MoseleyWorld

UPDATE: Amazon has a great selection of Advent Calendars , including the Playmobil Advent Calendar Xmas in Forest and the Kurt Adler Talking Light-Activated Wooden Nativity Advent Calendar .

Well, Halloween is over, so it must be time for Christmas. Or at least one would think if you visit any store.

As a kid, I have vague memories of counting down the days to Christmas with the assistance of an Advent calendar. Honestly, I only remember the process, but the details about this countdown, other than it taking WAY TOO LONG for Christmas to arrive are a bit fuzzy.

Since Saxon is two this year, I figured it’s about time to start torturing her create some anticipation of the Christmas holiday in her little mind.

So, I went to Amazon to search for "advent calendar" and Holy Nativity! hundreds of results! Advent Calendars in every shape, form and fashion. From the Lego City 2008 Advent Calendar to Creepy Doll Christmas Countdown Advent Calendar to the Little German Card-Like one.

Pottery Barn tells you to put a "treat, message or tiny gift" in each of the "25 meticulously designed pockets" of their Telluride Advent Calendar (pictured above). Uh-huh, right. And how high will I have to hang this sucker to keep a young little elf from raiding in every time I turn my back.

And when I’m in the room, it will be a non-stop barrage of "up Daddy, up Daddy" to which I would respond "where Saxon, where?" And in reply, my little cutie would point and say, with a hint of a Southern accent, "Right there. Look, Daddy. Right there."

Any suggestions or ideas to help start a MoseleyWorld Christmas countdown tradition are appreciated in advance!

Carey and I went to Italy last month to enjoy a big boy & girl vacation - probably the last in a while considering the scheduled arrival of Moseley Girl #2 in August.

Traveling to Italy, we definitely took the scenic route. DFW to Wichita (overnight layover to drop Saxon off for “Camp Patti” at Mimi & Pops), Wichita to Chicago (6 hr layover), Chicago to Frankfurt (9 hr flight), Frankfurt to Bologna (4 hr layover) - and upon arriving in Bologna, we were still a 2 hour drive from our final destination.

However, one highlight of the marathon travel was flying to Europe in American Airlines “next generation” business class with their newly-redesigned, lie-flat seats. Champagne before take-off. In-flight amenities bag (eyemask, socks, shoe bag, toothbrush, lotion, etc). Pillows & duvets. A menu detailing wine and meal choices - with actually good meals…Oh and make mine a hot fudge sundae with nuts - from the ice cream sundae cart - and, oh sure, a little Bailey’s poured over the top never hurt anyone! Gotta love those AAdvantage miles.

high-tech seat controls & in-flight amenity bag

Were it not for Nancy, the oh-so-crabby flight attendant (and by crabby, I mean snapping her fingers in front of Carey’s face saying, “I’m not done with you yet” when asking Carey’s menu selections ) it would have been the perfect flight. But we did experience AA at its finest on the return non-stop Frankfurt to DFW flight!

So, we finally made it to Bologna, where we stayed at the modern Una Hotel. Great location, great staff. Quiet room. Very quiet. We slept until 11:00 am which was something like - oh who knows what time it was in the US and who cares - we’re in Italy!

Bologna is a very old city (founded by Etruscans in 534 BC) often overlooked by tourists. The city may be old but the people are young. 100,000 students attend the oldest university in the world (founded in 1088) Alma Mater Studiorium, aka the University of Bologna.

me at the Una Hotel cantina

Bologna is well known for its architecture, especially the arcades or porticoes - of which there are over 38 km of in the city center.

Palace of King Enzo - built in 1245. Poor King Enzo, from Sicily, was imprisoned here for 20 years.

Statue of Neptune in Piazza Nettuno (1564)

Bologna’s tribute to a mother’s commitment to breastfeeding.

Bologna is very well known as one of the main epicurean centers of Italy. In fact, Bologna is also known as la grassa or “the fat.” We had a fantastic lunch at Bologna’s equivalent of a super-sized Italian section of Central Market (too bad nothing close exists here!). After lunch, we loaded up with some “typical” provisions: prosciutto, wild boar salami, cheese, fresh, house made tortellini and gnocchi al porcini (potato pasta with porcini mushrooms).

Our last stop in Bologna was for gelato at Gelateria Gianni. We have to thank Matt who wrote an article at Slow Travel and ranked Gianni the best Gelateria. Not only was it the best in Bologna - but best we had in Italy.

the menu of gelato choices. decisions, decisions!

yummy.

Next post: on to Tuscany.

Happy New Year! This year, we hosted the Moseley Family Christmas at our house. My Mom & Dad came from East Texas and my sister, Meredith and her husband, Jamie, flew in from NYC.

Carey did a great job carefully planning the meals and schlepping to the grocery store(s) multiple times to prepare for the holiday. I was in charge of the turkey, so I opted for deep-frying a bird, cajun style. Jamie was quite interested at the turkey frying. I suspect the main reason he took so many pictures of the frying was so he could show all his Yankee friends in New York and say, “You won’t believe how my redneck relatives cook a turkey - in a damn fryer!” But who could blame him?

After injecting the turkey full of cajun spices, we took it outside, way outside, to drop it in a hot bath of cottonseed oil.

Carefully following the directions resulted in: (a) no trips to the Baylor ER to deal with those nasty little 3rd degree burns (b) no scorched, well, no scorched anything and (c) a darn good turkey.

It was such a nice day, and I was having so much fun manning the deep-fryer, I dispatched a messenger to the kitchen to ask a simple question: What else can we fry? When Saxon and I went to the State Fair of Texas this year, we had the mandatory Fletcher’s Corny Dog. The heavenly concoction entered Saxon’s little mouth and she immediately made the sign for “more” and did it again and again while munching on the corn dog. Instead of trying out the deep-fried Oreo cookies, deep-fried twinkies, deep-fried PBJ sandwich, deep-fried pork ribs, deep-fried cornbread dressing or the fried Coke, we opted for…another Fletcher’s Corny Dog.

Neither the executive chef nor any of the kitchen crew encouraged much creativity, so we did not discover the next-new-deep-fried thing that would make us zillionaires at the 2008 State Fair, so they sent out onions. Here’s my dad giving Saxon a first taste of onion rings. Good, but not nearly as good as those darn corny dogs!

Fried turkey by day, conquering the world by night.

So, a belated Merry Christmas to all of you.

One of the things I’ve always enjoyed is hearing my dad tell stories. For years, we’ve encouraged him to put some of them down on paper. Click “continue reading” below to read a funny (and sentimental) story he wrote a few years ago and shared with family.

Continue Reading »

Will I have my turkey deep-fried cajun style, smoked, roasted? Cornbread dressing or oyster stuffing? Mashed or sweet potatoes, or both? Green bean casserole with dried onions on top or barley (oh, thank you, but neither, I’m full.). With so many decisions to make, and I have not even mentioned all the choices it takes to get to your Thanksgiving destination (drive or fly, park at terminal or off-site) or planning your holiday shopping strategy , it’s no wonder I sometimes forget the real purpose of Thanksgiving.

For four hundred years (the first noted Thanksgiving services were held in Virginia as early as 1607), Americans have gathered late in the year to give thanks. To give thanks to God for their blessings. Wow. The pilgrims, many of whose family members died of starvation or sickness, found lots of things to be thankful for, even though they didn’t have Flat Screen TV’s, Blackberry’s or even the internet (gasp!).

Shortly before he delivered his 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation, Abraham Lincoln said, to a friend while walking amongst the graves at Gettysburg, “When I left Springfield [to assume the Presidency] I asked the people to pray for me. I was not a Christian. When I buried my son, the severest trial of my life, I was not a Christian. But when I went to Gettysburg and saw the graves of thousands of our soldiers, I then and there consecrated myself to Christ.”

So, whether you’re stuck in a terminal in DFW or SUX (Sioux City), stuffing yourself with stuffing or watching football (go Cowboys!), try to take a moment to remember why we celebrate Thanksgiving and give a shout-out to God and tell him Thanks.

I often take for granted some of the very basic gifts for which I should be thankful. Here are a few:

Thank You for a healthy child who is now 15 months old.

Thank You for my hearing, so I can enjoy hearing Saxon’s infectious laugh.

Thank You for my vision, which allows me to see the wonderful expressions on Saxon’s face when she learns or discovers uncharted ground.

Thank You for supportive family & friends.

Thank You for giving us the luxury to live in a safe place where Saxon can play in the front yard pointing at airplanes high in the sky.

Thank You for Saxon’s recent desire to give Dada kisses on a frequent basis.

Thank You so very much for putting Carey, the greatest wife + mom ever, in my life.

For what are YOU most thankful? Leave or comment or just think…and thank.

P. S. Shopping on “Cyber Monday” (the biggest online shopping day of the year)? You can get just about anything at Amazon, Bestselling Books, iPods, DVD Box Sets, or even the wireless, revolutionary reading device, the Kindle EBook. Do us a favor, if you buy ANYTHING at Amazon, click one of these links first to take you to Amazon. Nope, you don’t have to buy the linked products, just shop, shop shop as you would normally do (it’s magic) and we’ll get a tiny (very tiny) cut that will help pay for the hosting of MoseleyWorld. Check out Amazon Prime - free 2nd day air delivery of 1000s of products for one low annual membership.

Halloween Greetings to you! Saxon seems quite relieved that we have not yet dropped her into a cold, hollowed-out pumpkin for a photo op this year (see last year’s pumpkin paparazzi shot here). We had lots of ideas & thoughts for costumes. Here are some of the ones that didn’t make the cut.

New York Socialite Heiress - complete with LV bag, cell phone, laptop and swank NYC address.

Trained seal.

Another circus theme: lion tamer

Since Saxon was a pea pod last year, we decided to continue the organic theme with a lady bug costume. Speaking of organic, take a look at this great article “Five Easy Ways to Go Organic.” If you promise to look, I’ll spare you my annual Halloween rant about trick or treaters who come dressed as 16 or 17 year old teenagers (yep, no costume at all) begging for candy.