Hettie’s Reflections – Blog Posts

Cookie-Packing And Shipping

Although I managed to bake and decorate (with Igor’s help) enough cookies to send all my international packages and most domestic ones, I didn’t have enough time to pack them and print the labels. Knowing too well the speed with which they are (not) moving during the holiday season, I had no option other than to keep packing until done. Originally, I wanted to take Monday, December 9, off, but our remote manager was visiting Chicago that week, so I had to be in the office every day except for Friday (which I also took off). I ended up with several sleepless nights, but the mission was accomplished.

Unfortunately, none of the days which I took off to finish my Christmas stuff was spend on that – things kept piling up, and I kept doing everything except for Christmas (more on that to come).

After last year’s stolen packages disaster, I decided not to schedule a pickup anymore and brought all parcels to the post office in four separate trips, plus two Igor’s trips. The most frustrating part was (and still is) that most of the international packages didn’t leave Chicago yet, ten days after I deposited them at the post office. Overall, I did much better this year. I finally figured out how to create batches, and also, most of my recipients are in my USPS address book. So it not for the traffic jam at Chicago International Distribution Center, things would be perfect!

This year’s counts:

  • 1101 cookies
  • 29 parcels
  • 14 gifted in-person boxes
  • Gigantic box for the office
  • Still something left!

Several domestic packages made it to their recepients, but none of the international. Also, I received a package from my friends from Ireland:

I love this ornament! It’s already on my Christmas tree, and I need to take pictures of all my new ornaments!

The First Nutcracker

On Sunday, I took Nadia for her first Nutcracker, and the experience was exactly as I hoped it would be! Anna read the story to the girls, and they listened to the whole ballet while driving to Chicago, so Nadia was ready and excited. We had tickets in the second row and were exceptionally lucky because nobody was sitting in front of Nadia! It had to be a last-minute cancellation because the whole first row was taken when I purchased these tickets.

Everything was pure magic! Nadia was entirely mesmerized by the performance, and for a good reason! I can’t even describe how much I love Chicago’s Nutcracker, where the story unfolds in the barracks of the immigrant workers summoned to construct the World Columbia Exposition!

I saw this Nutcracker at least six times, probably more, and I can’t stop admiring it!

Classic Encounter At The CSO

Still filling in the blanks for last week :). On Thursday, my neighbor and I went to the CSO. The program featured four pieces related to the sea: Britten’s Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer, Tchaikovsky’s The Tempest, and Korngold’s Suite from The Sea Hawk. A real gift, each piece is a gem.

That was also the only time this season when we had tickets for a pre-concert Classic Encounter with Terry Hemmert.

As usual, it was a great discussion, this time with Clarinet John Yen, and they played the sciences from the Sea Hawk on the screen. A side note – as a part of the cost cuts, I guess, they stopped serving food and only served wine and cookies (and they gave you a drink token at the entrance). Just to know for the future to eat before going there 🙂

Together

Vlad is in Chicago this week, and since it does not happen very often, everybody adjusted their plans. Anna, John, and the girls arrived on Saturday morning, and we all met with Vlad for brunch at Revival in Andersonville.

It was great to be together – it was at least a year since last time. Also, it was great to be in Andersonville. I realized that I have almost never been there since Vlad has not worked there for years, and I missed its vibe and being able to walk and stop at different shops and meet people.

Christmas On My Balcony

Gingerbread Houses With ODS

I did Gingerbread houses with my kids when they were kids, many once or twice, and I thought I was not into it. But when a staff member in the West Town Shelter suggested that I do this with the youth in ODS, I felt I should give it a try. She suggested we do it together with another volunteer. That volunteer spent a lot of time asking me whether I knew she was a jew and had nothing to do with Gingerbread houses, and I thought this whole thing was not going to work.

I purchased four houses, and I thought that there would be at max one or two residents interested and that we would end up doing houses by ourselves, but in fact, I regretted I only got four – we could use at least six if not eight, and the residents’ creativity and patience were astonishing.

The City Of Chicago 111th Annual Christmas Tree

Monday was the only day I could take my mom to see the Christkindle Market and thr city Christmas Tree, so we went despite my three sleepless nights before that. I will do it again with the gitrls in a couple of days, but most likely during the day, so I am glad we went!

Then we went to see the tree. I like it better when it is green-red-yellow than when it is white-clue.

We passed the skating rink – I didn’t get a chance to skate in the dark this season, so this is also on my list :). And even if I just went skating, I always want to go again when I see the rink! Same as when I see people biking 🙂

Tree Decorating

Since I have the pictures my mom took while Igor and I were decorating, here they are. I really liked my tree this year. After some hesitation, I ordered from Tree Santa again, and I am much happier this year. The tree is really fresh, and it is better shped than the last year’s one – not so chubby 🙂

Cookie-Making

All the cookies I baked on Friday afternoon and on Saturday:

Continue reading “Cookie-Making” →

I Think I Found The Limit

… of how much I can squeeze in one unit of time. Namely, I can’t do something for what I need five days into two and a half days.

That’s what was going on. I confirmed with my friend Lena, who comes every year in December to help me with cookies that she is coming for Dec 6-8, and then I launched my usual cookie advertisement. Two weeks later, Lena told me she wouldn’t be able to make it. It was 100% not her fault; she had an unexpected personal situation, but the fact was that I was on my own. And also, although at least five people told me they would come and help decorate, nobody showed up. On top of it, I had only one weekend instead of two due to the late Thanksgiving, and Vlad going to be in town on the second weekend.

At least I was smart enough to take Friday off (I planned it anyway), but it didn’t help much. Before I had a chance to get to baking:

  • Unpacked and shelved Amazon Fresh deliver
  • Had a call – somebody wanted to connect with me professionally, and that was the first option available, 45 min
  • A visit from a social worker from mom’s insurance (1.5 hours, including walking)
  • going through my baking supplies, finding mice dropping, cleaning the whole pantry, throwing away damaged goods
  • another professional call was scheduled for Friday for the same reason: “I am at home anyway.”
  • Going to the Night Ministry office to drop the presents (the last items I ordered arrived on Thursday, and I couldn’t fit this trip into any other day before the deadline) – two hours

That way, I started baking at 3-30 PM and baked until pretty late. My phone was showing a very low battery, but since I knew I would plug it in for the night, I thought it was not a big deal for it to run out of power. It was already 11-30 PM, and suddenly, the screen went black. I plugged the phone in and waited, but nothing happened, and no buttons could wake it up. I tried three different plugs and waited, and it didn’t even show the battery picture. Finally, i went to bed and left it plugged, and then I woke up at 3-30 AM and saw that the screen was still dead.

To be continued:)