Karaoke Christmas Eve Style

I had a fun Christmas Eve with my family in Albuquerque. We had our usual Christmas Eve dinner at my Aunt Patti's where I brought a very tasty corn casserole! The evening continued on with majority of us joining in singing and playing a Karaoke version of guitar hero. It was a great time. My little 12 year old second cousin Riley, who I am very close to, sang "Hotel California" and "Crazy Train". He is quite the little man. It was a lovely addition to what has become our ever changing traditions.

Riley~singing like the rock star he is

The family jammin' out

Son and Dad~Riley learns from the BEST!

Rock on!

Blue Tree

So I mentioned here to take notice of the blue tree in my Mom's Christmas decorations, and I also mentioned that my color of a Christmas tree is blue. Well my friend Shaun, who I didn't even really know read my blog, well he read my blog, and got me a blue Christmas tree for Christmas. I really had to put the pieces together, because at first I didn't get it. I was thinking "why would he get me a blue Christmas tree?" The actual tree he spray painted, and at first I thought it was a reference to blue balls-not too sure why, but really that is what I thought. He kept asking me "haven't you always wanted a blue Christmas tree?" So anyways now I have a blue Christmas tree. I think it is very pretty! And I love how he incorporated my blog into getting me a gift, how cool is that?!

...more Christmas time stories coming.

A favorite moment from my Past

I just asked my Mom the moment I learned Santa Claus wasn't real. She doesn't remember, and neither do I. But I do remember a moment when I found myself believing in Santa even though I knew he wasn't real. I think I usually forget about this moment, but remember it every year when I am back in my parents house at Christmas time, ....like how I am now.

One year my Grandpa Egan was staying with us. I think I was 9 or 10. (Grandpa Egan passed away when I was 11.) And my parents and I had our own little mailboxes on the outside of our bedroom doors-a craft project that I made at school-I thought they were SO cool! (i used to rush to the mailbox everyday and distribute the mail to the appropriate mailboxes.) Anyways, even after I found out Santa wasn't real, I would leave him a little note, some cookies and milk. I always got a note back, ...in my mother's hand writing. But it was fun to do. Well the year my Grandpa was staying with us was no different. I left out the note, milk, and cookies. Well when Christmas morning came, I went to the fireplace to see what "Santa" wrote, and it wasn't my mom's handwriting. It looked like an old man's handwriting, it looked like Santa Claus' handwriting. I was freaking out!!! I truly at that point in time thought "maybe Santa is real, and this year he came to my house". ...i used to think that Santa would never have time to travel the whole globe every year, so I thought maybe he did regions-and that year was the year we came to New Mexico. I was so excited. But of course still had my doubts, I asked my mom over and over how did you do this? where did this come from? well it was my Grandpa Egan who wrote the letter. It was such a special moment, that I know I will never forget.

My parents have a scanner, but I can't figure out how to work it. I have a bunch of pictures of my Grandpa Egan, some with his hand writing on them, and I wish I could scan them so you could see, but I don't know how. Oh well. (seriously just spent like 30 minutes trying to figure it out.)

Christmas Decorations

My Christmas Tree in front of the bay windowChristmas decorations on top of my entertainment center

decorations

the pillow says "be naughty, save Santa a trip"!

My kitchen table

kitchen

my parents house. This is on top of their entertainment center(notice the blue tree)

the mantel

mom and i by the Christmas tree

I love my house at Christmas time, it completely transforms. Even though I am the only one that sees it, I love it. I got this from my Mom. Growing up and even to this day, she puts up a ton of decorations, and I have followed. Growing up our Christmas tree was always in the living room, which is in the back of the house, and I always wanted to have a tree where you could put the tree on display in front of the house. Needless to say when I was house shopping almost 3 years ago, I knew I wanted a window in the front of my house to display my Christmas tree. ...and that is what I got! I have a beautiful bay window in my house, and every year I completely rearrange my living room to put my Christmas tree on display.

I hope everyone had a beautiful and blessed Christmas!

Christmas Ornaments

I love all of my Christmas ornaments. This is a tribute to some of my favorite ornaments. Enjoy!

Believe-it is fun to still Believe

This is one of three very pretty Christmas ornament trees my Dad got me a few years ago

I bought this one and "love" a couple of years ago at a grocery store, love 'em

My mom got me this one-don't remember where, but she got it because it has 2 cats on it

From my God-Daughter for her first Christmas

Sears Tower I got from Chicago, and the Panda bear. I have a special bond with panda bears. My Grandpa Egan bought me a stuffed panda bear in celebration of my birth, I named my panda bear "booboo". I love booboo.

I bought this last year when I went to go see "The Little Mermaid" on Broadway in Denver. It is actually a key chain, but it works as an ornament too.

From my visit to Animal Kingdom in Orlando, FL

This is part of an ornament set my mom bought me while we were in Alaska in the summer of 2003. This one is a whale.

love-I need love!

My favorite flower-the bird of paradise, my parents got me this a couple of years ago while they were in Hawaii.

I bought this in Chicago, when I saw "Wicked"

The year on this one is 2008-from Florida.

Cookies, Ipod, and Snow oh my!

This weekend I made these cookies! All for my co-workers to enjoy throughout the week! For the most part these cookies were really easy, and are super tasty.

yummy cookies

Today while driving to the gym it was freezing-literally. So I bundled up in a jacket and a sweatshirt. My sweatshirt had a pocket in the front where I put my ipod, and since my usual routine doesn't include wearing a sweatshirt and having the additional pocket, when I did a load of laundry-that included the sweatshirt. ...I washed and dried my ipod! It is so sad. I love listening to my ipod while working out. The good news I have a replacement, I guess this is why I never got around to selling it. A long time ago, an employee I represented in the Union quit, and gave me his ipod he had won at work. I don't really know what kind of ipod this is, but I know it is much much nicer than the one that died. It is very pretty, and black!

what a washed ipod looks like

The cold neighborhood. While driving to the gym this morning the thermometer in my car had a high of 3. Then while driving to the grocery story this afternoon it was -1. Brrr!

taken from my garage

Reading

I love to read. I wish I knew this about myself when I first started HS. I probably would have gotten much better grades. I just finished reading "The Time Travelers Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger. Great book, and an easy read considering it is 500+ pages. I let the size of a book intimidate me, and I really shouldn't let that happen. I think I let that happen, because I'm a really slow reader.

The book is a little bit confusing to follow at first, but once you get into the characters it is very delightful. I didn't really like the ending of this book, but I find that I don't really like the ending of most books, just because I don't want the book to be over. When you google this book, it says it is going to be made into a movie with Clare being played by Rachel McAdams(love her). The last release date was November 2008-well this movie hasn't been released, so does that mean it is shelved and it won't ever be released as a movie? I hope not, I would love to see this book as a movie.

I remember one of the first times I started reading as an entertainment value was when I was a Junior in HS and my friend Emily let me barrow a book by Mary Higgins Clark. I loved it, and finished the book quick. I remember being at home in my bedroom after school and calling my mom upset that I didn't have a car so I could drive to the library to get a book. I was so upset. It was one of those teenager moments where I seriously thought it was the end of the world! -melodramatic, never! ha! Plus the library was super close to my parents house, I'm not too sure why I didn't just walk, if I wanted a book that bad. Anyways, I was into Mary Higgins Clark for a while. Then in college my friend Tina recommended Janet Evanovich, and her Stephanie Plum series. To this day I love this series!

And now I read like crazy.

Last night I started "The Reading Group" and in the front of the book they reference a book I had remembered reading in HS. So it made me do some research on the books I read in HS. I googled "books to read in high school" and it really came up with a bunch I can't wait to go back and read. -I have decided this will be my new project-once I read all the books on my current "to read" list. My favorite in HS was "Native Son", I'm really looking forward to that one. I am remember reading this book my Senior year of HS in my honors English class with Mr. Usmar. I think that this book was the first book I actually read and didn't have to get the cliffnotes. I remember him giving pop quizzes on the book, and always knowing exactly what the answer was. ...majority of my HS pop quizzes, I had NO idea what the answer was. But for this class, I was that student.

I had completely forgotten about "Animal Farm". Is it nerdy that I'm so completely excited about reading?! And is it bad I talk about my HS days a lot on my blog, considering that was more than 10 years ago?!

Who cares, it is my blog, I'll write about what I want to write about!

Pick Me, Pick Me

I think this is maybe the second online/blog contest I have entered. I think I enter just because I really want to win! I can enter a contest from Design Mom, even though I'm not a mom, right?! This Friday is December, 12th-what does that mean? That means the 12 days of Christmas!!! And well, this gives me something to look forward to.... So I suggest you check it out too! Have fun. Lukcy number 13, here I come.

Ornaments from Crate and Barrel

Grandma Egan's Pork Pie

Something I love is breakfast for dinner. Love it. Growing up my mom always made pork pie around Christmas time. Pork pie is my mom's mom recipe. It is special specifically because I never met my Grandma Egan, she passed away when my mom was just 18.
This was the first time I have made this meal, so the crust part didn't go as planned, but it still is super good. This is a very tasty and easy Christmas morning meal, or anytime meal! Enjoy!

What you need: package of ground pork, milk, stuffing(your choice of flavor), sage, minched onion, pepper, and 2 pie crusts.

Brown the ground pork

Add the seasoning

Add the milk-mix all together

Add the stuffing

Mine dried up a little bit too quick-so I added more milk

Mix

Put entire mixture into a pie crust

Flip the other pie crust on top of the filled pie crust

Take crust out, and line on top of filled pie crust

The finished product

Yummy pork pie, served with over easy eggs

Pork Pie
1 package ground pork
2 t. approx. sage
2 T. approx. minced onion
a dash or two of black ground pepper
2 cups approx. milk
1 package stuffing
2 pie crusts

Brown ground pork, add seasoning, add milk, mix and bring to a simmer. Add stuffing-turn stove off. If mixture doesn't seem moist add more milk, and mix all together. Fill pie crust with mixture, and top with second pie crust.
Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

Productive

I had a very productive weekend, all to myself. This weekend was the first one since the beginning of November that I got to hang out with myself. Which was really very nice.

Friday night I had a good long dinner with my friends Tara and Marcia at Bonnie Brae. It was a lot of fun. We had good conversation, good company, and good food! Gotta love that combination!

Saturday morning I got up and went to the gym right away. Then came home and had breakfast, and got ready for the day. I drove to A Grande Finale to order Christmas gifts for my 2 bosses. I went back and forth about this, but I know my "main" boss is getting me something, so they are getting gifts. A Grande Finale is a local business in Louisville, CO. It is an amazing little pastry shop that delivers their food nationwide. The also have fabulous coffee!

I spent Saturday afternoon doing and finishing Christmas cards! And wrapping all of my Christmas gifts. Then packaging all of the gifts.

Today I went to the gym again, did 2 loads of laundry, and went to the Post Office to drop off the Christmas cards, and ship the presents. I have a box going to my parents in Albuquerque, NM, a box going to my God-Daughter in W. Greenwich, RI, an envelope to my friend in Charlotte, NC, and an envelope to my friend and her 2 kids to Lakeland, FL. I did some organizing and some cooking.

2 weeks and counting until I head to Albuquerque for Christmas!

Angel's

I really like this story. My friend Marcia sent it to me. I love angel's. My senior year of HS I did my honor's English paper on angel's. It was so much fun to learn about the history of angel's. This story made me smile. I'm going to share that I am currently going through some very trying times. It's extremely difficult, and I've been hiding from it for a long time. So I need all of the angel's and prayers I can get!




When four of Santa's elves got sick, the trainee elves did not produce toys as fast as the regular ones, and Santa began to feel the Pre-Christmas pressure.

Then Mrs Claus told Santa her Mother was coming to visit, which stressed Santa even more.

When he went to harness the reindeer, he found that three of them were about to give birth and two others had jumped the fence and were out, Heaven knows where.

Then when he began to load the sleigh, one of the floorboards cracked, the toy bag fell to the ground and all the toys were scattered.

Frustrated, Santa went in the house for a cup of apple cider and a shot of rum. When he went to the cupboard, he discovered the elves had drank all the cider and hidden the rum. In his frustration, he accidentally dropped the cider jug, and it broke into hundreds of little glass pieces all over the kitchen floor. He went to get the broom and found the mice had eaten all the straw off the end of the broom.

Just then the doorbell rang, and irritated Santa marched to the door, yanked it open, and there stood a little angel with a great big Christmas tree.
The angel said very cheerfully, 'Merry Christmas, Santa. Isn't this a lovely day? I have a beautiful tree for you. Where would you like me to stick it?'

And so began the tradition of the little angel on top of the Christmas tree.

Holiday Survey

Denver Civic Center Building all lit up during the holidays! So pretty.

'Tis the season to be jolly, and tell stories! Here are a few of my holiday stories. Enjoy!

1. wrapping paper or gift bags? wrapping paper, gift bags are too easy.
2. real tree or artificial? artificial. Although, I would love a real tree, the smell, the shape!, but I would be in fear of starting a fire, and plus I also go to NM for Christmas.
3. when do you put up your tree? depends on what is going on. I like to have it up the day after Thanksgiving. This year I put it up the Sunday after Thanksgiving. I'll probably take it down New Year's Day, or the weekend after New Year's.
4. do you like eggnog? No.
5. favorite gift received as a child? My scooter-when I was little I always ruined my own surprise, and always found my gifts. The year I asked for a scooter I looked and looked all round the house for it, and was SO disappointed when I didn't find it. Then on Christmas morning when it was in front of the tree, I was SO excited. I immediately asked my mom where she kept it hidden-it was over at my Aunt Kathleen's the whole time. ...my mom knew I would try and find it!
6. worst christmas gift ever received? It was some sort of video game thing. I remember I really wanted this hand held device for video games, but my dad bought me the newest one to hook up to the TV, and I really didn't want it-I don't remember the name, but I do remember thinking "I don't want this."
7. hardest person to buy for? I would say either my dad or my G0d parents.
8. easiest person to buy for? Either my mom or my friend Michelle, or Kari-I have a lot of easy people!
9. do you have a nativity scene? yes, a couple actually. I have one wooden one that my parents got me somewhere in Europe I believe, and another one of just Mary and Joseph.
10. mail or email christmas cards? mail (that is a shameless hint to everyone reading this blog. if you need my address, just drop me an email(same answer as Emily)). I love getting cards in the mail, and plus the cards are a big part of my Christmas decorations.
11. favorite christmas movie? Love Actually-I think that is the title of it!
12. when do you start christmas shopping? I am crazy when it comes to Christmas shopping. I start Christmas shopping whenever I start traveling. I think the first gift I bought this year was in May while I was in Florida!
13. have you ever recycled a christmas present? yes.
14. favorite thing to eat at christmas? I love breakfast, and I love the Christmas morning breakfast we always have as a family. My mom's pork pie I love.
15. lights on the tree? Of course!
16. favorite christmas song? Oh geesh, I don't know. I'll just go with Silent Night.
17. travel or stay home? Well for the longest time I stayed home, but now that I live in CO, I travel.
18. can you name all of santa's reindeer? probably.
19. angel or star? I would love an angel-but finding a good angel is really hard to find. for the longest time my parents had a beautiful angel made out of white feathers-she was truly heavenly-but I think it was just last year she had to be replaced because majority of her feathers had fallen out. the angels around now i think are really ugly, so i have a star.
20. open presents christmas morning or eve? you know the moment you realize your family is different than everyone elses. this is one of those moments. growing up the big day was(and for the most part, still is) always Christmas Eve. We would have a huge family dinner, everyone would bring ALL of their Christmas presents over and put them under one tree. The tree always looked so cool with SO many presents under it. After dinner we would all open up our presents to each other. My family used to draw names for Christmas which was why we did this. But that tradition stopped a few years ago. Now my parents and I open gifts before we go to Aunt Patti's for Christmas Eve dinner. So I actually open presents on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Eve is for gifts from my parents, Day is for gifts from Santa Claus. For the longest time I thought that was how it was for all families. I thought it was so weird when I found out majority of families don't open any gifts on Christmas Eve.
21. favorite ornament theme or color? My theme is no theme. I love all sorts of ornaments. My new thing is getting an ornament from places I've traveled.
22. favorite place for christmas dinner? Wherever all the family is, usually my Aunt Patti's.
23. most annoying thing about this time of year? How it always happens so quickly. I've had majority of my Christmas shopping done for awhile now, but now it is hear, and I still have tons to do. I still have to wrap them, ship them, organize them-see all of what I have etc... And then it is just over.
24. what do you want for christmas this year? I would love to find the man I am going to marry!

Weekend with the Parents

My parents were in town this past weekend for Thanksgiving. This was the first time they were here for a winter holiday. My parents arrived late Wednesday night. It was a good weekend. We went to the gym Thursday and Friday morning! Shopped, hung out, and went to movies. One of the only things that my dad truly likes is movies, so we went to a movie each day that they were here. The above picture is at dinner. We went out to a place in Boulder that I found online. It was ok. After the fact I really wish I would have cooked. I could have made my perfect Thanksgiving meal. Oh well, maybe next year. This trip was fun, because for the first time I really communicated with my dad. I asked him questions about his past, and growing up. Once he has a drink in him, he can talk and talk. I love it. He told me all about his military days in the early 1970's. Living with his Aunt in Vaughn, NM his senior year of HS. And he caught me up on all of my cousin's on that side of the family. My dad is the oldest of 5, and on that side of the family I have 10 cousin's. None of which I stay in contact with, in fact, sadly I doubt I could name all of them. Even sadder, all but 3 cousin's are in NM. I enjoy hearing about them though.

Their is a brand new shopping center near my house. This is part of the holiday display. They also made a ice skating rink. It is beautiful.
Australia was a great movie. I actually didn't want to see it, because I really had no idea what it was about. And plus it was really long-almost 3 hours. It is kinda like Titanic. A true story, but the characters are fictional. It is an amazing love story, and a look into World history during the time of the late 1930's, and early 1940's.

Four Christmases-I was shocked my dad agreed to see this. My dad is very picky about what movies he sees, and majority of the movies he does see are just "ok". Plus he isn't a comedic type of person, so when he agreed to see this, I was very surprised. This movie was very funny. And I was even more surprised when I heard my dad laugh out loud a handful of times. He actually said "that was a lot better than, I thought it would be." And that is also what my mom and I thought. One of the previews was Marley and Me, which is now a movie my dad wants to see.

Changeling-another great movie. So great, this was the second time my parents have seen it. This is a true story. Takes place in the late 1920's to the early 1930's. This story is amazing, and another piece of American history. It is amazing how things change. I love Angelina Jolie's costumes in this movie. Specifically her hat! Her hair, makeup, and clothes all very 1920's! Plus she's a supervisor at the telephone company, how cool is that?!





All in all the weekend was very nice. Now only 3 weeks until Christmas! On Friday we even had what I call an "Albuquerque Snow". We had snow on the ground, but majority of it was gone the same afternoon.