Dear Universe,

You win. Two weeks home alone with the kids was more than enough to make me declare you the victor. But let’s be honest…having the refrigerator break down right after the holidays? Show a little mercy. This ol’ horse is dead. Feel free to stop the beatings.

Sincerely,

Jodi

And I mean that literally…I hooked up the camera to download all the festivities and you are looking at the one and only photo that was taken during Christmas 2009. None of the kids opening their presents. None of them wearing their superhero capes and chasing one another. None of all the precious family time where we spent just chatting and loving the fact that we’ve been blessed with such wonderful relations. Zip. Except for this one. So I’ll take this opportunity to share with you my fabulous father-in-law who introduces me as his daughter and my husband as his son — which really confuses yankee transplants but makes me feel like a million dollars.

The lovely and effortlessly thin blonde is my sister-in-law, Pam, who is married to Jason’s very favorite brother, Josh (o.k. so he’s his only brother…but even if there were 10 others, he would easily be the favorite). Incidentally, there’s evidence of Pam’s awesomeness around her neck. She was presented with a genuine, hand-knit-by-Jodi scarf which she immediately put on and insisted on wearing the rest of the night. And she never once examined it for mistakes and completely pretended not to notice that the cast-on end is just a smidge wider than the cast-off end. This alone makes her worth her weight in gold — actually, she’s so tiny, we should probably double that.

And of course, there’s me on the right. It’s always fun to realize I looked exactly as tired as I felt. And mother was right, I should always wear lipstick. Oh, well…it was still a wonderful Christmas. I’ll just have to work extra hard to remember it since my photojournalistic skills are obviously non-existent. Hope your holiday was fabulous and I wish you a very healthy and happy New Year!

Christmas is almost here!!! I’m so excited I could pee myself. Then again…I am a woman in my thirties, so really that could happen at any time. Merry Christmas everybody!!

So I went to my first ever cookie exchange — where everyone bakes a few dozen cookies, puts them in a row, and then you each go around taking two of each kind until they’re all gone. Then you get to go home with a selection of everyone’s top treats rather than just the one thing you know how to make really well. It’s a great way to socialize with your neighbors…and of course, overdose on baked goods at the same time.

This party was so much fun that I can hardly wait to do it again next year. And if I do say so myself…my recipe totally killed. So much so that I decided to share it here with all my loyal readers (and a special thanks to those of you who aren’t a blood relation). Also a big shout out to Josie who gave me the recipe in the first place. It’s totally foolproof and the end result looks like it came from a bakery. So you know it’s gotta be an awesome recipe since Jack has already informed everyone who will listen that “Mom’s not much of a cooker.” Be sure to use the brown sugar — it’s pretty great. I did dark brown, but light brown would be fine.

Hope you all enjoy it as much as we have!

Overheard…Sam singing to himself loudly and off-key:

OH! Better watch out! Santa Claus is coming (he takes a deep breath for the finale, then screams)…TWO TIMES!!

At which point Jason turns to me and says, “Wow! Good for Santa!”

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Sometimes I think I’m living some sort of weird dream, but no matter how hard I pinch myself, I just never seem to wake up.

This is just a little slice of awesome to brighten your day.

Jason: I thought you were wrapping presents.

Me: I am wrapping presents.

Jason: No, you’re putting everything in gift bags. All a gift bag says is “Hey, here’s your present. I didn’t bother to wrap it.”

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I hate it when he’s irritating and funny at the same time. It’s very hard to deliver a set-down when I’m laughing.

Dad? What’s Santa’s real name?

Burt.

Burt?

Yup. Burt.

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Apparently his life goal is to keep our kids perpetually confused.