Christmas in the Tropics

Santa's Been Here!


Early Morning Coffee on the Patio



A Light Breakfast

Even Mom & Dad arrived in their new holiday pajamas!

Lily enjoyed the afghan I made her boyfriend as much as he did!

Lily gifted Beren's daughter with miniature key lime pies, her favorite!

Jackson is all worn out from playing in the wrapping paper

The Day After Christmas - 75 degrees on the Beach!

'Twas the Night Before Christmas..

and we all made our way over to Kali's house...



where we enjoyed a fabulous dinner of salad, bread, stuffed shells, baked ziti, and roasted brussel sprouts - yummy! Of course there was also lots of wine..



we all ate til we were stuffed to the brim, laughed and joked and had a great time!





Thank you, Kali and Kevin, for being such wonderful hosts!



Now, the long wait until Santa arrives..Goodnight, all..

A Yuletide Meme

I saw this on my friend Susan's blog and decided to share it here as well. Feel free to copy/paste and join in on the fun, please leave me a comment if you do so that I can read your answers as well!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Although I am mostly a paper & ribbon kind of gal (real ribbon, not the plastic stuff), this year I am also using a bunch of red Target shopping bags. They're cheap, pretty, practical and most importantly, reusable!

2. Real tree or Artificial? Always, always a real tree.

3. When do you put up the tree? It varies, but never before the first of December. We've occasionally purchased it on Thanksgiving weekend but in that case it sits quietly in the corner and waits to be decorated. One holiday at a time, please.

4. When do you take the tree down? Again, it varies depending upon how many needles are covering the floor and how motivated I am to un-decorate. It's usually just after the New Year, though.

5. Do you like eggnog? I do, especially spiked with a bit of nutmeg on top..yumm...

6. Favorite gift received as a child? The one I remember most vividly is a doll my Mom let me open in the wee hours of Christmas. I was sick with a cold and sleeping in her bed, I must've been 4 years old because she was still a single mother then. I woke up in the middle of the night, feeling horrible, she consoled and comforted me by allowing me to open just one gift before Christmas morning.

7. Hardest person to buy for? My parents are hard only because they have most everything they want, we end up buying them trinkets or gift certificates.

8. Easiest person to buy for? My eldest daughter

9. Do you have a nativity scene? I have a small one but I don't put it out anymore.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Always mail, sorry but I think holiday e-cards are tacky!

11.Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I can't really think of a worst.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? It's a Wonderful Life, I still cry every time I watch it.

13. When do you start shopping? The day after Christmas, LOL.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Not that I can recall.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? My ex-in-laws' Italian cookies..fortunately for my waist line I can rarely get my hands on them nowadays!

16. Lights on the tree? Absolutely - my mom always used the big ones, which I actually prefer to these tiny things because you need so many more and the effect is just not the same. Next year I think I'm going back to the biggies.

17. Favorite Christmas song? Winter Wonderland followed closely by Santa Baby.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Always home.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Of course!

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? It varies, this year it's a precariously placed silver star.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?Christmas morning for the bulk of them, but on Christmas Eve we all get new pajamas to open. :-) When my kids were little they also got a Christmas book in addition to the pjs but they have outgrown that now.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? the fact that the season starts way too early, I don't want to see Christmas trees mixed in with Halloween costumes! *shudder*

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? The gold cherubs I bought when each of my children were born; each is engraved with their names, date of birth, time and birth weight. They are precious and bring back such wonderful memories of their baby days.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? We have a big Italian dinner on Christmas Eve, have been doing that for 20 years or so. We never did a huge Christmas dinner, too worn out from the night before, but several years ago when going through my divorce I started a new tradition - Chinese take-out on Christmas! LOL! I did it then for practical reasons but it's become a favorite, fun part of our holiday celebration so it stuck.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? a cure for my Mom's cancer, think Santa can handle that one?

Solstice Blessings

We had a lovely Solstice Weekend filled with family, friends, and feasting! We served various snacks and desserts, chatted around the chiminea outside and then lit our Yule log, each of us making a wish. The party went far into the longest night of the year, Beren and I finally tucked ourselves into bed well after midnight.


~Bambi and Lily waiting for the guests to arrive~


~Making our Wishes~


~Kids around the Yule Log~


~Mom & Dad~


~Happy Hosts~

~Kali, Kevin & Jackson~

~Stuffed Mushrooms and Desserts~

~Snowflake Cupcakes, the perfect end to a wonderful evening!~

A Surprise for Beren...Shh....

As you all know, My Man Beren is a passionate sailor and gets out on the water every chance he gets. In addition to that, he fashions himself quite the pirate, as clearly indicated by our infamous Pirate Patio! :-)

For the past month he's been keeping a sailing log, chronicling his adventures (or lack thereof) on the water. Unbeknownst to him, I've copied his journal notes onto a blog for him.

This is a secret, I plan to unveil the website on Christmas morning. Shhh...! In the meantime, I thought it might be fun to have friends & family visit and post comments if possible, will make it a lot more fun for him to read and enjoy! There aren't many posts right now but I plan to continue blogging for as long as he keeps writing.

Here's the link, thanks so much for joining me in this gift to my Pirate Man! ;-)

http://www.chip-wrecked.blogspot.com/

Waiting for Santa

Just a week until Christmas,
and how we all scurry!

Baking and decorating and wrapping galore, from the two-legged creatures right down to the four!




~Bambi and Boyfriend Beautify the Tree~


~Kali searches for her ornaments~


~It's always been Lily's job to place the star~




~Curious Christmas Kitties~


~Visiting Grandma's House where she has a Doxie under her tree!~



~Cookies for Santa~


~Ok, Santa, I think we're just about
ready for you!~

Happy Birthday, Kali!

~Happy Birthday, Kali!~

My beautiful eldest daughter turned 24 today, can hardly believe it! It's every mother's lament, "where does the time go?"

To celebrate her special day, we had a family dinner here at the Castle, 15 of us cuddled around my dining room table to honor the Birthday Girl.





We served a simple antipasto as an appetizer, Penne with Shrimp and Herbed Cream Sauce as the entree, and Strawberry Whipped Cream cake for dessert.













As always, wine was flowing, friends & family were feasting, love & laughter filled the castle. It was a perfect way to honor my Kali, my firstborn, the one who taught me everything about being a mother, and so very much more.

I love you, Sweetheart! Here's to many, many more birthday celebrations!