Some are Gold

Anyone else remember this song from Girl Scout days?

"Make new friends, but keep the old,

Some are silver and the other gold."

I had an amazing time visiting with some great friends yesterday. First, I flew up to Dallas for a few hours to reunite with my gal pals and have our belated Christmas Lunch Bunch. One of them said we've been doing this for 13 years or so now, and because of my insane travel schedule in December, I had to push it to January. But we wished each other a merry Christmas anyway and had a lovely time visiting and catching up. It's always interesting to me to hear what everyone is doing with each at different stages of our lives: one is actively raising 3 little ones while another is about to send her second to college and one is about to get married (time for a shower to celebrate!). Lots of joy, and I value our strong friendship bonds.

Facebook is great to catch up with people from years past. Of course, there's always the ones I don't remember (we went to high school together? And you remember that?), but many people I've enjoyed catching up with and seeing what they are up to now. One former colleague who actually did go to high school with me (although we didn't know each other then), emailed to ask if we could get together while she and her husband were in Austin this weekend. So after landing, I met up with them for dinner. We had a great visit and caught some live music that Austin is so famous for on 6th Street. I got home after midnight with a full heart.

A Lovely Holiday

Christmas definitely snuck up on me this year, but I finally managed to finish all my shopping and get my gifts wrapped just in time. (Although my cards went out just two days before Christmas, so most people are just now getting them! Those of you in England should get them by next week, I hope.)

Here are a few pictures to cherish the memories:

This one the kids called "the sandwich." Nana decided to join in on the fun.

A three-generation hug:

Decorations, Texas style:

Colin as one of the wise men and Anna in the background as Mary in the church pageant:

Nana taking advantage of the mistletoe:

A brisk walk to burn off some of the Christmas calories:

Disconnected

Despite my last post title, it's difficult for me to believe that Christmas is just days away. Maybe it's because this year my December has mostly been spent on the road, on planes and in airports. I just have a sense of disconnectedness...

My parents arrive tomorrow, and we get out of work early. Maybe that will make it feel more like Christmas!

Getting in the Christmas Spirit

My sister Steph hosts a beautiful Christmas tea every year, and it's a wonderful occasion to dress up and enjoy some champagne while catching up with family and friends. This year was bittersweet as Steph and her family have moved to California as of last week, but before she left Houston, she put on a fantastic fete with amazing food, a string quartet, a harp, and beautiful decorations. Here are some pictures from the day.

Christmas Memories

Christmas was wonderful, although my visit went much too quickly! I had 2.5 days in Austin with Jenn, Anthony, Anna & Colin (and saw my uncle Tom, as seen in this pic) and then 2.5 days in Houston with my parents, Steph, Al, Paige, Graham and Evelyn.


Here's Jenn reading the Christmas story, with dog Francesca listening in. I took Francesca on a run -- or perhaps I should say she took me -- between the wind at my back and her energy, I ran much faster than I usually do on the treadmill!

Colin is still very snuggly, and one of my favorite moments was watching a movie with him on my lap. He's almost too big to do this, but I really love getting those snuggles! Anna is growing up FAST, and she got a lot of pleasure out of picking out gifts for me, including bright pink lipstick and a beautiful beaded necklace and earrings.

After church, the kids came over to Nana & Grandad's and we did crafts. I showed them how to make funny glasses out of pipe cleaners, although Evie didn't want to wear any. She's happy that the Christmas Chihuahua came out to sing "Feliz Navidad." After Evie went down for a nap, Nana and I went shopping with the twins. Paige was my buddy, staying close by and hugging on me or holding my hand almost constantly. :-)


Graham -- or Grahammie the Hammie -- tries on the blinking nose for the Rudolph model in the front yard.

Graham made me smile when he gave me a goodnight kiss and then ran to his mom blushing and saying, "I can't believe I gave Auntie Emily a kiss!"

And here Evelyn pretends to nap, watching her Grandad, who really was nodding off. As soon as he closed his eyes and started to relax, Evelyn would say, "Grandad!" and wake him up. :-) She also delighted me and Nana when we came to see her after her nap and she ran to us giving us tight hugs and saying, "I missed you!" So sweet.


Again, I come home with a full heart. I feel so fortunate to have so many wonderful people in my family, especially all the little dear ones.

Merry Christmas!

I am so thankful this Christmas for so many blessings -- for family, for friends, for a decent job, for a warm place to live, for a church family, and for readers and commenters to my blog. :-)

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Pics from Steph's Annual Christmas Tea

A few images from Christmas

I regret that I didn't take more pictures. I know Steph got some cute ones of me with each of Paige and Graham, but I don't have them yet.

Beginnings & Endings

As I landed in Newark last night and saw the new moon, I was reminded of my Nana's saying "turn your pennies over" when she would see a new moon. I'm not sure exactly what she meant by that, but I've always taken it to mean it's a new beginning. Time to prepare for looking forward.

Feeling philosophical, I'm realizing that life is really full of beginnings and endings. Vacations, holidays, trips, birth and death, relationships. The beginnings are often much more anticipated and enjoyed than the endings, but without endings, we couldn't have new beginnings.

My holiday trip to Texas was so enjoyable, but it was so difficult to say goodbye to everyone. I got especially choked up driving out of Dallas. I was able to meet my girlfriends for our annual lunch and then took the opportunity to empty the storage unit I had there. I had a sense of finality doing that. If I move back to Texas, I don't think it would be to Dallas (more likely Austin). It was a relief to cross the storage unit off my list of to-do's, but I was sad to admit to my girlfriends that I've truly moved on.

Every time I say goodbye to my great aunt Sudie, I wonder if it's the last time I will see her. I don't mean to be morbid, but she is 93 (94 in January) and her body is becoming frail.

When I left Austin, Anna clung to me, sobbing "Don't go! Don't go!" It breaks my heart.

Unfortunately, I didn't take many pictures on my trip. I was truly enjoying my time with everyone and forgot to pull the camera out to document it all. I have a few I'll post later.

And now we look forward to a new year. What will 2009 bring?

Mom's Holiday Gift Weekend

This week totally got away from me. Between travelling, dealing with a bout of food poisoning, and holiday parties, I just didn't find the time to blog!

Here are some pictures from my mom's visit last weekend. Our family draws names for gifts, and my mom was my giftee this year. She wanted to go to the Rockette's, and my dad and I also conspired to get tickets to Gypsy on Broadway. It was a fun-filled weekend.

She arrived Thursday night and successfully navigated the trains from Newark to the World Trade Center station. My apartment is just a couple blocks from there, and I met her at the station. On Friday, I had to work, so after some brief instruction and a MetroCard, she headed up to Rockefeller Center on her own and found her way back again to meet me for lunch. That night we saw Gypsy, and Patti Lupone was absolutely fantastic. We stuck around afterwards and got her to sign our Playbills! (The back of my mom's blonde head is in the picture with Patti Lupone.)

On Saturday, after walking around the holiday booths at Union Square and brunch with a couple of my friends, we saw the matinee show of the Rockettes. They were terrific. My favorite part was when they acted out the complete nativity story with animals and singing and dancing. The scale of the production is unbelievable.

Then we walked up and down 5th Avenue enjoying the decorations and battling the crazy crowds, all the while trying to stay warm! We met up with another friend of mine for some hot chocolate and then headed back downtown to meet FWB for dinner. (He passed the mom inspection!)

On Sunday, my choir performed at church, and once we got home and out of the incredible cold, we decided to stay indoors! We had dinner that night with an old friend of mine from college who was in town for business. The next morning, we each headed to separate airports!

It was a lovely weekend and kicked off the holiday time for each of us, I think.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

I saw the first decorations go up on November 1st, but over the past weekend, even more garlands and lights went up, decorating the buildings around NYC. There are also shooting star lights on several streets around town, and the stores are putting their holiday displays in the windows. Rockefeller Center has their large tree up, but it still has scaffolding around it.

Although I've been tempted to pull out my Christmas decorations, I have a personal objection to decorating for the holiday before Thanksgiving is over. I think each holiday deserves its due. But once I come back from this week's feast in Texas, I'm gonna be all over it!