Have yourself a merry little Christmas

It has been a whirlwind couple of weeks, dear readers! I've started a temporary document review position in Palo Alto, resulting in several mixed CDs for the rush hour commute, and giving me some financial stability for the time being. I have to hand it to my roommate, though, who has been commuting to the Peninsula from SF for years - it has only been two weeks for me, and I'm exhausted.

I also took a girls trip to Carmel this past weekend with my best friends from high school: nature walks, sugar cookie decorating, and hours of conversation around the dinner table (the likes of which hasn't been seen since we were all together before college) were the weekend's fare. Embarrassing pictures are, obviously, going to be posted soon.

Then, of course, there was the Christmas holiday! My aunt and cousin came over for Christmas Eve dinner - the traditional cracked crab entrée my family has had for years - and we exchanged presents. I received from them the Miette cookbook and a professional cake decorating tool...I am definitely going to have to start running again, because that cookbook will be put to good use!

Christmas Day was wonderful. I'm sure there are plenty of more descriptive terms I could use to describe this year's holiday, but it was just plain wonderful. My family woke up and, according to tradition, opened our stockings first, then exchanged more serious gifts. I received my newest prized possession, a used DSLR camera. Expect lots of test shots to be posted later! I even took it to the grocery store today. I am a photography fiend. We finished up with Christmas brunch, which was really lunch, and then I watched Home Alone for the third time this season and knit about five hats for Earthquake State.

Again, friends, it's been a very good couple of weeks.

xo // Madeleine