Nate is fast asleep, round two. His first round was during Christmas Eve Mass, when he fell asleep despite the Ray Manzarek - meets Moog - tribute from the keyboard player.
It was a lovely service really. In the school gym, which as the priest pointed out, made sense since Jesus was born in a barn.
We returned to our house to eat a big Italian dinner from Nino's -- a tradition for our Irish family. Then Ryan, Nate, and I did a little dance to Rhiana's "Hard." and we all sang happy birthday to Baby Jesus. It's what we do.
In between we tracked Santa through Norad on our phones, and dad read Nate "'Twas A Night Before Christmas" from his iPad -- some new traditions.
Now that the sugar plum has gone to bed, Santa has arrived.
The last thing Nate said before going to bed and checking his list:
I love watching TV segments about reducing stress at the holiday. Oh really, I never thought about taking deep breaths and scheduling time for a bath to relax. (To be fair to my TV friends, I know what it's like to get that assignment and groan a little bit. I had to do the same thing once upon a time.)
Stress is a bit of an area of expertise of mine. Let's just say I've had a lot of practice. Say, when I had to go to a certain office during my vacation last week. Twice. But now I've checked out for vacation for real, and just have Christmas & family fun coming up. No stress there, right?
In honor of the most wonderful time of the year (ahem), I bring you my secrets to a stress-free less holiday. Some I've recently discovered; others are tried and true remedies. And yes, I know they aren't applicable to everyone, but it's what helps get me through ...
1. Make candy that involves pounding the hell out of candy canes: Peppermint Bark!
We made it for the first time last night (after I'd eaten ever last crumb from a co-worker, as well as a tin from Costco) using this recipe from Savory Sweet Life.
My duty: to whack the living daylights out of candy canes. And unlike other kitchen duties that involve high temperatures and finesse, I excelled!
Before:
After:
Crushing up the candy canes was actually therapeutic, and the end result was delicious. We're rolling around after eating half of it last night going to give some away as gifts.
2. Skip sending Christmas cards
Even typing this I feel a little sacrilegious. I've never had a year where I didn't obsess over my Christmas cards, i.e., hiring a designer friend and spending countless hours concepting and scrutinizing fonts and layouts. It kind of goes back to my "if it's worth doing, it's worth doing better than anyone else," philosophy, which I've been working on dissembling, much like candy canes.
I do believe in the tradition of the mailed Christmas card, the feel of the paper and photos of their families.
The truth is, I scrutinize images and layouts and words every single day. It was more of a stress this year, and I wanted to put my energy toward other projects. So I didn't do it. And I'm sure no one is standing at their mailbox crying because I've ruined their Christmas. (If they do feel bad, they can read my dad's amazing Christmas letter to hear about our family. It's posted on his blog.)
Oh wait, that was hugely stressful. (Yes, preschool parents who didn't RSVP, I was shooting you a look during our children's Christmas program at school.) But the kids enjoyed it, and I got to eat all the leftover peppermint bark. See #4.
4. Move your peppermint bark-filled body.
To quote my favorite Richard Simmons line (from one of his records that my mother owned in the 80s): "You put it there/now lift it up and put it down." For me, that's starting to take Pure Barre and going back to yoga. (Even if my yoga teacher did say during class last week, "Well thats remarkable, Erin, especially since you haven't been in three months. Busted by the yogini.)
5. Stock up on bagel bites.
They are my specialty. One year during Christmas when we ran out of food I pulled them out. We opened presents eating delicious bite size morsels of goodness. Just like Grandma made. And you can get them in packs of eight zillion at Costco. I am totally serious.
6. Schedule time for champagne for the soul.
Chicken soup is ok, but champagne is better. Last weekend I got my winter blonde highlights and today I spent the day at Ross Bridge Spa with my good friend Amy. (Birmingham residents get 20% off on Monday and Tuesdays - score!)
Ross Bridge is one of our favorite places to get away, and what better time to do it than when everyone else is running around trying to do last minute things? One of the best things about Ross Bridge is that when you get a service you can take advantage of the spa facilities all day long, including the jacuzzi, steam room, and quiet room.
I had the Highland Foot Scrub/Scalp Therapy. It was divine, and the day a great pause from the hustle and bustle.
[For the record, I made Amy wear the hat. But she was so blissed out she was ammenable.]
7. Drink!
I kid, I kid. In moderation, of course. One of the most memorable events of the Christmas season was last week when I went to a friend's house for our first annual "Bows And Baileys." Two of our resident mixologists created amazing conctions based on seasonal liquers, and we practiced making decorative bows.
It was all very civilized, but drinking things filled with cinnamon and chocolate and coffee sure was fun.
8. Have a snowball fight
I know what you're thinking: I don't like cold. It's true. The fabulous thing is that there are lots of places to access fake snow. We had a blast at Gaylord Opryland's "Snow" exhibit (which officially does not allow snowball throwing, although some little person of ours bent the rules).
And said little person was equally thrilled to play in the "snow" at the McWane Center's "Winter Wonderland" exhibit yesterday. There's just something about snow, especially when enjoyed in 72-degrees controlled temperatures.
9. Give to someone who really needs it.
The past few days I've been thinking a lot about the work of The Blogess. This Texas-based blogger offered 20 $30 Amazon gift cards through her blog to people in need. She got more than 500 requests. All of those people have been helped, thanks to the generous outpouring of her readers.
10. Bake a birthday cake (or pick one up at Publix).
As long as I can remember, every Christmas Eve after Mass my family gathers round and sings Happy Birthday to Baby Jesus. At times I played the flute, clarinet, saxaphone, and accordian. Now I just sing, and have introduced the tradition to Nate.
The Elvis tree has been up for a few weeks, but I haven't had a chance to take photos until now. (On a side note, I'm not crazy about the quality of the photos. Having trouble with my SLR and just resurrected the point and shoot. If only I knew some photographers ... )
In the meantime, here's a glimpse at the tree. I moved it to the front hall so all could behold.
A few additions this year:
Animal print ribbon (a salute to the jungle room of course).
A slew of black velvet portrait ornaments, started with one received during an ornament exchange: black velvet that sings "I'll Be Home For Christmas." (As soon as someone opened that, everyone said, "Erin needs that. She has an ELVIS TREE!") I immediately found out where they came from (K-Mart!) and cleared out their supply along with ...
An Elvis socking that lights up and also plays music. Naturally.
Yesterday I woke up at 6 a.m. and headed to Oak Mountain at a 7:30 a.m. photo shoot. It was 28 degrees. Despite dressing as warmly as I could, I could barely feel my fingers about an hour in.
Driving back to the office I had to pull over to do a phone interview. Scrambling to find a notepad with my frostbitten fingers, this was the best I could do. All the technology I have and at the end of the day, the Post-It notes save the day.
We inherited Birmingham's best Santa from my friend Jennifer. For years, she threw a party at her house for her daughter and daughter's friends, during which Santa would show up and surprise all the children.
Each one had time with him, sharing their wish lists. And of course, their doting parents had time to take plenty of photos. The party was always a special day for our family from the time Nate first attended at eight months old.
(He's told us that he cherishes this photo of him and Nate from their first Christmas together.)
This year we took over the party. We booked Santa months in advance (he starts filling his calendar for Christmas parties in August). I've been cleaning and decorating and trying to get things ready for weeks.
Way more difficult than I ever imagined.
So it's well known that I love entertaining, especially cookingthrowing parties. The only thing is, I also have a crazy demanding job (that I adore) & have been sick. So it's come down to the past two weekends, and the help of some good friends, to pull it all off.
I think we did. I'm not used to having a house filled with children, so when it was all over I had that post-wedding feel, like so much had gone into it and I wasn't really sure how it turned out.
There was some frantic last minute chocolate covered Oreo making (covered in gold bling - inspired by this Couture Parties post), and Jingle Juice mixing. There were multiple trips to: Target, Publix, Ross, Pier One, TJMaxx, Costco ...
But the kids squealed when Santa walked in the door. And so did a few of the parents ...
So, here's the party. And I have to say, to share this is a big deal. I have a critical eye when it comes to, well, everything, but especially things like this. Then I have to remember I'm not an editor here and that this won't be in a magazine.
This is what life's like without a stylist. (Makes me appreciate the stylists I work with even more.)
Come on in to the Santa Party -- the dining room. Yep that's a Buddha. He chills out with the nativity set:
I set up an area in the kitchen for the kids to paint ornaments and color. (The aluminum trees have vintage ornaments from my mom and various thrifting finds.)
That held their attention for a while. Until this gentleman arrived:
And he came bearing ... presents!
He's pretty amazing, with kids of all ages.
I was actually surprised how quickly how many people didn't RSVP which made it difficult to figure out pacing the kids went through their lists and photos with Santa.
That was fine though. At the end, he read "'Twas The Night Before Christmas" and gave each child a special gift. He also told them that on Christmas Day to look aroud and enjoy their family -- that was love all around them.
When we were all done, and everyone went home, we spent some quiet time with Santa and the pugs. He was very happy to hear the story of Gatsby. Merry Christmas indeed. Love all aroud.
Santa visited our house this afternoon. More to come. For now, here's a video of him reading "'Twas The Night Before Christmas." Even the parents were a little starstruck ...
I'm taking a break from hanging ornaments and making cheese balls (hmm, who knew). Tomorrow we host our first ever Santa party, during which the man in the red suit will come to our house, surprising Nate and a few dozen of his closest friends. 4 year olds, a house full of vintage ornaments, and loads of sugar. Good times.
I've been cleaning and decorating and shopping non-stop to get ready, with a heavy dose of work and being sick in the middle of it. So for the past 48 hours, I've been raiding my closets trying to find the right serving pieces (thank God for Homegoods) and a gold tablecloth (thank you Ross), there's not a whole lot more time to fuss. Thankfully.
Nate and I decorated our family tree tonight, and we chilled out on the couch. This was the view:
Totally candid. Gatsby!
Curled up on the edge of the couch it looked like he'd always been here. Then in an unreal turn of events, his "sister" Lolita jumped up right next to him and snuggled up, just like she did with F. Scott.
(Shane and I keep saying we're going to get Gats a Red Solo cup, because F. Scott loved to play with a Solo cup our first Christmas. Also the year of a notorious Christmas party that ended up at the Nick with a Neil Diamond tribute band. Some things have changed.)
It only lasted a second, but there it was. The stockings were hung, and the pugs were snug.
The best part about being sick right now? Being up at 1 a.m. gives me access to the best Cyber Monday deals. Ha. I'd take sweet sleep over cut-rate Blu-Rate discs so far (would be a different story if there were some Tory Burch flats up in here.)
I was sick throughout Thanksgiving break, but also in major denial since I was trying to make the holiday at Opryland special. And it was, despite me blowing my nose every two minutes (sorry for that, family).
I know the drill of being sick well, and for someone who spends part of life on the road, that means adapting, regardless where I get the sniffles (that's a nicer version of the full story).
Despite lots of hand-washing and antibacterial gel, combined with the other usual "stay healthy" practices, I'm predisposed to chronic sinus infections. The surgery I had last year helped, but I still get them, and they really don't care how busy I am.
Yes, I know that illness can be your way of your body saying, 'slow down.' And I do modify my activites. But there's a lot of living to do, and it isn't happening on my couch.
This time around, sickness hit while I was traveling with my family and working. (And kicking off the holidays, managing a major painting project at home, and planning for a huge kiddo Christmas party.)
How do I get through being sick slightly more than the average girl? One, by focusing on the positive in the present. Like watching Nate make snowballs at the "Snow" exhibit:
And jumping into the jacuzzi with Mom. (Ok, it might not have helped to go out in the 38 degree weather, but the warm water felt great and the steam helped.)
When I don't feel well, I try not to wallow in it. This is a fine line I often struggle with, realizing that I do need to take time for rest and let my body recover ...
But there's so much to do. So I focus on making the best of it. And bringing hand sanitizer.
Writing from Gaylord Opryland, where I'm spending the Thanksgiving holiday with my family, writing dispatches for the magazine. We came here nine years ago when Ryan was performing with the Rockettes. That's him, the little dot in the center of all those sequins:
(I'll never forget the "after party" with the cast. Talk about being shown up on the dance floor.)
It's a little changed now, both at the hotel (sushi bar and wireless) and in the experience. The hotel has changed a bit since we remembered it, but we're glad to see how it's bounced back from the devastating floods.
The experience is differnet in that I have a four-year old in tow, and am writing about it with the eye of a slightly more seasoned traveler and writer ;
The hotel looks amazing, particularly since it was under 12 feet of water in the spring:
Nate is enjoying it. Here he is on the indoor boat ride, one of the hits so far:
Even some of the big kids are getting in on the action:
I have no idea who this crazy woman is going down the ice slide at ICE. Yes, it's carved from real ice:
So back to the clogs. Today, brother Ryan is lounging on South Beach. But he's here in spirit, especially each time we walk by the sign below. When we were little we used to copy the cloggers that appeared on public access:
Whether near or far, I'm thankful for my wacky family. Thankful for my friends, my work, and the continued chance to explore the world, share it with people I care about it, and the ability to string two words together. Happy Thanksgiving.
People sometimes assume that just because I write for a magazine known for its beautiful home ideas that I automatically have a perfect Southern home. Wrong.
I don't write about interiors. I do sit next to the homes section, so I get to see all that amazing fabric and furniture and hear about what my colleagues are planning. (This includes the side benefit of cupcake tasting, but I digress.)
So, contrary to popular belief, when it's time for me to work on my house I don't just wiggle my nose and have interior decorators at my disposal (though I did get that for my garden). We've been in our house for nearly five years, and it's taken me that long to figure out my aesthetic (which is really more loft dweller than suburban house), change my mind, and have the planets line up to be able to do what I'm about to do:
Have our foyer painted.
The background: our house is two stories, with the first floor open from room to room. Something nice for being able to watch a 4 yr old while cooking/paying bills/working entertaining, but difficult when choosing colors. The foyer unifies all the rooms on the first and second floors. Plus it's really tall, which means that painting it involves scaffolding and expertise far beyond our DIY reach. (I like my bone structure.)
On home improvement shows they always say paint is the cheapest way to change a room, but this is not one of those rooms and that is not always true (especially when you take into account those of us who aren't great painters and change our minds before the paint dries).
So I set out to find the perfect color. No rookie to the paint process (second house, and have done lots of other rooms) I thought finding the right gray would be easy. Wrong. I went to Sherwin Williams. Benjamin Moore. Restoration Hardware. To the Interwebs and blogs and friends. What was their "must-have" paint?
They shared.
And I came up with this (which is not true to color because my flash was acting funky):
And this:
The cans were lined up side by side. (And at $5 and $7.50, it's not a cheap endeavor.) A friend slid me her "recipe" for a no-fail color. I watched the samples turn various shades of blue, green, purple, and brown in the early morning and then evening light.
Forgive me for going into Carrie Bradshaw territory here, but why do we obsess over paint colors? Yeah, I know it's just paint and it can be changed. Perhaps it has something to do with our attempt to gain control, to achieve an effect based on picking up "Lemongrass" or "Uncertain Gray."
I'd like to say that in my case it's just about covering the knicks in the walls, and for creating a uniform palette of greys and browns upon which to hang the art and photos that tell our story. But if that was the case, why would I spend this much time lingering over paint chips and cleaning brushes in the sink?
What color is my parachute?
Stay tuned. Hopefully it works. If so, I'll share tips. If not, I'll be back at the paint store, saying, "can you match this???"
Garage Sale America The companion website to Bruce Littlefield's brilliant book about the magic of garage sales.
Bureau of Communication Wacky pre-worded communcations for every occasion, including "Happy Divorce" and "Grievance Letter" with Ad-Lib type room for your own special personalizations.
Jancee Dunn Blog Pop culture/rock critic wrote a great memoir about being a writer for "Rolling Stone" and VJ for MTV. Most importantly, she hits the 70s and 80s right on the head, particularly with her descriptions of JcPenny's, where her father spent his career. Her blog has great photos from 70s Penny's catalogs, as well as links to her essays, etc.
Disco Museum Brilliant. Check out the entry on Paul Jabara, a fairly unknown singer songwriter who wrote for Donna Summer and more. He was also the person who created the red ribbon to bring awareness to HIV.
Roadside Architecture The author spends much of her time traveling across the U.S. taking photos of giant faux food displays, neon signs, fairytale villages ala "Rock City," old diners and malls and pet cemetaries. Nothing short of genius and addictive.
Bad Fads After buying a squishy porcupine type toy for Shane and I -- I mean Nate and I -- to play with, I remembered the wonderful Koosh Ball of the late 80s. Shane didn't remember this, so I Googled the term and came up with this great page -- the Museum of Bad Fads. Excited to see that there is a reference to Sea Monkeys, my personal favorite. Though they are not a "fad" -- they are a lifestyle!
Dead Malls The guys that run this website travel the country documenting malls of bygone times. I love it!
Florida's psychic to the stars Gary Spivey has an amazing silver afro and a gift for seeing the future. Of course he's from my homeland of the greater Tampa Bay Area, Florida.
Graham Nelson Minnesota baby extraordinaire and son of Alisa!
Nat Reads Natalie writes about books, movies, and life in Birmingham.
Nikko's Blog Nikko is an American ex-pat living in Madrid. I met her through Cliff.
Hugh's News Blog of an exceptionally talented Dad, grandpa and Yankees fan. In-depth commentary on said Yankees, grandson and state of the world in general.
Moms Rising This site advocates for moms to decide how they want to raise their kids -- whether it be to work outside the home or to be a SAHM. Most of all, it's about fair, equitable conditions in which one becomes a mom and the chance to raise healthy kids.
Mojo Mom A site that helps moms reflect on the fact that they are actually people, not just baby-making beings.