Christmas 2010 Wrap-up

What a lovely holiday season this was!  We had a wonderful time visiting with friends and family and we are looking forward to the myriad of others we still have yet to visit.

The Sunday before Christmas we drove to Victoria, TX for the annual Guerra family Christmas gathering which was lovely.  Michael's Aunt Cathy and Uncle Pat hosted a scrumptious Tex-Mex dinner and we thoroughly enjoyed visiting with everyone, especially since we hadn't been able to see everyone at Thanksgiving.  We were so blessed to be surrounded by our family and to receive many wonderful gifts.  We completely forgot our camera, so I have no pictures sadly.  We did have a funny moment on the way home though: everyone had fallen asleep with the exception of myself and Caitlyn (who was driving).  Billa woke up, looked around, and then suddenly screamed at the top of her lungs, "Daddy, no go night night!"  It promptly woke him and everyone else up.  Cait and I were cracking up since we weren't rudely awoken.  Gotta love a kid with a mind of her own!

Christmas Eve was spent with my family.  My brothers and a couple of family friends joined us all for shrimp, ham, sweet potato casserole, green beans, and more for a delicious meal.  Afterwards, we opened presents and teased my brother Philip for his get up.  Billa ended up usurping the Play-Doh Philip gave everyone and had quite a good time carrying her "cake" everywhere.  My brothers left to go to mass with my brother David's girlfriend Lindsey and the rest of us stayed to watch Zombieland, which is a really fun zombie movie if you haven't seen it yet.  After that, it was close to midnight and we headed back home to prepare for Santa's arrival.  Billa, was of course, thoroughly passed out.

Billa begins to unwrap her gift from "Uncle Folf" (aka my brother Phil!)

Billa helps Uncle Folf unwrap his present

Philip hands out Play-Doh for all!

She was so passed out that the next morning, she didn't even notice the presence of presents under the tree!  We decided that we'd take advantage of that and take our time to open everything, which was nice.  Billa was over the moon with the teddy bear stickers, dinosaur coloring book, and Kumon books that "Santa" got her.  I was thrilled that she loved her puppy dolly that I've been working on for her. 

Present time!

Mommy has to lend a little assistance.  Check out Billa's awesome bedhead!

Billa's "dine-ror" coloring book with figures and stickers...she loves playing dine-rors with daddy!

The crown from Billa's Christmas crackers...she's not really sure what to think about it yet.

Later on, we headed to Michael's mom's house for Christmas breakfast.  Oh man, it's a good thing I only eat her boyfriend's Carl's french toast once a year...that stuff is an instant coronary!  He makes sausage and bacon and then fries up the french toast in the drippings which makes it super tasty, but also incredibly fattening.  We then opened presents and me and my sister in law Caitlyn promptly passed out on the couch while Gigi played with Billa and Carl and Michael watched car shows on TV. It was nice and lazy!

Caitlyn, Billa, and Michael at breakfast.  My fave Christmas pic from this year!

Billa unwraps her present from Gigi with a little help from Riley the beagle

Little People Noah's Ark!  Gigi got Billa ALL the animals that come with it.  Our only regret is that there is no Mrs. Noah with the set.  C'mon, Little People...don't be hatin!

Me and my new scarf...I can never have enough scarves!

Gigi takes a picture of Billa's new froggie blanket.  I can personally vouch for it's comfyness and coziness

We finished our day by stopping off at the Marino household to give them their presents and visit with them for a bit.  Anthony started up the fire pit in the backyard and it was so nice, given how chilly it was!

We had a wonderful Christmas and we hope that each and every one of you did too!

Happy Christmas,
The Guerra Family

Twelve Days of Christmas: My Favorite Ornament

I'm doing Anna's linky party again.  Today's theme is favorite ornaments!

I love today's theme because it gives me a chance to espouse my love for my favorite ornament: the gay little elf!

This cheerful little cherub has been in my family now for a couple of generations.  After my mom's mom passed away in 1995, we inherited a lot of her stuff, including some Christmas ornaments.  The gay little elf was one of those ornaments.  He actually has an identical twin and before I claimed my half of the pair, we'd hang them on the tree facing each other every year.   My brothers HATE the gay little elf because they think he's dumb looking.  I, on the other hand, find him absolutely adorable and hysterical in equal amounts.  My brothers would always make silly faces or crack terrible jokes about the poor little elf, and we'd have great fun laughing about it all afterwards. Those memories are forefront in my mind when I unpack the elf and he always gets a place front and center on the tree.

Someday my mom will give me her little elf too and I shall have a matched pair.  As time goes on, I hope that the elf will continue to witness many happy and joyful Christmasses from his perch on our tree.

Happy Holidays,
Kelly

Billa Babble: All I want for Christmas

Billa is in love with Christmas decorations.  When we drive around in the evening, if she sees Christmas lights, she makes sure EVERYONE knows it.  She calls them "those lights", most likely because we kept pointing them out that way: "Billa!  Look at THOSE lights!"

She is also obsessed with the jolly old elf himself whom she has dubbed "Santen."  I don't know why, that's how she says it!  She's grasped the concept that it is Santa that visits and delivers presents, something they must have talked about at school because we didn't really mention it at home.  It's not that we don't believe in Santa (we do) or that we were trying to spread some sort of message to her (we are, but not overtly), it just never occurred to us that we should explain it to her this year.  But as always, I am proven wrong by the extraordinary little brain hidden underneath those strawberry blonde curls.  Observe:

The other night as we were driving to visit a friend, she saw a blow-up Santa and pointed it out.

"Mommy, look!  A Santen!"
"Yes, that is a Santa." I said.  "Hey Billa, are you excited about Santa coming?"
"Yes!"
"What does Santa bring?" I asked, a bit smugly.
"Um...presents!" she replied brightly.
 Huh, I thought. 
"And what would you like Santa to bring you?"
In the rearview mirror, I caught a glimpse of her drop her chin into her little hand in the classic philosopher's pose.  She thought long and hard for a few seconds.
"Pizza!" she declared.
"I'll get right on that," I said.  "I mean, I'll see what Santa can do."
"Danks, Mommy!"

Here's hoping "Santen" brings you everything on your list!

Cheers,
Kelly

Gettin' Crafty

There's just something about the holidays that makes me super crafty. Maybe it's because the cold forces us to stay inside, or the ideas are flowing out the wazoo on the interwebs.  Whatever it is, I have all these great ideas floating around in my head.

Dolls, dolls, dolls
Since we decorated the house on Friday, Billa has been stealing the Christmas themed Beanie Babies and carrying them around everywhere, calling them her "babies."  I gave her one of my old purses so that she could carry them around.  I've noticed that she's started to develop an empathetic streak and is becoming obsessed with caring for things.  So we've decided that Billa will be getting a doll for Christmas.  I haven't liked a lot of the ones I've seen at stores, so I am going to make her one.  I'm so in love with these soft bodied dolls I saw on Etsy and I am planning on making one that is inspired by them and creating clothes to go along with it, and maybe even a little carrier so that Billa has something to carry her babies in!

Dolls made by The Windy Hill

I also saw these peg dolls and realized I had wooden pieces left over from a craft project that would be perfect to make some of our own.  And this cigar box dollhouse?  Too cute to boot!  Of course, I may end up saving these peg dolls for Billa's birthday, but they would also be really cute for ornaments or gifts for the other kids on my list.

iPad case
My company is giving all of it's employees an iPad for our Christmas gift this year and I am so stoked.  I've been iPad crazy now, trying to decide what apps I'm going to get, and looking at cases.  I love this owl case from Boutique ID, but if I recreate it, I'm going to make some adjustments/improvements to it so that it's a bit more functional for my needs.

Owl iPad case from Boutique ID

I might even use up some of my fabric stores to make some cute iPad sleeves for my coworkers too, since they'll all be in the same boat I will!


Gift presentation and Ornaments
Some of the people on our list will be receiving gift cards this year.  I don't have a problem with gift cards as gifts, but I really dislike it when there's no thought given to the presentation!  I saw these nutcracker ornament boxes from Crate and Barrel and thought it would be really cute to make some for holding gift cards.  I started a tradition with my friend Kellie's kids and my own daughter by giving the kids a special ornament each year as part of their gift.  That way when they go off on their own, they have a whole set to get them started!  These little boxes would be super cute for this year's ornament, especially customized with favorite colors.

Advent calendar
Last year, it was the middle of December when I was blogtrolling and discovered all sorts of cute ideas for advent calendars.  It being the middle of December, I couldn't exactly start one then, but I resolved to do it for the next year!  I bought some felt from the craft store over the holidays and I am ready to st out to make an advent calendar for this year.  My idea was originally that I was going to make little mittens and socks out of the felt and then hang them up on a line like this one from Martha Stewart, but I don't really have any place to hang them in our apartment now that everything is decorated. 

 
I may just make a panel that hangs on the fridge and each one of the little socks and mittens clips to it if I can't find someplace to hang them all up.  They'll all be little pouches so that I can stuff candy or other activities into them and hopefully it will grow with us if our family ever expands!

Hopefully my budget will allow for all of my craftiness.  I haven't been able to craft in some time and now that I have some free time after finishing NaNoWriMo, I am ready to get crackin' on my craftin'!

Happy crafting to you!
Kely

Deckin' the Halls and Thanksgiving 2010 Recap

Now that we are recovered from our food comas yesterday...

We had a wonderful time visiting with Michael's mom's family and my family yesterday for Thanksgiving.  It was Michael's mom's birthday yesterday, so we drove out to Wimberley, TX to have dinner with Gigi, Aunt Cait, Auntie 'Chelle, Uncle Kevin, Uncle Steve, Aunt Jerry, Nana, and Mrs. Roberts (Uncle Steve's mom).  Dinner was fabulous and we watched the Macy's parade, a dog show, and the beginning of the Cowboys vs. Saints game.  We also took a lovely walk around the ranch to make some room for dessert:

Some of us climbed...

And ran...

And played in the birdbath!

Afterwards, we drove to my parents' house in Buda and enjoyed Thanksgiving 2.0 with my folks, my brothers David and Philip, Phil's girlfriend Andrea, and his roommate Aaron.  I am sad to say that my beloved Longhorns put up a good fight against the Aggies, but it wasn't enough.  We lost 24-17 and I was so very sad.  I seriously hope the Aggies make it the Big 12 Championship though; we need a Texas team to represent!

This year's Thanksgiving was one of the best, although it was marred just slightly by the news that my husband's Gramma Bobbe took ill and so we won't be seeing that side of the family this year.  We hope you feel better soon, Gramma!

We traditionally spend Black Friday decorating our home for Christmas and we definitely did that this morning!  Michael had to work in the afternoon, so we got an early start and were done in about an hour.  Now that's what I call teamwork!  Billa lent a hand hanging ornaments on the tree.  Here is a fine example of her handiwork:

At least she's consistent!

The stocking were hung by the chimney with care...

...In the hopes that St. Nick would soon be there!

In other news, the weather is finally cold!  I don't know how long it will last, but I am s thrilled about cold weather.  I broke out the sweaters this morning and put away some of my summer clothes.  I like to layer in the wintertime, so I didn't put away everything of course, but it was so refreshing to see my sweaters hanging back up again.

I have to say, given everything that has happened this year, I am so grateful to be able to spend the holidays with my husband's family as well as my own.  I have come to consider them as my family too and I grieved to think that I might not be seeing them at the holidays.  You certainly never know what you have until you are faced with losing it. 

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well and that if you are going out today that you're safe!  And if you are going out today, show a little kindness and appreciation to any retail employees you encounter...it will make for happiness all around!

Cheers,
Kelly

Ladies and Gentlemen...Christmas has left the building!

We won't spend much time talking about last night suffice it to say if I see one more newspaper headline that has the word TIDE in it, I may puke.  I really really really wish my Horns had won.  Oh well, at least we have great things to look forward to with Garrett Gilbert!

I worked from home today because I didn't want to deal with the crazy cold we're experiencing (33F as of writing this, but it was 27F most of the day) and because it was a slow day.  During some of the slower moments today, I started packing away the Christmas stuff.  We always leave Christmas up until January 6th for two reasons: 1) it's my mom's birthday and 2) technically the Christmas season ends on that day.  Yeah, bet you didn't know that.  The twelve days of Christmas actually start on Christmas Day and then run until January 6, which is the day the Magi found the baby Jesus and brought their gifts to him.  Michael had the day off so he helped me and we rearranged the living room too, while we were at it.

Here's the room before:

Ok, you really can't see too much, but I'm sitting in front of the couch and the tree was across from the fireplace. The TV is behind the tree in this picture and a chair normally sits where the lemon tree in the background is.

And after:

I only have four boxes and one shopping bag of Christmas decorations.   I think we may have to get a coffee table now with all that space!

I'm sad that Christmas is gone, but it's so much more special when you have to wait for it!  Now I just have to find a way to recreate the soft sparkly lighting that the Christmas tree lights made...I really liked that effect in the living room!

Happy Friday,
Kelly

Christmas #4 Recap

So after Christmas Eve with Michael's mom and Christmas morning with Michael's dad, we spent Christmas Day with my family and a couple of friends.  Paul is an old friend of my parents back from when my brothers were in Scouts.  He is a funny little fella, but he has a heart of gold and our go to guy for anything and everything electrical or home renovation.  He's spent Christmas with my family for the last few years so it wouldn't have been the same if he didn't show up!  Our other non-family guest was my friend John.  John and  I met through work and despite being laid off in November, we have stayed in touch.  His dad passed away earlier this year and he didn't really have anyone to spend the holiday with so I forced him to come to our house.  Not that I had to do much arm-twisting; John and another co-worker Beth come over almost weekly for dinner and wine at our place and John knows that I always have something yummy cooking in the kitchen.

I had spent Christmas Eve prepping a lot of things: brioche (bread) dough, a sweet potato casserole, pork tenderloin, spinach artichoke dip, and homemade mac and cheese.  When we got home on Christmas Day around 11, it only took me about two hours to cook everything and since most of it was done, all I had to do was pop things in the oven and then wait for them to cook.  It would have been only one hour had I had a double oven, but whatever.  Someday when I have my dream house!  Michael was great at getting everything cleaned up, so when everyone started arriving at 1:30, it was easy peasy.  It's nice to have finally figured out a good system for entertaining!

Uncle Phil is a wee bit too big for Billa's tent

Uncle Phil?  Can I have my tent back now?

I was so tired of turkey and ham (even though I don't eat ham) so I figured I would do something a little different.  Last year we had a Mexican Christmas with tamales and enchiladas; this year it was pork tenderloin with pomegrante mango chipotle glaze, sweet potato casserole, homemade mac and cheese, peas and corn (my one lazy dish–I figured I made everything else, I was allowed to do frozen veggies!), and brioche, straight from the oven.  It was mighty fine eats, if I do say so myself.

David, Paul and Michael talking motorcycles

Billa shows off some mad skills to her audience

Afterwards, we opened presents.  We gave John a wine aerator (which funny story, he got us one too!), my parents got a calendar and some nice coffee and a digital food thermometer, my brother David got dominoes, and Philip got travel Scattergories.  I gave Paul a loaf of the brioche since I ran out of time to get him anything, but he was excited nonetheless since he now had something to go with the homemade blueberry jam his family had sent him from Maine!  We left some presents for Billa to open so that her uncles and grandparents could share in her joy of opening presents.  I kinda wish I'd saved different presents for her to unwrap since they started encouraging her to use her new markers and 'tattoo' herself.  I also have a big blue streak on my carpet from said markers.  Thanks a lot, guys.

My parents watching Billa open her presents and Philip modeling some of the wrappings

Billa and her 'tattoo'

John colors with Billa

Laughing at some doodles Philip added to Hello Kitty...don't ask!

After presents, we sat around and chatted, played some dominoes, my dad took a nap, Michael read some, and Billa went down for a nap too.  Philip and Paul left early, so the rest of us sat down to eat cookies and watch Grandma's Boy since John had never seen it.  My mom insisted that I finish decorating the rest of the cookies, so I did, but not before she and my brother and John thought it would be hilarious to keep bumping my hands as I tried to pipe designs on them.  David also thought it would be funny to make boobies on some of the gingerbread men (yes, hard to believe he's 25) and my mom made her own improvements to them as well.  Needless to say, I did NOT get pictures of these cookies as they were just awful looking.  They tasted good though!

We had a lot of fun razzing each other and playing around all afternoon and I was sad to see to everyone go.  Mom gave Sybilla a bath before she left (apparently grandma's love to give baths, so who am I to stand in the way of their fun?) and Michael and did a quick clean up before calling it a night.

It was a great Christmas and I am so grateful that my folks came out to my place again this year for dinner and gift exchange.  Someday I hope to consolidate everyone in one Christmas...maybe next year?

Mama wearing her new hat

Billa's turn with the hat!

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

Cheers,
Kelly

Christmas #3 Recap

And the fun continues!

Michael's dad had asked us to do Christmas morning with him and his wife and we were happy to oblige so we stayed the night at their place in order to do so.  Michael's sisters stayed too and we chatted and sang karaoke (I love that stuff!) before heading off to bed to await Santa's arrival.


Billa was the last one to get up Christmas morning, enabling Michael and I to get some coffee and visit a bit with everyone before we all tore into our presents.  Michael's dad gifted him with a laptop which he is very excited about.  Actually, I think I am more excited than he is...no more fighting over the Mac!  My present made us all laugh out loud...it was a duplicate of what Michael's mom got me!  Yep, I ended up with TWO mixers!  Since we'd opened the other one already, I took the unopened one back and got myself an iPod touch, of which I am overjoyed.  I definitely made the nice list this year!

Can you tell we're not really morning people?

Mama's got her coffee, I got my milk.  Everything is good now!

Trisa laughs at Mike's hat...it says 'Bah Humbug'

Billa got a fun ride on that also doubles as a little wagon for her to pull all of her toys around in.  It's just perfect for dolls and other small items.  Mostly she likes it as a ride on, or rather a chair, in the middle of the living room while she watches TV.  She also got some super cute outfits from her Tata and Michael and I gifted her with some new movies.

I got a banana!  Let's open presents now!

Caitlyn LOVES her new Harley shirt.

Michael says I make the best faces on Christmas morning.  Whatever.

What's in here?

Billa loves her new rider toy!

Sweet!  I got movies!

I totally surprised Michael with a boxed set of Mel Brooks DVD's that he'd been eyeing at Best Buy.  I got them for significantly less at Costco and in the words of my brother Philip, "Nice way to give to yourself too! For the win!"  Seriously, I don't think anything could have excited Michael more than those DVD'S...except maybe the flannel pajama pants and boot socks and I got him (yes, I know, a bit odd, but whatever makes the man happy).

"You can't Tokomada anything!"

I was very happy to receive a baking book I've been eyeing and a cute little cloche hat that I'd seen at Target.  Love love love it!  I've been wearing it every change I get!

I lurves my hat!

We finished up the morning with a wonderful breakfast and then we all parted ways so that we could continue our visits to other family and friends. It was a wonderful Christmas morning and we very much enjoyed doing something a bit different this year!

Cheers,
Kelly & the Gang

Christmas #2 Recap

Our original plans for Christmas Eve were to join Michael's mom and her boyfriend for a fun filled evening at Austin Park N Pizza, but due to the weather, everyone went to Dave and Buster's instead.  I was kinda bummed since Michael's work schedule didn't allow us to attend that portion of the festivities, but it was probably a good thing as Billa is a little young for Dave and Buster's.  Michael was able to get off a couple of hours early and when he got home, we packed up the car and headed out.

We had a tasty dinner of ham, twice baked potatoes, monkey bread, deviled eggs, and creamed corn.  There was much fighting over the monkey bread, as it's everybody's favorite.  I must learn how to make it!  After dinner, we opened presents.  I was blown out of the water when I tore off the wrapping paper of a very large box and saw a KitchenAid stand mixer label staring back at me.  Seriously, I didn't believe it until I opened the box itself and gingerly touched my new baby.  It's soooo pretty and I am sooooo in love!

My new baby...so purty!

Michael, Caitlyn, and Michelle

What's this?

Just like mama's!  We got the real Billa Cakes now!

Sybilla received a vanity set from her Gigi along with a cute pink mini mixer to match Mama's (although she totally broke it within twelve hours of receiving it...it is now a hand mixer as opposed to a stand mixer and only has one set of beaters!).  Michael's sister Caitlyn works at the Gap so everyone got something from there.  I got some awesome sweaters which I really needed (gotta love practical gifts!) and Michael got a nice cologne set.  Mmmm...smells like man!  She also got Sybilla some really cute clothes which included a brown little fleece sweat jacket which Billa wears all the time now.  Michelle gave us a date night complete with babysitting, which we will be using very soon.  he also got Riley the Beagle a dog sweater, which was cute but the poor guy looked so miserable in it!

We gave Michael's mom a photo calendar of Billa along with a locket that contained a black and white silhouette of Sybilla.  Michelle and Michael gave Carl both seasons of the Sarah Connor Chronicles which was one of his favorite shows.  He also got a popcorn machine which he and Michelle's boyfriend Kevin put together.

Michael's mom loved her calendar!

Carl unwrapping his popcorn maker

Michelle and her boyfriend Kevin look on

The highlight of Billa's evening was a Dora the Explorer tent which she loves to hide in.  When she gets mad at us or doesn't want to get dressed/change diapers/do what we ask of her, she hides in it and giggles at her own cleverness.  I'll have to get a video of it if I can, but it's hilarious!  It now resides permanently in the living room.

What could be in this box?

Sweet!  A tent!

They'll never find me in here...mwahaha!

All in all, we had a great time with Michael's mom, Carl, Michelle, Cait, and Kevin.  We we were sad to have to leave early. but we had to get Billa to bed before she lost her cool.

Happy Christmas!
The Guerra Clan