Twelve Days Of Christmas

Though I could really give a hoot whether the cashier at Target greets me with "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas," I very strongly feel that Christmas should be celebrated through the traditional twelve days, starting on the 25th of December and lasting through January 6th, the Epiphany, when the Three Kings come to fill the good kids' shoes with presents! That's what we do here, though I will start taking some of the decorations down tomorrow.

And coincidentally, I think we're on the seventh day of Hanukkah and the sixth day of Kwanzaa. Happy Holidays!

Going to TREB and M's tonight for a party of mostly the Las Madres/soccer/poker crowd. Should be very fun. Treb's name is deliberately spelled out here contrary to my usual policy since I have his explicit permission to do so -- apparently he likes the publicity. :-)

Happy New Year, y'all!

Deep Thoughts

I have not done a thing all day. J is with her dad and I don't have to go to work until Monday (though I will probably go in this weekend to be ready).

Now that I have thoroughly vegetated the day away, am puttering around the house: paying bills, writing thank-you's, folding laundry, and plotting out my life for 2006. A new friend, S, is running for city council and I have said I will help with his campaign, but what that really means I'm not sure. Of course, it's in my nature to take things like this on and over, but I am restraining myself for several reasons chief among them: one, I am already plenty busy, and two, I don't want to be supporting a loser (which is not to say that he's a loser, but he's clearly not the front-runner).

We'll see what happens. 2006 should be pretty exciting, and hopefully healthy and happy for everyone in my life.

Peace On Earth

This is the dome of the downtown basilica. The weather is gorgeous today, like at least 60 degrees. I am mostly in the kitchen getting ready for tonight and tomorrow.

Tree Theme

It was a day full of Christmas trees.

We hung out with the college friends (you know, the ones who are usually saving the planet) and their kids who made these:


After dinner, we walked through Christmas in the Park. Here is a shot of my favorite tree there:


And here is the Elks' tree:


Before heading home, I got my annual churro and Mexican hot chocolate from the vendor in the park. They fry the churros fresh there in giant barrels of oil -- so much better than the reheated ones you find elsewhere.

Holiday Stress

Okay, who bought all the Tomagotchi's off Amazon?

When we were in NYC this past summer, there were two barrelfuls of Tomagotchi's in the giant Toys "R" Us in Times Square. I had the idea of stockpiling then, but didn't follow through thinking it a big hassle. Now, however. . .

Skating In the NYT

There was a great article about figure skating in yesterday's NYT Magazine. Here's the link.

While I was down at the rink today shopping for Christmas skates for J, I checked out the ice dancing session then happening and lo, Klimova herself was on the ice coaching her proteges. Now I mentioned a while back, I am no fan of ice dancing, but do love this skater. She is still gorgeous.

Old Town

Here's one last picture from our trip last month. This is the Old Town, posted 'specially for P, a colleague who took off for Mazatlan just today.

Happy Festivus!

This link from the Onion cracked me up. The Judge Reinhardt mentioned in the article is the one who declared "under God" in the Pledge unconstitutional a couple of years ago.

Too funny!

Christmas Cheer And Nothing Else

My mom's high school group sent along info about this guy, Carlos Celdran (a blogger blogger!), who apparently is a big hit in Manila. He does tours of the city which sound like fantastic fun.

Am sick now (finally) with a little cold. Very nearly lost my voice yesterday. Luckily, school is out for me but not yet for J. She has to go until next Wednesday.

Ironically, while wrapping and relaxing in my house, I've been watching the most horrific movies. Examples of some recent titles: Arthur, Revenge of the Sith, and Alexander -- so much for the coming of the Prince of Peace.

Did not take pictures last weekend at the outdoor rink 'cause we were too busy! J now loves to skate and I couldn't be prouder -- a chip of the old block! I am getting her skates for Christmas.

3-Party Weekend

It has been an interesting weekend with lots of socializing. The work party two nights ago was a ton of fun. I have newfound respect for one of my male colleagues, a third grade teacher, as his karaoke version of Barry White "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Baby" was to die for!

Right now we are going skating at the downtown rink. I'll see if I can take some pictures.

Holiday Party

I'll soon be on my way to a holiday party -- one for work.

Love this scene with Colin Firth from the first Bridget Jones movie. It's the one where she's describing how many dorks she meets.

True Blue Connecticut

Remember this past summer when I went in search of the President at Yale? Well, someone from back in those parts sent me this picture:

Next time I go, I'll have to look for his actual birthplace.

El Toro de Gringo

While in Mazatlan, we went to a dinner show ("fiesta") with some audience participation. I just had to take a picture of this guy from the Bay Area (complete with Birkenstocks), traveling with his parents. To everyone's amusement, he was completely lit!

Holiday Madness

It's in times like this, my good friend, J, a therapist, would say, *GIVE INTO THE CHAOS.*

It's been less than a week and I am already cursing the Advent calendar because of how crazed it makes my dear, sweet child. She gets obsessed with setting it up, pulling out the ornament for each day, hanging in on the little tree, etc., to the point we can hardly focus on much else. Really!

The problem with Christmas is that you have to do everything in addition to it -- it would be much better if everything else would just stop so we could focus only on the shopping, the holiday get-togethers, the muzak, and oh yeah, maybe the spiritual stuff too.

I think online shopping is by far the best thing invented. I do Amazon and L.L. Bean big time (free shipping with the latter).

FYI, if you want a totally over-the-top, commercial Christmas, go to Disneyland between Christmas and New Year's. We've done that a couple of years, with family friends even, so it's a blast (but don't forget your Visa).

Desde La Pulmonia

In Mazatlan, they have open-air taxis called "pulmonias," which is the Spanish word for "pneumonia." I took this picture on the way back from the Old Town.

Mexican Silver

I wasn't able to swim as much as I would have wanted to.

Vista de la Ventana

No me acuerdo el nombre de la isla. . . creo que sea la Isla del Lobo.