Christmas Cheer :)

For those of you who care or took notice, I apologize for being MIA this past week. I was making a diligent effort to post at least once a week, but finals, work and travel home for the holidays somehow got in the way.

Let me start by saying, I am THRILLED to be done with classes for the semester. I am loving sitting at home in my living room in Maine, watching Despicable Me and thinking about making peppermint brownies. I love that this week I will get to see lots of family and friends and fa la la la la around town. I feel like being away from these people and working hard make downtime and conversation with them that much more meaningful.

For a weekly recap, I took Chris to the airport Friday to go visit his family in LA. I went home after that, had a glass of wine and read O magazine (guilty pleasure... but I like those tips on living your best life). I went to bed early that night as I needed to be up at 3:45 am on Saturday to get to the airport in time for my flight.

My lovely former roommates picked me up at 8:30 am in Boston and we went back to my old apartment for a yummy breakfast. A few hours of digestion later, Melissa and I went with our friend Krista to visit another friend in the hospital. It was great to feel the love of all those people and laugh (real belly laughter). Saturday night we participated in a 12 Days of Christmas pub crawl around Somerville and had such a blast!!!! People were out in full Santa costumes, drinking and merry. At three am, after a night of festive drinks and dancing, I found myself on the futon with some chinese food and trashy TV. PERFECT :) May I suggest, as a fun drink, the poinsettia? Cranberry juice and champagne. Easy, delicious, and full of Christmas cheer!

Sunday, Kristen and I headed home to Maine and spent time catching up with the fam. Then yesterday, after a few errands and a lunch date with Kristen, I headed home and watched the snowstorm start. Tara and I attempted to drive in it for a dinner date with mom, aunt and friend, but ohhh was that a bad idea. We made it home safely, but I have never felt more anxious driving. Could barely see a foot in front of me!

Today I tried to be a bit more productive and finish a goal statement for one of my schools and then had lunch and coffee with Dad. We had a great long talk about being happy, knowing yourself and your passions, learning how to compromise and how to stick to your guns, etc. It was one of those great talks I'll probably always remember and that shed a lot of light in my mind about what I'm doing and why. I particularly liked his emphasis on understanding that pushing yourself and letting your passions help drive you is incredibly good for the heart and soul but that it doesn't mean it's always easy or clear cut. That hurdles happen, paths change, and people change but to take each day in stride and stop and think about what you're doing and why whenever you have a doubt. If you can see the big picture and think, "Yes, this is what I want for myself and my life," then you pick yourself up and take each success or failure for what it is and forge on. To never feel trapped because you are never trapped. And to be keenly aware of the future and what you need to do get there without losing the joy and memory making of the present moment. Thanks for that, Dad!

So here I sit now, thinking about some of my favorite memories of this past holiday season and ones from when I was little...here are a few for your reading pleasure:

1) Christmas time, age... ohhhh 6? Going to the Boston Museum of Science with all my cousins on Dad's side. I don't remember a THING about the museum, but I remember driving in the car with my Dad and Kristen and listening to Silver Bells. I also remember lunch at some big restaurant with all my cousins after the museum visit and listening to Christmas music and laughing a lot.

2) Hearing the Carpenter's Christmas Portrait album every year for as long as I can remember. It is absolutely home.

3) The tree lighting in Scarborough the year that Mer fell and twisted her ankle as we left. Not fun for Mer, but man was it a good tree lighting :)

4) Age 10, staying up ALL NIGHT reading Calico Captive in my bunk bed with a flashlight because I was too excited to sleep. All I wanted that year was a Super Sender Diary (essentially a very primitive version of texting). AND I GOT IT.

5) Working at the soup kitchen with my 7th grade class a week before Christmas. And having a homeless man tell me to remember that on Christmas day, when I was with my family and warm and happy, to remember that I put a smile on a man's face who had had the hardest year in his life. I will never forget him.

6) Last minute Christmas shopping and getting dragged around with Dad all over creation when I was about 5 or 6. He used to travel around the state a lot for work (I think he was in sales?) and I somehow ended up in the car with him a whole bunch. I'm sure I complained about that a lot at the time but I still remember running around and hearing the Christmas music.

7) The year I was a tiny peanut and helped drag a Christmas tree home in the snow from the Deering Oaks. I'm sure I didn't help much. But I look at the picture and laugh everytime.

8) Age 14, when Noelle appeared around the corner as a tiny puppy with a Santa hat on and I cried because I had asked for a dog every year for as long as I could remember.
9) The times Mom, Kristen, Tara and I baked about a billion different types of cookies and gave them out to the whole neighborhood.

10) Christmas pageants in elementary school.

11) Watching Christmas Vacation and ice skating on the pond at night with the Grottons.

12) Christmas PJs, every year
13) Mini meatballs on Christmas Eve

14) Christmases at Nanny and Grampy's

15) Holiday parties in high school at Jen's

16) The year I got Suzy Snapshot and Baby Feels So Real (which later served as Baby Jesus in the church pageant)

17) Old Port Christmas shopping sophomore year- hot cocoa and running around in the freezing cold, in and out of festively stores in Portland

18) Building ENORMOUS snow forts outside that we thought we could sleep in (they were seriously awesome)

19) Driving around looking at Christmas lights

20) Christmas Caroling with my roommates last year (and basically all Christmas Caroling in middle and high school)

21) Holiday wish-a-thons with Make-A-Wish

22) The year Santa came in a firetruck around the neighborhood and passed out toys. Prior to that, we were watching some Angela Lansbury Christmas movie on a tiny tv with no cable in my bedroom and I loved it.

23) 24-hour Christmas Story marathons with Mimi

24) The snow day we had one year where we spent the day watching the Saved By the Bell and Brady Brunch Christmas specials

25) Hearing, you may NOT get up until 5 am, girls. BACK TO BED!

26) Singing Silent Night in the nook with Nanny

27) Coming home from Argentina after 5 months away to my mom, dad and Grampy wearing Santa Hats at the Airport. And Grampy singing Feliz Navidad :)

28) Writing and performing a Christmas play for the pediatric ward at the Children's Hospital with my sisters and friends in the 8th grade and delivering toys to the patients.

29) Last Christmas for a variety of reasons

30) This Christmas and feeling like a grown up with Chris- decorating our REAL tree hanging stockings and cursing trying to fit the tree stump in the stand, hehehe :) And then making Christmas cookies for our families. Here is some photographic evidence:

I can only hope that when I have my own little munchkins someday, that their christmases feel just as magical as mine did and do :)

Merry Christmas, everyone! Much love!