For many years, I’ve been saying that the holidays get too busy for us, as they do for many, which tends to make them stressful. Last Christmas was typical in that regard. Admittedly, a significant portion of this commotion was self-inflicted between ambitious gift making and outdoor mania. That brings me to the unusual aspects of our holidays, those caused by uncommon footwear. In mid-September, I was booted due to a fractured foot. When Christmas hit, I wasn’t wearing the boot anymore, but I also wasn’t able to do much because of a hefty number of remaining activity restrictions. That all changed during the break… and then quickly changed back. Here’s a bunch of bits about our Christmas and how a boot, rather than stockings, dictated its outlooks and outcomes.

Before I get carried away on the subject of foot attire, let’s discuss gift making. Both my family and Jason’s drew names for Christmas way too late last year. Then, I decided to take on three projects for my recipient, my mom. One project was a scrapbook, another a custom slideshow, and the last a feast of nostalgic foods I’d never attempted to cook before. All these handmade items had to do with Scandinavia, either our recent trip to Denmark or family memories of Christmas dinners with a close Norwegian friend from decades before. Tasty and tender, that’s what I’m all about.

Krumkake, a Norwegian waffle cookie that is often filled with flavored whipped cream, was culinary experiment number one. Krumkake was a staple at our Norwegian Christmas feasts when I was a teenager. It requires a special rotating griddle to make. Thus, I was intimidated. However, it was easier to successfully krum the kakes than expected. It only took Jason and me roughly an hour and a half to make about two dozen. Unfortunately, that hour and a half was from 1:00 to 2:30 in the morning.

Christmas rice pudding with cherry sauce, a Danish holiday special, was another dish we aimed to make for my mom. Some of the aspects of this recipe are unusual. Yet, our first trial attempt turned out perfect, to our surprise. However, when we made it on Christmas Eve, this time for my family, the result was less ideal. It didn’t set up properly and remained runny. After all that work, we didn’t want to serve something subpar. As we didn’t have the time or ingredients to make another batch, we scrapped the pudding. Frowny face emoji!

That wasn’t the only cooking concentrated around our Christmas. Between krumkake, rice pudding, Amish breakfast casserole, bean with bacon soup, and cheddar-chive biscuits, most of our Christmas was spent in the kitchen, excluding a six-hour break to visit with my family. Eating it all was pretty nice though.

Somehow, we were ahead on the wrapping front and didn’t need to do much of that last-minute standard on Christmas Eve. Besides cooking, we just had to complete an activity charades video for our nieces and nephews illustrating the outing options they could pick between for their Christmas present.

The wrapping may have been under control, but with all projects considered, we didn’t get a chance to open our presents to each other until a few minutes before Christmas was over, as usual. My gifts from Jason were treasure themed. They included a pirate coin from 1659, a cosplay dagger and cutlass, and an enigmatic package from the Mysterious Package Company.

The whirlwind of thoughtful gift and food creation left me frazzled and exhausted, but some of our seasonal endeavors were more relaxing. We invited my sister’s family to make gingerbread houses with us a few days before Christmas. On Christmas Eve, we took a brief respite to play Uno with penalties with that same sister’s crew. During our holiday break, we spent an afternoon with Jason’s grandma putting a seasonal puzzle together and eating British chocolate. Puzzles were a favorite of hers, and she passed away just months later. Some endeavors deserve our time even when time is what we have the least to offer.

A couple days after Christmas, we took a nephew to the zoo. He had so much fun he cried for 20 minutes when we put him in the car to come home and started wailing again when we reached his street. Apparently, he continued to bawl for an hour and a half after we dropped him off. Hopefully, next time less tears will be involved.

The family togetherness did eventually get halted by two things: 1. Another nephew gave a load of people in my family the flu, so some missed the Christmas day gathering and were unavailable for most of Christmas break. 2. I got doctor approval to commence snowboarding a few days after Christmas. Jason and I wasted no time and were headed to Solitude within 45 minutes of that authorization.

Like an exuberant snowball hurtling down the mountain, we picked up more and more slope momentum. The two of us went snowshoeing the next day at Sundance. We crunched through branches of trees stretched low with a hefty burden of powder. It was enchanting! Though the hillsides were a fluffy delight, we only saw a few groups on the trail. It was peaceful and healing, especially after the months of boot-driven sedentariness. The next day, we went snowboarding again at Snowbasin. I know that’s a heap of mountain resorts in a short period, but I was way too excited about exchanging my walking boot for other types of boots to waste another second anywhere but outside.

And then, at the last minute, we got a place at Solitude for New Year’s Eve. Since many in my family were currently sick with the flu, spending the evening eating Brussels sprouts at the Honeycomb Grill and playing Seven Wonders Duel in a condo wasn’t much of a sacrifice. The 18 inches in 24 hours topping the multiple feet that had collected over consecutive stormy days made it even less so.

We boarded from 9:30 to 4:00 with only a 45-minute snack intermission; we didn’t want to stop for lunch. Our nephew joined us in the afternoon via the bus. That’s when my knee problem started. What knee problem you ask? Oh, you know, having your knee so swollen you can barely walk up or down the stairs, etc. That boot-induced issue, which turned out to be aggravation in my lateral meniscus, snatched exercise away shortly after its brief return. As I try to limit my posts to less than 20,000 words, the details of that misbehaving knob will be covered at some later point.

Our Christmas break passed in a flash, a flash packed with family, outdoor, and culinary enterprises. It was stressful, memorable, delicious, beautiful, hectic, and exhilarating. In a lot of ways, it was just what holidays should be… and then there was the boot.