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.