06 January 2009 in holidailies, village life | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
with all those holiday cards you've been saving for years and years? Same for stacks of used old birthday, thank-you, and get well cards? Send them all to St. Jude's Ranch for Children, where they will be recycled into new cards for the coming season. Complete information about the program can be found here. Card donations will be accepted up to February 28th, 2009, so purge those desk drawers now! (Sets of card can also be purchased from the web site; a set of 10 costs $8.00.)
hasta pronto,
mylifeinspain
4 years ago: No entry.
3 years ago: No entry.
2 years ago: Happy new year/foto Friday
1 year ago: Foto Saturday
05 January 2009 in green mylifeinspain, holidailies | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Yesterday the cold rains drove most of the day, so I spent the morning in the kitchen keeping warm by the stove and oven. Oh, and using them to make various things for the animals. For a myriad of reasons, I started making food for the mascotas, geez, more than seven years ago. One of the easiest recipes I use is this one for dog biscuits, which I adapted slightly from the Moosewood Restaurant Celebrates cookbook (one of my favorites, by the way, when looking for different vegetarian menus for holidays and other special occasions---two big thumbs up).
While the precious Boo kept me company in the kitchen (and of course being rather optimistic that I might give her a sample of the biscuits), the boys were upstairs in the office keeping warm with the love. Seriously, is this not ridiculous or what?
04 January 2009 in holidailies, the pets, the spanish kitchen | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
From the foto archives....
hasta pronto,
mylifeinspain
4 years ago: No entry.
3 years ago: Packing.
2 years ago: No entry.
1 year ago: No entry.
03 January 2009 in foto friday, holidailies | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
So Big Jim and I have been having a two-week-long holiday movie marathon, and the other night we watched "It's A Wonderful Life". Which if you can imagine, I had never seen from start to finish in one go. Afterward, I told Big Jim that my first real memory of Jimmy Stewart was not as an actor, but rather from his poems, which he would read on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. And of all the poems, the one I remembered particularly was this one, about his dog Beau.
Dare I say there were more tears from the two of us after watching this old video than from his turn as George Bailey!
hasta pronto,
mylifeinspain
4 years ago: No entry.
3 years ago: No entry.
2 years ago: No entry.
1 year ago: New Year Philly style
02 January 2009 in holidailies, miscellaneous | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
01 January 2009 in holidailies, mylifeinspain lists, mylifeinspain travels, village life | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
More fotos from Big Jim's trip to Switzerland a couple weeks ago.....
Pretty, eh? And very Christmasy looking to boot!
hasta pronto,
mylifeinspain
4 years ago: Culture shock
3 years ago: No entry.
2 years ago: No entry.
1 year ago: No entry.
29 December 2008 in foto friday, holidailies, mylifeinspain travels | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
28 December 2008 in holidailies, mylifeinspain travels, village life | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
25 December 2008 in holidailies, the spanish kitchen | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
It has not been an easy road to Christmas Eve this year. I arrived back from my unexpected trip to the US with two weeks to try to fit in all the card-writing, gift-wrapping, cookie-baking, good cheer-spreading, hall-decking that I normally would take three times as long preparing. Not to mention the reality and grief of my grandmother's death had not had the chance to properly sink in.
So for the past ten days I have tried to go through the motions, managed to mail the cards out by a semi-respectable date, made sure gifts were ordered for my niece and nephew, and went shopping for special foodstuffs for Big Jim and I as we spend the holiday at home with the fur bundles and a huge stack of Christmas DVDs.
But the baking---Big Jim took over that department this year. We have Christmas cake, a chocolate sponge (just for me!), and tins full of sand tarts. And the rest of the gifts for my family, well, I had to force myself to sit in front of the computer Sunday night and at least make sure people had gift cards to open Christmas Day. Thankfully, Big Jim also decorated the house while I was away, so that was one less thing on my very long "to do" list.
My only task today was to put on a pretty skirt and help deliver gifts to our neighbors. And in a few minutes, the spinach dip (no comment, you know who! ;-) goes in the oven, and I must decide which of the holiday DVDs we should watch tonight. That is about all the work and decision-making I can handle this year.
I have read the literature on grieving and the holidays, and much of it is helpful. But in the end, I am most grateful for the time and space and support my husband and friends have given me to work through and process all that has happened in the past six weeks. And for not noticing if the cards arrived a few days later this year.
Now es la hora for a little Rudolph-watching and to sneak a taste of that chocolate cake!!
hasta pronto,
mylifeinspain
24 December 2008 in holidailies, mylifeinspain travels | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)