Christmas and New Year’s Recap and the “Wolfpack”

This is a really long post—I have to catch up on Christmas, New Year’s, and my ski trip to Montana.

Here are my finished office gifts…

I was able to get all this done over the weekend because of this…

I took Christmas Eve off and flew back to Raleigh on Wednesday night. It was so good to see Winston again, and he loves his new Orvis bed…

Almost as much as he loves the couch…

He followed me around all weekend. He even forced his way onto the loveseat in my parents’ room with me.

Christmas was pretty calm this year and my mom was able to come downstairs for awhile which was great. Will got a Mac Book, slot cars, an electric guitar, remote control helicopters, walkie talkies, etc. The BD Jeffries cufflinks for my dad showed up Christmas Eve night and he loved them! I got everything on my wish list and even Winston and the Noodles got some good toys and gingerbread cookies.

This was my first New Year’s out in New York (last year we didn’t feel like facing the crowds and stayed in). Trip put together a great party at the Copper Door on the lower east side. I even got Kelly and Trevor to come!

Last Wednesday, 15 of us went out to the Yellowstone Club near Big Sky, Montana, and had the best week ever.

We skied…

Watched the BCS National Championship…

Roasted our host, Charlie, at dinner at the Rainbow Lodge (where we decided we would call ourselves “The Wolfpack”)…

Cooked family-style dinners, took a yoga class, played games, and then sadly, went home.

It was my first real vacation (going home to NC doesn’t count) since starting to work, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

There are some needlepoint coasters in the works for our hosts…

Three Thanksgivings

What could be better than three Thanksgiving dinners in three different cities? I managed to stretch Thanksgiving out for 4 days.

Thanksgiving Number One—Last Tuesday afternoon we had our first annual office Thanksgiving Potluck Lunch. I volunteered to take charge and managed to stay relatively calm about the whole thing. I started to panic the morning of though when I got four phone calls from people saying they forgot to bring food…luckily everyone else did! We had more than enough food for the 250+ people in my office and it was a huge success. I made 10 pounds of gruyere mashed potatoes and received several emails asking for the recipe:

Gruyere Mashed Potatoes

- 4 lbs red skinned potatoes

- stick of butter

- 1 cup heavy cream or milk

- 1 lb gruyere, grated

- salt

Cut potatoes in large chunks and place in covered pot with water. Bring to a boil and remove lid. Salt and cook until soft (about 12 minutes). Drain water, leaving potatoes in hot pot. Stir in butter, cream/milk, and cheese. Mash potatoes with a fork or potato masher.

(My favorite part of the meal! I stayed up late making the placecards too.)

Thanksgiving Number Two—On Thursday morning, Winston, Jimmy, and I drove up to Connecticut to Jimmy’s dad’s house. I stayed for a few hours and helped cook and then took Winston over to Kelly’s. Her parents, 2 brothers, and boyfriend were there, as well her black lab, Liam. Liam and Winston played in the backyard while the boys threw the football—Winston managed to run across the pool cover and get soaked! He had a great time though, running, rolling on the carpet, and eating turkey. Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures—probably because we were too busy playing Landmine. I haven’t played drinking games in awhile so after three beers, Kelly and I moved to water. We had fantastic appetizers (celery with sherry blue cheese, brie, goat cheese torte with cranberries) and then an even better dinner. Kelly’s mom introduced me to my new favorite Thanksgiving food, creamed onions (I’ll be making them for dinner tonight Jimmy!)

Then it was back to Jimmy’s dad’s for cake for Jimmy’s little brother’s 12^th birthday.

The only pictures from Thursday I have are of the Cinnamon-Sugar Pecans I made for Jimmy’s and Kelly’s families.

We went back into the city Thursday night and then Friday afternoon after a half day of work, we left for Raleigh. Winston was an angel and loved his Burger King chicken nugget dinner.

Thanksgiving Number Three—This was my first time cooking turkey and it actually turned out well. The only thing that would have made it better would be having Mom there.

I didn’t do much in Raleigh—a lot of eating and laying around by the fire and a little backgammon and needlepoint.

It was so nice to see Winston able to play around outside!

He was tuckered out after…

Now that I’m back in chilly NYC with no dog to walk, it’s time to get some keychains finished!

Will’s Birthday in NYC

I’m not very good at this blogging thing. I read everyone else’s blogs but don’t post on my own. I guess a lot has been going on since I last posted the end of September.

My mom was in the hospital from October 13^th until yesterday. I feel so bad for her and I miss her so much. I miss talking to her everyday. It’s hard too because she’s so far away (she’s been at Duke) and I can’t be there. I think she’s doing a little better and it’s good to know she’s finally home. It’ll be nice to have her home for Thanksgiving, even if she can’t eat dinner!

I’ve been busy with key fobs too! I’ve got my template all set and everyone seems to really like them. I’m looking forward to finishing up all my Christmas projects and being able to sell custom fobs on the website. They’ll be there by January!

I’m making fobs for all my managers in my office and my dad’s office for Christmas. I think they turned out really nice and will be perfect little gifts.

My little brother came up to NYC for his 12^th birthday and we stayed very busy (the only way to deal with a 12 year old with ADHD!) He came into work with me on Friday and we went to the Sony Wonder Tech Lab at lunchtime. Our picture was up on the big screen.

On Saturday we went to FAO Schwartz and the Apple store and then Jekyll and Hyde for dinner. We spent over four hours at Jekyll and Hyde and he had a blast.

Sunday we got up really early and went to the taping of the Today Show. We had a quick doughnut breakfast at Dean & Deluca and then got a spot on the plaza. We finally got on TV with 5 minutes left in the show and it was really cold, but worth it.

Then it was off to the dog park.

Winston, as my brother says, “got a little too friendly” with him and knocked him into the dirt. We were out of clean pants by then from plane rides, hot chocolate spills, and a rainy Saturday. Luckily we bought two pairs of khakis on Saturday afternoon! After the dog park we went back up to midtown to the Central Park Zoo. It was my first time there and everyone was telling me it wasn’t worth it and we should go to the Bronx Zoo instead, but for a kid with ADD, it was perfect. There wasn’t enough to overwhelm him and we were able to see everything in about an hour. The polar bears were our favorite and we joked that they were Winston’s grandparents.

Our last activity before heading to the airport was flying his remote control helicopter from FAO Schwartz in the park. This was probably my favorite thing. He was so cute chasing it around and everyone stopped to see it. Last minute, we decided to run back to FAO and get another helicopter so he and my dad could fly them together. I was more exhausted than I’ve ever been by the time I put him on the plane on Sunday night, but we had a great time and I got to do things in the city that I wouldn’t normally do. As difficult as he can be, he’s really the sweetest, nicest kid. Will, I know I told you you’re not allowed to come back to visit, but I didn’t mean it! (I must have a really short term memory…)

Since I always end with pictures of Winston, here’s his reaction to Will’s helicopter. Curiosity got him off of my bed and into the family room to check it out….

Curiosity quickly turned into fear…

Apparently miniature helicopters are really scary when you’re a hundred pound lab…

And a terrified dog is apparently really entertaining to a 12 year old…

Will thought maybe Winston’s mommy would be able to get him over his fear…

Instead, I think he felt like I betrayed him for not protecting him from the scary helicopter.

We’re back on good terms though now that the loud 12 year old and his scary helicopter are far, far away! Little does he know he’ll be reunited with both of them in North Carolina next Saturday!