Christmas Eve

We were happy to spend Christmas eve with Lyman's new BFF Dave and his family at their lovely home. It was a great night with wonderful music played by Lyman and Barry, super good food made and ordered by Dave and amazing dessert made by Lyman and me. Milo and their daughter are nice little playmates; I hope we see more of them in 2012!

Christmas Morning

We were on Skype with Nonna for the big event. Milo was so sweet taking everything over to show her up close.
When I was a kid in our family of 5, there was a mountain of stuff it seemed. However, with only one kid, it's a small hill of stuff despite our best efforts at spoiling. I had things I really wanted to get him, and so did Lyman. It's important to me that Santa is balanced: books, toys, clothes, puzzles, crafts- that adds up, but it's great.

The aftermath.

Tintin Outing

For our Christmas Day finale, we went to this shopping/movie/eatery area to look at their nice Christmas decor and see The Adventures of Tintin. The movie was Milo's choice, but I also had high expectations based on reviews. It is beautiful to look at, but it has the most dry, dull storyline. Lyman slept, Milo was distracted by his light up shoes and I just waited for it to end. Even with the boring movie, it was a super Christmas! Hope you and yours had a great one too!

This cracks me up. Here are two of Milo's gifts- Robin on top of the world!

Family Photos

I wasn't trying to be a bah-hum-bug this season by not sending out a photo card, but we already had these pictures from the fall. Most of you who follow this blog got one, and if you didn't here is what we look like! I love the cards I have been getting and putting on my refrigerator door. It almost makes me wish I had made one! We have really beautiful friends and family.

Skating

We started off our Holiday Break with Toy Story On Ice at the Staples center with my girlfriend from work and her daughter. The kids were really excited, even thought they had no what were going to see. In fact, I didn't really know what it would be like either.
They were both mesmerized with the show. The costumes, wigs and make-up were amazing and show was very theatrical with great lights, sets and special effects. It was basically a abbreviated version of the movie with solo and group dances on ice. The performers were amazing, but it was often hard to see their talent through their costumes. Ken and Barbie did this beautiful pairs routine, but he's Ken with his plastic hair! It's hard to see through that. Also, we expect to hear this roar of applause, but 75% of the audience was under 10 with gloves on their hands, so there was hardly any applause, which was so odd for me.

Of course, they both got a prize. Milo a new sword and our friend a Buzz-light-thing. It was a very fun start to the holiday, but exhausting. Today I finally feel like my break has begun as I have nothing to do, still in my PJ's and the taste of anxiety and stress is starting to fade. ahhhh

Christmas Past

Can you read the date? 1985. I have had this ornament on a tree since I was 10 years old, but this year, Milo got a hold of it. "I springed it!" He said. hhahaha

Puss in Boots Hat

Auntie gave Milo a Puss and Boots hat for Halloween, but it wasn't quite right without the wide brim (don't worry Auntie, he loves that one too and wears it all over town). One day in the car, he asked me for my summer hat which I keep in the car trunk. I got it out, he and folded up the brim with, you guess it, one of my hair clips and now he can be Puss in Boots!
Here is Milo admiring his full sticker chart for nights slept in his own bed. L and I were sick of him coming in or bed and ruining our sleep. Now, he stays in his bed, and calls us in the night. That way, just one of us has a ruined night in his bed! It's not that bad; he has a queen bed and I can easily go back to sleep up there. The danger is if I miss my alarm, but I don't have to worry about that for the next three weeks!

Milo took this picture of me and Murphy.

Making Merry

Our friends came over last weekend to decorate gingerbread houses with us. I found a kit to make 5 little cottages, and thought that would be perfect for the boys to each do their own. At first, they did not, demanding a big house each. They got over it soon though and made a charming little village.

They could not wait to taste their creations. With a little cottage, you can pick up the whole thing to take a bite!
Of all the amazing cakes my friend has made, I think these were the most simple, but it was great to have her help and sense of humor that day.

Creative Milo

We are so proud of how creative and imaginative Milo is. He has a lot of toys, yes. But he is really creative with them- mixing genres and making new playthings that remind him of something he read in a book or saw in a movie. He didn't have a bow and arrow, so he made his own out of his sword and a rubber snake. My hair bands and clips play a big part in these creations. It's amazing what you can attach with a hair clip! As a result, I have been wearing my hair down a lot more lately :)
Murphy is often part of his plans. Here he is attaching some balloons to make Murphy a circus dog. How do you think Murphy felt about it?

His first bubble beard. Love it!

December

We started out the month with our friend's birthday. Sadly, it was a rainy, cold day. Fortunately, they just moved into a huge house, so we could all still come for the party. Milo enjoyed the craft of making a sword while the girls made wands. Look at this cake- my friend MADE this cake. Outrageous, right? It tasted as good as it looked. Yes, and those are cake pops beside that she MADE, and they were delicious too.

The Luxe and Why I love J. Austen

This summer, when I was visiting my sister, I was gushing about something regarding Jane Austen. K asked me why I loved her so much. I admitted I always had trouble putting it into words. I said I should probably read some literary criticism to tell me why I love her so much. Then I read this book- which is not at all like an Austen novel- but it gave me some clarity.

The Luxe is a historical young adult novel, which I LOVE. It's great to breeze though a book as an adult reader with all the context, history, vocabulary and period fashion already at my disposal, but also imagine I am a 7th grader reading a book that would probably be blowing my mind and heart.

The Luxe is a juicy, soap opera tale of love triangles and mean girls. The author seemed to have done her research about New York society at the turn of the 20th century with the industrial revolution bringing about the rise of the middle class. That is all very nice, but Henry is delicious. He's no Mr. Darcy, and of course, it's not England and a century earlier.What is book does is show you a time when social classes were breaking down. Upward mobility was truly possible with hard work and talent (sadly, unlike now) as you didn't have to do as your father or marry as your mother.

That's what I love about Jane Austen. She was saying the same thing- but she was a feminist a century ahead of her time when there were no feminists, no industrial revolution, no middle class. But she still said it: people should be free to follow their career dreams and and marry for love. Did they? No. Because there was no middle class and social mobility.This is why some people don't like Austen and what they perceive as her tiresome marriage plots that never extend beyond social class boundaries (except in some minor characters like Lucy Steele and Robert Ferrars). What do you expect from her? Do you want her to write a fantasy? She was writing about the time in which she lived. She was a feminist before it existed.

You (you, not me) can criticize her for always allowing the heroine to get the guy of noble birth. That's because her heroines gentleman's daughters. What I like about her is she still makes it against the odds. Marianne with Col. Brandon, Elinor with Edward, Elizabeth with Darcy, Fanny with Edmond. These were all unlikely pairs. All were from landed nobility but in different stages of wealth (that was the struggle). BUT that conflict is what I love most about her. What is she saying with that conflict? This match will be next to impossible. Not totally impossible- because they are of the same class- but everything else is against them. Love triumphs.

Sure I like the love story part a lot. But it's not why I love her. I love her because she's planting a seed that this social structure is about to crumble. That a love story like the Luxe will be possible in 90 years. I love that she shows us the idleness of wealth. How the wealthy don't get there on their own; there are casualties (best example Mansfield Park). And you can say No to all of it- which is what makes Elizabeth Bennet the most celebrated female character ever. Not because she gets Dreamy Darcy, but because she says No to Mr. Collins.

Funny that a fluff YA novel helped me sort all this out. The Luxe is awesome FYI. There is a series and going to be a movie. Will I watch it as many times as Pride and Prejudice? Impossible.I am sure there is some literary criticism that says all this. Too bad I never read it in undergrad. I was too busy reading the novels.

Breakfast with Buddha

This is a novel, but it reads like a self-help book. It's the journey of this 40-something man, who must make a long road trip with a guru following the death of both his parents. He leaves his wife and kids at home, and drives from NY to North Dakota and has a spiritual awakening along the way.

Kind of.

That's what's best about the book. He's on a literal journey in the car and a spiritual journey as well. Like most spiritual journeys, it's not over after the literal destination is reached. Spoiler alert: at the close of the novel, he has made some discoveries, but still full of questions. Isn't that how spiritual journeys are? Anytime someone claims to have it all spiritually/religiously figured out, I know they are full of crap. You know all about God's plan for the universe? Really?

Here are some parts of the book I liked:
Before he meets the guru, he was feeling low and confused about his role in the universe,
"Not free of family obligations, exactly- I loved being part of a family- but with fewer of the responsibilities of American middle-class suburban life. Fewer of the particular concerns and duties that are payment for the safest, richest, easiest lifestyle in human history." (p. 15)
Right? This is reminiscent of my last book post where the narrator realizes that she had lived most of her life without many real worries. I am continually trying to remind myself that I have very few worries also enjoying the safest, richest, easiest lifestyle.

The guru tried to explain meditation to the narrator:
"You want A-B-C like the alphabet, and two plus two make four. But you are asking about something so far past ordinary human thinking mind. How can I put those two things in an answer?" (p. 200)

The narrator spends a lot of time in the book defending his Anglo lifestyle and questioning the guru and his meditation. I like this example of what mediation feels like- it reminded me a lot of some passages in "Eat, Pray, Love."
"-then your mind clears like clear, clear water... you have a small waking-up... and after many small waking-ups we being to see the world the way Jesus sees it... That is the 'kingdom of heaven'."

It was ok. I'm not going to re-gift it as it was not amazing, but it is another example of why I love being in a book club. I would never have picked this book on my own, but I enjoyed reading it.

Helen of Pasadena

Man, I loved this book. You'll be lucky if it's you I choose to re-gift it. Dolan is a Pasadena resident and chose her town as the setting for this charming novel. The Q & A at the end of the book reveled she has plans for a trilogy- yeah! Never heard of her of the book? Me either, but the daughter of a book club member who works at Barnes and Noble in Pasadena found it on a "local authors" table. At Barnes and Noble! Who knew such a table still existed?

Basically it's a coming of age story for a woman in her 40's who has some really terrible things happen in her life and how she deals with them in the particular sub-culture of Pasadena.

In the past few years, I have really been trying to be more positive and grateful hoping it will make me more graceful. Noticed? Maybe not. It's a journey. I'm not there yet. Probably never will be, as I think it is against my nature. I have read little snippets in my silly ladies magazines that say you can train yourself to be positive even if you are negative. Reading books like these helps. I liked this part about worrying- something I am prone to do...

"Back then, I really had nothing to worry about.
I'd always suspected that my life was pretty stress-free, but now I knew for sure I had a good thing going. I used to actually worry about whether I was happy... What a luxury to worry about happiness." (Dolan, 83)

Right? I have nothing to worry about. I am writing this post on a computer in my cozy home, my healthy child is watching an educational program on digital cable, my healthy husband is going to make a surf and turf dinner for us and our friends. I will fall asleep in comfortable bed; I will wake up and go to a manageable job with decent pay and great health care.

I have a good thing going too.

Halloween

We spent Halloween night with our good friends in their lovely neighborhood. Milo and his buddy did a great job of running up to the doors, shouting, "Trick or Treat Happy Halloween!" and then a "Thank You" shout as they dashed away.

Stella was a parrot for Julian's pirate. Look at these guys; this is how these daddies wanted to rock trick or treating with fat stogies. It was ridiculous. I was just grateful Milo was so distracted by getting as much candy as he could that he didn't ask why Daddy was smoking. *sigh*

Trick or Treat

Auntie Kelly thought Murphy would make an adorable banana. He does! He did a great job posing for these pictures, but then he wanted to peel out of that thing!

Lyman and Milo carved this year's pumpkin together. I love that it is becoming a father/son tradition.
The day before Halloween, we went with friends to Boo at the Zoo. It was crazy and crowded, but a lot of fun. There was more candy, more pumpkins and lovely sunny, breezy weather.

Pumpkin Pinata

Our kids are getting pretty old for pinatas. They are so big and strong, we had to limit swings so all kids had a chance to hit it before it busted. We don't have a yard, so this is a special treat when we go to other parties.

Painted Bedroom

Here is the finished bedroom. I love this cool, restful color. Thanks April for the advice! That big blank wall will someday have L's guitars and basses hanging to save the floorspace.

Pumpkin Time

The past few weeks have flown by; we have been busy at work, school and enjoying all the fall activities. We started the season at a patch with Daddy. Milo was not afraid of this haunted corn field since the gate was closed.

It took him a few passes to get the nerve to stand by this grim reaper.

More bouncing.

My boys on the wagon ride.

Paint Job

This is neither before or after- but mid mess.

I wanted to paint the bedroom all summer, but that seemed to be a waste of vacation time doing a big, tough job. I need that time to lay on the couch and watch TV. So now, when no one has any free time, I decide to paint. Suffering from some delusion and amnesia, I thought I could paint my large bedroom all alone in one afternoon. This is how I left it, after four hours, to go on with my planned life. Thankfully, a pro could meet Lyman Monday and finish the job before I go home from work. I love the new color! I'll post an after picture sometime soon.