7 loads of laundry later

A belated Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!

The family was here and is now all gone. The house is quiet again--disheveled but quiet. I've started working my way through all the laundry that now needs to be washed and restoring some order to the house. I enjoyed having the family at my house. Donna came in on Thursday, Amy & company came on Friday, and my parents on Saturday. It was a lot of noise and chaos, mostly as a result of a very energetic toddler running around, up and down and up and down the stairs and chasing after the kitty cat. Abigail never did figure out that the cat didn't want to be petted no matter what or how often she tried. But it was wonderful to stay in town and host my family for the holidays. Hopefully, we'll be able to do it again soon.

Lots of pictures to share of the weekend.


bubble bath + Jacuzzi tub = very happy almost-3 year old


Mom & Dad show off the treasures from their Christmas crackers


David and Abigail open a Christmas cracker


Amy in her crown


Oh my goodness! Abigail's gift from Santa


Amy & Donna watch all the action


Santa Dad hands out the gifts


David, Abigail, Mom, Benjamin, & Amy on Christmas morning


Paul and his stash


Jubjub has good taste in footwear--my new Kangaroos were a gift from the cat :)


Benjamin takes it easy on Christmas morning


Abigail was tuckered out after opening all the presents--hers and ours


Paul's new slippers


My first ever turkey--I need to work on my dressing but the turkey was good, if I do say so myself


Our friends Dana and Keith, who joined us for Christmas dinner


Abigail plays with her new play-do set, a gift from Aunt Carrie & Uncle Paul


At the River of Lights at ABQ's Botanical Garden

Party pooped

We hosted a neighborhood holiday party at our house Sunday evening. As we were getting ready, Paul asked how many I thought would be at the house--he thought about 12. I did a quick run of the "usual suspects" and said that I thought that sounded about right. Even though we blanket invited the entire neighborhood, we both really thought that only those people we really know would come. We could not have been more wrong--and delightedly so. The first few people to arrive at the house were neighbors we hadn't met before or we'd only met at the mailbox in passing. Others we hadn't seen in a long time came as well as those we know well. We ended up with about 30 people in our little house--all of them standing in the kitchen, dining room, and the hall. No one was in the living room for the longest time. Despite our best efforts, no one would move from the friendly confines of the kitchen. Sure all the food was there but there was no oxygen left. I think a good time was had by all. I'm not so sure some of the neighbors didn't come just to see the remodel, which was fine and expected. We met a couple of neighbors who've lived three houses from us for five years and yet, we'd never seen them before. I'm sure I've waved to them before but it was the first time we'd actually met them. And the party just solidified our thinking that we live in a great neighborhood with some really great people. (Of course, the couple of jerky neighbors we know didn't stop by.) It would be great to have that bigger house that would be easier to entertain 30 people but I'm not ready to leave our neighborhood.

After the party, Paul and I were absolutely worthless on Monday. Seriously, I was going to type this up yesterday and I just didn't have the strength to do so. We had breakfast with Paul's parents and had our Christmas with them. Afterwards I dropped them off at the airport for their trip to DE. Then, it was naps all around for all three of us because Jub is always willing to join in the sleeping. We seriously accomplished nothing yesterday aside from eating dinner but even that was just leftovers from the party. My next door neighbor may be a little crabby at time but that lady brought rum balls and I loves me some rum balls. I've been rationing the leftover ones with little luck. I bought a bottle of rum for a punch I was going to make for the party but then didn't--I should see if I have a recipe for rum balls or rum cake. It might make the holidays that much more enjoyable.

The rest of this week, I've got to get ready for the family's visit to NM. General stuff like making cookies and snack foods. And figuring out how to cook all the stuff I've got to cook in the one oven I have. It's a good thing Mom is coming because otherwise, I'd be up a creek. It's not that I don't know how to make all the stuff but coordinating cooking times is perplexing. Making gravy is as well. I don't do the gravy thing very well.


And a gratuitous picture of the cat whose only foray into nature are when we put up our artificial tree.

The stockings were hung...

Maybe we really should consider having a child soon. I've taken to buying my cat embroidered stockings from Pottery Barn. My future child probably won't even have an embroidered stocking from PB (unless I can get it for $5 on clearance as I did this gem). But look how cute this stocking is, with the little black kitty on it, just like Jubbers.

The school spelling bee is tomorrow. It's not difficult to organize but I'll be glad when it's over. I'm a little irritated with the teachers this year. Several of them didn't bother to hold class spelling bees or even ask for volunteers for the bee. We're down about 20 spellers and will lose more tomorrow when the students back out at the last minute. I've had several students, including one of my student aides, ask what they needed to do to be in the bee. Sure, some are asking just because they want out of class but there were others who were serious. All I could tell them was to talk to their language arts teachers. Frustrating. I think it's time for me to retire from planning the spelling bee. The former librarian didn't plan it--the only reason I do it is because I was responsible for it as a teacher and just kept doing it when I moved to the library. It's definitely not my pet project nor one that I feel any overwhelming sense of responsibility to do. I think I say this every year and yet, here I am. Still planning spelling bees. Perhaps it is because I am a P-U-S-H-O-V-E-R.

Few more pictures

Paul made Abigail's sign. I think he was projecting.

A favorite picture of Abigail and Paul. She was a big fan of the karaoke machine her cousin got for Christmas and held Paul as a captive audience for several songs (he was finally able to escape when she ran off to find more audience members).

Not that he's jealous or anything

The cat, that is. When I started writing this, I had a cat sitting on one arm. Yes, apparently my cat has insecurity issues surrounding the laptop. Witness the picture below.
Paul snapped that a few days ago but it's pretty much an every day occurence. He MUST get his furry little body between me and the computer. He does the same thing to Paul when P is on working on his computer--Jub MUST be on his lap. It really is a good thing he's cute. And, this time of year, the warm thing works in his favor as well.

Let the holiday season begin!

It's officially the Christmas season in my world--I heard two of my favorite Christmas songs today. Now, I'm really in the mood for some chestnut roasting and conspiring by the fire.

The songs, you ask?

Feliz Navidad by Jose Feliciano and Last Christmas by Wham!

I didn't say they were good--just that they were among my favorites.

I'm hoping to get the Christmas tree at least set up tonight--maybe decorated if I'm really energetic. I wish Paul enjoyed helping decorate the tree because it would be more fun to do it with someone. I can't remember my dad ever helping decorate the tree though--it was always Mom and us girls. Maybe men are genetically wired to not enjoy decorating the tree. I'll have to ask around--see what my friends say their husbands do. And I do have to sayt htat it's not that Paul doesn't help at all--when he sees me scaling some ladder or perched precariously on a chair, he's right there no matter what the chore is. I guess he figures it's easier to hang some lights than take me to the emergency room for a gaping head wound because I'm clumsy.

On the road again...

I can see my attempts to be better about journaling through this blog are going about as well as anytime I think I'll journal with a pen and paper. I have so many beautiful blank books that are just that--blank. Eventually I'll figure out what to do with them. I should finally work on getting our wedding journal/scrapbook completed. But what's the hurry--it's only been 6 years. I've hopefully got another 60 with this guy.

Tomorrow morning, as with just about every holiday in the past, we'll be heading back to Texas. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone but holy cow, that drive gets old quickly. And then there is the constant back-and-forth between the various grandparents' houses. I feel bad whining about it, even--I'm amazingly blessed to have three sets of grandparents still alive and healthy. But no matter what we do, it always seems that we're letting someone down because we don't stay at their house long enough or we're at someone else's house longer. :::sigh::: Hopefully it will be better this year. That's my positive thinking for the weekend. I'm just going to be thankful for all the people and all the places we have to drag around to any time we go home. And I'm going to be thankful for the drive time because I'll hopefully be able to make a dent in my reading. (Currently reading Rebecca for my school book club--I love the way old literature is written. It's so flowery and flowy. But wordy!)

I'm positively thrilled that we're staying home for Christmas--the longest drive will be to the airport to pick up Donna. Woohoo! It's going to be so exciting to have my family here. I'll probably go a *little* overboard with the decorations and food but that's what makes the holidays fun. And I really think we'll have a holiday party/open house/get together of some sort. At least have some of my friends over for lunch, if nothing else. I'll be sure to send an invitation to my super-busy husband--it might be the only way he's able to schedule me in. :)

How time flies

Wow--a week has gone by and I hadn't made it over here to write. That's not entirely true--I did try to get over here earlier and the computer froze. I'm not even sure what I was going to write about at that time. Something terribly exciting and important, I'm sure.

Finally finished reading The Robber Bride. LOVED it. Zenia is just evil. Definitely one of those characters you love to hate. I've got another book of Margaret Atwood's on my bookshelf that I need to read--a lovely hard cover copy of The Blind Assasin. I've tried starting it a couple of times but can't get any further than a few pages in. I probably just need to keep plugging away at it and not give up. Next on the list is Rebecca for my school book club and I'd like to reread Life of Pi. Such a great book and our discussion at book club brought up some things I didn't remember or recognize. I'm looking forward to the holiday breaks so I can schlub on the couch with a stack of books. Good times.

Birthday Day #2

Since my own mother doesn't always remember the actual day I was born, I celebrate many. She's mentioned the 12th as a possible birthday but most frequently, she thinks my birthday is Nov. 9. Shortly after Paul and I started dating, I had him ask her what day my birthday is--she matter-of-factly told him it was November 9. It only took her a second to realize her mistake but it continues to happen. I loved my phone message from her this morning: "Happy belated birthday. I know I'm a day late. I knew it was your birthday yesterday." Very cute.

So today, Paul and I celebrated my "real" birthday. By buying him an iPod Video. Me? I got the sales receipt. I'm sure that's a fair trade in some strange way.

I have a school holiday on Friday for Veteran's Day. I'm not sure why/when it was decided that we get that day off but hey, I'm not one to argue with a day off from work. I'm going shopping with my mother-in-law to celebrate my birthday. It's becoming a nice little tradition of ours that I enjoy. I'm lucky to have inlaws I like much less with whom I enjoy a shopping trip or two. I'm also hoping to be a complete vegetable this weekend to get a jump on some reading. I'm currently reading Margaret Atwood's The Robber Bride and really enjoying it but it's a slooooow read. There is also a stack of about 8 books from my library that I'd like to read. That's a benefit to being the librarian--I get first dibs on new books in the library. Yippee!