o tannenbaum

Merry Christmas!
Around here, we celebrate by napping.

christmas eve chez nous

Feliz Navidad!
c & j (& c & o & o)

stalking stockings

I had a hankering for Christmas stockings, like this one, or maybe this one, or this one. Ooh, or this one. But since I'm saving my pennies (to buy myself presents), I decided to get crafty and make my own. With a pile of felt and a stack of DVDs, and starting with a free pattern from here, I set to work. And voilà!
I think they look right at home with the advent calendar my godmother made me back when I was still a blonde:

brown cardboard packages the mailman does bring

My mother-in-law has gone on a shipping spree. In the last few days we've received several boxes of ornaments she's been collecting for Jon, and a set of hummingbird ornaments for me (there are tons of the real ones flitting around here, though not lately), and some vintage (read petrified) Santa hats and stockings. That was all wonderful, but then the motherlode of goodness arrived.

Why yes, it is a Star Trek Transporter. The Molecular Beam Transportation System, to be exact. And a bunch of awesome action figures of late 1980s vintage. Jon had to explain what a lot of these things were -- Who knew that Klingons had warthog-like pets? Not I. -- and I had a grand time accessorizing these guys. Sadly, the transporter no longer actually functions, but I have high hopes of fixing it (Even though Data failed). And if not, I'll content myself by imagining Riker's encounter with a particularly enamored alien female who ripped his uniform just so.

and warm woolly slippies

Santa will be delivering these for Christmas, but I got a sneak peek to make sure they fit. Ceramic tile is cold, even in California - these should keep icicle toes at bay.

stainless steel kettles

My electric kettle is indeed one of my favorite things, boiling water infinitely more quickly and quietly than those shrieking stovetop contraptions (which have their charms, sure, but I tend to forget I've started to boil one and then all of a sudden it sounds like a gaggle of harpies is congregating in the kitchen).

And another of my favorite things: Carnation Milk Chocolate Hot Chocolate. Better than the stuff that Swiss Miss harlot churns out. Imported from Canada by my forever indulgent mother. Even better with marshmallows.

whiskers (and antlers) on kitties

Cruel and unusual, but I couldn't help myself. Oliver (bottom pic) was the one who figured out how to use his paws to pull the antlers off. Well done, dear boy.

raindrops on roses

We had a wonderful thunderstorm last night that lasted well into the morning. Howling winds, sideways rain - truly great. The climbing rose, which is in full bloom (after all, it's December), looked gorgeous all covered in raindrops.


Following the advice of Laurie, my rosarian (seriously), I clipped the blooms that were just starting to fade (using my fantastic clippers from Kathy & Peter), and now we have roses inside too.

you can never be too thin...

Jon got his hair cut and returned with this package of promotional goodness, courtesy of his stylist, Maggie. I'm into free things, so I opened it up. Then I gasped. Said products are intended for medium/coarse hair (check) that is natural (check) and noticeably thinning (?). If Jon's hair is noticeably thinning, I'll be bald any day now.

breakfast of champions

I love breakfast. One of the things I miss most about Philadelphia is its incredible set of options for procuring a yummy breakfast. The "bikeshop bagel" at the Satellite Café was always one of my favorites, and I had to attempt to replicate it...

Toast a plain bagel. Add pesto to one side and cream cheese to the other.


Then add fresh baby spinach and roasted red peppers. Enjoy for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or fourthmeal.

translation, please

An enormous pile of manure was dropped outside our house. Do you think the universe is trying to send us a message?

hubby's new shoes

In honor of my birthday, Jon consented to go shoe shopping. He needed new brown shoes and I'd been demonstrating my self-control and benevolence by collecting several DSW coupons to use toward this purpose. So off we went to DSW, emporium of footwear. And no luck. Everything was either too loafery or sneakery. As we prepared to leave in defeat, I spotted these beauties.


Not quite Jon's style, but exactly mine. And now they're mine, all mine.

Here is the sobering birthday gift math:

Jon to Caroline
1 Flip MinoHD video camera
1 cotton candy machine
1 pair of cute shoes

Caroline to Jon
1 Slinky (anniversary edition)
7 adhesive moustaches
1 set of badly hand-drawn cartoons

I'm spoiled, right?