In the next post, I’ll explain the Elvis title reference; for now, let’s begin with the annual Taylor Family Holiday Video. (Here’s 2008.)

Filmed by Kent Taylor in historic Roswell, Georgia at locations scouted by Mary Lynn Taylor, the video stars Kassandra Taylor. (Katrina Taylor and Reid Leslie do not appear in this year’s video due to travel calendars.) Featuring cameo appearances by Dr. William ‘Jitterbug’ Morrison and the renowned singer Amber Tatum, choreography is by Kassandra Taylor. Music is “Come Around” by Tim & Jean (part of Australia’s incredible music scene). Note: Much of this is freestyle—Kassandra isn’t responsible for my attempts to dance near her. Wait for the entire video to load, please, as I tried to use every iMovie filter and transition.

Before Christmas and the filming of the video, we all celebrated Kat and Reid making it through a flight cancellation from Portland, Oregon and arriving in time for Dad’s birthday, when Mom always makes a lemon cheesecake with her secret recipe.

Kat and Reid brought with them their formidable French toast skills,

and challah and panettone were dipped in egg and placed in a hot pan,

then topped with strawberries, pecans,

and a beautiful raw honey made by my mother’s student’s grandfather (you know how I feel about the importance of local honey).

Kat dressed up as a mod Santa,

Kass smiled as she opened her stocking, and we collected our first batch of little presents before readying for the meal.

Soon, the kitchen began to smell of roast pork (I’ll go into our family genealogy another time, but we are partly British),

with a lovely garlic-rosemary salt crust Mom made for those of you into that.

Roasted brussels, a bibb salad (Bibb lettuce is usually grown hydroponically now, so I find those are the only heads with soft leaves in the winter) with an improvised lemon-mustard-honey vinaigrette,

my usual smashed potatoes (this is a variety sold as Buttercream, the obvious choice for most potato recipes),

and wonderful chocolates Kat brought from Cacao in Portland.

Reid took our family Christmas picture outside by the lake (both Kat and Kass are wearing vintage dresses, which makes me very happy),

and we cut the cake. Jesus’s birthday cake. Kat decorated the cake with a crown and the usual lettering on the top—

we added a new phrase to the side of the cake that confused my grandfather, who asked me to give him a Christian side hug.

Instead, Kass, Kat, Reid, and I gave our new Snuggie™ blankets a trial run,

conferring like fleece-clad Druids,

creating a tableaux (we scared the dogs),

returning to our Gleeful show choir days,

and laughing at our very blue Christmas…

More pictures in the Flickr set.

I’m reposting last November’s Thanksgiving family video, a remixed version of the Jackson Five’s “I Want You Back,” in honor of MJ’s death today.

Not that five white kids in wigs can do this justice (the song’s magic), but here we are, and so it goes:

Favorite song or memory?

My sister Kassandra, who was just in Miami this past week, is making some decisions soon about where she might dance next. One of her options involves a car headed North, so this is a roadtrip mix for her (and you) to crank.

If you’ve met Kass, you know her incredible energy onstage and off, and this should help her burn up the roads wherever she heads. Her college friends might not know she was briefly a storm trooper in a dance school recital opening many years ago (I was Lord Vader); cosmic tomes are ahead, my lovely sister—

 

 february roadtrip: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

(And, everyone, what you think of the podcasts? I’m fond of them as a regular kthread feature.)

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Sweet Disposition – The Temper Trap

I Wanna Dance with Somebody – David Bryne

Hometown Glory (Chewy Chocolate Cookies remix) – Adele

I’m a Cuckoo (The Avalanches remix) – Belle and Sebastian

Corriander – Pomegranates

Penelope Pitstop – Breakbot

Z – Mr. Oizo

Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band – Meco

Tiny Decision – The Aluminum Group

Fresh Prince of Bel Air – Kay Pettigrew

Bluebird – Laura Barrett

Cosmic Tomes for Sleep Walking Lovers (Part 2) – Exploding Star Orchestra

Imaginary Girl – The Silver Seas

Loneliness is Having No One to Miss – Dntel

Ctrl_Alt_Dance – Max Justus

The Orchids – Califone

With Jenne, even attempts to close doors are elevated to a new level—how many doors remain open for us with creativity…

Great afternoons so often begin with local beer, wherever you are.

Sweetwater Brewery in Atlanta lets fans help affix labels to its beer one night a week, so you sometimes find it easier to read the particular brew name (in this case, Georgia Brown) when you’re tilting the neck back on November afternoons…

The Sweetwater “don’t float the mainstream” motto applies to most of my family holidays, and this Thanksgiving was no exception; my sister Kassandra and I drove to the airport singing Motown to pick up my sister Kat and her boyfriend Reid,

and we stopped off at Everybody’s Pizza in Decatur before returning to my parents’ house to admire turkey cupcakes,

and go through menu options for the Feast.

A significant trip to the grocery (only one, though) later the next day,

and we were all back at the house, battling it out on the Wii, confusing the poor dog by dressing him up in a bee costume, and deciding on costumes of our own for the annual Thanksgiving video:

After raiding the closet in my old room, we looked for more inspiration in the basement costume closets while Kat played the drums (note: Kassandra’s friend Amber is wearing Kat’s butterfly harness from the 1996 Atlanta Olympics Opening Ceremonies on her head here).

Costumes sorted, wigs on, Kat called out for a pick,

and we all took choreographic direction from Kassandra:

Dad donned a Waldo cap to film in the garage (and worked out the lighting logistics);

Amber and I solemnly took pictures of the scene while the others rehearsed.

Putting down our cameras, the Rolyat Five emerged, all smiles and ready for the big number,

and we amused the neighbors with our midnight performance; I am pleased and proud to present The (remixed) Rolyat Five with “I Want You Back”:

Thursday morning, we worked through the list of dishes,

Kat juggled the shallots (it’s a tradition that brings us kitchen luck),

Reid sliced the beautiful chanterelles they had brought from Portland (Kat and Reid forage mushrooms) to top the stuffing,

and I smashed the potatoes (leaving the Yukon Gold skins on gives more flavor) and stirred in the buttermilk.

Kassandra took this action shot as we finished pulling things out of ovens and the warming drawer;

this Pyrex series lined one side of the kitchen counter:

Clockwise from left (annotated image): purple Portland artichokes, green beans with balsamic-shallot butter, turkey, cranberry sauce with cava, smashed potatoes, stuffing with chanterelles, roasted brussel sprouts and fennel, roasted acorn squash and pearl onions with pepita pesto, and asparagus. (We started with a butternut squash soup with cinnamon-sugar croutons.)

Then, Kat surprised everyone with chocolate from the Cacao shop in Portland (and taught us the difference between direct trade and fair trade chocolate):

Much later, we discussed Motown, the anomalies of the Rock Band game, and outdoor art installations over apple turnovers;

from upside-down labels to turned-over pastry, I am very grateful for days with this merry band of rockers and counting down until next Thanksgiving, when the Rolyats roll again…

Full set of the Flickr images here.