First, happy new year to everyone! Welcome to 2011! I wrote my first check of the new year today and of course I mistakenly wrote 2010... it's almost like tradition every year. I'll probably continue writing 2010 at least until mid March.
New Year's Eve is actually my least favorite holiday of the year. It's always so blown out of proportion therefore Michael and I have written all the parties off for the past several years and just gone out for a nice dinner. This year we went to Fish & Co (one of our newish favorite restaurants). They were serving a pri fixed menu with wine pairings. Dinner was delicious, wine was delicious, and the company was great! And I got to use my new camera that Michael gave me for Christmas!
For Christmas, we headed to upstate New York, where my parents moved this past January. They have a great condo about two blocks from downtown and the town reminds me of downtown Franklin. Very cute, some great restaurants, fun to just poke around. Here's a pick of my sister, Meredith, and me outside Santa's house...
Michael and I had a date night on Thursday night when we were up there and went to dinner @ a restaurant called Max London's. Then we headed for a nightcap at the Wine Bar before heading home.
Christmas Eve the fam went to dinner @ Gideon Putnam's, a old hotel in Saratoga Springs.
Meredith with the Nutcracker in the lobby
Dad, Rebecca, Mom, Meredith, me and Michael after dinner
Our Christmas was very low key, but this year we did something new. We incorporated an old Saratoga Springs tradition into our Christmas day - the Peppermint Pig.
In early Decembers long since past, while the quaint Victorian Village of Saratoga Springs slept quietly through a chilled and moonlit eve, legend suggests that a bit of holiday magic was in the making.
The first dusting of winter's snow gathered in darkened downtown doorways and twirled by night's wind seemed to dance and whirl like sugarplum fairies. Behind the oaken doors of gingerbread-sized candy shops that dotted Saratoga, timeless old candy makers, bathed in amber glow of crackling hearth and bubbling candy pots, labored on into the night creating... and continuing a holiday tradition known to all as the Peppermint Pig.
The Peppermint Pig as aptly it was named, was cast of hard candy similar in fashion to candy cane and festive pink in colour. And while the pig is honored in Victorian holiday tradition as a symbol of good health, happiness and prosperity, these special Peppermint Pigs unique to Saratoga Springs, New York, came to represent much more. They proudly stood for an old-fashioned Yuletide itself - a wonderful time when red-cheeked children laughed and rode old wooden sleds over fresh snow, when church bells pealed and fond recollections where shared by family and friends. After the holiday dinner, the Pig was passed amongst those gathered, each in turn giving the pouch a firm tap and sharing a tale of the past year's good fortune. The delicious broken peppermint and warm memories were enjoyed by all in hopes of prosperity for the coming year.
And so we all tapped the Peppermint Pig...
Until it looked like this...
Then, we each ate a bite as we toasted to a wonderful 2010, but an even better 2011! Happy New Year!
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