Holiday planning

(Apologies, because this is obviously late and after-the-fact, but really too important to just skip over, so here we go...)

This holiday season, even though we were busy up to our eyeballs with C's final exams, his early departure for California, my crazy rotation schedule, C's birthday, my brother's birthday, C's father's birthday, C's nephew's birthday, and my travel plans (what a month-ful!), we decided to make the holidays as stress-free and festive as possible here, in Boston, together. I chose these cute, holiday post-cards that I had planned ahead and bought over Thanksgiving. They arrived wrapped in simple red and white twine, which I thought was such a simple touch that made it so festive.

This year, we also picked out our first REAL Christmas tree.

When I was growing up, my parents were anti- real Christmas tree. We had a nice, fake tree that we put up every year because a real tree was...well, wasteful. According to them, this real tree grows all year to be chopped in December and a few weeks later, dumped on the side of the road to become garbage. Were they right? Of course. Nothing screams "the holidays are OVER and done-zo!" as much as a crispy, browning, former shell of a Christmas tree, lying on the sidewalk on January 1st. But really, we had so much fun this year. The pines smelled so fragrant and many days, the highlight of my day was plugging in the Christmas tree lights in the evenings and admiring the full, beautiful branches. Here are some photos we took while picking out our Christmas tree in Sommerville. 

me next to the tree we took home- what a true beauty! (the tree)

C at the tree-mart. Trees for all, trees big and small!

So, we drove it home on the roof of our car, carried it up 4 flights of stairs, and decorated it. We have a few traditional Christmas tree ball ornaments that we bought years and years ago from the drugstore but never used on a tree because well, we never had one! I used to place the ornaments in a shallow glass bowl on the coffee table during the holidays. They finally had a place on the tree this year. (Side note: unfortunately, Gregory, the cat, liked to bat them off the tree- peculiarly, only the gold ones. And I would find them shattered on the floor in the mornings)

One of the best traditions we started last year  is buying one new novelty Christmas tree ornament every year and putting that on the tree. Last year, on our winter trip to Philadelphia, we bought a wooden snowman ornament at the Museum of Art gift store (after seeing an interesting exhibit by Michaelangelo Pistoletto) that was carved by artisans from one single piece of wood!

This year, we went to see the Nutcracker ballet (another yearly holiday tradition we started last year) and bought the most magnificent nutcracker ornament. He sparkles and is a working ornament. He has a string behind him that makes his arms and legs move. C made the mistake of showing the moving nutcracker ornament to Gregory and one morning, C found an ARM on the floor and the rest of the nutcracker hanging happily from the tree!  That darned cat. The nutcracker is now fixed, fortunately, but the snowflake on his hat is secured with a green rubber band.

Traditions: our two ornaments. And the nutcracker in his better day

Silent nights. Our beautiful tree

We also enjoyed a great night of ice skating in Boston Commons when the entire rink was rented out for just for a few of us. It was a great night that was crisp and chilly, but not too windy at all. We also kept warm with some hot chocolate, french fries, and clam chowder. It was a great holiday season and though we weren't able to spend actual Christmas together, pre-Christmas-ing was pretty fantastic.

Monsieur Speedy learns to skate backwards this time

A rare moment of me not clutching onto the wall or C, and actually not skating at a snail's pace

Giving Thanks

...for the deliciously wonderful, non-turkey Thanksgiving lunch that was made for us by C. It was scrumptuously deliciouse and there was nothing like a real Thanksgiving meal to come home to after a long day, working on a holiday.

We had Thanksgiving lunch and watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade pre-recorded from earlier in the day. And I had almost forgotten about the dog show that always follows!  

RLJ

Saturday morning cup o'

Having time for a sit-down, weekend breakfast is something I look forward to these days, especially if we haven't had weekend days off in a while. We've started making time for the works: scrambled eggs (if we're lucky, farm fresh eggs), sausages or bacon (fake, of course), and some sort of pastry. We mix up the pastry bit of it- we've had croissants, toast with jam, morning buns, and we just tried hash browns this morning! And of course, C doesn't have anything other than French pressed coffee...

The indulgences in life!

Summertime hike

A leisurely, July 4th weekend hike. Southern Massachusetts, 2011

Paris, at anytime

We've been busy and I haven't had much time to blog about much of anything lately, but it's not an indication that much hasn't happened. Quite the contrary: we've traveled a bit and now, summer is finally here (90 degrees today!). One major trip that we made between February (the last post) and now is a two week escape to Paris.

We had debated about going someplace tropical and warm in March, but it was slim pickings with Mexico out of the question (Christopher can explain why, when asked). Early/mid March was still a bit too cool for a Mediterranean vacation, so that was out too.

Paris was beautiful. We certainly made the right choice. Having the time to really enjoy the city like a true Parisian and ample days just to meander the streets day or night in one of the most beautiful cities in the world is something I'd recommend to anyone.  After New York, Paris is not far behind as our second favorite city. There was so much to be taken in and I, for one, was inspired by so much that I observed and saw.


We ate, relaxed, photographed, and ate more for two whole weeks. We've shared all the pictures previously, but these are some details again, that I think really capture the beauty of everything. C’était vraiment la vie de rêve. 

Prayer candles in Notre Dame

Dusk outside the Centre George Pompidou

Dusk at  the Musée du Louvre

Returning to the Louvre at night

Window knob detail at the Petite Trianon, Versailles

Night falls on Avenue Montaigne, one of Paris' most prestigious streets and across from the Hotel Athénée- our new favorite hotel

A stroll through the Jardin de Tuilleries

Truly the City of Lights

First Photo: the Paris metro at Saint-Germain-Des-Prés- taken by Chris on his iPhone 3Gs- how impressive is that one?!

Valentine's Skate

I surprised C with a out-of-the-ordinary activity last Thursday. I arranged for us to have a VIP skating night at The Charles Hotel in Harvard Square! I told him we'd be doing "something fun," but we both thought it would be more fun if he didn't know what it was until the day of. C guessed a gaggle of things: apple picking, Celtics game, cooking class, and jewelry making class (like that would be "fun" for him...)! 

But he really had no idea until we showed up at the skating rink. It was a great night, because there weren't as many people as there would have been at the rink at the Commons- just the other people who'd signed up for the same thing. I was pretty mediocre at skating, but C was great! I could honestly say he could beat me at ice skating.  

Though it was COLD, a great time was had by all. We even got complementary hot chocolate which C claimed was "the best hot chocolate" he's ever had.  

Now, that's a good surprise!

Monsieur Speedy

All in a days work

Though most days are not like this, I spent the morning in the beef barn at school.  I usually like to take photos with our "good" camera and not my Blackberry, but it looked really nice out there and my phone was all I had. 

It was so cold out there and after two hours outside (the current temperature is 24 degrees) I was sure my toes would be purple when I came back inside.  Thank goodness, they're still alive.  We have another foot of snow in the forecast tonight so I'm crossing my fingers for another snow day tomorrow.