CourtneyP

I’ve been jumping around from climate to climate in the past few weeks, and I’m not sure if I really like it.

Temperatures hit a low at the beginning of the month in the Bay Area, with temperatures as low as thirty or so degrees in Santa Clara. It was cold! We cranked up the furnace and lit fires in the fireplaces… dug out the ol’ down comforters and fuzzy slippers. Fog loomed in our little cul-de-sac for entire days.

Then I went with my Mom, Dad and brother to Puerto Vallarta earlier this month, to be greeted by tropical temperatures (mid sixties at night to mid eighties during the day) and bright sunlight. It was perfect, actually… no rain and low humidity.

Back to the Bay Area to have Christmas with the rest of my family, which went great. I made some yummy Shrimp and Corn Croquettes for Christmas Eve dinner (which, I will add, I am probably going to be producing again for New Year’s Day). Mom produced way too much food once again, and we were eating all night.

More on Christmas later, though…

So, on Christmas Day, I spent the afternoon and evening travelling out to the Twin Cities of Minnesota to spend some time with K’s family. Now I’m in very cold weather, with snowfall happening on the day before I arrived. The temperatures have actually been rising since I arrived, with it now at twenty-six degrees as I type this (thank you, WeatherPop), and expected rises to the 40’s in the next few days. It’s actually supposed to snow again the day after I leave, so I am not going to be able to witness any snowfall here at all.

We’ll always have Tahoe, I guess. ^_^;;

I hope you are having a lovely holiday season. Thank goodness that the craziness of the season is over… this seems like a very lax time of year, when we can breathe a sigh of relief that the madness is done with and we can ring in the new year with a fresh start.

Yup, quiet around here, as usual.

November and December are always mad crazy months. With the holidays and all, who has time for anything, really?

I’ve been crafting up a storm in preparation for the holidays since last month. Last night and today, I was working on our holidays cards on the ol’ Gocco.

I am also making some mini buttons, marble magnets and a slew of homemade bath products for presents. I do admit to a little bit of Christmas shopping… at least we do a “White Elephant” gift exchange for my extended family. I do love finding gifts for my immediate family, though. I like to think very hard about what they would enjoy and the expression on their face when they find out what I gave them. Good stuff.

We also have been fixing up the house in preparation for our winter party. Our latest addition is what I fondly call the “Moon Room”:

We are hoping to add some little glow in the dark stars to the wall with the moon on it. I wish we could paint the wall, but alas, the woes of renting.

Earlier today, I received this fortune cookie:

It is the quintessential fortune cookie, no? I also cringed a bit when I saw that they used Comic Sans for the font on these fortunes.

I am off on a trip with my parents and brother to Mexico within a few hours. I’m a bit anxious about leaving home in the midst of all the holiday preparation, but I’m confident that it will all be just fine. The house and the rest of the holiday duties are in the capable hands of K.

I think I need a bit of relaxation, anyway.

Hasta luego, kiddos!