Christmas 2007

Hey ya'll! Hope everyone had a great Christmas and a wonderful weekend! In the words of Frank the Tank, "I had an AWESOME time!!!" Yeah, yeah, yeah, there was the occasional gripe and snipe that goes along with such a busy, stress inducing time of year, but in the end everything works out as usual.

I am still recovering from a CRAZY five day weekend. Well, actually, my “weekend” started on Thursday with the Poinsettia Bowl Game. After that it was fun-filled, energy driven, crazed, delirious and happy MADNESS consisting of…. :

Trying relentlessly over and over to get the perfect Christmas photo of our boys, but inevitably Milo or Achilles would move, or rollover for belly rubs, or something, or another...they just wouldn't sit still! :-)...;


Little Sister ‘S’ flying into town Friday night and I couldn’t have been happier;

Little Sister ‘K’ joining us for Christmas dinner which was wonderful;

Drama unfolding as all three KBL sisters burst into tears at once and poor Ed stood stunned and disoriented, stuck in the midst of the sibling chaos (we all laughed about it later of course);

A certain little sister S deciding at the ELEVENTH hour that a full turkey dinner was in order for Christmas Eve EVEN THOUGH she wouldn’t be at the dinner table since she had to attend a Christmas play…she wanted to be able to come home to the leftovers instead…(seriously!);

Having to troll around to NINE DIFFERENT Vons grocery stores on the busiest weekends of the year looking for frozen, boneless Butterball Turkey Breasts because S and Ed do not eat "meat on the bone"...what a cluster fuck that adventure turned out to be!;

Both little sisters acting silly and "ghetto" in their hair rollers, velour loungers and Wayfarers;

Shopping and waiting in line for hours and hours at 5 different grocery stores for holiday food;

Shopped and waiting in line for hours and hours at 9 specialty stores for all the rest of the crap;

Not having enough time to take our Golden boys to the dog park on Christmas Day because we were swamped with last minute preparations…(I wanted to hand out doggie treat bags to our dog park buddies);

Not having time to make Achilles and Milo a Christmas gift “bag” to tear into, so Papa Bear Ed roasted them their very own Butterball turkey breast for them instead (I ended up finding the last four of those damned turkeys in the entire f*ckin' county at the Point Loma Vons!);

Milo not looking too worried that he didn't get a treat bag...happy polar bear Milo...I love the way he crosses his arms like a noble dignitary;

Festivities and laughter as we met our much loved friends out for holiday libations and merriment;


Piles of laundry having to be shoved into our bedroom, hidden from the guests’ view, because we didn’t get it done in the week prior to Christmas craziness…seriously, there is laundry EVERYWHERE!;

Not having time to open Christmas presents until after our Christmas dinner and after our guests had left;

Enjoying the sight of my Golden boys with their Auntie S, especially Milo the "gift-wrapping-helper-Elf";
No less than 5 “test runs” of dessert recipes;

Scorching one batch of gourmet chocolate chip cookies;

Having the second batch turn into one giant melted cookie on the sheet (WTF!?!?);

Exploding strawberry mascarpone filled cupcakes;

Still eating leftover cupcakes from the Poinsettia Bowl AND from the Christmas dessert table!;

Hand dipping chocolate strawberries…cleaning up the mess afterwards was a frickin’ chore and a half;
Having my Belov-ED, my fabulous friends and at least two of my beautiful sisters with me at Christmas dinner (I'm praying next year sister #3 will be with us...);

Watching my precious Golden babies napping on Christmas Eve afternoon while music played and we cooked holiday goodies...I just love how Achilles folds his little paws that way...sweet boys of my heart...mommy loves you both so much...;
Standing on my feet in the kitchen from Wednesday to Christmas day baking, cooking, sautéing, roasting, tasting, washing, cleaning, dicing, prepping, arranging, glazing, measuring, dipping, drying, putting away, bringing down, taking out, sliding over, YOU NAME IT! (If it weren’t for my sisters’ help, I would have been up all Christmas Eve just completing the appetizer table. Thank you K & S!!! I love you girls!!!);

Preparing and cooking 5 lasagnas (2 Meaty Man-sagnas, 2 spinach & portobella, 1 with grilled shrimp and scallops) because we thought we were going to have 15 people over for Christmas dinner;

Having two WHOLE lasagnas still leftover and sharing them with our adorable friends;

Loving the fact that Achilles had to be in every picture involving the Christmas dinner table...see if you can find him in this picture below! It cracks me up every freakin' time!!! LOL!;

Attending midnight mass with my beloved Catholic and praying to Allah for the health and happiness of those I love with me now, and honoring the memory of my loves long gone...;

Having Frank the Tank over for Christmas Eve dinner, running around with glee, sniffing and peeing on everything in the backyard...all the dogs of our lives....ha!!!;

Coming to terms with fact that Achilles is obsessive compulsive about food, so if I can't find him at the dinner table peeking around hoping for a morsel to land on his tongue, then he'll surely be in the kitchen patiently waiting (even if it is for HOURS) for a treat or two to magically make its way over to him; Having Adriana's beautiful girl, Allie, over for Christmas dinner...continuation of all the dogs of our lives!...she is such a good girl and played so well with Achilles and Milo, I love that she is part of my memories of Christmas 2007;
Seeing Achilles' dismay that he had to share his food watching perch with yet another fellow canine (I wonder if Jackson had a good Christmas?)....but, never fear because we made sure to have more than enough treats and good stuff for all the doggies of our lives!;
Taking pictures of my Golden babies, crashed out and sleeping hard on Christmas night after a very long weekend of activity and food and food and food and food and food...;

Opening Christmas gifts at 10 at night to find the most beautiful silver locket from my future mother-in-law...it has a picture of Ed in it from when he was 3 months old...I haven't really gone into much detail about it my dear Blogistan, but it hasn't been a very easy few months with our mothers and this gift means more to me than anyone will ever know or understand...I'm crying again right now just thinking of it...it's a beautiful locket...I love it;

Receiving a handmade crystal necklace, earrings and bracelet set from Ed's sister, AL, and a Swarovski crystal star ornament from my little triplet niece and nephews to be...crying because I felt the love of these gifts deep in my belly....crying because I don't have these moments with Ari and Laila...;

Accepting a one-of-a-kind beautiful metal mobile sculpture as a Christmas gift from Lynne, Amos and Katie…our first ever, very own Famos art...this picture does NOT do it any justice so I'll have to post another along with Amos' tremendous talent showing through all of his other artwork;
Being spoiled yet again by my Belov-ED with wonderful gifts...I demanded a budget limit on gifts because I have been spoiled this entire year with a laptop, vacations, sports, games, the ONE RING, and most importantly, his love, affection and unwavering support...I didn't want or need anything material for Christmas...but I love my MP3 anyway and I love that he loves me!!!...;

I hope that everyone had a great holiday weekend. Laughter, tears, love, food, work, friends and family....it was all beautiful and I'm still floating in its afterglow....