UnScrooged

I'm happy to report that the Christmas spirit has finally found its way back to me this year. This morning began with what I would like to call the soundtrack to my childhood Christmases. My trusty Saturn's radio tuned into the Ray Coniff Singer's The Little Drummer Boy medley which always reminds me of my Dad singing along as he sneaks ornaments on all of the light fixtures in the house.

Greg indulged me in another childhood tradition when we ventured off two weeks ago to pick out our best Christmas tree yet at a local tree farm. Oh, and please don't think Greg is trying to strangle poor Winslow in the picture. We just have a photo averse dog.

This weekend, we enjoyed a visit from my parents as well as our Tennessee family. We celebrated Addie's 4th birthday at the American Girl Bistro on Saturday evening. A few of the highlights from the night: meeting Shad for the first time, finding my very own Gwen doll at the store and catching up with the cousins. Enjoy a few snapshots.

I'm looking forward to all the upcoming holiday events we have planned specifically our Festivus For The Rest of Us brunch.

An Experiment in Food

I know after the sunny fall days are gone all I'm going to be left with are short, grey days and most likely the onset of self-diagnosed seasonal affective disorder aka seasonal depression. After a pretty tough winter in 08, I decided I would give myself a fresh start for 09. My chosen path for better health in mind, body and spirit: raw foods.

My thought process followed the lines of: Hey, this will detox my body and help me feel energized. I should be drinking less caffeine and alcohol any way. So, the weeks went by and I did my research and I devised my plan. I would start by eating two raw meals and one cooked meal. This seemed reasonable. Oh, and I was cutting caffeine completely out and limiting alcohol drastically. I made my meal list (including things like: smoothies, raw cheese, sprouted breads, salads) and ventured off to Kroger and Whole Foods to make my rather expensive purchases. Heck, at this point I thought I could go completely raw by week three.

A recap of Week One:

Day One: I started the day attempting a salt water flush. Look it up if you must. Any-hoo, it didn't work. That was followed by a banana, blueberry and kefer smoothie....meh. Lunch was a huge salad with raw apple cider vinegar and cold pressed olive oil dressing...yums. This was accompanied by a raw miso soup (warmed to 114 degrees) with seaweed, carrots and mushrooms.....disgusting. Needless to say, I was rather discouraged with day one.

The rest of the week encompassed me trying a sprouted hummus (gross) and finally finding my stride with the smoothies and meals. Not to mention the soul crushing caffeine withdrawal headaches.

The beginnings of Week Two:

I've blown the raw foods off a total of three meals thus far. Oh, and there is no way I would be able to fully transition to raw foods. What have I learned so far? Well, the recipes suck and the only physical difference I've noticed overall is better digestion. I'm going to wrap things up later this week because I at least have to eat all the good food I bought.

Oh well.

Family Fun

GrandPop turned 80 on Saturday, so myself and many, many family members crawled out of the woodwork to celebrate with him. Ahhhhhhh, togetherness!!

On Friday night, we all crammed into the main cabin for our traditional family slide show. The show dated back to 1963 when the family began vacationing in the Poconos at nearby lakes. We were all sitting in the dark laughing hysterically at our shared past. Isn't this what it's all about? My Uncle Nino turned and whispered to my Aunt Karen,"I haven't laughed this hard in 100 years". I'm smiling just thinking about it.

A huge shout out to my Aunt Mary who planned the entire weekend and even included those non-invited stragglers like myself.

PICTURES