Last night I made eggnog. I'm not gonna lie, I've never made it before and my freshman effort TOTALLY changed my mind about the beverage (which I formerly LOATHED). I made this recipe, except when it called for 1/2 cup of spiced rum, I assumed they meant, like, double* that. The only thing is, you have to stir it A LOT.
Which is kind of a PITA when there's a Christmas tree on top of your car. We put the nog outside in the (literally) freezing air to cool off while we brought in The Beast.
It's hard to tell who's most excited about the tree because the DOG is the only one in this picture who's been celebrating Christmas for more than a decade:
I love that every holiday with Joel is an opportunity to show him just EXACTLY what Over The Top means. I was hoping to appall him with my abundance of Christmas trimmings, but the garage! It has already become my own personal Bermuda Triangle. We only brought in what we could easily reach.
And by "we" I mean THEM. Duh. Obviously. I was busy drinking stirring egg nog.
Meanwhile Joel and I managed to bring in the tree and set it up together without a single word of bickering. I would argue that this is 100% proof that he's my soul mate, but then again, I was wearing a tiny little short plaid skirt and bright red lipstick and the man does own a penis, so, you know, not exactly a scientific control group there.
After we set up the tree, Joel made all of us a dinner of steak and tater tots and I'm not gonna lie: it didn't really hurt his sex appeal AT ALL. Especially when he topped it off by lip-syncing Pavarotti and Sinatra with his daughter.
Of course, after dinner we had to take a trip to Wal-Mart for Christmas lights because almost every strand I had in storage was broken. When we got back, it was DECORATING TIME!
(I love that photo. A lot. Maybe even more than I love my DOG. If Joel ever dies on me and I have to bury him, I'm gonna get one of those gravestones where you can etch a photo into the granite and it will feature THAT PICTURE.) (FOR ETERNITY!)
After dinner, it was TREE TIME! We enlisted the children. At least those with ovaries.
Click on that photo to embiggen it and get a glimpse of our new living room! We sold my fancy leather couch and bought TWO vintage couches, one of which you can see above. It's gold. And rad. And built in 1953. When the vintage shop we got it from bought it at an estate sale, it had a hand gun buried in the far left cushion. THAT's how badass it is.
Also worth noting is the wall color. Which will be the first thing to go in the house. It's almost as if someone was GOING for Tiffany's blue, but totally overshot and ended up in a baby boy's over-exuberant nursery. We're thinking of replacing it with a nice colonial blue. (And by "we," I mean Joel.) (Which is awesome! A man who can decorate LIKE A BOSS! And he isn't gay! How did I get so lucky?!) (Seriously, he has MAD PLANS for this room. Plans that involve 1970's wood paneling and a ban-saw.)
Eventually Alex came out of his room to help us decorate.
I somehow captured his eyelashes in this photo. I only wish it wasn't unbearably blurry because he is so beautiful it almost breaks my heart.
Mostly I just walk around my house in a daze thinking, HOW DID I GET SO LUCKY?
Merry Christmas, indeed.
*And by "double," we all know I meant TRIPLE.
You mean quadruple, yes? I thought so. Who's ever hurt by a little rum?
Have a lovely holiday season and stay happy!
Posted by: lolismum | December 09, 2011 at 08:17 AM
How could you not mention the cutest little red riding hood!?! Love it!
Posted by: jami | December 09, 2011 at 10:26 AM
Congratulations on the new house. We recently bought an older house in Portland and the fire place had the same ‘smoke marks’ on the bricks. I REALLY did not want to paint the bricks to get rid of the marks. I found that baking soda and water and a wire brush will get the soot out of the brick cracks. It will be messy, so put down a few towels.
Posted by: Tiffany | December 09, 2011 at 12:02 PM
I LOVE your little red riding hood coat. It's full of the awesome. Glad to hear you're all enjoying Christmas in your new home.
Posted by: Sally | December 09, 2011 at 12:04 PM
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE this post...All things CHRISTMAS: Eggnog, Christmas tree on the car roof, rum, kids smiling in front of tree, Rum, Most awesome picture of your man, RUm, male child willingly participating in decorating, RUM....and best of all this post just SCREAMS total HAPPINESS!!!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!
Posted by: Janice Davenport | December 09, 2011 at 12:18 PM
Love it!
Enjoy every minute of making memories !
Posted by: Faraway Reader | December 09, 2011 at 02:26 PM
Congrats on the new place! And SO glad to hear that you didn't paint that color on the walls, I was sitting here looking at that color like OMG WHAT WERE THEY THINKING!?!? Lol... can't wait to see pics once it's painted!
Again, congrats and best wishes, oh and enjoy your Christmas!
Posted by: Mary | December 10, 2011 at 05:24 PM
Two weeks without a post!! Where are you? Miss you terribly!
PS Have a very merry Christmas!
Posted by: Meredith | December 22, 2011 at 09:02 PM