This Week: Christmas Traditions, Sickness, and Landmark Lasagna

Mikko is always excited to visit Santa!

As all my friends know, December is always my busiest time of year: finishing up the teaching semester while entertaining thousands of people on weekends, Wednesdays, and Fridays. My delightful friend Mikko the Scandinavian Elf is appearing for her 12th season (and my 14th) of St. Charles Christmas Traditions, and she is crazy and hyper as ever! Our cast and crew this year are truly amazing, and even though the work is physically exhausting, my heart feels full after spending a day with these beautiful people. If you're in the area, please come down and visit! (Check out the link here.) 

Other random stuff we've been up to:

Getting sick. I have gotten sick not once but twice lately, possibly due to the aforementioned interacting with thousands of people every weekend. I've been sipping bone broth, chugging cold-kicker remedy (apple cider vinegar infused for a month with garlic, onion, horseradish, cayenne, sage, rosemary, and turmeric), and getting lots of rest, which has helped… but my body is definitely telling me that I need to wash my hands more and build my immunity better.

Making this lasagna. I went on a clean-out-the-freezer kick and unearthed some nettle we'd foraged and tomato sauce we'd grown in 2018, and it was begging to be made into a lasagna. So I made foraged-nettle béchamel sauce, homegrown-tomato sauce, and from-scratch noodles, and baked it together. I was so ridiculously happy about all that this lasagna signified: I have learned so much in the past couple years! This was a very tasty way to celebrate my progress.

Christmas sale for my cards! A few of my card sets are on sale at my Single Candle Card Productions shop— please click on the link to check them out!  I was happy with the way these chickadees turned out, since they are one of my favorite birds.

Also, our housemate Eddie being cute: You're welcome.

~~~

This Week (Fresh Air and Kale. Always Kale.)

My life.

There is nothing like feeling better after being sick for several weeks. Although a slight sniffle remains, my energy is back! Zach and I celebrated on Monday by taking a proper walk— not just the 3.5-mile loop we walk every night in the dark, but a meandering journey down the Katy Trail, along cornfields, through neighborhoods to the library, back home for a quick quesadilla, then over to my parents’ house for a visit. We passed by cottonwoods still fluttering with brown leaves, watched crows picking through the plowed-under fields, and saw the sky fade from cornflower to rose with the sunset. The air was chilly but still, the sun warm on our faces, until night fell and we watched the moon rise in a thick crescent behind the silhouettes of bare trees. I felt like I had my life back.

My garden continues to surprise me: the kale and chard don’t seem fazed by the frosts we’ve had (although we’re getting a hard freeze this week, which might just do them in). I also ate some tomatoes yesterday that I had picked from my garden a couple weeks ago; they’ve been ripening on my windowsill. Who says you can’t eat a garden tomato in December? 

Also, I've been eating yummy stir-fry.

This week, it also suddenly hit me that it’s Christmastime. This might seem to odd to those who know I spend almost 20 hours a week screaming “Merry Christmas” at people, but it’s different, somehow. So far I’ve celebrated Christmas by thinking about making Christmas cards, thinking about Christmas shopping, and listening to the song “Christmas” from The Who’s rock opera Tommy (which is actually quite a depressing song, although I love it). So in the end, St. Charles Christmas Traditions is my main celebration, and that’s okay with me. (Although I’m hoping to go shopping today and break out Joan Baez’s Noel sometime this week.)

Hope you guys are having a wonderful holiday season! Merry Christmas!

~Lisa

This Week (Sickness, Festivities, and More Sickness)

Santa and two of his favorite Scandinavian elves, Mikko and Mikkel!

Don’t you just love cold and flu season? For nearly two weeks I battled a horrible ear infection, then felt great for two days to celebrate the opening of St. Charles Christmas Traditions, then caught a nasty stomach bug, followed by a mild head cold. Today I’m sniffling and a bit tired, but prefer it over writhing in pain or throwing up, so we’re on the right track!

Despite the constant barrage of illness, the past couple weeks haven’t been too bad. I’ve taken a lot of rest, watched a lot of TV while snuggling with Zach (who had a bad case of bronchitis that I magically avoided), and still managed to get outside every day or so for a brisk walk in the cold. The autumn leaves have finally turned, weeks later than usual, showering the pavement in a flurry of gold. 

And, as I mentioned, I was well enough to visit the first two days of Christmas Traditions, which was a lot of fun. If you haven’t been down to St. Charles for the festivities yet, I highly recommend it! I’ll be posting my “insider’s festival guide” soon with a few more details.

In the meantime, I hope that you all had a great Thanksgiving. Remember to slow down and enjoy the holiday season— I say to myself as much as to anyone else. Glædelig Jul!

~Lisa

This Week (Head Colds, Festivals, and Seed-Saving)

Plant propagation projects: succulents grown from single leaves, and a sweet potato that decided to sprout.
Also, tiny Tabasco bottles.

I’ve had a head cold for the past couple days— yay summer sickness! I’ve been dosing myself with saltwater gargling and garlic-heavy food, although I really wish I had a batch of Cold Kicker Remedy. That stuff will knock your head off, but it certainly helps shorten a cold (and keeps me from losing my voice)! My mom and I swear by it over the winter. The formula needs a few weeks to steep, so I’m hoping to buy the ingredients this week so I can have a batch ready by mid-October.

Mikkel and Mikko... coming soon!

Speaking of October... I can officially announce that I’m going to be participating in not one, but two St. Charles festivals this year! I’m returning for my 11th season of Christmas Traditions, but also participating in the brand-new Legends and Lanterns festival. If you come down to St. Charles the last two weekends in October, you might run into a cranky old Russian woman called Baba Yaga, who uncannily resembles me. I’m super excited!

Also, I can’t believe I held out for two paragraphs before babbling about the weather. September has seemed very eager to get a jump on fall, and I am not complaining! I hope some weekend backpacking excursions are in our future— this weather is so nice. In the meantime, I’ve been keeping up on my garden a bit better and not getting heatstroke when I mow the lawn, so that’s good.

My garden has also been enjoying the break in brutal weather. The highlight of my gardening week was seeing the peas that I planted last week start to sprout! This was especially exciting because I harvested the peas from my spring crop and dried them in a paper bag over the past couple months. I planted two to a spot because I wasn’t sure if they’d germinate, but almost all of them have sprouted! Since this is an heirloom variety, I can save the peas from every crop and plant them again. Eventually I’d love to do this with most of my crops, both to save money and for the cool factor. In the meantime, I’m eager to see how my first seed-saving venture turns out.

And last of all, I have finally admitted to myself that I am, indeed, writing a PCT memoir. In the past two weeks, I’ve been butchering the long version of the story into a breathless, slightly more introspective Clif notes draft. As usual, writing something shorter is much harder than writing something long— it’s been a challenge, and it’s been amazingly fun. Every day, I wake up excited to get to work on it. So far I’ve finished a horrible rough draft of the desert section, which means I’m right on track. At this point, I feel good about the project. After all, if I can walk 2,600 miles, I can probably write a book, right?

Hope everyone has a great Labor Day weekend!

~Lisa

The 12 Days of Christmas Traditions

I’m sitting at my desk, after a two-hour nap and a supper that consisted of four huge pieces of homemade pizza loaded with ground beef. My muscles aren’t too sore, but I feel completely wrecked. Yup, it’s the day after opening weekend of St. Charles Christmas Traditions!

While I frantically try to catch up on my editing for the week (and wash eight thousand dishes that accumulated over the weekend), you enjoy these 12 lovely “talking cards” that Christmas Traditions put out this year. The Scandinavian elves in particular (Day Two) are pretty awesome.

Check out the playlist here!

Where to Go: Las Posadas, St. Charles, Missouri

At 6pm on December 7th, on Main Street St. Charles, one of the most beautiful events of the Christmas season takes place. Main Street Church hosts an event that is inspired by an old Spanish tradition: Las Posadas. This is a stylized reenactment of the Nativity story, showing how Mary and Joseph were rejected at every inn until they found a stable to give birth to baby Jesus. Hundreds of visitors, carrying candles (and occasionally candle apps on their iPhones) witness the event in a beautiful, fire-lit procession.

The procession begins on the 1000 block of South Main, so if you wish to see the whole story, begin down there and follow Mary and Joseph north up the street. Mary will be riding a real donkey, and they are followed by all the rest of the Christmas Traditions characters, a choir, and a fife and drum corp. The latter two perform songs as the company walks along slowly, lit by the candlelight. At three or four different places on Main Street, Mary and Joseph stop at a storefront. Joseph asks if there’s any room in the inn, and is told there is not. When they reach the corner of First Capitol and Main, an innkeeper finally tells them there is an available stable, and the procession turns down First Capitol and processes into Frontier Park, where they gather at a life-sized creche on the Jaycee Stage. From there, the rest of the Nativity story plays out, complete with shepherds, sheep, angels, a real baby Jesus, and wise men, interspersed with readings and songs.

Somewhere during the ceremony, the mayor announces the grand lighting of the Christmas tree in Frontier Park. I’m not gonna lie— this upbeat interruption breaks the mood a little, but it doesn’t last long, and the scene becomes peaceful and reverent once more.

After the ceremony, guests are invited to the “Yule Log,” a giant bonfire in Frontier Park, to sing Christmas carols together. It’s a great way to finish the night.

If you are a Christian or just someone who appreciates the Nativity story, this event is a must-see for this Christmas season. I love that this Las Posadas has a real baby Jesus, who fusses and cries and needs to be bundled against the cold— it gives the event a startling and moving reality. My favorite part of the night is when the carolers sing, “O, Holy Night.” What happens when they get to the line “Fall on your knees…” is something that moves me to tears every year.

Here’s the official page for this event— and I hope you’ll take some time out of your schedule to come visit and remember, with hundreds of others, the child born in Bethlehem.

When: December 7th, 6:00pm

Where: South Main Street, St. Charles, Missouri

Tips: Arrive early and leave plenty of time to find parking (I recommend the parking lot near the Lewis and Clark Boathouse, or the City Hall parking garage). Bring a candle and a lighter (the wind often blows out candles). Please don’t worry about bringing a camera— the pictures won’t look good without a flash, and a flash ruins the mood. If you’re an emotional person (like me), don’t forget to pack a tissue!

~~~

An Insider's Guide to St. Charles Christmas Traditions

As a follow-up to yesterday’s blog, here are my best tips for getting the most out of St. Charles Christmas Traditions!

When to come: 

The festival hours are as follows:

Opening day, November 29th (Black Friday): 11-9

Every Saturday between then and Christmas: 11-9

Every Sunday between then and Christmas: 12-5

Every Wednesday and Friday between then and Christmas: 6:30pm-9

Christmas Eve: 11-2

The streets are usually packed! If you like the exciting hustle and bustle of crowds, come any time, but if you’d rather have a more laid-back experience, try coming on a Wednesday night or Saturday morning. One of the least-traveled times of day is about noon to one on Sundays. And anytime it rains or is very cold, you’ll find thinner crowds.

Where to park: 

Parking is free everywhere in St. Charles during festival hours, but it can be difficult to find a space. Don’t even bother trying to find parking on Main Street itself— head straight to the big parking lot near the Lewis and Clark Boathouse. Then walk the block or so to Main Street. Another sneaky option is to park at the City Hall Parking Garage behind the 200 block of North Main Street— it’s free at night and on weekends.

On a sunny Saturday afternoon, the
crowd may look like this. In the
morning,  there's hardly anyone!

What to do:

Where to begin? There’s so much to do! For instance…

Look for someone in a costume. There should be about two to a block between 900 South Main and 200 North Main. Approach them with a loud, “Merry Christmas!” and ask them what they’re all about. They may be surrounded by a swarm of children (or fangirls, or creepy old men/women, depending on the character), but everyone is free to interact with them. Ask the characters about their stories. You can learn a lot about history, legends, and Christmas celebrations around the world this way. Don’t be surprised if the characters ask you about how you celebrate Christmas, too!

Collect cards. This is by far the most popular event of the festival! Each character has a stack of his own collector cards— I believe it’s a set of 38 this year (with three bonus cards). There isn’t a prize for collecting all of them, except for a warm glow of satisfaction, but trying to get every one is an exciting game! Most of the characters won’t let you have the card without embarrassing yourself in some way, so be prepared to sing, dance, share your favorite thing about Christmas, or shout “Merry Christmas” in a different language. Sometimes it’s possible to collect all the cards in one day, but most of the time it will take a couple weekends. Once you collect all the cards, find the Town Crier and he will shout the glad tidings to everyone in earshot.

A character card

Request a song from the carolers. When you run across a caroling group, stop and ask them to sing your favorite Christmas song. Just remember, due to the historical nature of the festival, the carolers don’t know any songs after 1900— so no “Silver Bells” or “Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” I love to ask them to sing their more obscure songs, which may include carols you’ve never heard before.

Buy a flower and some roasted chestnuts. Two flower girls wander the streets, selling carnations (and sometimes roses) for a dollar. Buy one for your significant other, your friend, yourself, or a random stranger! Don’t miss the chestnut roasters, who stand beside an open fire. At two for a dollar, this is the cheapest snack you’ll find on Main Street. I love roasted chestnuts— they taste like a cross between a peanut and a baked potato. Plus, they make great hand-warmers on cold days!

Visit the Gingerbread Village. Main Street Church, at 116 North Main, hosts a yearly gingerbread house contest. This year’s theme is “Christmas Around the World,” and I can’t wait to see all the beautiful and creative entries!

See Santa! Yes, there are nine other Santas out on the street, but you just have to stop and visit the big guy: Victorian Santa. This year he’s hanging out at the Katy Trail Depot in Frontier Park. Most people will take their picture with him, but you can also just say hi and get his card. At the depot you’ll also find an impressive train display.

Don't forget the wonderful photo op!

Buy food. Main Street has some really yummy treats to offer, in addition to the roasted chestnuts. Check out the homemade fudge and candy at Riverside Sweets (400 block), buy the best chocolate chip cookies ever at Grandma’s Cookies (400 block), and try a gooey-buttercake milkshake or a real phosphate soda at Little O’s (200 block of North Main). For a charming lunch, try Garden Cafe ala Fleur (500 block), and for a nice American-style supper, check out Lewis and Clark’s Restaurant (300 block), or Trailhead Brewery (900 block). If you’re just looking for a cup of coffee, meander into the artsy and laid-back Picasso’s coffeeshop (corner of Jefferson and Main).

In addition, here are five events not to miss:

Candlelight processions: There is a great parade every Saturday and Sunday at 1:30 (followed by a hilarious skit), but quite frankly, I love the candlelight procession even more. On Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday nights at 8:45, all the characters walk down Main Street carrying lanterns. They end at Berthold Square (at the intersection of Main and First Capitol) and listen to the carolers sing songs. Sometimes they dance along, too!

Sunday closing ceremonies: Every Sunday at 4:30ish, all the characters gather at the gazebo on the 400 block of South Main. The carolers sing, the characters hand out last-minute cards, and you might be treated to a group merry-go-round dance with an elf, or a stirring performance of the Master of Revels’ “Jingle Bells” dance.

Marshmallow roast: On Friday nights at 7-8:30, your dream comes true… you get free marshmallows to roast over a blazing fire! This occurs in the backyard of the First State Capitol at 200 South Main. Sometimes characters will join you and tell you spooky (or not so spooky) stories.

Ambassadors of Harmony special appearance: On December 21st, the Ambassadors of Harmony (a huge and amazing all-men’s choir) will be joining the parade at 1:30 and sticking around until 3:00. Their singing is nothing short of breathtaking.

Las Posadas: Of all the special events during this season, this is my favorite. Main Street Church hosts a Spanish tradition, retelling the story of the birth of Jesus Christ. In fact, I began writing so much about it that I decided to write a whole blog post dedicated to it! Look for that tomorrow. In the meantime, here are the basics: show up anywhere on South Main Street at 6pm on December 7th, and bring a tissue.

Are you planning on coming to Christmas Traditions? What is your favorite part of the festival?

~~~

Where to Go: St. Charles Christmas Traditions Festival, Missouri

Cast photo from 2010— I need to find a newer one!

In my good ol’ hometown of historic St. Charles, Missouri, the longest-running Christmas festival in the United States has its home— "Christmas Traditions." On weekends and Wednesday nights from Black Friday to Christmas Eve, the brick-paved streets of St. Charles come to life with a cast of Christmas-related characters from all over the world— and visitors come from all over the world to experience this piece of Christmas magic. This is my eighth year being directly involved in the festival, although I’ve been visiting since I was a little kid. This is the biggest and best cast I can remember: 38 characters, four caroling groups, and a whole lot of awesome Christmas cheer.

Two mischievous Scandinavian elves
pose for a photo with a cute doggie.

The festival is a bit hard to explain to someone who’s never been there. You arrive on the street (after driving all over trying to find parking— tips about that in my follow-up blog) to see a fairly normal historic tourist district, decorated with real greenery and twinkling lights and bright red bows. On an ordinary day you could go here to buy candles, clothes, trinkets, homemade fudge, restaurant meals, knickknacks, shoes, or gooey buttercake milkshakes. But on these special days in Christmas, instead of just hurrying from shop to shop, you find yourself wanting to stay on the street, because of all the crazy costumed people running around.

You might find yourself getting into an argument with Jack Frost, learning a dance from the Sugarplum Fairy, listening for the magic bell that the Train Conductor holds, purchasing fresh-roasted chestnuts from the chestnut roasters, hearing the news from the town crier, witnessing a friendly shouting match between two elves, discussing the logistics of flight with the Reindeer Flight Instructor, buying a carnation from a flower girl, or getting a “Bah, humbug!” from grumpy old Mr. Scrooge. Eleven different gift-givers from around the world are there to tell you about Christmas in different countries: Victorian Santa, Civil War Santa, Frontier Santa, and World War II Santa for America; Saint Nicholas for northern and eastern Europe; Kris Kringle for Germany; Pere Noel for France; Julinese for Scandinavia; La Befana for Italy; Snegurochka for Russia; and Father Christmas for England. 

This festival is for people of all ages: children love to meet the characters, but so do adults. The excitement of the festival is almost tangible.

If you want to learn more, check out the online festival guide. Then make plans to head down— you’ll be glad you did!

(Tomorrow I’ll post another blog about this, noting some of my favorite events, shops, and Christmas Traditions experiences, as well as tips for visitors. I love this festival so much, and I want everyone to experience it!)