Heading off on holiday ... butr wanted to wish you all (all 5 of you) a HAPPY NEW YEAR wherever you may be.
And as I heard something similar on the radio today thought I would fill in a few of my favourite things of this year (althouh could always change in the next 4 days - you never know)......
1. Favourite song of the year....
Coldplay - Viva la Vida
2. Favourite film of the year.
Mmmmm - difficult. Either 'The visitor' or 'The other Boleyn Girl'
3, Favourite book of the year
'Water for elephants' by Sara Gruen
4. Favourite word of the year
Absolutely
5. Favourite new recipe I made this year
either banana and butterscotch muffins or cheesy risotto.
6. Favourite new cosmetic I tried this year..
Origins 'A perfect world' cleanser and Lancome's new vibrating mascara (honest!)
7. Favourite present I received
An ankle chain...
8. Favourite new perfume I got this year...
Lancome's 'Magnifique'
9. Favourite holiday destination
London...
10. Favourite charity
Dumb friends league
11. Favourite tv show
Probably 'Gavin and Stacy' which we FINALLY got on BBC America..
12. Favourite gift I gave....
Some English candies to a British friend who was really missing home - she was so appreciative and she smiled...again.
13. Favourite school trip with my kids...
1st Grade to Hammonds Candy factory...
14. Most compelling news story of the year....
US election - love it or hate it, it overtook our lives....
15. Best memory of the year...apart from with the kids....
Walking in the rain, on a pavement.... really rare for me!!
HAPPY NEW YEAR BLOGGERS!! GOOD luck for 2009!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Having read a few other peoples' blogs, about their Christmas activities with their kids(can't sleep), I think one of the reasons our 'present opening' took so long is because hubby is a control freak is really strict about the kids opening their presents one at a time - to see what each of them was lucky enough to get and also to have time to digest what they themselves have just received. So there is no real free for all at our house on Christmas morning. We all wait until we're all awake - although we had to wake Rory today (luckily he did not puke again after his Christmas Eve special)...but he is still not 100%. This was the subdued 'let's see if Santa was here' photo before they all started opening things ......
Rory got a really annoying Dancing/laughing/want to punch him in the face Elmo. (Elmo Live) . How times change.
When Bee was a baby I DESPISED all things Sesame Street. never let her watch it, and hated all the toys. Now - I can live with it just fine. He was so so delighted when he saw what it was. He took it with us when we headed to Mass but agreed that we should leave it in the car (phew) for the hour..... But it was a huge hit. Along with Mickey Mouse legos and a remote control Thomas the Tank Engine. Surely the end of the Thomas the Tank Engine years are in sight by now? Pleeease?
Mac on the other hand was quite thrilled with his loot. Despite having never seen Star Wars there were a few Star Wars things on his list. One of which was this Star Wars Voice Changer helmet. I have a deep fat fryer that looks very very like this - so to me it was hilarious seeing him put this on his head. He has quite a small head too - this makes him look massive. When he first put it on it wobbled all over the place whilst he got used to the weight. We couldn't get the voice changer thing to work for a while either so hubby had it on for a bit, working things out and seeing what to press.
When he finally got the voice changer working, it scared the living daylights out of Mac- he ran and hid forever - not the best when you are busy in the kitchen and he's decided to cling on to your legs.... we have just about got him wearing it again and whilst he is fine pushing the Star Wars voices buttons, he ain't too chuffed about changing his own. He also got lots of Speed Racer, Ben 10 and flying helicoper stuff.
Lunch came and went, the 'crack' as Mac called them, were pulled (crackers) - silly hats worn, a fraction of the prepared food eaten and all over very very quickly. And there were STILL more presents to open...
Bee got a lot of pink presents. She was made up with her Nano and pink headphones... once she had a few things downloaded she would prance into the kitchen/family room, just to be able to ask a pointless question but to show how she was watching a movie as she walked along. She loves it. It is pretty neat - makes mine look ancient. She also has a pig obsession at the moment so she got a lot of pig things....
Paddy is into Sports and reading. He got some new Wii games and also DS games. He was the most thankful of all the kids for his things it must be said. He was also good at playing with the younger boys - and he gave his 'rap stance' a bit of a rest today...
Hubby and I got some really good things too. We are both in the position where there is not a lot of material things we want or need. BIL and his wife got us a gift through Oxfam where a goat is bought for a family in Africa which is a brilliant idea.... once the kids had properly understood the idea and accepted we weren't going to be receiving any goat here from Africa....
There is only one book that needs to be returned out of all the presents. Which is great given how many presents we all received. All in all it was a very long day. The kids had a blast. Most of the toys have found new homes etc but I gave up tidying the family room properly until tomorrow.
In the end, Hubby did well not saying too much about HOW MUCH stuff the kids got. He joked later that the inside of his lip was red raw from where he had been biting it. So I have to now keep my end of the bargain and 'pack light' for us for the hols.... Oh that is going to be tough.....
Yes I know the Kings are there far too early but I want all the Christmas stuff putting away asap....
This was very very late last night. Realised I had run out of glitter at the last minute. Icing sugar and coloured confectioner's sugar came in handy.
Currently making Christmas Lunch. Resorted to Brandy sauce from scratch - fingers crossed. Hubby is in the bath....
Hubby and I made a deal - the less whining he does about the amount of stuff the kids get (comes from showing no interest in Christmas shopping for our kids) then the less luggage I will take for Mexico.
We're half way through present opening. It is killing him and I am getting worried about what clothes I'll be taking.....
Oh one of my pressies were 'Kama Sutra' flashcards! Not sure if I should laugh or be very offended. Thinking more along the lines of offended....
Watch this space.....
I have changed the home page on the kids' computer for the next day or so - so they don't constantly nag me to check.....
For any keen Santa trackers you may have, check this out....
You can see he is already delivering his magic in some parts of the world.
Now if we could ALL travel around the world at the same speed as Santa it would make certain rendezvous far far easier.....
PS. Is 8.55am a little bit early to 'drink'??
Santa and my kids.....
Rory - age almost 3....
Every morning he comes down the stairs and says 'Santa comes today?'. Still working on the concept of time, obviously.
And if anyone does anything wrong during the day, he says, "Santa no bring you any presents, you naughty!'
Mac - age 5.
He is our wild one, and I admit we have been using Santa's watchful eye as a present....... I have also said that Santa phones regularly...and he really seems to take note of this. Last night, he was very excited as his best friend from school was coming over this morning and he was already thinking of what they could do.... "If Santa phones tonight, tell him I have been very good today, and tomorrow I am going to let Sophie play with my toys and maybe let her watch Wall E and that is a very good thing - she will like it - so I am giving her the 'gift of joy'. Let him know that."
Then tonight, he said 'If Santa phones, can you ask him how many batteries we'll need for any toys he brings?' Forward thinking child - why do you think I dragged you all to Costco last week???
Paddy - age 8.
Bee- age 10.
She really doesn't believe anymore but she is hedging her bets 'just in case.' However when I talk about Santa having phoned she just glares at me and then afterwards she says to me, 'Y'know I KNOW Santa didn't call like you said...and I can check the Caller ID to prove it...' I then glare back and usually give her a chore to do. Don't think she'd spoil it for the little ones but even so.....
And me? -age 38, not 55 as Mac announced to the whole post office today..
Don't think Santa can get me what I want. But I am practising my happy face for when I open my books, perfume, Pyjamas (a size too big as a dig from MIL no doubt)....
erm, cold, but the snow is melting so it isn't quite as Christmassy as it felt a few days ago.
Here, it is 30 F but feels like 21 F .....at least it has warmed up since this morning. (metric = -1C feels like -6C )
but next week....... 10F or -12C (pretty bloody chilly).
So, even though I was not bothered when Hubby was talking about us going away after Christmas, I am , at least weatherwise, quite pleased he booked it.....
Next week for us it'll be....
83F or 28C..........
and we'll be here...
I LOVE this Coldplay version of this classic. Is it me or is it just the most romantic thing ever????
I was out today with a group of friends... some I know a lot better than others. It was an afternoon tea at an 'English' tea room here - all quite pleasant....all very decent.
During the course of the 90 minutes we were there I found out that my friend Maria's husband walked out on her and their 16 month old boy this month. Things had not been great with them for a while....but it still came as a 'complete shock' to her. (or did it....?)
December 2nd we'd all been out celebrating another friend's birthday... Maria and the birthday girl had firm plans to go skiing the next day. They'd had it scheduled for a while. So Maria's husband took this as the prime opportunity to move out of the family home, and told her that he was filing for divorce when she came home that night.
I don't think my friend seems devastated. Sad perhaps but it almost seems like this was inevitable. Perhaps she is diverting all her anger towards the husband into her approach for custody. She is gearing up for a huge battle (he wants 50 50 access - she wants restricted visitation and no overnights.....). Given some of the things she shared with me, I think she has quite a good reason behind this. However, as she told me about all the e-mails she's been saving over the YEARS from his previous wife and their sons' visitation issues, I got almost a hint of planning -well not planning so much as preparation on her part - getting her ducks in a row for WHEN, not IF they would get divorced. All very sad but my friend is very strong......not saying she is right or wrong - but both of them seem to have thought through their approach to this....and it seems from way before December 3rd.....
Saturday. Way below freezing but still wanted to 'dress up' a little for going out...last night out before Christmas etc.
Babysitter was on time.... hubby was none too keen to head to the party primarily as they were 'my friends' (really my friend and her husband who I've met for all of 10 seconds...) and I told hubby that friend's husband was either Swedish or Norwegian.
Turns out he was a Dane.... for once, thank goodness, hubby didn't put his foot on it via my mistake. Cool crowd of folk though.... Danish, Dutch, Russian, French, American and us..... One guy had just been made redundant (getting more comomn here) and hubby said afterwards that he'd recently read an article about Christmas parties and how many people were avoiding them as they had lost their jobs and didn't want the stress/admission of having just been let go.......
It was strange arriving at the house as friend of the husband let us in - he didn't know us - then said hello to friend's husband who obviously didn't remember me. Then friend had no idea who it was as I'd been very blond two weeks ago....
But we had fun.
No mistletoe.
No behaving in a non -mumof4 way. :(
No really really cute guys.
We then went on to a late dinner.... hubby told me he often drives that way to his office as you go past a park where there are a lot of joggers all day long - he calls it his 'bounce factor route.' Yes, I did give him that look.
Dinner was really late.....but it was great to get out. I hadn't realised that the bar side of the restaurant was indeed quite a meat market.....
Hubby talked about financial crisis, stock prices etc .... I tried to stay awake.
Talked celebrity gossip to watch him squirm. Could I possibly be married to the only man in the world who never knew that Brad Pitt had been married to Jennifer Aniston pre Angelina?
Honestly.
Christmassy feel for the night...... 6/10.
