Christmas 2008

As I sit here typing this, two days after the main event, I'm happy to report that I've survived yet another Christmas. Every year, I don't know how I'm going to get everything done that I want to -- but I do. This year got a bit complicated as a belt broke on my car the week before foiling my shopping plans for that day and the locks froze on Bob's car earlier in the week which meant he had to use my car to get to work so, again, I was "carless." I ended up wrapping my last present on Christmas Eve at about noon. So it was then time for the festivities to begin.

Liz and Bryan arrived with our "First Christmas" baby Brady on Christmas Eve afternoon. Our plan was to decorate the tree in the family room and have an antipasto. I know my friend Eloise loves when I post pictures of the food so here is our Italian feast.

We've basically decorated the tree with pretty much the same ornaments for the past fifteen years but, this year, I went with a new silver and red theme. I love how it turned out. There's some pictures below that show it although I don't think any of these pictures I've posted do the decorating justice. That night, everyone gets to open one present and it's always the new pajamas I give them to wear to bed that night.

Everyone was up at 8AM on Christmas morning and the opening of the presents began. As you can see from the picture of the gifts under the tree, Michael's are in red and Liz' are in white which makes it very easy for them to decipher which are theirs. Of course, Liz always looks it over to make sure she sees more white than red. If she does, she's happy. lol Since we don't have a fireplace in the living room, we like to have the channel on the TV that shows the Yule Log. I have to admit that this is last year's picture as they were already in the room with the baby by the time I came down this year. But, you get the gist of it. The TV this year has been replaced with a flat screen that Michael bought after his win in London. It definitely looks a lot nicer.

Bob then makes breakfast for everyone (sorry no pictures of that) and then we get ready for the rest of the day which includes a big dinner (pork royale) and the arrival of my mother. Here's a picture of the Christmas table before we all descended upon it. Setting the table is one of my favorite things to do. Over the years, I've accumulated so many beautiful things and many different colored tablecloths. It takes me hours just to figure out which one I'm going to use. Once I pick out the tablecloth, everything else seems to fall into place as far as which dishes I'll use and which stemware set will grace the table. I went with a lot of silver and red/burgundy's this year so my dining room table follows suit.

Since Liz and Bryan were staying for the weekend, we had a few more great dinners. Here's some ravioli and meatballs served on our Snowman plates the day after Christmas. When I served the dinner, I was so happy with the presentation. It was right out of the Top Chef competition. Over the years, I've bought a few different holiday dinnerware sets. When Michael was younger, I used to change all of my dishes the day after Thanksgiving so we only ate on those that were holiday related. I always enjoyed the day I pulled out the dishes "of the season."

A special treat this year is the addition of Jenn (Michael's girlfriend) into our lives. We got to witness their gift giving as well and Jenn's gift was so thoughtful that it had Liz and I crying. She arrived with a huge basket which included about 10 numbered picture frames. Michael had to read through a list and find the coordinating picture. What it boiled down to was that it was a weekend in New York City and each picture included what they would be doing. For instance, #1 was a picture of the Hilton Hotel where they would be staying; #2 was a picture of Rockefeller Center where they would be ice skating; #3 was the Top of the Rock Observation Deck at sunset; #4 was the Sea Grill where they would be dining #5 was the NBC studio where they would be taking a tour #6 was the Chelsea Brewing Company where they would have lunch #7 (and Michael's favorite) was New York Rangers' tickets and #8 was Tavern on the Green where they would have brunch before returning home. They're in the City right now and enjoying this gift together.

I was shopping with Michael as he was buying some of Jenn's gifts and afterwards, I call Liz and all I could say was that I wish I was Michael Martin's girlfriend. He has such great taste and she absolutely loved every single thing he bought.

I wanted to post some of my "decorating" pictures so my out-of-town relatives can get to see them. And, since it was Brady's first Christmas, here's a few of him as well so that Bryan's relatives can take part in his first Christmas festivities. They're all avid readers of my blog so here's a shoutout to those of them in Colorado and Florida.

Here's one with my mother and Brady. He just loves when she sings those "old time" songs to him. Here she is singing about Josephine in her "flying machine" and raising Brady's arms every time the plane goes up in the air.

Here's Brady opening his first Christmas present from Santa. And also what we call the "Brady" sandwich. Liz and Bryan just can't seem to get enough of him.

Of my decorating. I've collected these carolers for over twenty years so my collection is quite extensive and I have them all over the house. The majority are housed in my breakfront but, as you'll see in the pictures below, they also appear in the dining room window and family room as well. I also started collecting the Department 56 villages when they first came out in the 1980's. I'm sure I have well over 150 houses and each year I pick out a few to display. My favorite is my "Christmas in the City" collection as it reminds me of growing up in New York. On one end, I have Times Square and that ball actually drops on New Year's Eve. On the other end, I have the Empire State Building and I can change the color of the dome at the top from white to red to green. In honor of the closing of Yankee Stadium this year, I've displayed the stadium right in front of the Empire State building. Mostly all of these have been gifts over the years from Bob and the kids and my brothers. This year, Bob bought me Woolworth's which was really special to me as my father always used to take me to the Woolworth's counter for lunch when he took me to work with him. Michael bought me one that's an old time 1950's diner. These will definitely be displayed when I do Christmas 2009.

So I hope you enjoyed The Martin's Christmas this year. We surely did.