Another Christmas

I spent my first Christmas Eve and day with my new family. T and I left on Christmas Eve morning and drove south to Kentucky to spend a couple of days with his parents and Aunt Shirley. We arrived to a lovely state with no snow on the ground. Since T claimed he hasn't seen the ground in Indiana in over a month and a half, I suggested we go for a little family jaunt around the neighborhood. At like 38 degrees, it felt warm to us.

Pat and Eddie humored me, as this was my first Christmas and they were accommodating their new daughter in law. They were cold:)

Shirley was the least down with this plan. She was a trouper, though and trudged through with the help of some earmuffs.

We had some Cosmos prior to dinner. Perhaps 3 or 4. Pat mixes a mean cocktail. I was just so happy, you see. I had to tell Trinity how much I loved him. I did this often between swigs.

The next morning we awoke to a little scavenger hunt for our stocking goodies. Here are some of the piles of loot.

One of our gifts was a buff. I prefer to call it a burqa, but only if you wear it in the style I am modeling.

T did it up turban style. We are to wear these to protect our faces during skiing in Aspen, as these were Pat's instructions. I plan on protecting my face from the hot tub steam. We also received gift certificates for excursions. Pat and Eddie gave us one weekend trip to the West Baden Springs Resort and Shirley gave us another weekend in Nashville at The Opryland Hotel, site of our engagement. We had such a wonderful visit and we can't wait for some weekend fun in 2011!

I'm No Small Frye-

You may recall these beauts-

I purchased them from Zappos for a mere $298 smacks and waited with bated breath. I couldn't wait to get my gams in those gorgeous leatha babies. After I ordered them, I browsed through the reviews. One caught my eye, from a consumer who claimed that although she didn't think her calves were large, these boots were better for "skinny legged girls." I didn't fret. My issues are above the knee when it comes to legs. I've had trouble with jeans in the past, sometimes the correct waist size will be too tight due to my oft-mentioned "Polish thighs." However, my calves and knees are normal. Or so I thought.

Damn you, gorgeous Frye boots!

They arrived a short 24 hours later and I ripped open that box with the anticipation of the dad from "A Christmas Story." I pulled one boot smoothly over my foot, my calf and then HALT! WTF? My knees wrinkled and spilled over the top part of that boot, all muffin-top knee style.

Evidence of knee spillage. My boots overfloweth. They were so tight even without jeans tucked in. There was no hope of stuffing skinny jeans in those boots, as my legs themselves were not skinny enough.

Another close up. This doesn't really display the boot muffin top, but just giganto-kneeage.

I'd like to say I didn't cry, but I would be lying. I cried, whined, packed them up and shipped them back to that boot factory where baby ponies serve as fit models. I hate you, Frye Company. If you own Frye boots, I dislike you too:)

Bowling

We went to bowl as a family.

First we exchanged shoes. In my past bowling experiences, they have always allowed me to keep my own shoes near me. Such was not the case here. They took mine as collateral. As if I would thief those fugly shoes that broadcast my Brunhilda feet! T was making fun of me, saying I was worried someone would steal "my medallion shoes" as he likes to call them. He was right. However, no one was interested in my shiny Tory Burch flats. Thank goodness.

Next step was ball selection.

Let the games begin.

Rob was much taller than all other bowlers present. Please note the individuals in the background. That woman was not fooling around. It was an all out life lesson in bowling for her six year old. We heard constant comments such as "Bubba, keep your head down. FOCUS!!!!! Slow, slow, now release!" It was quite sad, really.

Brother in law Chip turned out to be quite an Alley Cat. He was good.

Caroline in her bumper lane.

Live action video

My Family Christmas

I am blogging out of order, since I left my camera cord at home. We'll start with my family's Christmas, which was at my sister's house in Tennessee.

Mother started off the unwrapping.

We quickly moved to all things Caroline. She was in charge of retrieving presents and opening. ALL of them.

Her fantastic aunt and uncle bought her a handy little fairy wand, which is sure to be broken in about 2.5 seconds.

Sweet T joins my family clan with his own iPad. His first Christmas with us as an official family member is commemorated with this most official symbol.

Robeghan gets in on the action.

There was game playing. We started with BINGO, with Caroline as the caller. We then moved on to an adults only game of TABOO. We pulled out the score sheets and discovered that the last time we played, Katie and I were paired with our college boyfriends. 1999-2010 is a very long gap in our family game playing.

We finished with lots of eating. I got lots of items off of my wish list, including my new watch, my perfume and lots of smelly goods. T and I also got an Apple TV. I'm not sure about that, but we'll figure it out!

A Child, A Child

I was most excited that my dear pal Angie from high school came to visit at my parents' house, and brought her two darlings with her. She just gave birth to Eli 5 weeks ago, and she looks pretty amazing!

I look like a bobble head. Why? I appear to have the Giada de Laurentiis syndrome here. Big head, little body. Only I just have a really big head.

Anyway, that baby was cute.

Big sister Addie came too. She and Caroline had to warm up to one another. We encouraged them and explained that being in the same room was essential to becoming friends. We brought out snacks. Instant bonding!!!! It seems that snacking with pals for women starts at a very early age. Angie and I have shared many stories over massive amounts of food!

Guess who was good with a baby?

Caroline!

I have never been a natural with infants. I don't coo. Yesterday felt a tad different. Maybe it was my heart warming at the thought of having a bambino. Actually I think it was my ovaries shriveling up and telling me to get started. Either way, I was totally down with this baby.

Things started shaky...

Please, sir, cooperate. Don't embarrass me in front of your mother and my mother. Don't make my four year old niece look more maternal than me. Please.

Angie, I think you'd better take him. Is he okay? What do I do? I'm holding his hands, and pushing his little feet against my lady boobs. Do babies like this?

Ah, yes. Don't get up. Feet on boobs seems good. Fussiness averted.

I AM AWESOME. GET ME ONE OF THESE, STAT!

Seriously, thanks to sweet Angie for a lovely visit. I love her. I also miss her sister, Mandy, who was my BFF for like most of my childhood. Hugs and kisses!!!!

Breakfast with Santa

Last Saturday Mom and Dad took a crew of us downtown to have breakfast with Santa. You may recognize my two flower girls here, Caroline and Caroline.

We ate a marvelous breakfast at The Columbia Club, site of our July nuptials. It seems when our wedding coordinator isn't coordinating weddings, he's corralling toddlers and such to meet Santa. I no longer think my own job is stressful.

Big Caroline is like a snake charmer when dealing with Li'l Caroline. Her eyes get all drowsy and she becomes very cooperative. We may be asking her to move to Tennessee to babysit often.

Meghan was able to join us too. Uncle Rob was still in bed due to some late night, "I'm all halfway through law school now" shenanigans.

Occasions when couples coordinate colors:

prom

when you're both over 60.

Li'l C in a trance, created either by Big C or that shiny slinky.

Merry Christmas!

An early Christmas present!

T and I are jazzed about one of our "early" Christmas presents to one another. We are going to Aspen!!!! We have been graciously invited to ski the slopes and live the life for four days with our pals, Tim and Jamie.

These peeps know how to party.

Jamie has been giving me the low down on Aspen trips, since they go every year. She assures me that Aspen is super casual, you know the kind of place where everyone looks awesome wearing leggings and boots. I am now using this trip as an excuse to get these Frye boots:

that I've had my eye on for some time now anyway. Snowy slopes will serve as a lovely backdrop as I trek around in these blonde babies. Jamie and Tim are avid skiers, and Trinity is no stranger to the slopes. I had a fleeting moment when I talked about going to ski school with a group of 6 year olds, since I spend so much time with that age group anyway. T kindly urged me to refrain from skiing on this trip. But why, I pleaded! After much deliberation, we came up with a list of reasons as to why Betsy will not be skiing in Aspen.

1. It's damn expensive.

2. I hate being cold, and this combined with the expensive part, would make the 2 hours I'm willing to put in a total waste.

3. I try to avoid learning new things. I already know enough.

4. My physique. I have the athletic prowess of....hhhhmmmm. That's a tough one.

I decided to hunt youtube for a video that adequately displays this. I watched a few ski wipeouts, and then I recalled one animal that embodies my athleticism.

Betsy learning to ski is comparable to a baby giraffe learning to walk.

Give that spotted beast a couple of ski poles and voila!