Just pictures for now

Guess what Daniel and Christopher got?

Katie and Kelly being silly with birch trees

Christopher sporting his bathtub mohawk

Childproofing...keeping the kids away from the tree and the stairs!

Sadie staying cozy and safe

Christopher just chillin'

Merry Christmas!  I'm putting pictures for now just as a change of scenery on the blog.  We have a full house and the stomach flu is working it's way systematically through everyone so as I don't really have the energy to write much I thought I'd post some pictures.  There is sure to be a long blog post when things settle down around here.  Think of all the topics I have to write about, grandkids, kids, the flu, Christmas, so much to say, so little energy to write. Suffice it to say the Christmas cards and letters have experienced yet another set back! 

Perfect Timing

What is the best thing that could happen if you were planning to host a party for 60 people and have a house full of company for a week, during the Christmas holidays?  Well....you could win the lottery to buy all those gifts and have unlimited access to a full housekeeping staff along with a chef and find a source of boundless energy!  OR you could get the killer cold your husband brought home for the holidays.  Yes, you guessed it, no wait staff at our house, only a coughing, sniffling, sneezing hostess.  Don't worry though, Kelly is home from school and will be my sous chef and what she isn't making I am ordering, so the yummy food will not be contaminated! Since I am an optomist, I am going to think that it is a good thing that I caught his cold on Tuesday night before our big Saturday soiree instead of catching it on Friday, I should be able to perform my hostessing duties by Saturday.  In other good news, I will be back up to speed next week when Rachel and Matt and the grandsons arrive for Christmas.  See?  I am an optomist, achoo!

Drinking and Shopping

TJ and I went out to a lovely French restaurant tonight.  We had a fantastic dinner with a bottle of wine.  We went out early because we are nerds.  Really, we were just hungry and had been busy all day and....we are nerds.  After our delicious dinner and our bottle of wine, we headed out of the parking lot when I suddenly remembered I was out of tea! 

My morning motivation



Being out of tea in the morning for me is like not being able to breathe, I went into an immediate panic.  We have got to go to the grocery store NOW.  Forget the lovely dinner and the bottle of wine we just had and go directly to the grocery store.  Isn't that the perfect end to a night out? I went straight from dinner to breakfast, maybe that explains the weight issue. Back to the emergency at hand though.... we have nothing for breakfast!  TJ suggested we could just eat the leftover cranberry sauce with toast in the morning, it is kind of like jelly!  There is always the option of leftover chicken and pasta with pesto, another yummy choice.  No!  I guess we have to do it, we have to go to the grocery store for the grand finale to our romantic night out. 

We both laughed all the way to the store, probably because of that bottle of wine we just drank.  We laughed at how ridiculous we would look in our nice "going out for a romantic dinner" clothes in the grocery store.  We laughed all the way through the first aisle of the store until a lady wearing an evening gown walked in and we were toast (with cranberry sauce jelly)!  You can only imagine the items that ended up in our drunken cart.  They tell you not to shop when you are hungry, there is no warning about shopping after drinking.  If we had to survive on what was in our cart we might just starve, but we would have tea! 

Yes, I think a great laugh is the best way to end a romantic night out with your husband. Tea anyone?

To Write or Not To Write That Is The Question

Has the time of writing the annual Christmas letter passed?  With Facebook, Twitter and the blog sphere, doesn't everyone already know that your kids are fantastic, intelligent, overachievers?  Doesn't everyone know what you've done and where you've been?  Don't we all know way too much about each other's lives with the Internet?  This year I must decide whether to write or not.  Maybe I can just put my blog address on my cards this year and then anyone who is interested can just choose a post that they would like to read. 

I used to start thinking about my Christmas letter sometime in late November.  I would wait for a moment when I had the right amount of inspiration, time and wine to be creative and factual enough to write a mildly entertaining, informative and not too boastful letter to insert into my Christmas cards.  Sometimes it would seem like that moment never came and then...boom!  Inspiration! Or was it chardonnay?  An idea would hit and I could go with it and come up with a letter I liked.  Those letters were a good exercise for me, I did not write very often and the opportunity to exercise my mind and blend creativity with reality was always a challenge and a pleasure.  At least for me!

Now that I am writing at least once a week here on my blog a Christmas letter seems redundant.  Don't you already know what happened in our family this year?  Maybe there are a few people on my Christmas card list who don't read this weekly effort and they might enjoy hearing about our year, and maybe not!  I have thought of just writing something completely unique for my Christmas letter..... something inspired!  Although that would require inspiration.  I find myself just waiting for that right blend of inspiration, time and wine for an idea!  I will keep everyone in suspense as to whether I am or am not writing a letter this year. 
Pray for inspiration!

I Really Am A Gemini

I never really gave a lot of credit to astrology BUT....lately I am beginning to think the fact that I am a Gemini is no accident.  Let me explain.

I saw an episode of Property Virgins and it was in Toronto, more specifically, in Oakville, Mississagua and Burlington.  It was winter and there was a lot of snow on the ground.  As I watched the show I recognized places and landmarks.  I could feel the cold and sighed with nostalgia because I really did like winter up there.  I know, I'm crazy, but so be it!  I still remember what it was like at this time of year up there and many people hate this time of year...I didn't.  My daughter called today and shared that even our grandson, Daniel, is suffering from the lack of sunlight at this time of year.  I feel for him.  The lack of daylight hours is probably the most depressing thing about December in the north.  They have snow and cold though and those are the things that I find myself missing lately.  There is something special about Christmas lights and snow on the ground that defines the season to me.  It is like a storybook come to life for me.  I never grew up with snow at Christmas so the fact that it existed somewhere and that I got to live there for 3 winters is still a wonder to me.

On the flip side...because the point of this post is that I am a Gemini and we see both sides.  I drove into my neighborhood tonight and the light show was spectacular! People here decorate...and they decorate with passion.  The outdoor light shows are over the top!  I love it!   Winter in Houston is like riding a roller coaster.  I was just reminded of this on the weather as they reported that the temperatures on Tuesday would be 48 degrees different than those on Saturday.  Seriously?  Yes, seriously.  Winter one day and summer the next.  We have had a lovely couple of months and the sun has been shining most of the time.  I like the sun.  I appreciate the fact that all I need to do to go somewhere is grab my purse and walk out the door.  I don't have to get a coat and a scarf.  But I like coats and scarves.  What's a girl to do?  I like the sun and the temperate air but I like the cold and the snow. 

I can't complain about life down here in the south but at the same time I find myself missing life in Canada.  I loved the cozy, cold, snowy winters in Canada.  On the other hand, I just sent out invitations to more people than I ever even counted as acquaintences in Canada to our Christmas party. I would like a little of each in my life, can you tell me where that place exists?  Can I live in a city and the country?  Can I have frigid, snowy, long hours of daylight, occasionally moderate, winters, with lots of friends and family nearby?  Can I have my cake and eat it too?    It is not that I can't make up my mind, it is that both options are attractive to me and I want them both.  Except for summer in Houston, and we all know how I feel about that. 

So, it occurs to me that in ways beyond snow and warmth that I like both sides of the coin.  Is it because I am a Gemini or is it because I just can't make up my mind?

Thanksgiving Through Different Eyes...and Ears

What are you thankful for?  Are you thankful that you made it through the holiday without a major meltdown or major family blowup?  Thankful that it is over?  Thankful for all the many blessings you have in your life?  Thankful that you remembered to take the giblets out of the turkey before you cooked it this year?  Thankful for the days off?  Thankful for......life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?   I am thankful that you are reading this!

Just imagine spending Chinese New Year in China with a Chinese family who spoke no English. This Thanksgiving we had the opportunity to see our holiday through a different pair of eyes and ears.  Our daughter ,Kelly, volunteered to host an international student for Thanksgiving.  She figured we would be fine with the idea and she even wondered if anyone would be assigned to her since part of the deal was that the student would have to find their own way to Houston from St. Louis.  Never fear....the chance to spend a holiday in a new city with a typical(?) American family and avoid being left behind on a deserted campus for 4 days can be very motivating!  We hosted a very nice Chinese student named Han for Thanksgiving.
He is young....17, and a freshman in college.  His English was infinitely better than our non-existent Chinese!  He was very quiet and shy for the most part but we had a major breakthrough on his last night when he opened up at dinner!  His whole face lit up when he told us about his high school and his likes and dislikes after spending all of 3 months in the U.S. and he told us about his extended family and their family get togethers.  I admire his courage to come to a new country and attend university in a foreign language....and make very good grades from what he shared with us!  Wow!

Han with Kelly and Katie at the Museum of Natural History

We had a busy time and much of my energy, when I wasn't cooking or cleaning, was spent trying to figure out what a 17 year old Chinese boy would find interesting in Houston.  It is not like I have Niagara Falls to drive him to and show him!  He did like the shopping at the Galleria, go figure, and he enjoyed the  3D IMAX show about the Hubble telescope.  We all enjoyed it and I have concluded that there is no way, ever, in a million trillion light years that I would ever want to go into space.  EVER! 



I don't think we scarred him too much and I even think he enjoyed his time with us.  He shared meals with a minimum of 5 of us every night and a few times there were 12 at the table.  That can be a bit intimidating.  He did luck out though, he was surrounded by beautiful girls at all meals, between Katie and Kelly and my sister's 3 daughters, Han has some good stories to share with his Chinese friends.  I'll bet none of them got to got to Brennans for dinner and be waited on by a swarm of waiters and tour the kitchen!  Now that is an education!



   our waiters making creme brulee and

bananas foster at our table



The Pile-On Sisters

I have three sisters and a brother.  When we all get together it can be a lot of fun!  We get going and one thing leads to another and we sometimes end up like this....


the sisters doing the "formation"

 
I am not one of the ones in the middle...but I still like them.  Lately, every time we are all together we end up doing yoga poses and not in a zen, meditative way.  It is more like a "can you do this?" or "watch this!" way.  We don't plan to end up on the floor contorting ourselves but it seems that's where we end up.  What?  Your family doesn't do that?  You should try it, especially after a few glasses of wine.

We were together celebrating our Dad's 80th birthday this weekend.  We had  brunch on Sunday and had all 5 siblings together at the table along with some of our spouses and some of our kids.  No, we did not do yoga poses on the floor.  It was so good to be together and so good to be able to celebrate with Dad.  He looks pretty good for 80 and as he pointed out, he can see, hear and think even though he does move around a bit slow.  I'll take slow thank you very much!



Mom and Dad on Dad's 80th birthday



While we were waiting for our meal to arrive, one of my sisters commented to my husband that he is very loud when he wakes up in the morning.  That one comment started another family activity we refer to as....time to pile on TJ!  He was fair game and none of us held back, except for my brother who felt brotherly compassion for TJ but was enjoying the show so much that he mostly sat in disbelief and laughed and was probably glad he ducked the "pile on" bullet.  The conversation sounded something like this...."TJ, you chew very loudly.  TJ, you type louder that anyone on the planet.  TJ, what possessed you to walk back and forth over the wood floors wearing your dress shoes on at 6 in the morning?"  My sisters just kept piling on!  Most of it revolved around the fact that he wakes up before anyone in the house and is unaware of how noisy he is, or maybe he just wants us all to wake up when he does and join in the door slamming and loud chewing.  His noises are all amplified in a silent snoozing house.  The doors and drawers opening and closing, those heels making noise on the floor and the newspaper flipping all gets done with such enthusiasm by TJ in the morning.....because he is a  morning person.....and it bothers me because....I am not.

I am glad I married a loud, early riser who can take the abuse from my sisters.  He said he was happy to provide the entertainment at the table while we waited for our food, otherwise we might have had to start doing yoga poses in our dress clothes at a restaurant.  Think how proud our Dad would have been at that sight on his 80th birthday.   Way to save us from ourselves TJ!