBrownChristmas?authkey=Gv1sRgCNTU48P13eunYQ&feat=directlink

I did want to point out one thing, the scene were Sally has written her letter to Santa:

They did actually write out her letter:

It was really fun. In the Auditorium scene, they had built a large ice slide (actually a structure with a set of 5 slides) where people could slide down (my husband and I took advantage of it). Also on the stairs up to the slide, along the wall (the stairs themselves were metal) people had licked pennies and stuck them to the side of the ice wall.

It took us about an hour to go through the exhibit. It was worth the wait, and we know next year to buy tickets ahead. I would definitely like to go again. (The theme changes every year.)