A Challenge!

To all of you, whether you're excited about Christmas or feeling totally blah about it, I urge you to watch this. And when you watch this, I want you to mimic each and every character. Then pick your favorite. And for those of you who are feeling somewhat Scrooge-ish right now, I want you to watch this and honestly tell me that you hate Christmas.



It's a lot harder than you think, right?

I know it's easy to say Snoopy wins this one because he's SNOOPY. And OBVIOUSLY. But check out Freida! She has the MOVES.

Transit Tuesday - Vol II or How I Almost Lost My Head

You can see last week's post here.

I generally work until 6 or 7 in the evening. The main bus I take at this time is a Sound Transit bus, which are far nicer than Metro's carriages. The plush seats recline, each seat has its own individual reading light, there are overhead compartments for storage, the bus driver dims the lights in the evening to keep everyone relaxed. It's almost like being on an airplane. Almost.

When the lights are dimmed, the running lights come on. For whatever dumb reason, these lights are red, giving everyone on the bus an eerie, macabre glow. So I'm riding home this evening, listening to some pretty dark, heavy music and I'm looking around at everyone's blood red faces and I'm reminded of this story. Grrrrrreaaaaat. I start looking around at all the people on the bus, wondering who's going to get out of their seat and shoot up the whole bus, or which one of us is going to get our head chopped off first.

There's crazy tweaker guy who's drumming on his knees and cannot for the life of him sit still, but it's probably not him. Could it be the mousy middle aged lady across the aisle from me? Nah, she couldn't snap a toothpick in half, let alone someone's neck. Or is it totally normal, almost good looking guy in his designer jeans sitting in the corner reading his Rolling Stone? Yep. Pretty sure he's our guy. I kept my eyes on him for the rest of the bus ride, but without, you know, STARING at him. I perfected my peripheral spying technique long ago.

Maybe I need to stop listening to depressing music on the bus.

The Best Way To Spread Christmas Cheer...

This year, I participated in Hillary's first annual Christmas Card Exchange! I hope it becomes a yearly event because I love stuff like this.

I received my card in the mail today from none other than Hillary's blogless sister! It brightened my day! I'm trying to upload a picture but Blogger is being a little bitch and taking forever. I'll add one later, hopefully.

So, thank you Hillary's sister! (I don't want to say your name without your permission...) I'm only a couple hours away from you gals so next time I'm in Vancouver, we're all getting beers and poutine. And next time you're in Seattle, we'll totally go see an awesome show together.

On another note, today is the winter solstice, which means that the days are getting longer again. That's awesome and all, but it doesn't make up for the fact that we will still be shrouded in GRAY AND RAIN AND I HATE MY LIFE for the next 5 months. But at least it's something.

Strings Of Street Lights, Even Stoplights, Blink A Bright Red And Green

I'm fully into Christmas mode. I felt it a bit at first right after Thanksgiving, but then got caught up in other things and sort of forgot about it. But now I'm BACK and here's what I've been up to:

Listening to A LOT of Christmas music. This is quite possibly my all time favorite Christmas album:


I was raised on a lot of folk music, especially John Denver. I literally cried every day for like 2 weeks when he died. And this Christmas album makes me feel all homey and cozy and happy. It reminds me of the house in which we lived for most of my childhood. The whole main floor had really high, vaulted ceilings and we always had really tall trees with lots of lights. I always loved turning on this album, turning out the lights and sitting in the glow of the Christmas tree.


Spending lots of wonderful time with my family. It's been so much fun having my niece and nephew here. The wonder of Christmas is lost on my 6 month old nephew, but seeing Christmas through the eyes of my 2 1/2 year old niece has brought all of us so much joy. We wrote a letter to Santa last weekend and my brother wrote a letter FROM Santa and sent it to her. He crumpled the paper and slightly burned the edges so it looked like old parchment paper. She thought it was the coolest thing.


We also had a party at my mom's house on Saturday night. Someone had given her a booklet of temporary tattoos and all of the almost 30 people left the party with at least 2 tats. One of the funniest things all night was when The Scientist and I first arrived and the first thing she said to me was "Auntie Stephanie, look at my sexy sailor (said with her adorable 2 year old lisp)!" she had a sailor tattoo on her hand. I about died.


Last weekend I did a bit of Christmas shopping and attended delightful ornament exchange hosted by my sister-in-law. It was a ladies only get together and we had a wonderful time! All of the ornaments we exchanged were interesting and unique, and I ended up with a gorgeous handmade glass ornament (I haven't been able to get a good picture of it, otherwise I would post it). It was a relaxing afternoon of Christmas cheer, this:



If you didn't click the link, these are mini cans of sparkling wine from the Coppola winery. Absolutely perfect for an event like this, or a ladies lunch, a baby or bridal shower, or really any time since they're so perfect and individually sized!

And these:


After the ornament exchange, we had a super fun family dinner with pizza and a few presents for Emily and Jack.

Emily was very excited for her new warm jacket! She has been FREEZING since visiting here from Hawaii and they'll be moving back east to the DC area in February, so a warm winter coat is definitely called for!



Jack may only be 6 months old, but he knows a good present when he sees one.




I did some Christmas shopping this afternoon while The Scientist stayed home sick (I picked up a few cans of both tomato and chicken noodle soup for him). I've always enjoyed Christmas shopping. It has never stressed me out the way it does other people, and I think it's because when I do go shopping, I go when I have plenty of time. I don't mind the crowds, I don't mind waiting in long lines, and I love listening to the Christmas music and seeing all the fun decorations and cool gift ideas that are on display. And for the most part, shoppers and retail employees seem to be in a generally good mood. I like getting caught up in the hustle and bustle of it all. I definitely appreciate the convenience of online shopping, but I've found that the years when I did all my shopping online, I kind of missed out on the whole season.

So my advice to everyone, especially during these last few days before Christmas, is to just surrender yourself to the season! Take a few moments to enjoy the sights and sounds of the holidays. Turn on your favorite Christmas song, grab yourself a tasty holiday beverage or snack, and let go of all the stress and just ENJOY this wonderful time of year!

For those of you who've been blasted by the winter storm in the East, stay warm and safe and know that you're in my thoughts!

Holiday Tidbits

I'm stealing this questionairre from this delightful gal.

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate:
Egg nog most definitely. With whiskey, rum or Tuaca. I don't really like hot chocolate that much, but the peppermint schnapps make is slightly more tolerable.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
Ok, guys. I believed in Santa Claus, like COMPLETELY BELIEVED IN HIM, until I was almost thirteen. THIRTEEN. Why? Because my mom is a genius. She had a whole secret stash of wrapping paper for the "Santa" presents that she probably hid under the hood of her car or something so we wouldn't find it. She also created a special Santa handwriting to write on the tags of the Santa gifts. The font was full of curlycues and whimsy. She also left all kinds of messy crumbs from the cookies we left, and she would leave scraps of half-eaten apples and carrots strewn all over the lawn. Because reindeer are sloppy eaters.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
TWENTY FIVE THOUSAND IMPORTED ITALIAN TWINKLE LIGHTS! That's all I have to say about that.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
I never have, but I do take advantage of it whenever the opportunity arises.

5. When do you put your decorations up?
Usually immediately after the last bite of pumpkin pie has been devoured on Thanksgiving Day.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish?
Our family and another family have a Christmas Eve tradition. We do a southwestern theme. We get tamales from a local ethnic market that are TO DIE FOR.

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child?
I don't have any one particular memory. I mostly just loved the anticipation that would build throughout the season. It seemed so much more intense as a child.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
See number 2. It took me awhile.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
Yes, we each open ONE!

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
I put tons and tons of lights on. Then I put silver and blue balls (there is no way I can say that without giggling) all over. Then I hang all of my keepsake ornaments. I collect ornaments from every place I visit, and my mom usually gets us a special ornament each year, and I usually attend at least one ornament exchange every year, so I have a really fun collection of ornaments that are really special to me.

11. Snow. Love it or dread it?
Love it. We don't get a lot of snow here, but last year when the winter snowstorm from hell came to Seattle, I was in SWEET HEAVEN.

12. Can you ice skate?
Yeah, I'm fairly decent at it. I haven't ice skated in several years, though. I'm probably a bit wobbly.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift ever?
I got my first camera in 8th grade. I took more pictures on that camera than I have taken in my entire life. I LOVED that thing. I loved buying film, I loved dropping my film off to get developed, I loved the torture of waiting the 2 or 3 days for them to be developed (until I discovered 1 hour photo at Costco).

14. What's the most important thing about the holidays for you?
That wonderful warm fuzzy feeling. You know, from the schnapps.

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert?
My mom makes the most amazing shortbread. I could eat my weight in that stuff. EASILY.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Watching Home Alone 200 times.

17. What tops your tree?
I don't actually have a decent tree topper...

18. Do you prefer giving or receiving?
Oh, please. Who doesn't love receiving presents wrapped in pretty Christmas paper? But I do love finding special presents for my favorite people and seeing their reaction when they open them.

19. Candy canes: Yuck or yum?
YUM!

20. Favorite Christmas show?
See number 16

21. Saddest Christmas song?
Baby, It's Cold Outside. Um, HELLO date rape! A Christmas song about a guy slipping quaaludes into some chick's drink so she'll spend the night? LOSER.

22. What is your favorite Christmas song?
How much time do you have?

Transit Tuesday

As most of you probably know from experience, riding public transportation can be quite the...experience. There are crazy people, funny people, cute people, annoying people, interesting people. You name it, it's on the bus.

A few examples:

• One of my regular bus drivers frequently forgets his route. He misses stops, constantly looks at the schedule, and often forgets if he's heading into Seattle or out of it. If he wasn't so darn sweet it would drive people nuts, but we all love him.

• I frequently see a woman on the bus who assists developmentally disabled young adults. Most of the people with her are pretty highly functional, but just need a little extra help. Some have Down's Syndrome, some have mild CP, and some have some form of disability that requires them to have supervision. I love watching this woman interact with her "kids" because she clearly loves her job. She is firm, but kind (and all those children, heaven bless them, they will look up to me...if you get that reference you're a winner) and treats these people like she would anyone else. It warms my heart to know there are people like her in the world.

• I had a guy on my bus this evening who was lost. He clearly thought the bus was his yoga studio and proceeded to do his entire yoga circuit on our ride home. I have no idea.
  

• Another one of my regular bus drivers looks like Jim Gaffigan. I keep waiting for him to offer me a Hot Pocket.

• Yesterday morning an old man, who didn't speak a lick of English, charmed our entire bus with his whistling rendition of Sleigh Ride.

• This past Saturday, The Scientist and I rode the bus into Seattle to get our hairs cut. The bus that takes us to Seattle travels through a sketchy part of town. For those of you Seattleites who read this, I'm talking about the stretch of Lake City Way between 145th and 125th. At one point, a very interesting looking woman got on the bus with her son. Her face was covered with tattoo patterns and piercings, like something you would see in a National Geographic spread about all the tribes in Africa. She was screaming at her son, screaming at the bus driver, and screaming at everyone else on the bus. In another language. Then she proceeded to stick her fingers up her nose and move her nose piercings around until she found whatever it was she was looking for, then wiped it on the seat.
  

I occasionally miss my daily commute, alone in my car, with either NPR or bad pop music blasting, but I don't miss sitting in traffic, screaming at the car in front of me using words that even a sailor rarely utters, worrying every day that I'm going to die of a hypertension induced heart attack. Also? The bus is a great place for a nap.

Making The Right Choice

I have had a cream colored winter wool coat for the past 3? Maybe 4? winters, and I loved it. It kept me warm, it was pretty, I could dress it up or down, but I wore it WAAAAAAAY beyond the normal life expectancy of a white clothing item. I finally gave it up at the end of last winter when I realized it was looking more brown than white.

The last time I wore that coat was probably in March, maybe April, and I figured I had plenty of time to find a new coat before winter was upon us again. But even through last week's below freezing temperatures I still found myself wearing my thin trench coat, which is really only designed for mild spring/fall weather, at best. I. WAS. FREEZING.

This past weekend I made the single greatest purchase of my entire life. This is not the exact coat, but it's almost identical. And mine is a purple-ish blue. In some light it looks purple, in other light it looks Navy blue. It's purdy. And oh my god is it ever WARM.



Best part about it? It only cost me 20 buckaroos at Ross.