New Years already?!

You know what makes time fly by without noticing? Staying in your pajamas and playing with a new puppy all day. I swear Christmas was just yesterday!
I have managed a little work in the way of taking some decorations down. Most notably, this tree that I love:

to make way for this puppy [...]

Christmas Card Tree

I always have a hard time letting go of Christmas. I take the week between Christmas and the New Year to bask a little longer in the light of my Christmas Tree and finish all the holiday crafts/baking that I didn’t get to finish before Christmas day. I also believe that these days [...]

Puppy love.

Most of our toys have gone unplayed with this Christmas since we’re all enthralled with our puppy!
We’ve also been debating what name we should call her.
Hubby and Naturalist like Cinnamon.
Golfer likes Ewok.
Sassy likes Sparkling Star.
I like Miss Prancypants.
I lobbied really hard for Miss Prancypants. It almost worked, except no one [...]

Merry Christmas!

While I sit and try to digest homemade cinnamon rolls, mashed potatoes, corn off the cob, prime rib, more cinnamon rolls, homemade dinner rolls, deluxe hot chocolate, monkey bread, mint brownies, and candied carrots, I’ll post a picture of my kids at Christmas ‘05 and Christmas ‘08:

Now tell me, how is it possible that 3 [...]

The Christmas Banana: A Hungarian Story.

On this Christmas Eve, in between watching Santa on the Norad Santa tracker and cooking up brownies to leave out, my mind goes back to a Christmas we spent in Budapest, Hungary, 8 years ago.
Hubby took some MBA classes at what was then called the Karl Marx School of Economics, and he had [...]

Our early bird Christmas present, unveiled…

First, the setup:
Tree with big present underneath.

Then, the opening of the present:

Next, the reaction:

giggly girls.

completely lovestruck boy.
And now, what all the fuss is over….
introducting…
our new…..
PUPPY!

We don’t have a name for her yet. Or, rather, we each have a different name for her, but since we can’t come to an agreement on which one is [...]

Early Christmas Present

Tonight we’re giving the kids an early Christmas present. Usually we can wait until Christmas Day, but this year is a little different.
This year, the present is soft, little, and sleeps in an itty bitty crate.
Can you guess what it is?!
Is it another hamster to join the hamsters of Christmas past in [...]

Flare Friday

There is another fun flickr group, Flare Friday, where people post gorgeous pics with sun flare somewhere in them. I just found the group, so haven’t participated yet. Last night I watched a thick layer of fog creep up and linger through the night until early morning. I despaired about getting a [...]

Holiday Cheer!

Is it wrong that already, a part of me is thinking “Bah Humbug!” to all the holiday shenanigans that are going on at my house? The baking, the planning, the shopping, the decorating, the visitors, etc. etc. It can make a person exhausted!
But yes, it is wrong to start, finish or end this season with [...]

Christmas Vignettes

Or, a quick look into how our holidays are going:
How To Explain Why Santa Isn’t Bringing Lots of Presents (without saying “Recession”).
I informed Naturalist that due to our super awesome trip to Disneyworld, the state of the economy, and the fact that Hubby was out of work for a few months during the summer, (and [...]