Looking Back at 2015

Pulled over on a country Texas road to snap this photo after dropping off my teen for weekend camping

2015 was a year for rediscovering the USA. I barely used my passport. The one time I whipped it out returning to Florida from our Bahamas cruise, I didn't even technically need it as a driver's license would have sufficed. Still, with a nation as vast and varied as America, we learned that you don't necessarily have to go abroad to find adventure.

I didn't plan it on purpose, but we seemed to visit the typical places on a "Where to Take Your Kids in the USA Before They Grow Up" list. Perhaps it's because we've been focusing on other parts of the world for so long, and I'm beginning to feel a sense of urgency to squeeze it all in now that my eldest child turned 16 years old.

Totally Random Photos

My father-in-law has been asking for my business cards so that he can hand them out to his friends. I didn't actually have any cards and had to get some printed. Taking inspiration from my photographer cousin whose business cards are a mini portfolio of his work, I ordered cards from MOO with an assortment of 50 different images from my blog.  That got me "flipping" through my old photos and doing a lot of reminiscing over the fun worldwide travels and slow exploration of Penang, Malaysia that I've enjoyed over the last few years.

For this post, I must give credit for the idea to Nancy over at Budget Travelers Sandbox. Her post this week for her Travel Photo Thursday linkup is to randomly open four of her Flickr travel photo albums and share the seventh photo from each album. I'm being a total copycat and doing the same with my Malaysia albums so that I don't overwhelm you with all 50 of the photos from my stack of business cards.

Christmas Ornaments from Around the World

A star from Bethlehem

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas at my house. When my kids were younger, they often had the school assignment of telling the class about a holiday tradition from their heritage. While I forget what their reports covered, I clearly remember one classmate's presentation on Tio Nadal, the pooping log or cagatió, from Catalan, Spain. At first, I thought the kid was completely making it up, but an internet search confirmed his info. The hollow log is decorated with a face, traditional Catalonian hat and a blanket. In the days leading up to Christmas, the kids give Tio Nadal food offerings like fruit and nuts which he mysteriously eats when no one is looking. According to Donquijote.org,

"On Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, according to traditions of each family, the children will approach the cagatió while singing: 

'Poop log, poop turron, if you don't poop well, I'll hit you with a stick' 

There are many variations to the song depending on each family and their traditions. After each song, the kids hit the cagatió with a stick to make it poop. After their parents quickly distract the children, a small present, normally candies, turron (Spanish nougat) or wafers (called neules en Catalonia), appears underneath the blanket. Nowadays, more and more often, different presents are being incorporated into the cagatió pooping log tradition. 

The process is repeated until the log “poops” a head of garlic, an onion, an egg, or any other symbolic item that represents the end of the fun until next year."

It's so fascinating how different places celebrate the same holiday. For the record, Krampus can stay far, far away from me. My family doesn't have an Elf on a Shelf, but I kind of want Tio Nadal.

Saks Fifth Avenue's Enchanting Holiday Windows

So much of my Christmas shopping is done sitting at my computer and clicking away. What's the point in going to the store and fighting the crowds? As I strolled down New York City's Fifth Avenue during last year's holiday season, I was struck by how the store windows enchanted me, calling me to pause and take a look. Accustomed to suburban mall shops like The Gap displaying the standard photo of ridiculously photogenic people wearing the brand, these New York department stores seemed like an entirely different league to me. Clever tableaux, striking visuals and 3D projections extending up the entire height of the building transformed the windows into an artform, not just an advertisement for the store.

Snow White drawn to the apple carts and bright lights of Broadway.

Last year, Saks Fifth Avenue went back to its roots and paid homage to the Roaring Twenties, the decade the store got its start, and to the city where it all began. Fairy tales were given an Art Deco in the Big Apple twist. I'm not sure if anything in the windows were actually sold inside the store, but the images were enough to keep me from walking blithely past without a glance. That must certainly be the first step in attracting customers.

The Castle in Central Park

New York's iconic Central Park. For some people, it's an oasis of verdant open space in the midst of a concrete jungle. For others, it's a cesspool rife with muggings, rapes and murders. When I first visited New York City as a teenager, my parents leaned towards the cesspool side of the opinion spectrum. In their defense, an internet search of "Central Park murders" does come up with a variety of hits. So with my face pressed to the window, we drove through Central Park but never emerged from the safety of our car. Years later, I returned to New York, and finally, I seized the opportunity to explore the park on my own terms.

Watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Even before we moved back to the USA from Malaysia, I realized that one thing I would really miss about expat life was the abundance of travel. So, I decided to be proactive and mentally started planning a trip long before we packed our bags. What better way to reintroduce the kids to American life than to take them to New York City? It's a crossroads of American ethnic groups with a skyline of iconic, internationally recognized landmarks.

Snoopy and Woodstock have had the honor of floating in 38 Macy's Thanksgiving Day parades — 
more than any other balloon

I thought the week-long Thankgiving school break would be the perfect time, but the kids were adamant that after three years of missing the extended family for the big Thanksgiving meal, they weren't going to skip it again, no matter how fantastic the trip. "Besides," my teen asked, "how will we watch the Macy's Parade?" Then, his eyes lit up as he realized that we'd be in the very city where the parade takes place.

Someday, I will visit Budapest

Parliament as seen from across the Danube
(Photo by my hubby)

I scrolled through the photos on my phone trying to find something for a little Weekend Travel Inspiration. Nothing. Nada. Naught. Instead, my life and my photo feed has been filled with elaborate, homemade Halloween costumes, school theatre and musical performances, and Girl Scout ceremonies. It's a good life. It's a full life. But I no longer regularly fly off to foreign countries as I did when I was an expat. So, I turned to hubby's phone.