The dog whines and we get in trouble

...because we're doing our best to spoil, Sweet Pea, this perfectly named puppy.

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!

Happy Holidays

I've spent the last two days up to my eyeballs in ribbon and wrapping paper. The last few years I have made a lot of the gifts we give to people, but this year I was not so motivated. Instead, I've had a lot of fun collecting gifts along the road of life.

I'm actually looking forward to the holidays this year. It's the first year in nine years that I am not working retail in some capacity and it feels great. Yesterday I poured over my wrapping paper collection and chose two coordinating papers, then I hauled out my rubber stamps, pinking shears and glue stick, made hang tags and bound each package with lots of twine.

Of course, once I sat down on the floor to commence my wrapping festivities, I was joined by two furry not-so-helpful helpers. Henry came and and wedged himself in the tightest burrow he could while still monitoring my every move.

Lola went for a more active approach. First she started on my left...

then she made a full circle inspecting every gift, paper choice and scissor making sure to step on each before moving on to the next.

Finally I made some headway. I call this year "2007, the year of the GIANT gift tag." I like how they look and I'm excited to give them!

This is Susan's gift. I've very excited about it.

Oh, and look, Jenny's gift got some special stamping treatments!

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.

Creature of habit - Part 2

I'm at it again. I just went to make some afternoon tea and look at my spoons!

You can click here to view my previous spoon exploits.