Proverbial Better-Than-Christmas

The kids got a bunch of toys for Christmas. I always start off with the best intentions of a toy-free Christmas because I'm so sick of picking up junk from every room in the house. Inevitably I get mommy-guilt and the kids do wind up with toys. And then, days after Christmas, they've lost interest and find better things to play with - like the attachments to my new canister vacuum. Some things never change, right?

Allegra's Birthday

I actually feel rather current blogging about Allegra's 9th birthday today, as she finally had her "friends" party yesterday. We celebrated with a small family party on New Year's Eve, and then yesterday Allegra and three of her school friends went skating. It's hard to believe (I know, I know, so cliche) that Allegra is nine. Nine sounded so grown up for Hero. I don't know, though, I still think of Allegra as little. Maybe it's because she isn't pulling away, trying so hard to grow up quickly like Hero was. Allegra still likes to play with little girl stuff and loves to cuddle. I don't know that she, with her special personality, will ever grow out of it.

Photo Bomb

I forgot to post yesterday about my weigh-in. So, how many of you thought that was by design because I'd done bad?? LOL Actually, I did pretty good - I lost 2.4 lbs (exactly the same as last week). I'm a little nervous about this week, just because it'd be hard to sustain those kind of numbers for a third week, I think. But as long as I lose over a pound a week for the first two months I'm okay.


And now for a blitz of Christmas Day pictures - it was hard to pic just a few!

A Rant

I interrupt this regularly scheduled family blog for a personal rant. I want to (metaphorically speaking) tear my hair out over the Arizona shooting of the congresswoman and bystanders. No single rational person I know believes that Sarah Palin or the Republican party is legally culpable for the actions of the deranged gunman. None of us liberals think that they are responsible for killing and injuring those people. HOWEVER, this situation has opened a dialogue about incendiary rhetoric in politics and the damaging, divisive affects it has on this country. That absolutely is a useful, timely discussion. But it seems that many of the same people that are guilty of using violent metaphors as political fodder want to obfuscate the issue by screaming about liberals wanting to hold Sarah Palin accountable for murder. It's "the Democrats want to kill Granny" all over again. Let's hope that the electorate can see through the smoke and mirrors this time (who knew I was such an optimist LOL).

Christmas Eve

As I mentioned in my last post, usually we do a family get-together at our house on the 24th, but this year was a little different. We kept all of the appetizer traditions (lil smokies, cheese/ham/olive picks, and ghetto dip), decorated sugar cookies, made Stollen in prep for the morning, made Eggnog cheesecake for Christmas Day dessert, and watched Holiday Inn. I love Christmas Eve - I think it will forever be my favorite day of the year. You have none of the letdown (or mess) associated with the post-unwrapping frenzy of Christmas Day, and all of the excitement, anticipation, and love is at a peak.

Is That Wrong?

Usually we invite everybody over to our house on Christmas Eve, but we also like to host Boise State football parties, so this season we were met with a dilemma. Do we do the regular Christmas Eve thing, or invite everyone over for the bowl game two days earlier? BSU won. I think that might be bad. But what's done is done. We were all decked out in our blue and orange gear and enjoyed a smallish appetizer spread. The kids only peek in on the game, but somehow they manage to amuse themselves. Although she's not in the picture, even Elle was decked out.

As Good As It Gets

Today was the end of my first week. I'm down 2.4 pounds. That's good, I suppose. I'm a bit disappointed because I wanted it to be more. But I know that I shouldn't be. It's a good number. As long as I can sustain that on a week-to-week basis, I'll be happy. I didn't get as much exercise in as I wanted to, so one thing to work on more for this week.

Here's the ONLY two Christmas pictures I got of the kids in their Christmas clothes before the Christmas program at church. Every year we take a family pic of the kids in their nice, new clothes. This year went on record as the worst picture ever. Basically we gave up. Better luck next year, right? Let's hope...