In the morning

Here is Patrick with his favorite new toy and my fabulous slippers. Later, mom and I tortured Patrick by making him watch episodes of one of our favorite BBC mystery shows: Rosemary and Thyme. What a great day.

Holiday Tradition

Cheryll started a great new tradition of giving Owen a holiday book after dinner and having us all take turns reading it to him. It was hilarious because all references to Christmas became Hanukkah on my turn and Kwanzaa on Grandpa's turn. We were very multicultural!

Dinner

Here we are enjoying our dinner. Owen didn't quite make in through the whole thing, but isn't he cute!

Holiday House

If you haven't seen it lately, I thought I would post some pictures of my parents holiday extravaganza - yes, my dad puts up all those decorations and more.

Cooks at work

Here we are in the kitchen. For Hanukkah, Patrick bought me a professional knife skills class at a cooking school nearby. I can't wait to chop like the chefs on Food TV!

Sunday

Sunday, Patrick and Garrett went to the 49er game on the Party bus. The 49ers won and Patrick said it was a great example of really bad football. I told them to take picture, but they forgot. Typical! Here is a picture of Patrick's incredulous face later that evening. Garrett went our to get a pizza and this is what it looked like when he brought it in. We are still not sure what happened.

Gumbo

My dad's tradition is to make a Gumbo to eat on Christmas eve. He and I make it together since Patrick and Garrett are terrible cooks, Cheryll watches Owie and mom is busy baking, wrapping and attempting to clean up after us. This is my roux, the creole chicken and some veggies that go in the pot. About 12 hours later, here is the final product. Mmmmmm. I know it looks like to large vast of brown goo, but you can't knock it til you try it. (Everyone who has ever tasted it, Loves IT!!)

Cookies from Wisconsin

Patrick's mom, aunt and sister made cookies one weekend and sent us a bunch to enjoy over vacation. We took them to Sacramento to share with the family. My favorites were the coconut and chocolate chip!

Cookies

This weekend, I started my holiday baking and Patrick had a cold so he was no help. (Although he did build cozy fires at night.) I am giving out cookies to my co-workers so I slaved over the stove for three days and here are some of the fruits of my labor. We also went to a Christmas party at a friend's house in Sausalito. They have a house in the hills that overlooks the city and the bay, lucky dogs! Last, I tried to work on my gift shopping, but after four hours of fighting the crowds, I only had one boring thing for Patrick. Patrick pretended like he wanted a list of gift ideas from me, but we all know he never sticks to the list so I refused. (He likes to come up with his own original ideas. I only have a week left, so send us some good shopping vibes.

Owie Bear's 1st Christmas

How cute is my nephew?! This is a preview from JCPenney portraits, where he gets his picture taken every month. This picture is being posted in order to celebrate his first few times sleeping through the night. Garrett and Cheryll are thrilled and not as exhausted. Hooray!

Bye Bye Baby

Our little two-year-old is being adopted by an awesome couple! He is leaving us this weekend and moving into his permanent home. There are a lot more court dates and hearings before anything is complete, but he has a chance a for great life! We are so excited for him and a little sad that he is leaving us. In honor of his departure, here he is running away from me for the last time.

The Tree

Patrick has been bugging me to go to a cut your own tree farm for years. He is such a good sport about Hanukkah, that I gave in this year. It just so happens that there is a cut your tree lot about five minutes from our house, so we went on Saturday. Patrick tromped all over the five acres with me running behind him carrying the ax. He cut down the tree and carried it back to the car. Very exciting. He was a little disappointed that there weren't any Blue Spruce trees, but he thinks his choice is, and I quote, "Very Friendly!" On Sunday, he put up a few lights on our back fence and walkway and I decorated his tree. Here it is done and lit up.

Ornament

So here is our first family ornament from Apple Hill.

So you think you can dance

Patrick and I love to watch this TV show called So You Think You Can Dance. We critique the dancers (and occasionally dance along in our family room.) Anyway, over Thanksgiving, the traveling show from Season 3 came to Sacramento and my mom got us tickets. Here is the clan on the way to the show. It wasn't until we were in the car that Garrett and Cheryll realized, much to their dismay, that we were not going to see Dancing with the Stars, which is their favorite dance show. Needless to say, nobody really liked it but us. I think they appreciated the skills, but there was too much wacky modern dance and lyrical routine. For me, it was fabulous. In my next life I am coming back as a singer and dancer! Here is a picture of Neil, my favorite dancer. He reminds me of Patrick - blonde hair, blue eyes, skinny and cheesy.