Herbert

I decided to give my parents part of their Christmas gift early. It was just a small 5x7 picture of a street. Herbert Avenue. Odd? Yes, to most people it would be a weird gift. But for my parents, it seemed to be just the right thing.

My parents call each other Herbert. They have since shortened it to Herb in later years. Why? No idea. I have absolutely no clue where it started, or why, but I love it. I love that they have found a unique "pet name". None of this honey bear, sweetie pie stuff. It just wouldn't suit them.

I would come home from school and see a scribbled note they had exchanged. It would say something like..

Herb,

Could you take out the garbage?

Herb

My parents are not the most physically affectionate, but they have the best little ways of expressing love. It's never a big show with them. It's just for each other. They are one of the best examples of a good marriage I can think of. I also think it helps to have a sense of humor to be called Herbert all of the time.

Weekends should include Monday.. and Tuesday

Bob and I spent the weekend finishing up some holiday stuff and mainly just relaxing. Which is nice since we both have scratchy throats and the sniffles. Don't tell Bob I called it the sniffles, he wouldn't stand for such a girly expression. I also did a little photographing. More pictures to come.

Barbie Mansion

A couple nights ago, I had a dream about time travel. When I woke up I was a little disappointed that it wasn't really possible. Around the holiday's I get nostalgic and my mind drifts back to the "good ol' days".

I think if I could choose one Christmas to revisit, I would choose this one. The year I got my Barbie Mansion. Oh man, if I could just get my hands on that thing again. It was the ultimate. Not only did it have a fridge that opened with plastic food inside, floral blow up furniture, but a moving elevator. I mean Barbie wouldn't settle for less.

I miss those days of anticipation for Santa to come. Having the hardest time getting my eyes to close so I could sleep. And then having my brother sneak into my room the next morning, pluck a hair from my head, and tickle my nose with it until I woke up to go check out the presents.

Then we would all sneak into the front room and find it sectioned off into each kids presents. (Mine were always around the piano.) Santa had wrapped my presents all the same, but made sure to wrap my siblings each in different wrapping paper so we could easily find all of the goods that belonged to us.

Then we would get to it. Each of us would escape to our spot, and let the paper fly. What I find interesting now is, that I'm not as anxious to hop into that time machine for the presents, as I am to sit back and watch our little family. All of us together, with our parents watching lovingly as the excitement filled the air.

Man, today I wish I were friends with Doc Brown..

Santa Claus is comin' to town..

(I look like the orphan my parents brought in from the cold to celebrate Christmas with.)

Well it's one measly little week until Christmas Eve. Where did the time go? I swear time is speeding up. This year I seem to be cutting everything pretty close. I am usually so much more on top of things, but this year has just felt like I don't have enough time to get it all done.

Luckily Bob and I got mostly everything finished last night. I addressed, stamped and sent our Christmas cards out today. Thanks to Rebecca for helping me find free Christmas cards! That's right, free. Which was a big help this year. All I had to do was pay for the stamps.

We only have a few small presents to purchase, and we're home free. Next week will be full of celebrating. From Monday-Sunday we will be celebrating with friends and family. This weekend I think I will make these easy festive treats. (Thanks for the tip Susan.)

Hope everyone is ready for the holiday's. With how time flies, I'm sure I will blink and they will be over.

Happy Happy..

Wow, what is it with December birthday's!? There are a lot that's for sure. We celebrated Holli, then Eric, and then London and Bob in the same weekend. They are some of my favorite people, so it was really fun to celebrate with each one of them.

Bob wouldn't hear of any pictures being taken on his birthday, but London obliged. Here are a few from her 1st birthday party..

Jazz Game

we went to the jazz game last night. they lost.. boo. but it was still really fun, and i always like a close game. it was nice to have a date night and celebrate finals being over.

The tradition lives on..

So last year around this time I was doing this. (Thanks again Stephanie for the tickets.) And since then, my cousin Ami and I have decided to make it somewhat of a tradition to see the subsequent movies.

Unlike some others, we think the movies are kind of laugh-able. We're not huge fans of the acting or the writing. We liked the books okay, but the movies have left something to be desired. Now I have had some pretty upset people on my hands when I tell them I laughed through the whole movie. But that's sort of the reason why we go to them. We laugh, we talk, we have fun, we poke fun.. (come on Jasper? Really?) Thus our tradition is born.

Ami was in Mexico for the midnight showing of it, so we had to settle on seeing it Wednesday. We went for some yummy Thai food, and then to the movie.


This is our "Hey, pose like a vampire" shot. Which we realized that this time around when we said one of us should pose like a vampire, and one of us should pose like a werewolf.. it looked a little similar..