Only a few more holiday-themed entries. I swear. Neil said, “You blogged about Christmas again?” yesterday, so I think I better stop soon. But not before we see the gift bounty!
Here’s Mari’s loot.
Thank goodness Santa came through with the new dance bag and two tutus Mari just decided she wanted at the last minute. That Santa, he’s good. She also got loads of video games for her Nintendo DS and books and a set of her very own cooking utensils with a fairies cookbook. I think it’s for making magical food, not how to cook fairies. But then I haven’t read it, so who knows.
Every year there seems to be an overriding theme to the gifts that arises. This year seems to have been The Year of the Sock.
I got some soft Alpaca socks.
Neil got some cozy sock… and some new slippers.
And then there’s my loot:
Note the fuzzy socks. And the sock knitting book. See? A theme. This book looks so amazing. There are really cute socks for kids in it, too. Another gift was a killer knitting kit from the in-laws for a 17-color Napalese bag that is to-die-for. I estimate that I will finish the bag in about 2020 or so, but it will be beautiful when it’s done. Mari got me the immersion blender. I also got cash for my Depeche Mode Tour Fund. Don’t worry Martin. I’ll be there!
Here’s Neil’s loot:
He scored on the audiobook, book and DVD categories. Plus who doesn’t love some Choxie chocolates? Oops, the cat snuck in the background on that one…
We had a delicious Christmas dinner…
Lighted the advent wreath…
…and enjoyed our day immensely. Now I need to get back to another knitting project. A skeleton hat for Susan P’s husband. The lovely, crafty Susan P. who can be found hanging around on the Sew and Tell Group on Facebook, or making cool magnets for me for Christmas.
Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and is enjoying some downtime! We’ve got a few more days of R & R before Neil heads back to work. We’ll see just how many episodes of “Highlander” on the DVR we can watch between now and then. You know there can be only one.
My grandfather was a character. And he loved photography. He often arranged items in a still life. The photo above is one of his holiday cards. His photos have a certain kitsch that is really charming. Obviously he was not overly concerned with scale.
Here’s I am with my grandpa when I was about two. It’s a shame I still have those legs.
Last weekend actually. I thought Mari was going to lose it, waiting that long. We had a little music event here with nearly 40 people shoehorned into our house, so we had to wait until after that to put up the tree so there would be room for everyone.
It’s positively Victorian this year. Mari does enjoy the glitz and put up all the beaded garland she and Neil could find in the boxes. The effect is actually pretty nice.
Our Fairy-Goth-Parents Mike and Donna gave us a gift this year of another tree.
Yes, it’s a black Christmas tree. Marvelous! I immediately added on some bat earrings to make the season bright. And sparkly.
Hopefully tonight we can head out for our yearly Christmas lights drive. I think hot cider will be the beverage of choice this time. Now to choose the music for the car… Hmmmm. Hello iTunes. Time to do that mix.
As part of my continuing campaign to get Venus Hum to open at least one show for Depeche Mode on the Tour of the Universe, here is some concert footage from when they toured with Blue Man Group.
Neil and I got to see this show a few times and it was really, really fun. We also got to hang out backstage (which I have mentioned numerous times before and WILL mention again) with Venus Hum and have dinner with the cast and crew. Even more fun.
FYI, the singer’s name ain’t Venus. It’s Annette. Venus Hum is a three-piece band. In the video you can see the other two guys – they are behind the keyboards in the silver jackets.
I know the video’s eight minutes long, but it’s the weekend. What else have you got to do?
Wanted to post some links here for you. The lovely Ellery is giving away a Christmas EP which includes their song, “Lay Your Head Down,” that we played on our December podcast.
Secondly, want to win a Nintendo Wii AND Wii Fit? I know I do. And I am willing to lessen my chances of winning by letting you know about it. Selfless. Positively selfless of me.
Enter at the link below by leaving a comment on the blog Losangelista’s Guide to the Pursuit of Happiness. All you have to do is list your fitness goals for 2009. Deadline is December 28. Other details can be found at the site. Liz is a writer, marathon runner and fellow Depeche Mode devotee who lives in LA. She writes about racial issues from her own unique perspective. She challenges me to think about this issue in a different way.
Losangelista’s Guide to the Pursuit of Happiness
As I was checking my blog stats today as my obsession leads me to do, I noticed a very odd Google search someone had done that led them to our site:
who are the smiths dooce
I spent a few minutes wondering what in the hell The Smiths had to do with Dooce and then moved on to scanning my RSS blog feeds. Which included this blog entry on Dooce.
Ah ha! Bingo! So I had to Google “who are the smiths dooce” myself to see what I could see:
Awesome. Probably the closest association I’ll ever have with the marvelous Heather B. Armstrong. I’ll take it. I feel sorry for the inquiring person who came to our blog looking for the answer to his or her question about The Smiths.
But I am a helpful sort, so here you go… you are looking for these Smiths.
Now that we’ve gotten past Mari’s Christmas show, Mari’s bout of the plague, and a little music event we hosted, the Smiths are ready to celebrate Christmas!
We have some family traditions that we look forward to each holiday season. They remind us that we’re not just celebrating Giftmas (thanks, Holly!) but that we need to recalibrate, get off the internet, and spend some time together as a family. Most importantly we start the new year focused on a spiritual level.
One of our traditions is that we read Christmas-themed stories every evening (or most evenings, anyway.) It’s fun to hear the same stories each year, and add new books to the collection. Last year Mari had a school project where she got to write her version of the Christmas story. Now we have her special book to read.
For anyone who might have a similar tradition, my super-techy husband turned the handmade book into a PDF. I’m pretty sure the process involved some magical elves.
If you are so inclined you may click here to download.
OK so I’m back, and with riveting content, as you can see. I did a massive recipe storage overhaul a month or two ago. I have to be able to get my hands on a recipe really fast while I am putting together the weekly meal plan or I seriously lose my grip and my head explodes. Sometimes cooking is fun and artistic and creative, and sometimes it is drudgery. Meal planning for every day is drudgery. This system is functioning quite well and it is easier to get through the task.
I keep most of my newer recipes in two binders. These are organized by topic. They are the tried and true; the food that we like to eat on a regular basis.
Mari has decorated the dessert one for me.
Recipes are in plastic sleeves in the binders. Each week I browse the entrees, side dishes, etc. and plan the meals. I pull out the ones I plan to use and put them in a weekly folder so I can find them quickly when it’s time to cook.
The second half of the system is a box of recipes to try.
These are ones I have found on the internet or in magazines. They can live in here until I get tired of our regular fare. They are organized in the same categories as the binders.
At the back of this box I reworked my files for home improvement projects. Whenever we get ready to start a project I can pull out ideas I’ve run across and use them as a springboard for a plan.
You can’t imagine the bags of pages I recycled once I purged this box. Now it is down to a manageable level. And in the process I found Martha Stewart’s recipe for gingerbread ornaments and icing, so as soon as we get the Christmas tree up guess what I can’t wait to do?
Posted by smithsoccasional 
Posted by smithsoccasional 
Posted by smithsoccasional 
