Happy New Year’s Eve everyone! Ok, ok… I know some of you have BIG, GLAMOROUS PLANS. Enjoy, stay safe, so we can Run. Skip. and Jump. through 2016 together.
Me? Well, at the risk of being called O.L.D…..I’m spending the night, on the couch with Peter. Spending it the way we like, the way we roll…..Red Wine and Pajamas! I hope I wear it as well as Elaine. 🙂 #100happydays (48/100)
Happy New Year’s Eve!! Enjoy yourself and Uber or Cab yourself home. Be safe. See you in 2016~
Ciao for now….Diane
Today especially, we can feel the BIG shift away from Christmas to the celebration of the coming New Year, The countdowns to ….. well, everything….have begun. Yet, I’m sitting here in my family room beside the Christmas tree – enjoying the last few nights of its glow.
Our daughters went into NYC today with their friend Stan from High School. I really love Stan. He calls me Mom, well – and so it is. Anyway — they went in to see the Rockefeller Tree, to ride the Ferris Wheel in the Times Square Toys R Us, on this, its LAST day. The store is closing. Time Square rent is too high. Really Sad! They had lunch at the Hard Rock…and h.e.c.k…..their bus even broke down on the way home Now THAT’S a FULL day in New York!!
I only have two teenagers in my house, but the revolving door of friends through this house over the past few weeks has been….well…..f.a.b.u.l.o.u.s.
There was a sleepover in our family room last night. Not much sleep, but alot of chatter and laughter, followed by chocolate chip pancakes this morning. What’s not to like? Erin and her crew left for the movies at the mall, just in time for Cait’s friend Josh to arrive.
Josh is a terrific young man, went to High School with Cait. He’s in college at Montclair – has an interest in pre-Med, so he’s on the lookout to transfer next year. They played some new Wii game that Cait received for Christmas, ate some pizza, and just had fun. It’s always a pleasure to see Josh every time Cait is home. High School friends are important. #100happydays (46/100)
Ciao for now…..Diane
The Irish don’t celebrate Thanksgiving. My Erin and her room mate Jo, ‘t.r.i.e.d.’ to make themselves a meal worthy of the pilgrims, but — she confessed to me that they both were kinda sad on Thanksgiving night, and maybe shed a tear or two together.
OH. MAKE IT STOP. My HEART HURTS!
So when your grown daughter, tells ya something like that. You roast a turkey and put on Thanksgiving #2 in lieu of Christmas dinner! She was happy……So mama was happy.
Today? Well. It was deja vu all over again, as I scraped up every turkey-leftover recipes I could find. Today, I channeled my mom — and managed to produce a PRETTY FINE Turkey Pot Pie, if I don’t say so myself 🙂 #100happydays (45/100)
Ciao for now….Diane
It was W.O.N.D.E.R.F.U.L. spending Christmas with all of you. You may have been far away — but in a small way — you spent the season in our home. Our Christmas Card Door. #100happydays (44/100)
Ciao for now….Diane
Day after Christmas, and I was up at 7am — getting myself ready to go to my 8am Weight Watchers Meeting. What?? It’s Saturday, right?
Sure enough. Somehow, even with the “devilish” Thumbprint cookies — I managed to lose 1.8 pounds over Christmas. Like a thief in the night — I grabbed it and ran! The meeting was uplifting. Denise was inspiring and compassionate and pushy.. haha! All the RIGHT things a person needs to get themselves ‘right’ with food. When I say pushy, I mean that Denise encourages action. Hey — these changes aren’t gonna happen by themselves. We gotta make ’em happen!
So I’m home today, cleaning up a little, resting a little ….and soaking up one of my Christmas presents.
Erin brought me Irish Breakfast Tea, all the way from Dublin. She knows me so well. And there is something s.u.p.e.r.b. when your children leave home….and come back with small things that help you realize….”you did well Mom. You created a kind being for the world.”
So, I’m bathing my soul (and my residual sugar cravings) in my Erin’s love…and a nice hot cup of tea, #100happydays (43/100)
Ciao for now…..Diane
Merry Christmas Day.
I could go on and on about all the lovely moments that pass between a family on this day. But instead, let us remember the reason we are all here…..able to enjoy life together, on this day — and all others.
Take it away Linus. (No body does it better 🙂 #100happydays (42/100)
Merry Christmas! Ciao for now….Diane
Today is Christmas Eve, and earlier in the day, my tender-hearted 18-year old daughter asked me…‘mom, are we too old to get Christmas pajamas?‘ The slight tremble in her voice, the wide-eyed look in her eyes, the vulnerability of her question – it was a little heart breaking.
All day, I had to put that moment (and her question) out of my mind. Until after dinner, as the light drained out of the day – and the lights on the Christmas tree began to cast the rosy glow inside our home. I tip-toed upstairs to Peter and my bedroom, snuck the two packages out of my closet, and quietly snuck back down to the tree, to tuck the bundles underneath.
It wasn’t long before someone noticed the additions under the tree, and our two girls were sitting underneath the twinkle of colored lights, opening their first Christmas present. If the calendar didn’t remind me otherwise, they could have been seven years old, if excitement and fun were the measure.
When we were done, they gathered up their gifts, and their wrapping paper and began to head upstairs. Before they left, I reminded them of something important. ‘Cait, Erin — no matter how old you are — you will NEVER be too old to be loved by your Mom. On Christmas Eve, whether we are together or apart, for as long as I live — you will ALWAYS have Christmas pajamas.’ Read the rest of this entry
Every Mom out there has her secret ‘treasure trove’ of ARTS & CRAFTS! Oh yea – the real challenge is in keeping it to ONE BIN in the basement. Not easy. Not easy at all.
Yet, at Christmas, I reach into my ‘treasure bin in the basement’ and find some of my favorite memories.
L.i.t.t.l.e. H.a.n.d.s. – 2000 and 2001 Read the rest of this entry
This year marks the latest we have EVER dressed our Christmas Tree, with only 4 days to go! Whew…..it’s like we barely made it. But there she is — looking stunning — draped in our memories. Erin, Cait, Peter and I made a pact this year. “Only the ornaments we LOVE”! So, every little glass bobble and bead means something to one of us. My mom’s antique glass pine cones. Peter’s mom’s glass wooden shoe and her original Hummel ornament. Erin’s “Ich liebe dich” heart all the way from Germany and the little Rudolph reindeer she made when she was soo soo tiny. Even Cait’s Justin Bieber ornament, she received from a friend yeeaaaaarrrrssss ago —- just because he knew it would make her happy 🙂
Every time I look at the tree this year, my eye catches an ornament….and my heart travels to that time and place. My heart is perpetually full of #ChristmasJoy #100happydays (39/100)
We’re getting close loved ones!
Ciao for now…..Diane
