One Week Ago Today . . .

. . . Natalie Jane joined our extended "family." I've taken it upon myself to share these photos, because my dear and fabulously brave and strong friend, Carol, is way too busy raising an energetic (and chatty) 2-year-old and nursing/burping/diapering/placating Natalie to update her blog for a while. Could this little peanut be more perfect???

Christmas Tag

Thanks to Kelly for this fun idea.

1.Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper, because I think it's more festive and looks more quaint when the gifts are all piled up under the tree. Bags tend to be too tall and therefore have to be placed next to the tree, which just isn't the same. Unless, of course, there are so many presents crammed under there that they're pouring out from underneath. That's a different story altogether.

2. Real tree or artificial? Was this question included just so that I'd have to defend my fake tree again? Dammit.

3. When do you put up the tree? Nearly always the weekend after Thanksgiving. The longer it's up the better, in my opinion.

4. When do you take the tree down? I like having it still up for my birthday (the 31st), so usually I take it down in the first week of January.

5. Which do you prefer: Hot chocolate or Apple Cider? Hot chocolate, mmmmmm.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? My mom was a single parent at the time, and I don't remember how much Cabbage Patch Dolls cost back then when people were pulling guns on one another and whatnot in store parking lots just to get their hands on one for Christmas, but it was too much for my mom to afford. Or so she told me. Christmas was on a Sunday that year, and my mom was so excited for me to get the doll that she let me open it the night before on Christmas Eve. I begged her to let me take it with me to church the next morning, she refused, I pleaded some more, and she finally agreed to let me bring it but I had to keep it in a paper shopping bag. Every two minutes or so I'd lean down from the pew and peek down into the bag on the floor to make sure Nicolette was still there . . .

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, handed down to me from my mom and dad when my grandparents passed away and they inherited their's.

8. Hardest person to buy for? My dad. The man has no hobbies!

9. Easiest person to buy for? Uhm, myself? Usually during my shopping I find a little somethin'-somethin' for myself. Just a token.

10. Worst Christmas gift ever received? A coworker who had never before given me anything at the holidays gave me a Wheel of Fortune wristwatch. You pushed a button on the side and the face lit up and the theme song played. It was really awkward. I didn't know if he meant it as a gag or what. He acted as though it were perfectly serious.

11. Mail or email Christmas card? Definitely mail.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? If I had to pick only one it would be A Charlie Brown Christmas. It's iconic. Or The Year Without a Santa Claus (the stop action one with the Cold Miser and the Heat Miser). Or White Christmas. Oh, oh, or Meet Me in St. Louis. But I'll watch and find enjoyment at just about any cheesy Lifetime or Hallmark Channel holiday movie. It's a guilty pleasure.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? When the mood strikes me. Sometimes that's in November, and unfortunately sometimes that's around December 22.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Uh, yeah. But not anything you've ever given me.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Homemade fudge. And when I say "homemade" I mean fudge that someone else has made at their home and given to me. Without nuts.

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Clear. But Matt really likes the small multi-colored ones. I have to admit that this year when I saw the Rockefeller Square tree lighting I thought the colored lights looked festive.

17. Favorite Christmas song? I don't think I have one favorite. I have some dreaded ones that I hate, though: "The Twelve Days of Christmas," pretty much any cheeseball/spoof song ("Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" and its ilk) . . .

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Right now I guess I prefer being at someone else's home--namely, my parents'. But there's something cozy and sweet about being in my own house, sleeping in my own bed, too. I imagine once we have kids we'll prefer being at home.

19. Can you name Santa's reindeer? Yup, but only if I sing them in my head.

20. Do you have an angel on top or a star? I have an angel, the one that belonged to my grandma.

Arg

5:10am: I woke up this morning.
5:45am: About when I got my lazy butt out of the bed.
6:15am: Approximate time at which I got dressed.
6:50am: Got in the car and left for work.
7:45am: Arrived at work.
7:46am: First potty break of the day, during which I examined carefully my appearance in the mirror.
7:50-9:20am: Many interactions with coworkers.
9:30am: Another trip to the bathroom, another look in the mirror.
9:35-11:59am: Many more interactions with coworkers.
12:00pm: Bathroom. Mirror-looking. You get the drill.
12:04-1:40pm: People. Everywhere. Looking at me with their perfectly good eyeballs.
1:41pm: Bathroom, mirror yadda yadda yadda.
1:42pm: The time at which I discovered I've been wearing my blouse inside out. All. Day. Long.

Still Here

No, dear friends, I didn't fall off the planet. I felt like it, though, and was hanging on for dear life there for a while . . . but I'm still here. Just been under the weather for the last week. Now that I'm feeling better I'll post again soon. Have to do some work first, though. (By the way, did you know a nasty stomach virus was going around? If so, why didn't you warn me?)