Birthdays and holidays

So The Kid turned three recently. I swear she’s more like twelve or something. She’s got attitude to boot, an overly developed vocabulary and doesn’t seem to think twice before speaking.

Besides the fact that she’s definitely a girl with all the trimmings, I’m seriously wondering if I’ll survive to see her make her teen years!

And I’m also seriously praying she mellows out by then. If not…

Oh.

Crap.

Yeah, exactly!

On another note (I can’t say better because, seriously, it’d be me favoring one thing over another and I can’t do that!) the hubby will be celebrating a birthday soon too. I think he’s still riding the World Series Champs wave thingy after his beloved SF Giants finally took home the ultimate win in baseball! Woohoo!

*Sigh* But I can’t give him baseball for his birthday. That season’s so over and basketball’s now in full swing. The Warriors are doing pretty good so far, 7-4 last I asked. Tickets to a game maybe? Hmm… Something to consider!

Then there’s the holidays. Gotta LOVE this time of year – the crazy weather, the bombardment of Christmas ads, and even the reminder to “Bring joy to your world” line I’ve seen recently. Is it just me or has anyone else noticed THANKSGIVING’S NOT EVEN OVER YET!

I don’t like to rush holidays so what’s up with the frantic need to get Christmas underway when Thanksgiving’s not even celebrated yet? Plain stupidness.

The only good thing I can honestly say about Christmas is that the gift exchange my family does is already finalized. Names and wishlists have been traded. All that’s left is the dreaded shopping part.

BLEH.

Thank You, Lord, for giving someone the sense to invent online shopping!

And before someone bashes me with, “It’s all about the experience!” I’d like to say this loud and clear:

I HATE SHOPPING PERIOD

Which means Christmas shopping is a million times worse for me ’cause I get mean and cranky and annoyed and snappy. The other three aren’t so bad but when I get snappy… It’s so over! I quit shopping and go home to escape the madness!

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Christmas With Crazies

Christmas is always … interesting. That’s putting it mildly (and probably nicely).

Most times, Christmas is lots of driving. Christmas morning, we start on the Peninsula, work our way to the East Bay for a mid-morning breakfast and present opening get together, then drive to Lake County in time for dinner. That’s most times. We’ve done this (or something similar) to it every year we’ve been together, and the driving part gets old really quick.

Real quick. 😦

This year, we were able to stay local. Christmas morning started on the Peninsula, we made it to the East Bay like normal, but we were able to squeeze in time with my Gramma around 2pm before heading to my gramma-in-law on the Peninsula. It was nice to not have to drive so far. Really nice. 🙂

Getting together with my side of the family always, always, reminds me of how crazy and loud we can be. We work to get lunch/dinner made and on the table (we eat buffet style at my Gramma’s), then the eating time gets louder. Much louder. Multiple conversations, yelling over each other, and (because we’re Samoan) loud laughter. You could probably hear us halfway down the block if the windows and doors were left open!

Opening gifts is always amusing as well. At my gramma’s, they pass out the presents before dessert and everyone waits for all the gifts to be passed out. We usually pass the time by cleaning up the dining table to make room for desserts, making coffee, watching the kids, talking, and when the gifts are all passed out, the living room turns into a flurry of paper and ribbon as we all tear into the gifts.

“Ooo’s” and “aaah’s” are mixed in with “Thank you so much!” and “You’re welcome!” and in a matter of 30 minutes, the gifts have all been opened and put away.

We’re just a bunch of crazies, can you tell?

Yeah, we’re loud, a lot on the crazy side, a little on the unorthodox side, but being with my family for the holidays is awesome. It makes me realize 1)I love them regardless, and 2)being crazy is ok.

Crazy helps define my ever after.

December Goodies

I come from a family of cooks and bakers. Not professionals, lol, but it’s a passion/past time for most of the women in my family. Yesterday, we had our first ever Navarro Bake Exchange and we had a terrific array of goodies.

Don’t these look yummy??? I’m gonna do my best to name what we had:

• Row 1: Super Easy Chocolate Bars, Pumpkin Madelines, Mini Chip Snowballs, Peppermint-Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

• Row 2: Peanut Butter Brownies, Snickerdoodles, Secret Kisses Cookies, Fudge Ecstasies

• Row 3: M&M Cookies, Chocolate Caramel Bars, Chocolate Chip Cookies

• Row 4: Paula Deen’s Best Ever Nutty Bars, Chocolate Bars, Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, Mexican Wedding Cookies

So while you drool over these yummy goodies, I’ll be looking for a truffle recipe, hopefully to make by Saturday/Sunday!

Christmas Tree!

We got our Christmas tree today! 🙂

Brian put it up while I was out picking upElla, and he did a great job. We’re missing a star (we’ve never had one) but I think we’re gonna get one this year. Here’s our tree:

Isn’t it pretty? LOL We’re not thematic for our Christmas trees. We like colored lights and an eclectic collection of decorations. We like tall trees; Brian’s 6’5″ so the tree has to be taller than him. With a normal height apartment ceiling, it can’t be too tall though. This year’s pageant winner is 6′-7′ tall.

The only problem, I say, with such a tall tree is I can’t decorate it. 😦

I’m 5’2″ and a 7′ tree is too tall for me decorate. It would probably fall on me even if I used my step stool to decorate! (Yes, I’m laughing and smiling as I write this. And don’t laugh at my step stool – it makes me as tall as my hubby when I stand on it, so there!)

He does a terrific job of decorating, doesn’t he? 🙂

We hope your Christmas is just as joyful as ours, whoever decorates it and whatever you decorate it with.

Merry Christmas!