Christmas Morning 2008: the first Yankee/Okie Christmas

Christmas Morning: 2008

So, this is Christmas. My first Christmas outside of PA. My first Christmas away from my family. My first Christmas married to an Okie. My first Christmas as a Yankee in a Strange Land.

Okie and I started out in the wee hours of Christmas at the midnight Mass held at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Sand Springs. Our pastor, and only priest in the parish, is a wonderful man. Father Marty Morgan is a native of the Scranton area and, as such, is a fellow Yankee :) Mass was wonderful and not crowded. A very good way to start our Christmas.

With no alarms clock to set and no where to be til 6pm, we could have slept in as late as we wanted. That ended up being 9am. God, we're old.

Figuring out new traditions is kind of a strange thing. Fortunately our past family traditions blended well this Christmas.

After opening everything in our stocking including an outdoor Phillies flag which will go up outside our house on February 14th when pitchers and catchers report to spring training!




After relieving my experience watching the Phillies win the World Series in the cold, we set out to make our first Christmas breakfast which turned out OUTSTANDING!!!!



After eating way too much, we opened our remaining gifts. I'm gonna give the Okie credit on this one, he did a fabulous job! I got a Nike Plus running system which allows me to use my iPod to help me track my running mileage so I can train for my half marathon in April :) He also got me two books including Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain, my favorite TV host :)



Okie in return got a book called What it Means to be a Sooner which I think will be used as bedtime tales for any future Yankee/Okies. He also got a beverage shaker, Bloody Mary mix, and a bottle of Absolut Vodka & Madden '09 for the Wii. The Yankee is a good Mrs Claus.

After a game of Cowboys vs Giants on the Wii, we channeled our inner Bourdain and had Bloody Marys while watching White Christmas :)

Even Princess Fluffy Butt had her moment of Christmas joy and almost cuteness when she hid under the wrapping paper.....that was until she ambushed Okies barefeet and got sprayed with the water bottle.



All in all it was a good Christmas morning. I miss my family back home in Glenside like crazy this morning but, I got to talk to them twice before noon and wll see them in a couple days when we fly home on the 30th :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Quick Note: In search of French Fried Onions

The instructions for Christmas dinner were:

Dustin, you are responsible for the green bean casserole.
Katie, you are responsible for dessert.

Katie headed out on yesterday, the Eve of Christmas Eve and got all that was necessary to make her chocolate pudding pie w/ caramel bits, topped with Cool Whip and chocolate chips. YUMMY!

Dustin headed out today for the ingredients necessary for green bean casserole.

Greens beans....check
Cream of mushroom soup....check
French Fried Onions.......

French Fried Onions......

6 stores and a Sonic Cranberry Limeade later, it was decided the green casserole will be made without the french fried onions because every grocery store, dollar store, walmart and kmart in Sand Springs, OK is sold out.

Lesson I learned about Okies today:

Okies love green bean casserole with french fried onions.

Twas the day before an Okie Christmas

Christmas Eve 2008.

While I'm sitting here waiting for hubby to get home from work so we can head out to get the "one last gift" and food, liquor, and wine for tomorrow, I thought I'd give you a little tour of the Yankee/Okie home at Christmas :)

The house we are currently renting is a cute little craftsman style house pretty common in this area since alot of these homes were built in the 1920's & 30's. The problem we ran into when trying to decorate the outside is that there are no exterior outlets so we couldn't hang lights. But we made do with some garland, bows, and glittery snowflakes. Oh, and apparently we kept the hay bale and scarecrows from the fall because I honestly forgot they were there til I looked at the picture.



Speaking of the snowflakes.....they have become a weathervane of sorts for me. They hang from the eaves that over-hang the porch (a signature of the craftsman style house). Anyway, in the wind, those poor things get blown every which way but, we have not lost one yet! We had wind gusts to 45mph one day and those little buggers hung tight :) Although the one keeps getting wrapped up in the garland.





Inside, we have a non-fuctioning fireplace in the living room. It was once a real fireplace turned into a gas fireplace turned into a sealed-off decorative mantle.

We have a real tree but I forget what kind we bought. It was the least expensive kind, I can tell you that much because trees are expensive! We did make a very wise decision when we decorated the tree: shatter proof ornaments! However, we've had one two part problem with the tree.

First, we put it close to a heat vent because we insisted on having its pretty red, green, and white lights visible from the street. We have two heating vents in the living, both are beneath the windows. So, the tree requires daily watering. Which leads me to problem number two. The cat (Princess Fluffy Butt), likes to drink the pine tree water rather than the purified water in her bowl. So, no matter how much we water the tree we have a potential timber fire in our living room. You live and learn.



Speaking of Princess Fluffy Butt, my arch-rival and nemesis (who I will defeat because despite what she may think, I am higher on the food chain), we decorated her too. It might explain why she has been ambushing our feet from her secret lair under the dining room table which is in the direct path from the living room to the kitchen.



Well, I hope you enjoyed the little tour of casa de Yankee. Have a wonderful, safe, happy Christmas Eve!

Field Trip: The Gilcrease Museum

Today was a beautiful sunny day. A day that when you look out the window you think "Wow. It is a beautiful sunny day". Til you turn on the Weather Channel and the temperature reads 15.

Dustin and I had been looking for an afternoon to see the Ansel Adams: A Legacy exhibit at the Gilcrease Museum and today provided the perfect opportunity.

http://www.gilcrease.org

The Gilcrease is a museum of specializing in Native American art and the history of the America West. It's located 15 minutes from our house so there really is no excuse why we shouldn't spend alot of time there. I can't wait til the spring when the museum gardens are in full bloom!

http://www.gilcrease.org/gardens.aspx)

There are actually two exhibits there right now, both ending in January.

We first went to the 101 Ranch: The Real Wild West exhibit. From what I learned today, the 101 Ranch was a giant Wild West circus set up in Ponca City, OK. The exhibit was full of photos taken of the different performers and their specialities. It was a really fun exhibit :)

Ansel Adams: A Legacy is a traveling exhibit of 138 prints by Ansel Adams. It was an incredibly well put together exhibit. I also loved how they included quotes by Ansel Adams on the wall that helped you kind of understand of what he was experiencing when the photos were taken whether it was in San Fran or Yosemites or Sierra Nevadas. I am so happy that we were able to see this exhibit before it is over on Jan 4th.

The musuem has original fine art works by Thomas Moran (he does alot of landscape paintings) and Frederic Remington (who did some unbelievable bronzes). In addition, they have extensive collection of the original Native American textiles.

So that was our little bit of culture for December.

Tulsa actually has a number of small museums & public gardens. I'll have to blog about the Philbrook museum come springtime when we go back there to explore the gardens. I was there in the summer when it was 106 degrees out and would like to get back so I can enjoy walking around. Then there's also the Tulsa Rose Garden which I am super excited about!

Looking forward to going back to the Gilcrease and making some garden field trip bloggings in the springtime :D

Christmas Shopping - King of Prussia, Oklahoma

Last Friday before Christmas, 2pm......

I thought I would head out Christmas shopping by myself since it's hard to shop for Dustin when he's there and since he's not a fan of shopping. Dustin works late on Fridays so I like to go on adventures so I don't get too bored or lonely.

I went online, wrote down the addresses of all the stores I wanted to go to, mapped out my best route and then me, the shopping list, the Saturn and TomTom headed out on our shopping adventure.

I lived in King of Prussia for a year and worked at the mall for 2 years in Bath-n-Body works so I'm used to Christmas crowds. They typically don't even phase me because it is just what is expected when you live and work in a retail mecca. There were days that is was actually alot of fun and invigorating believe it or not.

Sometimes I forget that Tulsa is a city of 300,000 people. It's pretty easy to do because it's a very spread out suburban metro area, rush hour is typically not too bad and downtown is a pretty quiet place in the evenings.

I am certain that all 300,000 Tulsans descended on the Promenade Mall and then followed me to 71st and Memorial yesterday.

All of sudden, I found myself completely transported back to King of Prussia! Where the hell did all these people come from??????

As the afternoon went on & 2 non-fat lattes later, I came to a very important realization....Christmas shopping makes people drive crazy no matter where you live. All of sudden, every Tulsan began to drive like they were a Yankee!

SUVs trying to jam themselves into spaces they had no business being in.

I'm pretty sure that pedestrians in the parking lot crosswalks were 100 points each plus a 100 Christmas point bonus because I was almost plowed down 3 times and one truck almost earned 800 points on one shot!

You had the Mercedes with no handicap tag parked in the handicap spot while the conversion van with handicap tags was driving laps looking for a spot that wasn't a half mile away.

It looked like Target had set up valet parking with the line of cars parked in the fire lane outside the store. Apparently, the drivers were patiently waiting while their partners in crime did ALL their Christmas shopping inside the store.

The quietest place of all was Petco where I had to pick up cat litter and treats for Princess Fluffy Butt. Guess pets aren't a priority on people's Christmas lists. Poor things.

Even the Christian bookstore parking lot was full!

Once inside the stores, I found the obviously exhausted retail worker bees to very helpful and still hanging onto their Okie politeness :) I don't know if they feed the employees at the the Borders on S Yale or to the Best Buy helpers on Skelly but, they were so incredibly pleasant to be around. Maybe it's the smell of books or the ions coming off the electronics that does it but whatever it is, thank you :)

Even the Christmas shoppers were very pleasant. The same pick-up driver who almost earned 100 points on me in the parking lot (I wasn't in the crosswalk so, he would lose points for that) was now holding the door open for me at Best Buy. It was a Christmas miracle!

I got back to the house around 6pm. I wasn't as homesick as I usually am because I had found King of Prussia, Oklahoma and I felt like a Yankee again :)

A Yankee Weather Report: Ice Man Cometh

I have taken my next two steps into obtaining my status as an Okie.

I have become weather obessed. It's the first thing I check in the morning and then will usually check it at least half way through the day. Oh and I check tomorrow's weather before I go to bed at night.

Okies are so weather obessed that they can look into the sky and tell you the type of cloud and what it means, the wind speed/the wind direction and what that means, and by putting those all together they can give a fairly accurate weather forcast.

The weather can change so fast out here. For example: Sunday, Dustin and I enter Borders at 2pm, air temperature is 68. We come out of the store at 2:45pm and the temperature is 51 degrees.

It is really out of necessity and safety that Okies are so weather obessed. It'll be another 5 months before I get to experience spring storm season. Living out here in Tornado Alley, you learn to keep your eyes on the skies from late March to May.

But right now, in December it's all about the precipitation.

Oklahoma doesn't get alot of snow. According to the National Weather Service in Norman: The three largest population centers in Oklahoma - Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and Lawton -all average one 4-inch or greater snowfall event every 1 to 2 years. Eight 8-inch or greater events average roughly one every 5 years in Tulsa, one every 5 to 10 years in Oklahoma City (which is about 1.5 hours SW of Tulsa) and one every 10 to 20 years in Lawton (about 3 hours SW of Tulsa).

What they do get is ICE. Last year, millions of Okies lost power, some for almost 2 weeks, after a massive ice storm came through the area this time last year. Since that storm, they are very sensitive about any indication they might get ice.

So, as part of my Okie indoctrination, I sit here on a COLD December morning experiencing Day Two of my first Oklahoma ice event. It doesn't come close to what happened last year but it's nice little taste of how Okies deal with freezing precipitation.

Okies don't like the cold. Okies don't like ice.

As soon as the weatherman says "temperatures below 50 degrees with 20 percent chance of freezing precipitation", they jump in their pick-up trucks and SUVs and head off to the closest food market to load up on the necessities: eggs, bread, milk, rice, beans and Bud Light.

The Sand Springs area got hit with a 1/5 inch of ice on Sunday night. It was enough to cause 58 car wrecks on Monday morning in the Tulsa metro area. It was also enough for me to almost bite it in the Walmart parking lot when I was actually dumb enough to venture out. Oh and schools have been closed for 2 days because another 1/5 of ice is expected today.

And Philadelphians think they are winter weather wimps!

I learned my lesson yesterday. This Yankee is staying in til Wednesday when it is suppose to be 60 degrees, rainy and windy!

Does everything taste OK?

I've been getting out a bit to try the local eateries because I love to eat!

I'm trying to stay away from the chain restuarants whenever possible. Except when my Cranberry Limeade craving sends me running to my closest Sonic (which are as common as Starbucks back east). But for the most part, I've been sticking to locally owned restaurants or the locally owned chains.

It was after about my 3rd meal out that something hit me. At every restaurant I had been to, the waitress or bartender stopped by our table asked:

"Does everything taste OK?"

Not "Is everything alright?"

Not "Do you need anything else?"

It was "Does everything taste OK?"

Now, maybe some of my Yankee friends may correct me, but I had never in my life been asked that question in a restaurant. I mean, half the time, I don't actually even pay attention when they ask it. But now, I am very aware of how my food tastes because I know someone is going to put me on the spot and ask me specifically that question.

I'm getting pretty used to it after a couple of weeks so, the poor waitresses no longer get that peculiar little look that I had been giving them. I just munch away and tell them "it's great" (and I'm not lying, the food in the local eateries has been really great).

Right = up, Left = down

I have heard alot of complaints regarding the driving habits of Yankees. We drive too fast. We drive too aggressively. We are generally not too respectful to each other on the road.

Well, now it's my turn! Get it TURN!

Turn signals are are used to signal when a vehicle is going to make a turn either to the left or to the right. If you wish to turn right, you raise the little lever found on the steering column up. If you wish to turn left, you lower the little lever found on the steering column.

Right turn = up
Left turn = down

I DO NOT care if you are going 5mph, I would still like to know that you have plans to turn into the Warehouse Market prior to almost ending up in your trunk when you make the decision to do so.

My first almost accident here in OK occured under such a circumstance.

Okies typically drive the speed limit. Maybe it's because on the highway, the speed limit is 65mph which is plenty fast by most standards. But, even on the side streets, they are very aware and diligent of the posted speed limit.

What they don't believe in is the consistant use of their turn signals! ARGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!

Seriously, folks. There is a reason they were put in vehicles. It is so that other drivers are aware of which direction you are planning on traveling before you start into your turn.

According to my native Okie husband, the answer is quite clear. Okies slow down to a near stop before turning. That should be warning enough.

Of course, how silly of me. I can't even understand Okies when they speak to me, let alone read their minds!

That is my only real road related complaint. Even the Okie drivers in their Hummers & extended cab luxury Ford F-350s (and there are ALOT of them) are a pretty polite group. Of course you do have the occassional really rude 20-something redneck in his 10 foot high mudder pick-em-up truck who feels the need to drive 50mph up my road at 10:30pm. But, as a general rule, other than my rant about turn signals, life on the roads here is pleasant enough.

Go West Young Lady!

Well, I made it.

1257 miles

22 hours of road time in the sun, snow, freezing rain, flurries, sleet, wet snow, ice pellets, icing on the road, wind, and finally more sun.

A journey that took me, Dustin, and the trusty Saturn Vue through the my home state of PA, into Ohio, then onto Indiana, onward into Missouri and finally pulling into my new driveway in Sand Springs, OK.

I wish I had some pictures to post but, unfortunatley, we took alot of video and no actual photos on the way. Not my fault! I was the pilot (hubby does not drive stick shift), TomTom was the navigation system, and Dustin was responsible for onboard entertainment.

So our trip began at 9am EST standard time as I pulled away from my childhood in Glenside, PA. Things were fine as we followed the familiar PA Turnpike westbound through Lancaster County and into the Harrisburg area. Lots of cows, a view of Three Mile Island and more cows for the better part of 3 hours. It was getting increasingly cloudy as we drove. The kind of clouds that make you say "Hey those look like snow clouds."

And we were right. Very very very right. We encountered every variety of wet precipitation. We saw snow that blew up, sleet that came down, ice pellets raining down upon us and swore that we got hit with pea sized hail at one point.

Ohio did not give us any relief from the weather or from Ohio drivers. It was the longest drive of the trip! That state simply never seemed to end! It just went on forever! Not only did we continue our fight with Mother Nature but now we had to contend with a 2 lane wide WIDE load with a police escort just outside of Columbus. Stuck in that mess for 2 hours with a two rapidly filling bladders made us beg for Indiana!

We entered Indiana under the cloak of darkness and were greeted to the Hoosier state with high winds, blowing snow, and roads that were getting increasingly slick. Oh and every sized tractor trailer. Our goal was simple. Make it Indianapolis in one piece. Upon arriving in Indianapolis we were very disappointed not find a 50 foot high billboard of Peyton Manning greeting . I mean, what else is there in Indiana now that Bobby Knight is gone! So we settled for a Holiday Inn with a Damon's Steakhouse. Not nearly as exciting as Peyton Manning smiling down on you but the food was hot, beer was cold and the bed was comfortable.

The next morning we woke up before the sun to freezing temperatures and a drive thru Starbucks :) Life was going to be OK despite the cold because today the sun would shine down upon us all day!

We stopped in some Indiana town that I can't remember for a good ole Denny's hot breakfast. Nothing like eating at a Denny's in the middle of nowhere to make ya feel like an American. And with full tummies, empty bladders, and 10 more hours of driving, we continued on.

I will say this about Indiana. It is not the most exciting state to drive through but, the people are very nice, the drivers are very polite, and the roads are very straight. It was the easiet, most pleasant part of our trip.

Missouri pretty much goes up and down and up and down and up and down in a straight line for over 200 miles. It is also home to more sex shop billboards than I was comfortable with, a Precious Moments museum, and the town of Branson.

I am fascinated with Branson. My husband gets mad when I say Branson. I MUST go to Branson! I told the hubby I MUST go to Branson every mile for about 30 before he made me promise not to bring it up again if he took me there within the next year. It was a deal! Yeehaw Branson here I come!

Anyway, Missouri is also home to Meramac Caverns (or so the 50+ billboards advertising it led us to believe). In case you didn't know (and I bet you didn't) Meramac Caverns is 60 degrees year round and Granny makes fudge there. Fascinating.

The highlight of our Missouri leg of the trip was driving through St. Louis! We got to see the arch and Busch stadium which was awesome! A little less awesome is that I have a big Phillies sticker on my car and could hear the snickers of all the Albert Pujols idol worshipers as I drove by.

So, finally, we arrived in the Sooner State! We had been in the car for 20 hours together and it was upon entering Oklahoma that we had our first fight as newly weds! Ahhhhh, home sweet home :)

The eastern part of Oklahoma coming in from MO is very flat. Not a whole lot going on. There's no billboards. You can see a house or two, a bunch of cows, and that's about it. I know Claremore, OK is out there but couldn't tell you any other towns.

We pulled into the driveway around 5:30pm CST and were immediately greeted by our neighbor :) He's a super sweet elderly gentelman who has lived in that house for over 50 years.

I walked into my new home for the first time and that's where this story really begins!

I hope you enjoy my Yankee ramblings as I figure out my way through the Sooner state :)