a tree cutting straight from the clark griswald playbook

My Christmas tree has been up since the weekend after Thanksgiving!  That, sadly, is about as far as my limited holiday cheer has taken me this year. If Dan, emotionally aged 7 come every December, would have let me I would have even skipped the  tree this year, I think. He wouldn't hear of it, though. 

Likewise, he wasn't listening when I suggested we go for a smaller pine, but...10+ feet of Frazier Fir later....one of us is smiling like a kid at Christmas. 

Actually, I'm glad Dan told me to elf off with my bah-hum-bug. For anyone else feeling a tad Grinchey, I will confess that at least putting yourself in the midst of things merry does, in fact, help.

It helps, too, when your friends organize a tree cutting tailgate straight from the Clark W. Griswald  (juuuuuunior!) playbook.  That's what I'm writing about today over at my Fedscoop Social Studies column, and you can read about it here.  

holiday hostess gifts

Last year, I took popcorn and a holiday movie as a hostess gift when I went to Christmas parties. 

Today over at Fedscoop I'm writing about 3 gifts that offer your favorite party planners a unique thank you this season. You can read that post here!

What's the best hostess gift you've ever received? What's your favorite go-to gift to take when you're a guest? 

a blue Christmas card + a $50 tiny prints give-away

I don't send out a Christmas newletter, but if I did this year's would be short and sweet:  2012 Sucked. 

I do, however,  send out Christmas Cards Christmas cards

.   In fact, I am kind of a super nerd about creating my own greeting.  With December looming in on what's been kind of a crap 2012, I'm already thinking What kind of card will I send THIS year?  That's why (yes - in mid-October) I've been clicking through cards at Tiny Prints to see if I can make some of the very cute, clever design options work in my favor. Greeting card writers may not pen a message that says, Let's call this year a wash and start fresh in 2013...but thanks to the ability to customize at Tiny Prints, I can.....

If you're feeling a little blue during the holidays, I think it's fine if your card reflects that.  Not every year brings memories you want to commemorate with an ornament, and that's fine. That's just life.

Years ago, I was talking to my minister because I was just sad. I couldn't explain why I felt so down and generally lonely because, aside from the mysterious gloom I was hosting, my life was good.  I couldn't  pinpoint what was even causing this heavy cloud over my seemingly happy world, and being able to recognize my good fortune only created guilt.  The guilt for feeling bad made me feel even worse. In short, I was depressed PLUS depressed about being depressed.

     "What's the worst kind of pain?" my minister asked me.

Without really thinking, I answered with a question.  

      

     "Losing a child?"

    "You're wrong," she told me, "the worst kind of pain is your own."

While I know fate has been even more unkind to others this year, it's been our crummy year, our pain. And...it's our Christmas card, so I am giving myself permission to take on a bahhumbug theme if come December I still feel this way.

I do have some good news, though....and it does make me very jolly.

TINY PRINTS IS GIVING AWAY $50 TO ONE I DO DECLARE READER!

Here's how can you win:  Fill in the blank of this sentence in the comment section below...

 I would be most excited to receive a holiday card from ___________. 

I'll tell you, for me, it's probably the Witherspoon-Toths. I'm curious about a lot of things. Like, is that baby really going to be called Tennessee; do Ava + Deacon get to dress hipster even in the Christmas card; are Reese + Jim in it, or just the children; formal photo or candid; auto sig or personalized in red ink? I feel like the card would reveal SO much.  

I'll name a winner on October 29th - good luck! Oh, and if you don't win, you can still take advantage of some great Tiny Prints discounts and promotions - click here! 

Tiny Prints sponsored this post and promotion. 

While The Year is Stll New...

Happy 2012 Friends, real and imaginary!! I've been a bit AWOL from the webs since Christmas, and when that happens to me, it's hard to get back in the groove. While the year is still new, I thought I'd capatlize on (the very few - tisk, tisk!) holiday photos I took.



It isn't just for blogging that I'm not back to normal, though. While typically January 1 for me brings all kinds of dramatic reflection and fresh start resoluting, this year, I haven't felt that one bit. I don't know why....

Maybe it's the lazy, but very relaxing way in which I welcomed in this new year with just a little flannel and fondue at home. And...a boot-legged copy, fresh from the streets of Manhattan, of New Year's Eve, the movie. (It is not an Oscar contender, but it was kind of perfect to watch on 12.31!)

When the clock struck 12, I had Chloe on my lap and Dan by my side. It was very sweet, but hardly the swining celebrations of yesteryears. During the day on New Year's Eve, though, we did meet up with my blog bestie, Dee, for an early (and very fun!) dinner in Baltimore and the intruduction of the Hokie husbands. Still, we were home by 7, and asleep by 12:30.  Hold your confetti...


That slow, easy tone is trickling through January's first week for me, and that's ok. December was wild and busy and fun!

We spent a week in TN with {all} my parents and I also got to see my high school friends for our annual holiday hang.

We had big plans for a night on the town, but it poured rain, so we defaulted to take-out and couch gossiping instead - pretty much like when we were in high school, only with wine instead of wine coolers.

But now, as January's cold blows in Merry Merry has been replaced, welcomed even,  with the minutia. And I'm taking the start of the new year at a turtle's pace, if I'm being honest. I'm ready to hibernate a little, and I'm ready for a big snow. 

What are you ready for in 2012?

Christmas on Capitol Hill - A Party, A Recipe

So, it’s not Manhattan, but I do really love Christmas in Washington….

Capitol Hill specifically (cue every Washingtonian's favorite holiday song!).

Sometimes during December I’ll take the long way back home to the 'burbs, driving through neighborhoods on the Hill, peaking in windows to see pretty trees lighted and natty people mingling at parties. The scenes often feel, no kidding, straight out of a Hallmark movie.

Last weekend my friend Kerri hosted such a fete at her really beautiful home on the Hill….and while perfectly festive, magazine worthy I’d even dare say….

the tone was probably more Bravo! than Hallmark Channel. Think Real Housewives, only without the drunken brawls and Botox.

The food was just amazing, and displayed so nicely. Leave it to a Southern host to class up even Chick-Fil-A….

Though it isn’t fancy-schmancy, Kerri always serves up this pizza dip at her parties (as seen below) that is just rediculous (in the total opposite way of RH Atlanta, to be clear, though if you opted to sub sausage for pepperoni, you probably could). Seriously, it’s sooooooo good.

Seriously, I watch too much trash television.

If you’re still putting together menus for any holiday hosting you might be doing between now and New Years, you’re in luck because she gave me the dip recipe!

If you have a large crowd, you'll need to make two - there is NEVER any left!

Just three days til Christmas....are y'all ready? I have a to-do list longer than Santa's scroll, but I've really loved every minute of this December, and I'm very excited about the main event!

Bright Lights, Big City: Christmas in NYC

This is what the weekend before Christmas looks like in the suburbs:

Mass chaos in the streets outside the Target/Old Navy/TJ Maxx/Toys R Us strip mall. Not that that kind of hustle and bustle isn't an amusing part of the Season - even holiday traffic is fun to me (for like 5 minutes), but....to embrace a little more holly jolly, Dan + I escaped for a day this weekend to New York City.

I'd never been to New York at Christmas-time....

so in the day that we spent there, we hit all the highpoints and did everything a tourist should do in December.

Macy's at Herald Square, {window} shopping on and around 5th Avenue. Look at this wreath made entirely of gold heels...

...and a break for cupcakes.

I hope I don't frost anyone the wrong way when I say this about the famed Magnolia Bakery, but: OVER-RATED.  I much prefer D.C.'s Hello Cupcakes to this Carrie Bradshaw favorite.  

After the Rockettes Red Velvet indulgence we ventured into St. Patrick's Cathedral, where I lit a candle and offered a special prayer for the new year. My photos don't do the inside justice, but here's a peak from the outside in the courtyard of The Palace Hotel......

The decor inside The Palace was some of the most beautiful in the entire city (there were also characters dressed as Nutcrackers and Sugar Plum Fairies handing out cookies). I loved the chandeliers flanked with "sticks", as described by Dan....

(Some really clever Pinterst-type needs to figure out how to recreate this!)

From Midtown, we chugged it down to Central Park for a carriage ride, and because we're not afraid of being cheesey tourists, we also grabbed hot chocolate and roasted nuts from the street vendors.

After, we quickly dropped the cheese and went all too-cool with a late brunch in SoHo at Balthazar, where I'd make a reservation weeks ago, because the last time I was in New York I waited too long to call and couldn't get in the door. Dan declared the sour cream hazelnut waffles he ate the best of his life, and since that man does not waffle when it comes to any kind of dough-based entree, I believed him...especially after stealing about five bites!

Since it was right next door, I popped into C. Wonder, the new store owned by Tory Burch's ex-husband Chris. The store has been getting tons of hype.

It's whimsical inside, very preppy and hip, and indeed more affordable than his first wife's line, but as another shopper (think Anthony from SATC) suggested aloud to everyone while we all rummaged through expensive (but bright and colorful) plastic bangles - $60 for Made in China - The world is coming to an end.  I didn't buy anything at C. Wonder, but I get some gifts in other cute SoHo shops, and then we wondered in and out of art galleries (where we didn't buy the sweetest basset hound painting but really wanted it) and around the neighborhoods, peaking into everyone's windows and pretending we were locals.  That was actually my favorite part of our day.

Because he'd been such a trooper playing Big to my Carrie, Dan earned a time out in an Irish pub to watch some football. There, we warmed up from a perfectly festive but still very chilly day....

...and then caught ourselves living out our Christmas card.

When we left out on the train, I asked Dan....Do you have the Sex and the City theme song in you head?  No, he assured me, but maybe The Sopranos. Amtracking back to the 'burbs, I cound't help but wonder (hee!), will there ever be a time when I visit New York and don't think in SATC references?

A Cheeky Christmas Greeting

It's hard when you have no kids to showcase and you spend all year blogging about your dog to come up with a Christmas card featuring a family of two plus fur, year after year, that isn't tired or gratuitous...or just plain boring.  So, when in doubt this Christmas I did what I always do when under pressure: make fun of myself (and by default, Dan).  

On the back, not to be forgotten, the Diggers dog gets in on the action, too...

I had another silly idea in mind, but when we shot the pictures, it just didn't translate. Then my friend Kim (who suffered through the aforementioned photo shoot as our photographer) posted a joke card not unlike this one on Facebook that I thought was SO funny, so I decided to steal the theme. I mean, if we're to illustrate what our year looked like, the photo above is representative of many a moment...

One night out on Capitol Hill I had a bartender snap the photo of us. Does it get more classy than a beer in your Christmas card photo? We like to think....not at all.

A Merry Little Christmas Now

I'm having such a Merry Little Christmas season. Last weekend brought more cards in the mail, more gifts wrapped under the tree, more movie watching and pomengranate flavored drinks*.

Mostly, though, I got to let my heart be light with faithful friends who are dear to us.  

EstroActually was relaxing and indulgent as always. I fell asleep here after dinner, and didn't even make it through Love Actually. It was a lovely winter's nap.

Shannon brought us all these ornaments to commemorate the the Royal Weddding Watch Party we all did together. I love it so much!

Also this weekend, Dan + I got to celebrate some parents-to-be where there were more bottles {of champagne and vodka} than I've ever seen at a baby shower.

Though it was a co-ed baby brunch, the entire time we were divided men and women....how 7th grade dance of us, no? It only made sense that we pose for pictures that way, too.

Next weekend, if the faits allow, promises more of the same merriment.  I hope the same for you, that you have yourself a merry little Christmas now.


*For a great Christmas cocktail, split this punch with champagne, and add a dash of cinnamon and pomegranate seeds!

It's Christmas: Cue Joni Mitchell

The movie Love Actually - I've surely seen it a hundred times! You too, right?

It doesn't have to be Christmas-time for me to get sucked into a British rom-com, but it has become a holiday tradition that my friends and I gather for a little girls' night in to watch Hugh Grant dance to the Pointer Sisters and to hear Joni Mitchell sing against Emma Thompson's breaking marriage. 

In our younger days we would get dressed up and hit the town, but now that we can't burn our yule log at both ends, we all look forward to a girls' night in, in our Jingle Jammies, with wine and a cozy fire. That's happening tonight!

Here's the invite I designed for us on PaperlessPost to look like the movie poster:

My friend Mary and I did not let slumber parties die with junior high. When I was single and still living in the city, I would leave the District on a Friday and hunker down at Mary's Winter Home where we'd hide from the world, facing no one but the pizza delivery man for days. Those retreats came to be known as Estro Fests because, clearly...hormones were the driving force behind our seclusion. Now, nearly every fete at the WH takes on some kind of "estro" theme. Tonight shall be no different, and I can't wait!

Do you have holiday traditions with your girlfriends?

What I Love About Annual Holiday Parties

Every year my friends Fran + Matt host an ornament exchange.

I love that I'll always have at least one new ornament for my tree, and every year when I pull it out I'm reminded of the good times had at this party with friends. This year, Dan + I brought a pickle ornament....

Since our engagement story involves the Pickle Tradition, it's become our signature Christmas bauble. 

I love that Fran's menu rarely changes....

because part of the fun of this season is indulging in foods that you just can't justify January - November, including lamb lollipops.  Fran gave me the recipe for her marinade and I'm going to serve these up when I host Dan's family for Christmas!

I love that there is always a fancy cocktail involving champagne, and as with ANY party Fran hosts, always cute drink labels.

I love that even though I won't know every person in the room, as is often the case in Washington, you meet such interesting people, including those who whip out their phones to show you hanging out with William + Catherine is just all in a days work.  

That just doesn't happen at every holiday affair.

I love that this soiree, assuming I keep landing on the guest list and my friends keep hosting, has become a favorite part of the Season for me.  Maybe next year Catherine will pop in to say Happy Christmas?...

It's Not Going in Our Yard, Russ...

"We're kicking off our fun old fashion family Christmas by heading out into the country in the old front-wheel drive sleigh to embrace the frosty majesty of the winter landscape and select that most important of Christmas symbols."  - CWG 

After two years of shopping the suburbs for our Christmas tree, Dan + I finally ventured back to where the pines grow for an authentic day of searching for and "cutting the most important of Christmas symbols".  

It was so much better than just going to Safeway.

Not just because it felt so Clark Griswald, but also because we went with friends...

From our times with them in the pumkin patch, we knew Dave, Kim + Ben would prove to be both adorable...

and entertaining in the spirit of holiday memory making.

The place where we went...you can't get more authentic unless you literally trespass on someone's tree farm.

It was just a huge field where there was no one to help you saw....

no one to help you carry your tree or bag it up all fancy-like....

...but that's what made it all so much fun!