Holiday Hiatus

I'm finally back from a long holiday trip to the east coast. It's taken me a few days to get back in the swing of things. I could have been blogging since Tuesday, but I just didn't know where to start!

Should I talk about my parents adorable, yet nosy Scottie dog, Robbie?

There's the truly adorable, as her shirt says, Kathryn.

Or, maybe I should talk about the many cups of espresso I had to consume to get us back from New Jersey to Pennsylvania after a fun night with friends?

...because I looked like this:

I could talk about the local, hole-in-the-wall, pizza place where we ate ourselves full for about six bucks.

Or, I could tell the world how much my mom liked her custom Made By Tess Reuse bag.

Or, there's always my new niece, Annabella, a beautiful little reindeer.

Or, the tired, strep throat ailing, Hadley I found organizing photos in an album to hide from the Christmas craziness,

who then suddenly became revitalized when somebody mentioned presents...

Or, I guess I could just post a lot of pictures and post about normal stuff another day!

Christmas Questionnaire

Colored lights or white lights? White lights for me. I like the ornaments to be the color and pop, not the lights.

Real tree or fake tree? Real. My dad has sold Christmas trees with his local Optimist club for as long as I can remember. He can pick the most beautiful tree just by hugging it.

What is your least favorite thing about the holidays? Not having the right gift for someone.

What is the one thing that you would like to see under the tree this year? A MacBook. (I know it's not going to happen, but a girl can dream, can't she?)

What is your favorite thing to do/build in the snow? Jump in the car late at night and drive around on the untouched snow.

What is your favorite holiday drink? A warm glass of mulled cider that my sister ladels up from a giant pot on the stove.

What is your favorite holiday smell? Christmas tree.

Who is your favorite reindeer? Rudolph.

What is your Christmas Eve ritual? Open presents that arrive from far away places, we usually save the presents for each other for Christmas day.

Are you a Friday after Thanksgiving shopper? I always somehow make it out on Black Friday, whether it be my brother-in-law dragging me to the mall at 6am without coffee or breakfast or my husband insisting we go to Fry's Electronics JUST TO SEE THE CROWD, I still have fun.

What is your favorite holiday food? Irish coffee my dad makes on Christmas eve.

How did you find out that Santa wasn't real? A friend from school told me when I was 10.

Who do you want to be under the mistletoe with? My new husband!

Have you bought all your presents yet? Most, not all. There are a couple odds and ends to gather, but there's still plenty of time.

Do you spend Christmas with a lot of family? I have 3 siblings and so does Thomas so there's always a whole lot going on.

Do you still make snowmen and snow angels? I haven't been in cold weather in four years and I don't think I've seen snow in five...

Do you still have snow ball fights? Somebody always needs to get pelted in the back of the head, don't they?

What's your favorite Christmas movie? Rudolph.

What do you plan to do for New Year's Eve? Come home and hang out with my puppies that I won't have seen for two weeks!

What's the most expensive thing you've ever gotten for Christmas? Skis and a Kitchen Aid mixer.

How early do you wake up on Christmas morning? No later than 6.30 because I have to sit and look at the presents in cold quiet, alone.

What do you usually get in your stocking? That's usually where Thomas puts all my gifts if they'll fit.

What is your favorite religious Christmas carol? O, Little Town of Bethlehem.

What is your favorite non-religious Christmas song? I like them all.

How long do you leave up your Christmas decorations? Until the tree dies and the dogs are getting pine needles uncomfortably wedged in their fur.

Consider yourself tagged!

One day someone will tell me they went to Emmaus

I finally decide to introduce myself to the neighbor who looks cool but I hadn't ever talked to because, I don't know, we've only lived near each other for three years. I went old school, taking her a homemade peach cobbler. I figured she'd have to like me if I take her food, and what girl doesn't want dessert at 11am from an unshowered neighbor she's never met?

So Jane and I got to chatting, she sews, loves serving dishes and is generally disinterested in all things uncool. I watched their dog. We had them over for dinner. They got us really drunk one night. Perfect! Then Jane ordered a pumpkin latte from Starbucks and everything changed. "Oh, you should come see my husband's band play next week," she said.

"Cool."

"His band, the Pigdogs, will be playing and then after them is another cool band with this guy Nato Wolfgang."

"Huh? Nato Wolfgang. That sounds really familiar. Why do I know that name?"

"He's like two cars in front of me in the Starbucks drive-thru. He lives in our neighborhood."

"Oh yea, I do know him. Well, I know his mom from my yarn store days, and his sister does my hair!"

"Wait, you know Julia?"

"Wait, you know her?"

That conversation was just too weird for me to handle. Since moving to California I have been relatively anonymous. It wasn't like in Pennsylvania where people would accost me and say, "You look like your father." Or "How's your mother doing?" Or, "Jennifer, Jennifer!"

My siblings are quite a bit older than me and my parents had a different circle of friends by the time I came along. The old friends would see me about town and shout various things at me. I would come home and describe the situation, where I was, what they were driving, etc. and my parents would say, "Oh, that was Nancy's best friend in fourth grade, how's she doing?" Uh, yea. She's great. WTF?

But if you ever want to remain anonymous, don't open a yarn shop where you meet thousands of women. Last night I went to happy hour with my neighbor and some of her other friends. Jane was recounting the story about how we know the same people and then one of the other women pipes up and says, "Yarn shop? You must know Moira!"

Anonymity over.

Christmas light extravaganza

If you live anywhere near Temecula, California you should go see the light display at our friends' home. They begin planning in June and the show is fantastic. Perfectly timed to your favorite Christmas carols, the lights flash on and off, run up the side of the hill and just generally light the entire neighborhood. This year they have over 43,000 lights.

43,000!

You drive up, tune your radio to FM 105.5 and enjoy the amazing spectacle. It's truly a sight to be seen this Christmas season!

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Visit www.socalchristmas.com for directions and more information.

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Certainly a good gift

This ring is freaking awesome!

If a certain husband were to get a certain wife a present for a certain upcoming holiday, this would be a good choice.

Designed by Terrence Kelleman, it has "three nickel-plated magnetic arches and four opalescent magnetic jewel spacers in pink, blue, magenta and lime."

I found it at the MoMA store, a place that has a certain significance between a certain husband and a certain wife.

And it's most certainly only 30 bucks.

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Jeweled Magnetic Ring, here.