Day-After-Christmas-Resolutions

Why wait until New Year's Day?  I feel like I've eaten so much sugar and junk in the last week or two that the day after Christmas is a great day to start a Better-Eating-Resolution.  Of course, this is the morning that Chris declares that he is going to make Eggs Benedict for breakfast.  Way to test my resolve, mister!  And so, to combat the yumminess, I have decided to post a couple of fabulous book quotes.  Maybe I'll print them out and tape them to my fridge.

First, is a depressing one (in case I find myself entering the happy delusion that fudge doesn't have calories and cinnamon rolls are practically vegetables)  from So Long See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell:

"Without meaning to, she has grown heavy but she eats so little that short of starving to death there doesn't seem much she can do about it."

And next is a funny one to cheer me up after being so depressed...from Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout:

"Olive is a big person. She knows this about herself, but she wasn't always big, and it still seems something to get used to.  It's true she has always  been tall and frequently clumsy, but the business of being big showed up with age; her ankles puffed out, her shoulders rolled up behind her neck, and her wrists and hands seemed to become the size of a man's.  Olive minds--of course she does; sometimes, privately, she minds very much.  But at this stage of the game she is not about to abandon the comfort of food, and that means right now she probably looks like a fat, dozing seal wrapped in some kind of gauze bandage."

And with that, my friends, I'm off to find something to eat for breakfast that will rival an amazing hollandaise sauce or the best cinnamon rolls on earth with a negative amount of calories.

Merry Christmas to All

What I love best about Christmas is family.  I love that Chris takes time off work, that we all take the time off from school, and we are able to spend some time with each other.  I love being able to show these amazing people how much they mean to me.  It's also tons of fun to be around kids at Christmas.  Here are some pictures  of the craziness.

Christmas Parties #8, 9, & 10

I think we've made it through the mad stream of Christmas parties for now...all that remains is our drive up to Tahoe and the day the kids have been anticipating anxiously for more than a month (before that it was more of a non-anxious anticipation.)

Party #8 was a midsized mixer that Chris and I went to near San Diego. It was hosted by the group that handles our finances in a restaurant right on the beach. I wish I was able to get a picture of the waves approaching the windows, but the camera on my phone wasn't talented enough. Instead, here's Chris in the distance inspecting a yummy beef tenderloin appetizer: (look hard, he's kind of hiding...pretend it's "Where's Waldo?")



Party #9 was at our house on Friday night. We wanted to have the chance to spend some time with some our friends before Christmas, even if it meant tired kids and back-to-back-to-back parties. Great food, great friends, and absolutely incredible mulled wine.



Party #10 was the annual Valle Family Christmas Party (Chris' mom's family). As always, it was a great crowd with a very entertaining white elephant gift exchange. The night ended with a fabulous video montage of old family footage put together by my brother-in-law, Jon.



And now, we're off to Tahoe to greet some proper winter weather, (I've had enough of SoCal's tank top weather for now,) bears that really should be hibernating, and all kind of packages needing wrapping. Merry Christmas all!

Christmas Parties # 4, 5, 6 and 7

Parties #4&5 are without pictures...though for different reasons. The first was our work party, where I needed to dress up somewhat and was almost constantly conscious of the fact the I am the "boss' wife". Not a role I naturally feel comfortable in. So, for multitudinous reasons of discomfort, I completely forgot to take pictures. The second party was my book club party. This one was so fun and relaxing that I forgot to take pictures.

Party #6 was not a party in the formal sense of the word, but it was great fun all the same. When the kids were attending Tahoe Montessori School, they were able to buy gifts for family for 50 cents each...each family would donate used items in good condition to stock the shelves. This was really nice because the school made a little bit of money and the kids got to pick out something very unique (believe me...there are stories to back this up). Since we no longer have this option, and I am not interested in spending an additional small fortune on gifts, I decided to have the kids buy small gifts at Cost Plus World Market for each other. We decided to open these before Christmas for a couple of reasons. First, because the kids could hardly contain themselves, and secondly because it would be that much more that we would NOT have to fit in the car to take up to Tahoe. It was a night of many hugs!
















Party #7 was our celebration with Gramps & TuTu. As usual, there was good food and wine, and this was followed by a tradition that the kids all love: new Christmas pajamas. I somehow missed pictures of this night almost altogether, except this silly one at dinner:

Christmas Party #3...kind of

Thursday night we all went to Timothy's Christmas Concert. He plays percussion in the 8th grade Wind Ensemble at school. As is usual with these types of events, the children who were not participating in the performance needed to have a reminder lesson about WHY we were there. Contrary to what they seemed to believe, we do not go because we enjoy trying to sit still for 2 hours. The stage in the church outshined the performers visually, but the students all did a great job.



Friday night I got to stat home and play "cook" and "chaffeur" while Chris and Timothy went to their own engagements. Chris went to a Christmas Concert at a church in Hollywood where a friend of ours was performing, and Timothy went to a party for the Praise Team he is on at school.

Saturday was Gingerbread House Day. We went to a friend's house and got to be creative.











Oh, and just in case you were wondering why my son is wearing a "Satan" shirt, it says "Satan is a Nerd". :-)

Christmas Party #2

Yes...already! Sunday evening was spent at Gramps & TuTu's house, with great finger foods and desserts, and the decorating of a Christmas tree. I made some eggnog cookies, and Chris made a warm spinach dip (with artichoke hearts and fontina cheese--yum!). I'm sure the kids had too much sugar, but no major catastrophes ensued. A lovely evening.

Christmas Party #1

With the first weekend of December arriving, we have officially entered the season of Christmas parties. To kick off the impending craziness, our family went to Chris' brother's house bearing gifts of sweet potato pie and cherry pie--both made from scratch of course. There was also some classic Christmas music, the original Grinch on an original VHS, and some appetizers to start the evening off.


The main event of the evening was the Belmont Shore Christmas Parade, which was taking place just down the street. (Belmont Shore is a beach community in Long Beach that was recently featured in Sunset Magazine, and where Chris used to stay when he commuted from Tahoe for work.) We (well, the guys) toted 3 park benches down the street so we could sit in comfort.


There was quite the crowd gathered, with a Starbucks on one corner:


and a Peet's on the other, true So. Cal. style:


The parade lasted for about 2 1/2 hours!! The kids were so exhausted by the time we got home, the they were all miserably grumpy and the girls fell instantly to sleep. 'Tis the season.