Thankful 2010

"If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, 'thank you,' that would suffice."
-Meister Eckhart

Gratitude for my wonderful family, good friends (old and new), bountiful food, and joyous memories.

Much love and blessings to those who could not be with us this year.

Boxing Day Party

Our holiday happenings have been overall, low-key, and I'm certainly not complaining. After an incredibly busy several months, we didn't want to "need a vacation after our vacation", if you know what I mean. Christmas Eve, my clan headed downtown to Congress Avenue, and enjoyed a wonderful late dinner at the restaurant my brother helps manage. After dinner, Mike and Sophia went home, while Domi and I bundled up and headed down a couple blocks to Saint Mary's Cathedral for the annual midnight mass tradition he is requesting we keep going. We enjoyed watching the carriage rides pass by with the scenery of the Capitol building and lights in the background.

Jay flew in last night and we headed straight to a Boxing Day Party. Boxing Day is an English tradition that has nothing to do with pugilism. It is the day after Christmas Day, also called St Stephen's Day (as in Good King Wenceslas), and usually the day when families and friends get together in England. It was hosted by the lovely [English] Hawes family, whom we met through Domi.

These teens are pretty much, inseperable. Domi is at the age when dating usually starts, however, there is no dating going on here. Even though I would completely approve--even be thrilled (great girls, smart, eclectic, come from a good family, and so on) if they dated, but alas, they consider themselves "siblings".

It was such a nice evening because we were all able to enjoy it together as a family. The "kids" did their thing, Sophia played with some old Duplos they had there, while us adults talked, ate good food, and enjoyed a good English brewsky. This is the way to relax, be with friends and family, and enjoy the holidays.

Thanksgiving 2008

This year was probably the smallest Thanksgiving dinner in our hosting lifetime. Our guestlist was in the single digits, whereas in the past, it averages between 15-25 heads. Even though I missed having the hustle and bustle of a pack filled home, the quaintness of our intimate dinner with our lovely family members was a relaxing change.

What really helps this [frazzled] hostess now is her teens can do a lot of the prep work. In the past, I've been known to spend the ENTIRE day before Thanksgiving (or any other formal dinner) just dressing up my table. Ironing linens, polishing the silver to shiny perfection, setting the table per Emily Post etiquette, creative napkin folding, finding the perfect centerpiece, and even the final touch of personalized place cards. Yes, I get much satisfaction from these arduous tasks. And, I admit, this is the time, when I have been known to almost turn Martha Stewart crazy (short-tempered, nit picky, and maybe a bit of yelling here and there). ;)

However, since we had a smaller fete this year, these tasks were delegated to Domi and Jay. As Domi polished the silver candlesticks and Jay set the table with the Lenox Solitaire China and vintage circa 1921 Grosvenor flatware, I tell them, "one day, these heirlooms will be yours!". They both looked at me with this blank stare, and then went back to work, without saying a word. Ah well.

I share the same passion with certain antique items as both my maternal and paternal grandmothers. My paternal grandmother was an antique reseller herself. Maybe Sophia will be share in her mom's enthusiasm when she's older. She did after all, get giddy herself about having her very own place setting at the table and even managed to drink out of a small wine glass (filled with Cranberry juice) without a single spill or breaking it. Those practical life skills we work on are coming in handy!

Our (everything homemade) Menu consisted of:

Appetizers~ Baked Black Cherry Brie with Toast Points (Eric)
Main Dinner~Honey-baked Ham, Deep-fried Turkey (David), Rice Dressing, Green Bean Casserole, Green Chili Macaroni and Cheese (Eric), Shallot Whipped Mashed Potatoes (Eric), Sweet Potatoes (Holly), Fresh Cranberry Sauce, and Dinner Rolls and Cornbread.
Dessert~Bread Pudding (Eric) and Pecan Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream and Pralines.









Adding this photo to balance some of the refinement with evidence of a good ol' cajun deep-fried turkey.



Hope you all had a wonderful and restful Thanksgiving with your loved ones.

Best Shot Monday ~ Life Is Good

Today, for Father's Day, my honey wanted to go to the lake for his special day. So I rearranged our schedule and we were out at Lake Travis by 10:00. So, here's Sophia with her daddy walking down toward our jet-skis (that we're supposed to be selling). Even though she didn't get on the skis, she loved being in the water with him. It's time for father-daughter swim lessons.





And this simple saying that came from a water bottle, made me realize, that Life is Good, even with all the bumps and temporary hardships.



Our Life is Good.
Hope you all enjoyed this Father's Day.

Love Thursday

I was tickled pink when I saw the valentine's day goodies brought over this morning. Cman's Mama sure knows how to bake and get creative with food.







Organic Marshmallows made with no corn syrup.
And they are y-ummy!


I also got a gift card for coffee. I can't live without my coffee in the mornings.

Red + White = Pink!

The tots made their mommies Valentines.

New Year's Eve 2008

For New Years Eve, Mike and I went to Mandy and Paul's house. Had a large group to play Apples to Apples and Taboo, which is always loads of fun. Nothing like watching Mike and Mandy (who are both oh so headstrong in their ways) play Taboo and have to sit next to each other. Don't have a picture of it, but the Taboo timer accidentally ended up 'broke' after a Mandy-slam on the table. Can't imagine why? Ha.

Thought this round of cards was appropriate for every guy playing the game. Ironic that these were played in the same hand (since they all work for CompUSA).


Out with the old, in with the new. For every door that is closed, a new and better one opens and we are all looking forward to 2008!

A Simple Christmas with Midnight Mass

In keeping with our fairly new tradition of 'keeping things simple' for Christmas (and prepping for my husband's impending change in employment), we decided to continue this new tradition which we launched last year.


And it was very very VERY simple.

Tested was the saying, "The true meaning of Christmas is not what you find under your tree." I suppose I can say we passed, but barely. It wasn't easy because I love to gift-give...moreso than receiving gifts, but we had a plan and we stuck to it. The good news is that we will not have buyers remorse next month when the credit card bill comes in.

After the boys opened their few gifts and Sophia hers, at Domi's pleading, we went to midnight mass at Saint Mary's Cathedral in downtown Austin. We were joined by my lovely Aunts, Marjorie and Jeanne, and Yvonne and Doug accompanied us as well. Even though we arrived at 11:10, the cathedral was packed and we were lucky that we even got seats. Folks were lined up around the church and stood throughout the entire mass.

It had been years since I attended a midnight mass. Believe it was as a young child with my Mama Blanca in El Paso, and it was such a treat for a child to be able to stay up so late, which is why it excited me. However, I did not recall midnight mass being this incredibly beautiful. The sacred music, the enchanting choir (I don't think I've heard Joy to the World resonate so strongly...the trumpeter...wow, is all I can say), the golden altar decorated with poinsettias, the candles, the heavy incense. All very beautiful.

Saint Mary's Cathedral



Ok, so even though this is the church we had Sophia baptized at, for those of you who know me well, know I'm not big into 'organized' religion, or I guess I should say the 'religious right', but for whatever reason, Domi is incredibly drawn to learning about religions (in particular the history of different religions), and he's especially drawn to Cathedrals. Almost obsessed. He goes on and on about the architectural designs whenever he sees one, and even has the inside of Notre Dame as his background on his MySpace. He must have been a priest or a Gothic architect in his past life or something. His newest goal is to one day be one of the musicians playing his horn during midnight mass.

On Christmas Day we hosted a dinner. My favorite part of hosting dinners is decorating my table. I must not have had enough tea parties as a young girl, cause I get all Marth Stewart crazy about my table. And yes, I'm aware that the table setting is incorrect in the photo above. Domi set the flatware out and promised he remembered the correct placement, but after I saw the photo, realized it was wrong. So he got a tutorial in how to properly set a table.

Kidding! I'm not Mommy Dearest.
But I don't do wire hangers ;)

Anyhow, my brother in law David, and our dear friend Marco (and his super duper nice buddy, Todd) joined us for the feast. It was the easiest dinner we've ever hosted. All I had to do was set my dining room table and David and Marco brought all the food. We also enjoyed a couple loud rounds of Tabboo. Fun times.

This is the only shot I have of Sophia in her Christmas dress and Mary Jane shoes.
And of course, it's blurry.


But the best gifts were received on our doorstep Christmas morning in 5 individually wrapped boxes. A scarf for each one of us that my mother had made during the last couple years of her life. It's amazing how the scarves still have the smell of her casita.

Of nag-champa and sage.

Going out of Business Party

Yep, that's right.
A going-out-of-business holiday party.



For those of you who haven't heard, CompUSA is shutting its doors, thus, my husband (and thousands of others) will be seeking new employment after the holidays. So, to keep morale up and give thanks to the employees, Mike and GM, Aaron, decided to throw a holiday party at the terrific Riata. Lots of gift giving, eating, drinking, and dancing went down. Everybody had a terrific time and apparently let off some much needed steam.

My camera was on incorrect settings, and after unsuccesful attempts to fix it, gave up, and unfortunately do not have a photo of each guest. :-(

Many thanks to Neha and Eva for coordinating, and also to David for hooking us up with this terrific venue.



























Can you believe this hooch showed up at the party with the same shoes AND jeans that I had on?!



Ha! Love ya Mandy.
XOXO

Mommy's Time Out - Playgroup's Holiday Party

What us stay at home moms do after the kiddos go to bed.

oh, and these hookah heels don't belong to me..

hehe.

We had a renew/regifting exchange party and some poor soul ended up with a bag full o' holiday crap that I received from my days of being a teacher, which a note attached explaining, "what NOT to give a teacher for a holiday gift."

Yes, yes, I know it's the thought that counts, but a simple $5 gift card to a coffee shop will suffice. There are only so many stuffed bears, snowmen pens, and santa earrings a person can deal with.

The party was an incredibly fun time. There was another Momma taking photographs there, so I'm hoping she posts them on our message board so I can add those.

*Editing to add new photos*

Here are some photos courtesy of the amazing Bonnie Berry, a fellow O'Mama.

I am officially in love with her work.

http://bonnieberryphotography.com/

One of my favorite shots. Seductive Mama Tanya.

No wonder she has a husband 10 years younger!

There were even a few nurslings at the party

I *heart* my playgroup.