Christmas Eve's Eve

today I was talking to my sister and she reminded me that it was "Christmas eve's eve" and asked if I had reminded Buck of what today was, so when I thought of it, I hadn't. I immediately got off the phone with Paige, called Buck and told him Happy Christmas Eve's Eve and asked if he remembered that that was today. He chuckled a little (and I could picture the grin on his face) and said he did remember. (I could tell he was at work because he was trying to remain serious and not seem too enthusiastic, yet I could tell he really was) We're all grown ups now, but we still get excited at Christmas.

When we were younger, all my brothers and sister would be SO excited for Christmas that we would start a countdown wayyy earlier than necessary. We would refer to days as "Christmas eve's eve's eve's eve's eve's eve...and so on because we could hardly wait until the big day. But now, I blinked twice after August...and boom! Christmas is here! What happened? Where did the time go?

As much as I love the gigantic family my immediate family has grown into, I do miss the days of old when all four of us would sleep together in ONE bed on Christmas Eve, stay up late laughing and talking and wondering if we were going to get oranges in our stockings aggggain and what time Mom and Dad would finally break and come get us to see what "Sandy-Claus" (as we so affectionately refer to her) had brought. It was usually a standard rule that we could get up no earlier than 6 am, but we always tried to push it. As we got older 24 straight hours of A Christmas Story on TBS was incorporated into the Christmas Eve tradition, but looks like I'll have to go it alone this year... Nevertheless, even though I think I'll actually be able to sleep on Christmas Eve this year, I still love it!

Christmas 1987 (the glory days)

Merry Christmas from the NYSE!

This is what I see every night as I pass the New York Stock Exchange walking home from the RW train. Isn't it beautiful?!

SNOW DAY!

except, I still had to go to work? I haven't seen this much snow since 1993, when I was 7. I couldn't figure out why everyone wasn't shutting down their businesses and scurrying out to wipe clean the grocery shelves of all the milk and bread? Nonetheless, yesterday was a fun day - the first big snow storm of the season in NYC! It snowed ALL day - almost every 30 minutes I kept getting up from my desk at work and going and staring out the window. It was beee-au-tiful! Here are a few pics I took on my lunch break:

100 dishes to eat in AL before you die

I've always heard about this list and have always had in the back of my mind to find it, and I FINALLY did thanks to a book that I bought today called "1001 Things to Eat Before you Diet" (I thought it said before you "Die") It's sad how well I know SO many of the restaurants and dishes on this list...

12 Days

this is the best you tube video I have ever watched. amazing. It's an acapella group from Indiana University called Straight No Chaser and their version of the 12 Days of Christmas.



and thanks to an email forwarded to me from Brendan, I now know the meaning of all the crazy parts in the 12 Days of Christmas carol and that they aren't really so crazy. Click this link to read about the history of the song: http://www.byrum.org/misc/christmas/origin.html

celebrity sighting no. 7

Ok get ready for this...for those of you who know me, you are going to freak out when you hear this celebrity I sighted AND talked to.

Last Saturday morning, I was volunteering at the Birthday Party for Jesus with the Children's Ministry at Redeemer, and there just happens to be one of my favorite celebritites (ever) that attends Redeemer. I heard that she brought her kids to a lot of the events, but I had never seen her - Elsabeth Hasselbeck. And yes, she was there with her two kids, Grace and Taylor. I spotted her when she walked in and kept hoping that she would bring her daughter to my table to make the Christmas tree ornament craft where I was stationed. I kept debating in my head whether I should tell her how obsessed with her I am or just pretend like I didn't know who she was. I assume she gets tired of the wacky fans telling her all the time how much they love her and especially at a church event with her kids, but after much internal deliberation, I decided to go for it. I mean, I was a fan from the very beginning when she was on Survivor 2: The Australian Outback. My dad and I used to watch it every week and root for her...

So, I decided not to try to discuss issues of global warming or Rosie O'Donnell with her but just to nonchalantly mention that I am her BIGGEST fan and that I watched her way-back-when when she was on Survivor. So, that's what I did when I was supposed to be snapping Grace's picture with a polaroid camera to make her ornament. I prefaced it with saying that I was sorry to do this to her because I knew she probably hated it, but she was very gracious and said it didn't get old and she appreciated it. And I was on cloud 9 for the rest of the day (and week...)!

Elisabeth and her daughter, Grace

they have everything in New York

well, almost... they don't have my mom's cooking. But, fortunately for me, I was able to go home for Thanksgiving and stock up on it.

I can't think of a meal that looks much better than that.....