Holly Jolly

This past week was crazy, but a lot of fun. B and I finished the touch ups on our red room and we're really happy with the results. Luckily we only had to do two coats. I'm looking forward to finding pillows and a rug to go along with our new look.

Zoe wonders what happened to all the white

My birthday was on Thursday. Even though I only turned 32, I managed to receive a ton of "you're getting old" cards and wishes. I think that made me more determined to feel younger than I do. I got to share the day with friends and B and I went out for a great adult dinner at one of our favorite restaurants over the weekend.

We had two Christmas parties as well. One was hosted by a pair of dentists who just built a ginormous home. It was lovely inside and we really had a terrific time, but you know what felt really good? Coming home to our home. It was so great to feel that yeah, their house was brand new and fabulous, but that we just love ours. I guess it really is shaping up to being a home.

B and I hosted the second party-- a cookie exchange/toddler play/cocktails soiree. We had a lot to do to get ready like put up our tree, which was a little stressful because I am very picky about trees and ours didn't seem like it had opened up much. After a few days of relaxing in our family room, I'm happy to report that the branches have fallen a bit and it looks so pretty!

J puts the first ornament on the tree with extreme care

The party was lots of fun. It was great to see everyone and exchange so many cookies. I made pizzelles, which was my first attempt. I used to work with a lady who made the most perfect pizzelles ever. They were always the same golden color and had a perfect shape-- no edges missing or anything. I named mine "Not quite perfect pizzelles" because even though they tasted good, they would never have held up to G's back in PA.

My first cookie attempt of the weekend was a chai shortbread cookie made with butter, powdered sugar, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, and pepper and a couple of other things. They had a very pleasant flavor, but I kept burning the bottoms. This is the second time I've done that with cookies and I never burn anything. I guess I really need to bite the bullet and start using that convection button on my oven.

Santa was nice enough to stop by (no, that is not J, it's A), as was Miss Claus. Don't they look adorable? J had a great time as well, eating his weight in pepper and hummus. He also managed to sneak a few cookies off the table when nobody was looking.





Try these pomegranate martinis c/o Oprah if you have a get together or even if you don't. They are yummy and a little dangerous!
1.5 cups pom. juice
2 oz. citron vodka
1 oz. cointreau (maybe a little more)
splash of sparkling water (optional)
squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Shake with ice and serve! Sooo good.

Here's some very impressive news. We had our first sentence this weekend. It was..... (drum roll)

"Mommy get a pear. (pause) Now. (pause) Please."

We also played our first rhyming/memory game. I've been reading J "The Night Before Christmas". Our friend J gave us a board book with the original poem in it (no missing stanzas) and some really great Santa paintings as illustrations. I think I've read it about 10 times at the most. Yesterday J was holding the book and I was putting away laundry. I started reciting the story.. "Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a ___________" J filled in mouse. So I kept going. "The stockings were hung by the chimney with care in hopes that Saint Nicholas soon would be _______". J filled in there.
We did the whole story this way. He even filled in the word thistle. Of course it sounded liked "thisso", but who cares? I used to do this activity with kindergartners! I was blown away by this. I know it's all memory, but I was totally impressed by how much he remembered and how much he could say. It was pretty awesome. Little does he know he has just upped the reading anty.

Family starts arriving tomorrow for Christmas so we'll probably be out for awhile. I hope everybody has a great one, gets no coal in their stockings and is able to relax as much as possible. Oh and if you are traveling, be safe and get to the airport early. K, C and Z were taking their first family plane trip, missed their first flight because of heavy security and got rerouted to Pittsburgh by way of El Paso, Albuquerque, and Chicago with a bunch of layovers. Definitely not wanting that to happen to anyone else. Ho! Ho! Ho!