You may have noticed that my last post was in October. And you may have also noticed that it's been a while (let's just say ten weeks).
I know that some of you have noticed (hi, Cuff!) and I must apologize. The semester chugged on and I meant to post something around mid-term, and then around Thanksgiving, and then--for sure--over the winter break. But during the break I sort of shut off my brain and subsisted only on holiday food (there were a whole hell of a lot of cookies up in here), Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes on DVD (I made it 3/4 through season six--just before Willow gets really, really [really] bad), and Christmas gift wrapping (I used approximately 378 little pieces of Scotch tape).
But I am ready to emerge. And to warm up, I wanted to share with you a quick review of what our past couple of months have looked like.
My friend Lisa took me along with her friends to a painting party at the local pub. Everyone gets an easel, paints and brushes, step-by-step instructions to paint (we painted a snowman), and a server to get you glasses of wine or bottles of beer. It's pretty terrific.
Lisa on the right and some of her painting pals across the table
I begin with an outline
Some blue sky
Some color
A nose
He looks surprised, doesn't he?
That's better
Stripes
Et, voila! A snowman!
The girls' almost finished products
A line of snowmen. All so similar, but unique, just like each one of us. (awwwww)
That got the holiday season off to a very nice start. I still had to grade my students' final assignments, but it was things like this that made them all fun to look through:
In case you can't tell, that's me.
One of my exceptional creative writing students turned in her final journal and drew a little portrait of me with her reflection. It's, like, the best thing ever.
I partied a little with my English department colleagues:
And yes, we wore the paper crowns from the Christmas crackers
We are such a good looking department!
And Missy (left in the maroon dress) treated us to some terrific tunes from the Dickens Carolers.
I was finally done grading and started to look for holiday decorations. We never got farther than wreaths and a stocking for Roo over the mantle, but I did find Trevor and my likenesses at the craft store:
Me (the teacher) and Trevor (I guess, king of Ireland?). We are really a cute couple.
I got to attend Bosco's Christmas pageant and see his school, which was so much fun in a lots-of-children and thank-goodness-I'm-just-the-aunt kind of way.
Bosco waits for instructions on the wall (and yes, there might be a finger up his nose but who cares?!)
Bo gets some bells
And they sing! (this is them at their most organized)
Some angels on the sidelines
I'll smile and look cute when you're not looking at the camera, okay?
And then when you're smiling at the camera, I'll eat my fingers. Good plan.
This is my classroom!
There followed a lot of shopping, which I enjoyed, and then wrapping, which I also, strangely, enjoyed. And then Christmas, Christmas, Christmas. I realized now that we didn't take very many pictures.
But, what followed Christmas was five days of Trevor off work, so there was a lot a lot of cozy home behavior.
I made some lumpy but delicious pancakes.
We made Roo wear these reindeer antlers and she hated them.
T. made a lot of fires and we did a lot of lounging around next to them.
Hello.
I finally finished Roo's sweater. She is not a fan of it.
But she looks so cute, doesn't she?
And I did a lot of knitting. And drinking tea. And eating cookies, which are not pictured because I ate them all before taking this picture.
You may have noticed that Roo had a shaved patch on her arm--sure mark of a doggie IV. That's because on December 20 she got into all of the Christmas chocolate we had on the kitchen counter and we had to take her to the emergency vet. She got her stomach pumped and spent the night (the vet said she didn't sleep at all, but stayed up all night watching everyone). She thought it was an adventure. Trevor and I thought it was really scary. So, everyone wins for the holidays.
And now, I have my first class of the semester in about 90 minutes. So, I should probably shower up and get out of the house. So, bye.
It's two weeks past Christmas and one week past New Year's Eve, and less than one week until I start a new semester. So, here are some things to wrap up and some things to look forward to!
First, when we saw you last we were only beginning our four days of magical Christmas romping. We'd gone to John and Fran Power's place for a Very Power Christmas, and we were gearing up for some Bork and Bosco time (and some Bosco Bork time. it's not as confusing as it sounds, really).
We hung out with the Borks for some pre-Christmas Sunday supper. Bo got some cool new toys:
Not pictured: the 72 piece blocks set that will stay at Grandma Bork's house and some new Matchbox cars from his auntie and uncle
I, too, got some cool new toys, courtesy of Paula and Greg (let's be clear: it was all Greg).
Racing grannies, an angry nunzilla (who is yelling at the grannies) and a cow about to shoot that ball out of his pie hole right at the nunzilla (Trevor has been shooting that cow at me for two weeks now. thanks, Greg. thanks ever so much.)
Greg also got me this ermahzing rubber chicken. Don't feel bad; I put that sign on him. It used to be on the little pink doll, but I thought the chicken made more sense in our household.
But the pièce de résistance is the sound that my new effigy makes. Here, take a listen.
So, after the gift exchanging, we said our goodnights...
Good night, Grandpa!
...and Trevor and I popped over to Sean and Angi's place for one last hang-out with Rae and the gang. We played Cards Against Humanity and laughed until our faces hurt.
Rae, Auntie Fran, Uncle Neilly, and Sadie (who is eating...something)
Christmas Eve morning was spent with the Madels in River Forest and we were so happy to get to see Doug and Jean, Becca and Jason and their families, but also Grandma, Grandpa, and Jim, who'd all driven down from Door County for the holiday. We did some brunching, some chatting, and a little bit of gifting.
Sadie got a cool new house with locks and keys from Grandma and Grandpa Madel
Gradma Madel tries on a new shawl while Angi, Sadie, and Sean stand by
Grandpa, Jean, and Destiny
Grandma checks out the owl jar from T. and me
Destiny asked me to not put this on the blog. So here it is. I love being an aunt.
After T. and I gave our stomachs a rest and our bodies a nap, we headed downtown to spend Christmas Eve eve with the Boscos, Borks, and Ericksons. We ate a lot,
Grandma! I can fit this entire pear slice in my mouth.
And now I can cut another piece! By myself! (um, no, you can't. put down that knife.)
talked a lot, and gifted a little more.
What?! MORE toys? Holy Christmas, Batman!
Uncle Jimmy is, as always, Santa Claus.
On Christmas morning, Trevor and I woke up and lounged around with coffee and the new books we'd exchanged (oh, what? you're surprised that we get each other books for Christmas?), and then wandered over to the Bosco's house to stuff ourselves on pizza, macaroni and cheese, and pie. I think there might have also been salad, but I don't know what kind of beanbag was paying attention to that.
This is what Bo did that morning:
Oh my goodness! Look at my OUTFIT! I'm SO CUTE!
So that was that. Almost immediately after Christmas, on Trevor's first official day of vacation that wasn't a national holiday, he got sick. So we hung out a lot inside, watching t.v. and movies, reading our many new books, and slowly weaning ourselves off of holiday food. It was hard since both Fran Power Sr. and Grandma Madel had sent us home with eight hundred thousand cookies.
We had a quiet New Year's Eve--just dinner out and then some movie watching--and then Trevor's cold germs finally caught up with me last Thursday. So I'm coughing like a...a person who has a chest cold (sorry, that's the best I could do) and starting to really rev up for my faculty workshop day on Thursday and the first day of the semester, which is next Monday.
We hope that everyone else had just as lovely, family filled, and as fattening a holiday season as we did. Happy New Year, to all!
I turned in my final grades last Friday and almost immediately started to prepare--really prepare--for the holidays. It included the following:
Shopping
My bags were heavy with wares from a trip to the outlet malls with my friend Kate
Wrapping
Baking
Yes, that's butter. Lots of butter.
And yes, those are dinosaur sprinkles. Merry Christmasaurus.
Eating
The Bûche de Noël at La Petite Creperie in Woodstock
The remains of Wyatt, the turkey, from our Friendsgiving (Trevor and I did not participate in the Wyatt consumption)
Crepes from Iguana Cafe
And hanging out with some fantastic people
Like some of my coworkers for our end-of-semester holiday feast...
This is where that log cake de noel came in.
Our Friendsgiving friends...
Cristen, mixing up some egg whites for homemade egg nog
Jayson, taking a picture before we sat down to eat
My awesome mentee Angelica...
Angelica with her presents before we hunkered down for some crepes
And family...
On Friday, I went with Mom and Bosco to check out the model train display at the Hancock Center.
Taking it all in...
Still taking it in..
We walked home from the Hancock and had some lunch before playing with some cool blocks. It was the perfect day.
Applesauce: the snack you eat right after lunch
Blocks!
On Saturday the Power clan got together. Rae was able to fly in from Florida, but we missed Letty, who's been helping out in Atlanta for the last few weeks and only got back to FL yesterday. She'll stay at home for the holidays, but then go back to the TSA office in Atlanta until they can find a replacement (a replacement for Letty? impossible, so good luck, suckers).
Sadie ripping open her Ugg boots from Destiny
Sadie showing off her Girl PoWEr tee shirt from Auntie Rae and Auntie Letty
The cousins Sadie and Destiny--Sadie is in her final of four costume changes for the night
Angi with her new loud eyed baby Dora
Tonight we'll go over to Mom and Dad Bork's place to do some gift exchanges, and then to Sean and Angi Power's to hang out with them and Rae before she has to leave tomorrow. There will be more eating, drinking, and hanging out with our favorite people, and we'll be sure to take some pictures. But until then, Merry Christmas!
