Howdy in the new year!  The holidays were great… My sister from Africa came home for a couple weeks, and my covert super spy skills helped bring my other sister over from China without the family knowing.  So, in a pinch … I know my fall back career could be ninja or super spy.   I have been asked this last year on many occasions to start a V-Log (video blog) and I can see how that would be a good idea for people who have problems reading, but it usually quickly turns emo and whinny and no one wants another one of those polluting the interweb.   But, I have also been asked to post a donate button.  So I posted a paypal donate button on the side of my blog.  You ask and you shall receive.

Well the holidays were kick butt!  I got to spend time with my whole family and relax.  My boyfriend came down and had his first Christmas with my family.  On New Years we threw a murder mystery dinner party.  Which is a blast.  Click here to look into doing one.   Hassan and I went sledding,  his first time.  And we watched some good films.  Up, Sherlock Holmes(twice), Kiss the Girls, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, The Departed, Body of Lies (which according to my boyfriend was mainly filmed in Morocco and had quite a few Moroccan actors in it).   But all good things must come to an end… and so my work must start again.  If anyone  has any design projects they need done, shoot me an email.  Happy New Year!

The holiday season is a time for many things.  I enjoy reconnecting with my old friends and catching up with my relatives across the pond.  Its also a time for wonderful food and holiday shopping.  This holiday season I am raking in the bucks freelancing with Andirun Designs and also putting in hours at a local Williams-Sonoma.  I enjoy doing both jobs, and I like the vast differences between them.  One is by myself on a computer sitting on my bum all day, with a some side trips to youtube, facebook, and yahoo news.  The other is standing, talking to customers and having a laugh with co-workers.  Its been really crazy busy and I know I have been remiss in updating my blog lately.  I just want to let you in on my schedule lately.  My day starts by waking up, doing some emailing and paperwork, making myself presentable, and then I have the morning debate as to which of my dress shoes won’t leave my feet mangled and bloody by the end of the day.  I grab a bite to eat, pack a little lunch and then go to work at Williams-Sonoma for 8 hours.  By the time I get off, I limp home and sit on my bum for at least a good hour or so.  Then I pal around with my Mom and Dad.  After that I go to my office and work on what needs to be done.  Finally I have some face time over the internet with my boyfriend.  I usually get to sleep around 1 or 2 am… and it all starts back up again at 8 the next morning.  This week is going to be a mad house.  Only two days of not working both jobs before Christmas and one is the day I go down to get my sister in D.C.   We will see how I feel at the end of all this.  I am tired now and I think I might call it an early night.

Oh the holidays are my favorite time of the year… and Thanksgiving is the best of them all.  I truly love this day of thanks  and giving.  This year I donated what money I could to St. Jude Children’s Hospital. It is such an amazing charity that helps children no matter what.  I really believe in its cause and I can’t talk about it enough.  Operation Picklepuss when off without a hitch really.  We eliminated a lot of the things we were going to originally make because we weren’t actually feeding an army.  We had: Pumpkin Butter Dip, Dee’s Taco Dip, a 25lb Turkey, 2 Stuffings, Sweet Potatoes, “Mean Green”, Cranberry Relish, Mashed Potatoes, Pecan Pie, Apple Cranberry Pie, Pumpkin Pie,  Sugarless Apple Pie and so much more. My Mom and I had most everything ready the day before and then threw it in the oven an hour before dinner.  It was really great to see the babies…  All in all a really great Thanksgiving.  One I am thankful for.

The Christmas Season has officially started in the Armstrong household.  Every year the beginning of the season starts when we watch White Christmas.  It is a family tradition and we have done it every year since I was a baby.  And our family doesn’t just watch it once… we watch it once a week at least.  Also the start of the season is when Tootles starts making her Christmas Pudding.  And she did those today as well.  In our family it starts with White Christmas and ends with ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas.  And everything in between is just a whirlwind.  I will keep you abreast of the plans and recipes… because now we have lift off.

So, I have to admit I might have a problem.  I am obsessed with the holidays.  I love how my family gets together and its so much fun and you can feel the love each of us has for the other.  The problem is that I want the holidays to be now, because I feel really alone and unhappy with my life at the moment.  Everything is “up in the air.”   The only thing that keeps me from going into a full panic attack is the love and support of my awesome family.   Tonight, in my mission to be ready for the holidays, I stayed up until 2am sewing Christmas bags.  We are going green this Christmas (I will post a tutorial on how to make reusable gift bags) and my Mom (Tootles) has been asking me to make them. Reduce, reuse, recycle.

Anyway,  Don’t ever stay up late sewing green Christmas bags while watching Criminal Minds on cable until 2 am.  Also don’t do this when your house is in the middle of a forest with the windows to your living room open.  I was freaked out walking through the house going to bed.  I had my hands in ninja positions. (Think karate chop pose)  It wasn’t until I was almost to my room that I realized that my hands automatically went to this position. I can tell you one thing about me… I don’t know karate, and if I was attacked my hands like that would be useless.  So children the moral of this story is…. gosh I have no idea, but trust me when I say that Criminal Minds does a number on you when you are alone… in the middle of the woods… and your only protection is a gimp dog and your awesome Bruce Lee action moves.  Ohhhh what I won’t do to prepare for the holidays.  **Sigh**

I have been tapped this year to perform a Thanksgiving Day miracle.  So I am going about it like a military plan of attack.  I am calling it Operation Picklepuss.  Today my mother and I went over what we want to make and a rough time table to cook it in.  I am starting a briefing booklet with a  time table, recipes, and grocery list.  If anything goes tits up… it won’t be because of careful planning.