Well, another Christmas has come and gone. All that hype for one little day. We had a good Christmas. We spent a lot of time with our extended family, but we were able to have some down time at home too. Saturday we went to my sister’s house and celebrated with the rest of our siblings, my niece, nephew, and all four parents. Sunday we visited Mike’s dad’s family and Christmas day we visited his mom’s family.

Christmas Eve was our day. It has always been our day. (more…)

Mike and I put up the Christmas tree today. We didn’t really feel like doing it but since it’s Luke’s first Christmas we thought we ought to. We’re glad we did. It’s pretty. Granted, it’s a bit silly putting a tree in your living room and hanging lights and chotchkes on it, but it does look nice once you put the presents underneath it. We have a lot of ornaments from when Mike was growing up so he really enjoyed reminiscing as we pulled them out of the box. We are excited to build our own collection of ornaments and memories with Luke as he grows up.   

Luke didn’t help much with the decorating of the tree (he was napping) but he had his own kind of fun with Dad later in the evening.

I have just learned more than I ever needed to know about lobsters. I just watched “Mostly Martha” (the original, in German with English subtitles). In the movie, Martha mentions that if lobsters are left in a tank too long they will begin to eat themselves slowly from the inside. So of course I had to google it. I confirmed that it’s true and found some other interesting facts about lobsters.

The Secret Life of Lobsters FAQ 
“Did you know lobsters were once despised by humans as junk food?”

What Wikipedia says about lobsters 
“Occasionally, they will scavenge if necessary, and may resort to cannibalism in captivity”

Unknown Life of Lobsters
“Usually in a particular neighborhood, one male establishes himself as the local ogre, the dominant alpha male. And once his status is secured, he enforces it. Every night, he goes out and beats up all the other lobsters in the neighborhood, kicks them all out of their houses, just to remind them who’s in charge.”

So basically, they are introverted bottom-feeders that like to bully their neighbors. Not to mention they are kind of icky looking. I am not surprised that they used to only be eaten by poor people and children. They were like the ramen noodles of simpler times. So what changed? Maybe in 50 years they’ll start charging $20 per pound of noodles.

Technorati Tags: lobster, Holidailies

We’re doing a new thing this year with my side of the family. We’re having one collective Christmas celebration. This is new because usually we try to have a separate “Christmas” each with my mom and my dad. They divorced when I was 6. This year Kari decided that wasn’t a good reason for having two separate celebrations in which we drive to each side of the state. We will all be meeting at her house for a glorious Christmas dinner. My mom, stepdad, dad, stepmom, even Kari’s in-laws will be there. This happened for Thanksgiving once at our house and it went surprisingly well. Yes, we were a bit nervous. (more…)

• Sail On - Lionel Richie
• Baby I’m A Want You - Bread
• We Didn’t Start the Fire - Billy Joel
• Babe - Styx
• Christmas in Hollis - Run DMC

See? I’m puttin’ it right out there for all to see. Unashamed.

What songs are you not ashamed to love?

Technorati Tags: music, favorite songs, lists, Holidailies

I gave up on the lose 30 pounds by 30 goal, but I still need to do something about this extra weight. This is the heaviest I have ever been and it’s bothering me. Big time. I know diet and exercise are the ways to losing weight, but I’m just going to leave exercise as a last resort. I just need to be more diligent about packing lunches and making dinner and it should make a difference. At least it has in the past. Maybe I’m in a smidge of denial. All I know is I’ve been slacking on eating right and now is time to shape up. 

My weakness is not necessarily junk food as it is convenience food. I’m lazy about food, and I’ll eat just about anything. Now every time I look in the mirror I have a reminder of where my laziness has gotten me. The problem I’m running into is that I can only hide so much with clothing. That and I hate shopping for new clothes. Shopping for new clothes means I’m accepting this new body and I refuse to do that.  

It is going to be so hard staying on track during the holidays but I think I can do it. I’ve already cut way back on the evening ice cream binges. Heck, I even braved the sleet and ice late Saturday night to go to Super Wal-Mart so I would have some healthy food in the house. Now that’s dedication, people. 

Technorati Tags: holidailies, health, food, weight loss