2012?? Hope those crazy Mayans were wrong...

It feels a little dumb to do a Christmas recap on January the 5th...clearly one of my resolutions was not to "be a better blogger."  I don't actually ever really make resolutions, anyway.  To me, they are just some lame goal I get inspired to keep up with for like 2 weeks (ok, 1...), and then by the middle of January I feel like an epic failure at life, so why put myself through that torture, right?  I do, however, have a solid GOAL I am working towards - more on that later.

Christmas was fucking crazy this year, and I can hear people going, "crazier than last year?  Because MY Christmas is always just a shit show!" and I have to say, usually our holiday season isn't that nuts.  It's busy, sure, but it's generally the same routine year after year, with the occasional addition of a niece.  This year, though, with Saul's dad being a full-on radiation/chemo cancer patient, things were a bit different.

First, he asked that all his siblings and their kids come into town to celebrate with us.  He asked after Thanksgiving, so it was pretty late notice for some of them.  His rationale for this was, simply stated, "I don't want the next time we all get together to be at my funeral," which, ok morbid, but makes complete sense.

Second, as of December 17, he was still in the hospital, and we weren't 100% sure when he would be getting out.  He ended up actually being released that evening, but trying to make Christmas plans around hospital visiting hours really sucks the Christmas spirit out of everyone, y'know?  He's now home and doing well, so Christmas was very merry.

Third, as we got closer to Christmas, shit on my side of the family starting blowing up like fucking fireworks.  An uncle in the hospital, a cousin in serious trouble, my parents possibly leaving like, Christmas Eve to go to California, and my brother wasn't coming home - boo hoo.

But, as we've done through all the other shit 2011 has thrown at us, we forged ahead.  

Saul's family being in town was something we were all totally looking forward to.  His cousins stayed with us which was basically a 9-day party at our house (die liver, die!) , and seeing the aunts and uncles was awesome.  It did wonderful things for my father-in-law's spirits, too.  He requested we all go to church together on Christmas Eve, which Saul and I haven't done in years, so that was nice.

Christmas Eve church threw a few of my family's plans out of wack, though.  Nothing that couldn't be shuffled around, but that was part of what made the holiday scheduling wonky.  Every year on Christmas Eve, my mom makes a Japanese dinner.  My g-ma has done it ever since I can remember and it's one of my favorite things about the holiday season.  Sesame noodles, fried rice, sushi, tempura shrimp, and Gyoza - basically, Japanese tacos.  YUM.  It's also pretty much a giant drink-fest at my parent's house.  We planned to do the big dinner on Dec 23, and we invited the cousins to come with.

The 22nd, I started to get super sad that little bro wasn't coming home.  More sad at the thought of him spending the holiday ALONE in Oklahoma - seriously, are there worse places?? - than sad for myself, but sad nonetheless.  I sent him some pretty bleak texts the morning of the 23rd and he reassured me that he was fine and was sad too, but that we'd be able to see each other soon and that we could Skype later that night.  My dad got a call from him that evening and I pulled my laptop out to set up a Skype session.  People had been coming over all day - our friends always drop in to say hi and eat - so when the door opened, I didn't think anything of it.  It wasn't until I heard my dad yell, "NO WAY!" that I turned around.

LITTLE BROTHER WAS HOME!!!!

I immediately started bawling and was just a fucking mess for like 10 minutes.  My mom had known he was sneaking in, but kept it a secret from everyone else.  I was so, so, SO happy that he had made it for Christmas and beyond thrilled that he wouldn't be sitting in his apartment, totally alone on Christmas morning.  My Christmas became amazing in that moment.  And then we all got very drunk.

Christmas Eve church was great - there were 20 of us and we took up 4 pews.  Early Christmas morning was spent at Saul's parent's house, watching the nieces open their mounds of gifts.  The giant family gift exchange came next.  At about 2, we took off to meet my parents and brother at our house, which was awesome because we've never done a big holiday at our house before.  We opened gifts and drank A LOT of wine and ate chicken tacos, a new Christmas tradition.  The cousins came back and we watched some Christmas movies (too toasted to remember which, at that point) and then passed out.

It was definitely an untraditional, but very merry Christmas ;)

Next up, NYE in the frozen tundra...

Christmas wishes

Answering the "what do you want for Christmas" question is always hard for me.  It didn't used to be - if you'd asked me 6 or 7 years ago, I'd have given you a laminated list.  In recent years, though, I've realized that if I want something I can just go out and buy it myself - so let's be clear that it's not for lack of wanting things - I'm just pretty impatient that way.  Come December, there isn't a whole lot on my wish list that I don't already have.

When in doubt, buy me alcohol.

Saul's mom asked me what I wanted this year, though, and told me I couldn't say NOTHING, so here are a few things I have seen that I wouldn't be angry about receiving...

Top row:  Rhino Mount - ZGallerie.  Sequin Top - Forever21.  Magenta Dress - Lulus.com

Middle Row: Bedding - Anthropologie.  Faux Leopard Coat - Lulus.com.  Silk Sparrow Tank - Forever21.

Bottom Row: Dip Dye Sweatshirt  - Urban Outfitters.  Riding Boot - Urban Outfitters.  Gold Dress - Lulus.com.  Leopard Heels - Forever21.

Saul says he knows what he's getting me and I know what I'm getting him (even though he already knows...I'll have details soon), so Christmas this year will be fun ;)

Also, in the spirit of the day - a little story:

My dad is Japanese.  My mother's family is not.  My mom's dad would jokingly (well, kind of) not allow my dad in his house on December 6th - Pearl Harbor Day.  Playful racism at it's finest, Ganddad!

Happy Hump Day!

Giblets have gristle?

First - thank you so much for the comments and positive thoughts for my father-in-law.  He's making progress (still in the hospital, though), and he knows there are tons of people out there rooting for him, so his spirits are up.  Pancreatic cancer is a scary motherfucker to deal with, though, so keep the good vibes coming!

Needless to say, our Thanksgiving this year was a little, um...different?  FIL was in the hospital, my brother didn't make it home, and my sister-in-law was having neurosurgery.  Yeah - that would be surgery on HER BRAIN.  She's fine - it was surgery to correct a severe facial twitch she's had for like, 7 years - but HOLY FUCKING CHRIST, you guys.

Also, since the normal chefs for the holiday were obviously out of commission, the cooking duties fell to those of us who had not recently been operated on.  I had to cook Thanksgiving.  I was officially freaking out for like 2 weeks.

We planned the menu and divided the food up.  I was in charge of the stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and sweet potatoes - basically my husband's favorite part of Thanksgiving.  No pressure.  Also, he definitely didn't tell me a few thousand times before the 24th that if the potatoes and gravy were messed up, his turkey day would be ruined.  FUCK.

So what did I do, you ask?
I did what any good leader does and delegated the shit out of that shit.

Hey Saul?  Your favorite part of Thanksgiving is the mashed p's?  Then YOU make them!

Oh, and make them he did...13 g'damn pounds of them.  You think I'm joking.  Yeah...I'm 100% serious.  And they were delicious!

The gravy was awesome.  The sweet potatoes were a hit.  The stuffing...well...um...

Ok, so I am a pretty decent cook.  I make stuff up on the fly.  I can follow a recipe and tweak it if I need to omit/substitute something due to Saul's sometimes weirdly picky palette.  I've never made stuffing before, so that was the dish I was sweating the most.  I got my MIL's recipe and followed it word for word.  The only part I thought was kind of odd was the line that specified "boiling the giblets and chopping them up very fine" to add to the dressing before baking, but I've obviously eaten the dressing she has made in years past and I loved it, so I did what it said.

Ok - I'd just like to again reiterate how I HAVE NEVER MADE DRESSING BEFORE.  I've also never worked with giblets/gizzards/livers/other internal turkey grossness.  We're clear on that, right?  NEVER EVER.

Ok, continue reading...

So I boil the contents of the little bag of yuck and pull them out to chop them up.  I was getting some help from a family friend who has done Thanksgiving cooking before, so I assumed she knew what the hell was going on.  Assumption 1, wrong.  As we are cutting them up, they just seem really tough.  I'm like, dang - these suckers are kind of rubbery!  And she's all, well, maybe they'll break down when they bake?  And I'm all, the recipe says to do it, so we do it!  We chopped them as small as we could get them and then added them to the pan.  Bake away, giblets, bake away.

Everything smelled wonderful and the whole family loaded their plates to eat.  We sat down and everyone commented on how great it all looked.  I ate a bite of turkey (YUM!), a bite of mashed potatoes and gravy (DIVINE!), and then dove into the stuffing.

OH MY GOD, WHAT THE FUCK AM I CHEWING?!?

It felt like I was eating turkey gum.  Turkey gum that never got softer, and never dissolved.  Y'all - it was NASTY.  I took a quick look around the table to see what everyone else's reaction was.  Thankfully, no one at the table said anything - I am pretty sure I would have died of embarrassment - but I noticed people kind of pushing the stuffing around.  I ate around the rubbery bits because the rest was legitimately good, but I was really disappointed that I had so fantastically fucked it up.

After dinner was over, I cornered my MIL and asked her what the hell I had done wrong.  She laughed and was all, you didn't cut the gristle out!  I was like, I did not know about the gristle.  Your recipe did not specify.

She handed me a glass of wine and told me Thanksgiving is about learning something new each year and taking it forward with you to the next.  I drank my whole glass in one gulp and told her I had learned that I am never ever EVER cooking the Thanksgiving meal again.

Auld lang syne...

It's funny, the cycles of blog posts throughout the internet. There are the obligatory holiday posts, showing off decor and food while listing favorite things about the particular season. These are followed by the "favorite moments of the year" posts, which are then followed by New Year's Resolutions posts.

If I blogged more consistently and didn't feel such pressure to cram entire MONTHS into one freaking post, I might do that too.

But, since I don't post but once every great while, it's a little overwhelming to try and recap everything that's happened in the last 2 weeks, much less try and compile a list of my "favorite posts of 2010." The archives are there for ya, if you're that interested, I suppose.

2010 was a good year. I got married, which was awesome (partly because it was something I really thought I would never be interested in doing), we got a new niece, my brother was deployed and came home safely, and my epic love affair with wine continued on.

We also took a ton of vacations. We started the year in Jamaica, then went to Cancun twice, as well as California, Alabama (which doesn't SOUND like an awesome vacation locale, but trust me, it was a blast) and a bunch of weekend trips to Austin and Dallas. I feel so fortunate to be able to travel the way we do and 2011 has a whole bunch of new destinations in store for us.

To me, that's what makes a successful year - counting how many times we got out of the state or country. There are still so many places we want to see, and the more we get to travel, the happier I am.

Next year starts on Saturday (holy shit). I've got no resolutions to try and keep because I always break them almost immediately - if you don't and are able to keep them, what the hell is your secret?? We're going out to dinner tonight to celebrate the greatest day of Saul's life - he asked me to marry him one year ago tonight and I said yes, lucky sucker (bahahahaha!) - and then will spend tomorrow night celebrating the end of the decade with great friends at our house.

What are your New Year's Eve plans?

Hope 2011 brings you all much happiness and fun travels!! See you folks again in the new year.

xoxo

Deck 'em

And finally, since I know you've all been anxiously awaiting this post (heh)... how I decked the shit out of the house.

Otherwise titled:
"Welcome to our crib. Don't knock my decor, bitches."

Le cafe table
(that's Francois for coffee table, dur)

The mantle.
Also, our giant TV.

Fireplace.
Hello, Knight. Aren't we festive!

A random corner.
The green stuff smells FAB.

Other side of the fireplace.
SANTA!

Entry way table.
Look - it's the picture I painted while drunk!

Yeah, I totally embroidered our names on our stockings last year.
I got mad skills with a big ass needle and thick thread!

Sparkly dudes hanging from the kitchen chandelier.
SANTA!!

Last, since I don't have a picture of the living room tree, here is our tree in the front room. It fits perfectly in the bay window. It's fake and colorful and I love it. It's the first tree Saul and I bought together and I am fairly certain it is going to go out any day now, considering we leave it on all day and night. Fire hazard, what?

OMG 3 days!

It wouldn't be the Christmas shopping season if the stores were any less hooter than they - HOTTER than they are...

I know it's like 4 days 'til Christmas (HOLY BALLS - 4 days!!!), but even though it's late and the tree's been up for like 3 weeks, wanna see it now anyway?

Thought so ;)

Be warned...our tree doesn't match.

THE HORROR!

My family has never had a matchy tree. Nothing against them, we've just always had colored lights and a mish-mash of all kinds of weird and sentimental ornaments, most of which my brother and I made. Now, me and Saul's tree has a buttload of ornaments our parents saved for us, combined with ornaments we've purchased together from various vacations, and yes...some ornaments that I made. Like, last year.

Shut up - I was feeling crafty.

Without further adieu (and also without a full picture of the thing because I am soooo smart sometimes), I give you our Christmas tree...


I feel as though the voo-doo doll at the top of the tree, blasphemous as it might be, is canceled out by the angelic little Winnie the Pooh, hanging just below it.

Also, the voo-doo doll looks pretty awesome up there, no?

4 days!

Give thanks and be grateful

A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all other virtues.
- Cicero


Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough.
- Oprah Winfrey


Gratitude is something of which none of us can give too much. For on the smiles, the thanks we give, our little gestures of appreciation, our neighbors build their philosophy of life.
- A. J. Cronin


Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.
-- Melody Beattie


Every time we remember to say "thank you", we experience nothing less than heaven on earth.
- Sarah Ban Breathnach


If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.
- Meister Eckhardt


It isn't what you have in your pocket that makes you thankful, but what you have in your heart.
- Author Unknown


Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful.
- Buddha


So often we dwell on the things that seem impossible rather than on the things that are possible. So often we are depressed by what remains to be done and forget to be thankful for all that has been done.
- Marian Wright Edelman


If you haven’t all the things you want, be grateful for the things you don’t have that you wouldn’t want.
- Author Unknown


When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.
- Willie Nelson


There is always, always, always something to be thankful for.
- Author Unknown


Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!

xo

photos via weheartit

It's Turkey tiiiiiime....

- sung to the tune of "T-shirt time" courtesy of our friends at the Jersey Shore -

This is my 3rd blog post in November. It's the 23rd.
BAHAHAHAHA!

Guess life got in the way this month.

Or I am lazy.

Considering I haven't unpacked from Cancun yet (we got home over a week ago), you could probably put yer money on lazy...

I will unpack tonight, though, seeing as how we leave AGAIN later this week, so I will need to repack that suitcase for yet another wedding - our final one of 2010.

A ton of our friends got married this year, which has been a blast. Our college was so small (1,200 kids) that we all were really close and when we all graduated and spread out through Texas and other states, it was really sad not to see each other all the time. Getting together for all the weddings has been so fun, and while I am exhausted from traveling and weekend obligations, I will be disappointed when the weddings slow down and we don't all have excuses to get together every month.

So that's what I am thankful for today, as we get closer to Thanksgiving - friends I love like family. Cheers to many, many more good times!

They all look fancy...I didn't get the memo...

Some of my favorite boys in the world...also, some of my favorite photo-bombers

I have no idea what this shot was, but it was phenomenal

Heeyyyyy guys!!! He makes me laugh. A lot.

Tequila shots before 8am? Yes, please!
Note Saul's face...priceless.

Quite possibly the best photo of the trip!

Pretty bridesmaids!

Masonic BOOM, gettin' down. Er, or UP...

Nice balloon hat, Richard.

Dinner our last night there. Easily the best meal of the trip. Amazing sushi.

The bff


If I can't get my shit together and get back here within the next few days, have a very happy Thanksgiving!

xo