Our friends Chandra and Eric host an Oscar party every year. They encourage us to dress up, and they even take red carpet photos. This means I get an excuse to wear my tuxedo at least once a year. Here’s a photo of Steve, Eric, and your humble scribe, looking pretty suave.
Archive for the ‘Holidays’ Category
Oscar night
Posted by jonesey on Monday, 8 March 2010, 20:52Rocky Mountain Christmas
Posted by julie on Thursday, 24 December 2009, 0:58My grandfather, Uncle Eddie (step-grandfather, actually, hence the “uncle”), gave me John Denver’s Rocky Mountain Christmas album when I was three or four. It’s my most enduring Christmas soundtrack. I’ve been listening to this song for the past couple of weeks, tearing up as I steam broccoli for dinner. I do yearn for family and snow during the Christmas season. Yes, I am 36, and I’ve only been away from home (my parents’ home) for Christmas four times in my life: when I was teaching in Thailand, the year I was instructing in Baja (and actually ended up flying home Christmas day), the year Sylvan was born, and tomorrow.
I am grateful that Sylvan’s paternal grandparents are here to play in the snow with us and create all manner of festive holiday decorations (photos to follow), and I am beyond happy that I am not traveling during Christmastime with two small children, but, ooh, that Christmas for Cowboys smarts.
Priority Mail
Posted by jonesey on Wednesday, 16 December 2009, 7:25Breakfast with Santa and Mrs. Claus
Posted by julie on Sunday, 13 December 2009, 16:04Sylvan, Elena, and I walked into the church hall, set with sixteen or so round tables decorated with freshly-cut, wreath-shaped centerpieces (all for sale). In the kitchen to our left, teenagers, moms and dads, and grandparents bustled past each other, many wearing red or green elf hats. They flipped pancakes, made coffee, and smiled at us. We bought three raffle tickets for a chance to win one of two kids’ bikes, decorated with bows and sitting on a side table. The CD player on the same table played Christmas carols that sometimes skipped and repeated: “Frosty the Snowman…[hic]…Frosty the Snowman…[hic]….” And there was a bake sale, all the sweet breads carefully wrapped and displayed; a cookie decorating table; a balloon artist (Sylvan got a sword and scabbard); and wing and tutu maker (we came home with a beautiful set, in purple and orange harvest colors with glittery ribbon and silk flowers; Elena wore the tutu for a second, Sylvan wore the wings all afternoon).
With a fair bit of prepping the night before and morning of, Sylvan knew what to expect: Santa, sitting in a chair, Mrs. Claus by his side, pancakes and eggs for breakfast. We told Sylvan he could sit on Santa’s knee and talk to him, but only if he wanted. And he could ask him questions, or tell him something. Sylvan decided he wanted to show Santa some books, so he put them in a bag and carried them with him to see Santa.
Santa and Mrs. Claus were gloriously free when we arrived. The place was never packed, despite the large number of cars in the church parking lot, so families wandered up to the Clauses, took photos, had breakfast, maybe meandered back to tell Santa one more thing. In short, it was the best Santa experience you can imagine, everyone relaxed and happy, not standing in an hour-long line in the fluorescent lights of the mall, hoping nobody has to pee before you get to the front of the line and have to pay someone else to take a photo when you have your digital camera in your pocket. We’ll be visiting the Clauses at the Lions Club breakfast next December, too.
Happy Easter (Bunny) Day!
Posted by julie on Sunday, 12 April 2009, 21:11Enjoy some pre-egg salad pictures while I write Sylvan’s birthday letter.
You can try those natural egg dyes, like spinach, blueberries, and coffee, but in the end most of us return to food coloring, with its associated propylene glycol content (generally safe, occasional “cardiac arrest after rapid i.v. injection of drugs containing large amounts of propylene glycol solvent“). I diligently brewed spinach, coffee, and blueberry “teas,” strained the foodstuffs out with cheesecloth, added vinegar, and those pretty, earthy dyes yielded underwhelming tannish eggs.
Although the prettiest egg, in my opinion, the tan one on the right with the purplish-brown overdye, has a coffee first coat (yeah, I know, I could have just bought tan eggs). The bright pinks and greens are the result of unadulterated food coloring, and the purples, browns, and dark greens bloomed from Sylvan’s forays into mixing and pouring. All the mottling comes from mixing dyes with olive oil, creating a resist-dye, like a batik.