Tag blogmas2021

My Christmas soundtrack (Blogmas #5)

trinimomindmiddle 2 Comments

Mawnin mawnin!

Music is essential to me on a daily basis and especially around Christmas time. It is part of the heart that is the holiday and easily a main conduit for the Christmas spirit to flow. I think the reason for that is because there are so many Christmas classics and vintage tunes that it takes you back to a time when you thought that Christmas was a thing of wonder (it still is eh but you know how adulting has made us all…..).

It still is…

I love the music vibes so my daily Christmas soundtrack is four fold. Let me explain:

  1. In the car my dial is stuck to the radio station Sweet 100 FM here in Trinidad. Their programming is exclusively Christmas music as they count 100 days in the lead up. The only issue is that sometimes dey does kill meh with ads in which case I switch to a next station or play tunes from Spotify.
  2. In the morning during morning things, my soundtrack is usually the classics, gospel medleys, easy listening or instrumentals…the London Symphony Orchestra, Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Luther Vandross, Michael Bublé…yuh follow?
This is a good one usually on repeat

3. During the day while running around, doing chores and prep I need the pump up so I turn to my country’s genre and take it up a notch with parang music and soca parang music.

WHAT IS PARANG? 

The term Parang is derived from the Spanish word parranda, which means a spree or a fête. Initially it meant a group of four or more men who went to give a parranda at an event – a christening or a birthday celebration. The group sang to the accompaniment of musical instruments. However, in Trinidad, parang came to mean the songs that were sung especially during the Christmas season. What was brought from Venezuela to Trinidad was parranda navideña, which means Christmas parang.

Source: https://www.nalis.gov.tt/Resources/Subject-Guide/Parang

To listen to a parang queen click here and since in Trinidad we ilke to mix up de ting see the link below for my absolute favourite Christmas mix which includes our beloved soca parang (and chutney parang).

We does parang de ting all how.

4. And finally in the evenings if I am still not in tazmanian devil mode, the singalong pop tunes come into play. So Alexa takes me from Mariah Carey and Pentatonix all the way to Justin Bieber complete with a dose of the Chipmunks. Check this one out:

Which of course starts with Mariah because if it doesn’t, your mix is rubbish.

Music is part of the soul of Christmas, cyah argue dat. Are you into it? I hope so! Let me know what your faves are in the comments and don’t forget to follow me on my socials for more!

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Bless

TMIDM

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Be an earlybird! (A Christmas throwback..) (Blogmas#4)

trinimomindmiddle 2 Comments

I wanted to write a post about how I usually attack my Christmas preparations and then I realized I wrote one already, click to read here first.

Not much has changed, I am still an earlybird, or try to be, but I am not as MANIC as I used to be about getting everything perfect before December 25th. I don’t insist that every single dust particle be removed from my house and I have no energy for anything beyond what I am willing to do for the sake of my sanity on a particular day. I am definitely not wasting my days, working hard and not enjoying my holiday break as I go along.

So much meaning…

So I will do my thing, catch my worm and savour to the last bite with my family until I have to head back out in the fields again. A damn good idea if I don’t say so mehself.

Bless

TMIDM

Christmas Snacking (with a twist) (Blogmas#3)

trinimomindmiddle 4 Comments

Mawnin mawnin!

I could have written the conventional post about the many Christmas snacks I enjoy, giving recommendations, tips and recipes but you know me….lemme add a lil bacchanal in de mix.

This post is about a few Christmas nibbles I MUST have in my zone during the season……with a twist. In life you must know what you want and what you absolutely do NOT want.

Now keep in mind half de ting here not healthy since I’m writing about snacks and indulgences that I allow. Yes I know there are ways to make your snacking healthier during the holidays and I know how, but that is a different conversation for another time. These are INDULGENCES people! OK?

Also, all the pictures featured in this blog post are not mine.

COOKIES – I will entertain any type of tasty Christmas cookies that look like this.

(Pioneer Woman leads with intensity)

I doh want this, I feel like I could eat this on a random Tuesday in the car somewhere between the grocery and home:

Where is the effort?

I’m not buying this either:

How do you say ‘Nope’ in Danish?

I’m tired of the gremlinz (and husband) racing to eat all the sugar topped ones and leaving the plain ones in the tin until some time in April. You would think by now the Danes would know to just do a tin with the sugary ones but if such a tin exists already (see what I did there?), let me know.

CHEESE BALLS

Top Shelf

This is as welcome today as it was in 1986. Never did there exist a perfect combination of crunch, flavour and memories. Meanwhile….

This is ghetto

Stop it….immediately…..oh geeed.

FRUIT – I love the classics but not when they choke me via the skin or the seed.

*choke
*choke

I will always have preference for gala apples and seedless grapes:

we are gentle
we are delicate, we do not spit

PRETZELS – I am the only one who is a fan in my house but during this time even my favourite needs a lil zessing:

From bland to BLADOWWW!

MARSHMALLOWS – None shall compare to all iterations under this brand:

Excellence.
STOP THIS.

There shall be no other options. Life is too short for generic marshmallows.

And finally,

CHOCOLATE

I’m stating emphatically that if it doesn’t fall into the family of any of these:

……AH DOH WANT IT!!!!!!!!

Is Christmas, have a heart!! Leave the others for the rest of the year!!! Everybody gets their chance to shine when it’s their turn, yuh understand!

That’s my list! I want to do one with Trini Christmas foods too, but I feel that one staying in drafts, that is a next level of bacchanal.

So tell me? Did I hit the nail on the head? Or am I off? Let me know what are your favourites! What snack indulgences are you tolerating this season?

Bless

TMIDM