holidays

First day of 2010. Sitting here with my coffee.

I kept forgetting it was New Year's Eve last night until fireworks woke me up. A really party-er I am. We watched Up last night again, and I think it's the best movie of 2009. What movie has you sobbing, then two seconds later laughing your head off? And it's actually a movie intended for children!? But complex enough for grownups? It really is the best movie ever. Ellis calls it U-p. He spells it; it's so cute.

I've been thinking of the holidays this past week. How glad I am that Christmas was over. Me!? I love Christmas! It's my favorite. ("I like smiling. It's my favorite.") Growing up I was so susceptible to the ambiance, the music, the cookies, the snowflakes, the gift making and shopping. Christmas brought my college roommate and I together. We bonded over Christmas and became fast friends.

This year December was one long panic attack. Trying to make things, yet becoming disillusioned with Handmade Holidays at the eleventh hour, but no choice but to press on (sort of like having a baby. ha!). Counting pennies, frustrated with unexpected expenses. Trying to stay positive, focusing on what is right and good, yet, there still must be a gift to give, no matter how simple.

And Marlowe chooses this time to eschew sleeping. I think we are starting the long journey towards the cutting of incisors. The molars were conquered in November, and this is the next mountain to climb.

So a combination between sleep deprivation and trying to make at least a very simple Christmas happen left me feeling chewed up and spit out. I did not enjoy Christmas this year. There. True confession. I was happy that people liked their gifts. It made all the stress worth it. But next year, I don't care how poor we are, I'm shopping. No more Handmade Holidays until my kids are older and sleep.

People say, "oh, you don't have to do much for Christmas." I didn't. This was me already doing the bare minimum. I made peppermint bark, not cookies!

My Scrooge Tale of Woe sets me up for the New Year. It's only fitting that after a season like Christmas, our only holiday that gets a true season and not just a day, that we should all be sick of the upheaval and crave a blank slate. And then we get a New Year! How we all rejoice and make resolutions.

Exercise! Eat healthily! Read! Blog!

Yes, I hope to turn over a new leaf in all those areas. But I realize that when you have little kids sometimes things just don't go as planned, and you just have to make a new plan. One that involves a little more mess, and a little more time to do things.

BUT

I'm totally digressing from what I intended to write in this blog post, which was to tell you about my new books as avenue for the New Years Blank Slate Thrill Ride, otherwise known as New Years Resolution. So setting the existential rabbit trail aside:

* Someone very close to me got me two books that I have wanted for years but have been out-of-print/hard-to-find. The first is Umberto Eco's Experiences in Translation. I'm not a huge fan of translating, and I don't think I have a particular knack for it either. But I get along okay when I need to do it, and seem to find myself in research projects that require a lot of it. Or at least I used to, since I haven't done much scholarly work recently. This is something that I resolve to change this year. I want to submit a journal article and to apply to grad school to finish my PhD.

The second of the books in the Highly Prized category is a book that I have longed for. I couldn't find it in libraries, yet it was constantly being cited. Francoise Robin's La cour d'Anjou-Provence: La vie artistique sous le regne de Rene is a cultural/art history of the patronage of Rene d'Anjou, a fifteenth-century French king. I first learned about Rene when I was studying abroad in Aix-en-Provence, in the south of France, and passed his statue everyday. When I got back home to my history major, I began my obsession with all things Rene, which, of course, plunged me into fifteenth-century patronage studies and whisked me off to Burgundy. All along, I've wanted to study Rene, but have been redirected by wiser advisors who want to me get degrees. Last night I was poking around Amazon, and there seems to be a little surge in Rene studies in the Anglophone scholarly world. Can it be? Perhaps my dream dissertation may be attainable.

Lest I get carried away, though:

* I also bought my first Ina Garten cookbook. After flipping through three of them, I finally chose Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics, because it's the one that made me salivate the most. I'm picky and rarely buy a new cookbook, because I think you can find most of what you need to know on the internet. (And with an epicurious.com app, who can go wrong?) I don't need the extra clutter of too many cookbooks. But I have some friends who are Ina fans, and when they make me something from one of her recipes, I stop cold after the first bite, and must know everything about it, because it was the best ever.

Her recipe for chocolate cake that Jonesey made for our two-year-old's birthday two-and-a-half years ago is one I still remember. I don't like chocolate cake. In fact, I'd rather not eat dessert than eat chocolate cake. I simply don't like it. Jonesey made me try a bite of Ina Garten's chocolate cake. And I not only liked it, I loved it! And I'm still talking about it over two years later. So, I figured a woman of such genius to make a recipe of chocolate cake that I like is definitely a woman worth paying some extra attention to. And so far, even though I've just sat in bed and read the cookbook, I'm enjoying her immensely. I like her perspective on ingredients: fresh, quality, seasonal. And I like that the recipes are solid and have that extra something to make it unique and special. Eating well is something I take very seriously, from ingredients to the actual dish prepared, because it impacts our whole life.

* and, of course, I couldn't let my gift card go without getting this year's raddest craft book, Bend the Rules with Fabric by Amy Karol, about printing, stamping, painting, dyeing, etc with fabric. This book is going to be a lot of fun. As I've started to get into a lot of the different techniques she writes about, I'm really thankful for this resource and finding her pointers from directions to actual materials used are very helpful.

And so begins a new year of thinking, cooking, crafting.

And mothering these two...which deserves a post of its own, but can hardly be distilled to one post.

My kids had a great Christmas! And I must say, Christmas is way more fun now with kids. One of Ellis's favorite presents is his fire station duplo set. And really, what Christmas is complete without Legos?

And so ends my DPP 2009! It's been real folks.

It's also been kind of fun, because I did the whole thing on my iPhone. All photos and editing were from my iPhone. It doesn't do a half bad job! And it definitely has portability and accessibility in its favor. But still not quite as good as a real camera. (ya think?)

Oh my, I really failed at the last two days of December Photo Project. Well, that's what happens when you're Santa Mom. So, before the end of the year, the last two days of DPP.

It says "To Poppy, From Ellis" (for the uninitiated). Ellis had a lot of fun making some gifts and writing their gift tags. I had fun getting him more involved in that aspect of Christmas, even as he has begun to anticipate his own loot more.

We all have them. The ornaments we made in school when we were little kids. I think mine was made of pipe cleaners and beads; it was supposed to be a wreath.

Ellis came home with probably the best school ornament ever. The ILY glove--a little handing signing "i love you." Yes, it is proudly displayed on my tree!

I seem to be posting two by two lately. It's been a rough week. Hard to actually get to my computer. And posting blog entries is the one thing I haven't figured out how to do from my iPhone yet. That and cook dinner. I just can't seem to find the "cook dinner" app. I'd gladly pay for that one.

Anyway, much fun to be had on the Tuesday before Christmas. Well, not as much fun if we hadn't had to reschedule the party we were going to have due to much snow and no plowing on our street--hence, nowhere to park. Next week, hopefully, we'll see lots of kiddos, glitter, sugar, moms, and fun at our house. But we still had some fun. I opted for Fun Mom for the afternoon, which, of course, meant total disaster kitchen. Paint all over the floor. Water everywhere. And then I opted for Loser Mom and turned on umpteen episodes of Kipper (the best little dog cartoon, by the way), while I cleaned it up and made a super yummy dinner for my friend who came over to join us for the evening. At which point I looked like Super Mom, because I had fresh bread and lasagne made with fresh pasta.

I can't decided between these two pictures.

This of Ellis painting pinecones (and pretty much anything else he could find, including himself--love you, washable temperas!) and Marlowe trying to crawl into the sink where he is playing with his most preciousssesses water and bowls and stirry things. It all looks so angelic. And scary.

Then there's this one. Fresh pasta=a well of flour holding eggs. Whisk the eggs gradually drawing the flour in. Then knead and knead, and then either run through a pasta maker, or roll and roll it out for lasagne, which is what I did. I love that moment, though, where the eggs are poised in their well of flour.

Happy Solstice!!! The shortest day of the year. Welcome Winter! I love celebrating the season's changes. God is faithful in ordering the seasons.

Yesterday we went over to Whole Foods to pick up a few things. The boys wanted a snack, so when we were done we sat in a booth and broke into the Clementines. The light was so pretty and the boys were so goofy.

p.s. Like Ellis's TRex Tshirt? That was fun to make. He's into dinosaurs lately.

This paper chain was brought to you by Ikea and their fabulous double-sided wrapping paper. I love Swedish Christmas.

So today I had an unavoidable trip to the mall. The coat I had ordered Ellis online came yesterday, and it was too small. The weather is taking a turn for the very cold, and I couldn't face walking him to school in the morning just wearing his same ol' fleece, so I went into the store to exchange it. And found a coat for Marlowe, too. So, Winter, bring it on!

Ellis was all excited that Santa was there. Since there wasn't much of a line, I said he could go say "hi." But, holy moly, I was NOT buying a picture. (I think mostly E and M saw that kids were getting free candy canes. And I think they'd sit on the Grinch's lap if he were passing out free candy.) I'm beginning to think that Ellis might think Santa is a real person. I mean, we sort of joke around about Santa and Christmas and all. And we never imply that Santa brings presents. I think we think Santa is so hilarious, but maybe we better more careful about explaining that it's just a big ol' game of pretend.

The mall today wasn't crowded, but going there by myself with two wiggly boys had its difficult moments. I think it's been since April since I've been in a mall, so it's hard to remember. I have no desire to go back. I hate malls and strollers and strollers in malls. Ugh.

This evening, I finally found the box with my Christmas CDs and movies in it. We dug out The Snowman and watched it before bed. It never loses the magic. I cry every time.

Ellis had speech therapy in the city today. I took Marlowe for a walk to get coffee, since he's too distracting now. I love this shot, because a brick sidewalk to so Philadelphia.

I have to admit, I don't go bounding into Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. I love fall. It's hard to let go.