Merry Christmas Sweetest P

To my favorite Fly- Fisherman ...

Santa told me that you have been a good boy! He also told me that he wants you to have CUSTOM WADERS!

Love,

Santa-Wifey

Oh Christmas Tree!

OH Christmas Tree is right! The dear hus has always wanted a monster of a Christmas Tree and this year he got it. The beast is 10 feet tall and beautiful. Unfortunately the pictures don't really do it justice, it is damn pretty. We have a ton of ornaments (yes I do have an ornament problem) and the gazillion boxes we have didn't come close to maxing out the tree. It looks so pretty at night!

Tonight I finished shopping, wrapping and baking. I'm exhausted and ready to head to Ventura to make tamales. I absolutely love that I am part of the tamale tradition now. On Monday I will be covered in masa, freezing my butt off, drinking coffee with all of my favorite auntie in-laws, Grandma Stella and cousin in-laws!

Amy's Baking list for 2008

Rocky Road (2 batches)

Dill Crackers (2 batches)

Granola

Peppermint Bark (awesome!)

Peanut Brittle (why does this damn stuff elude me so?)

Peanut Butter Kisses

Banana Bread

Lemon Poppy Seed Bread

*And my mom made me persimmon cookies!

This tree deserves a name ... and a future spot in my compost bin!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Denis, Amy & Jakey too

Old Friend and new

A few posts back I featured a picture from Brenda and Leah's wedding. I had the most amazing time watching my best friend wed the love of her life. She has great taste, well both of them have great taste. I saw this picture a few days ago and was struck by how the photographer captured all of our personalities.

Leah had a post on her blog that brought tears to my eyes. She is truly more than anyone could ask for in a friend. We laugh, we cry, we scream and damn did we dance at her wedding!

Enjoy your honeymoon ladies. This damn state of New York is down right cold this week. Have a fruityvodkayumbrellasporting drink for me!

We trotted our hearts out!

In an earlier post I told everyone that Denis and I were running the Oceanside Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning. We had a fantastic time even if the pics don't look like it. The running bug has bit me again and I hope to run at least one more race before the end of the year - maybe a New Year's Race!

Okay, so it was a Monday Dinner

We are bringing back the special dinner of the week segment on the blog! Normally it is a Sunday dinner, but since we were gone three days and were exhausted we had crap in a can for dinner on Sunday night. Not much for the picture takin'/blog postin' Sunday dinner.

Instead, this week I feature the Monday dinner. Yep, there it is above. We had Veggie Stew with a little Sheff twist. The recipe came from a blog I just discovered and I llloooovvvveee it ... the blog, the recipe and the Christmas ornaments (pics and post to come) I am going to make.

This awesome soup had spinach, pinto beans (with jalapenos to delight the husband), couscous, diced tomatoes (I used rotel for extra spice), zucchini, garlic (extra for the hus), corn, wine and elbow macaroni. Damn, was it good. It was even better for lunch this afternoon. The hus gave it 9 out of 10 stars which is A LOT coming from him. Please don't tell him I found the recipe on a vegan website, he would freak!