Latest Obsessions

*Citrus
Clementines, satsumas, grapefruit, oranges etc.
I cannot get enough. Does my body just want the vitamin
C or the acidity? Who knows but I can't stop eating them.

*Hibernating
need.more.sleep.

*Learning About Icelandic Christmas lore/traditions
Iceland has become somewhat of an obsession for me and I think
for the husband but he doesn't obsess over things as much as I do.
But yes, we love Iceland- it's the one place we can both agree on moving
to ,haha.  I am a regular reader of the blog I Heart Reykjavik, (very
helpful if you are traveling there) and for the month of December
she is doing daily posts of traditions or characters.
My personal favorite has been the Yule Cat.

*My Doula
My favorite way to describe doulas has been "they are like
wedding planners for your birth", which is the cut and dry version
but they really do so much more. They are there to teach you about
the stages of labor and how to prepare for it, act as emotional
and spiritual guides, keep you at home as long as possible before
heading to the hospital, and act as your voice when you are busy laboring.
It's been really nice to surround myself with supportive women who
treat this like a natural process rather than a medical condition.
It has made the whole pregnancy less stressful and more wondrous.
I could write tons more about doulas but maybe I'll leave
that for a bigger post.

*Christmas Mail
I love getting Christmas cards, it's the one time of year when you can count
on constant mail surprises. Of course I love sending them too, making
our card is always an important part of the holiday season and it makes
it more special( to me at least) to send out a work of art.

*Vive le Vent
French version of Jingle Bells, translation here
The beginning of this song is the only thing
I retained from high school French.

Home Stretch

28 weeks down, 12 to go (roughly).
The little stinker has rotated into proper birth
position this week, which has made me very happy,
Our path to natural birth can continue as planned.

I've definitely started to slow down in the past week,
most of which has to do with lack of sleep.  Hopefully that
will change.  I will say that the only good thing about being
pregnant around the holidays is that it makes you rethink
running around like a crazy person- because you just can't.

I'm really excited to park myself in one place once
we get to my parents house next week. No running around.
I want to sit by the fire with the 2 fat pugs and my entire family
and not think about anything else. It's such a magical time of year
and so often we are so crazed that we miss that magic.

Let Them Eat Ham.

And so begins the ham & egg breakfasts that will take me
clear into 2015. Not complaining, it's a favorite of mine,
but we do still have A LOT of ham leftover from the party,
despite the best efforts of our friends.

A few people mentioned that our party always feels
like the real kickoff to Christmas, and I have to agree.
We always get such a great crowd to come out for the
party, when everyone leaves the husband and I always
talk about how fortunate we are to be surrounded by
such amazing friends.

It's hard to stay connected in the city sometimes
between schedules and working in different places-
but it always means so much to have everyone make the trek
out to Sunnyside to eat, drink, and be merry.

Traditions: The New

Part of the excitement of building a life with someone
is creating all sorts of new Christmas traditions with them,
and finding a way to include them in your old traditions.

Our first Christmas tradition is going to pick out a tree,
it's NYC so it's not National Lampoons style, we just head over
to our local supermarket and choose the perfect tree and carry it home.
This year poses a small problem since I can't really lift anything at
this point.  But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Trimming the tree is always so much fun, our box is
filled with beloved ornaments from our respective childhoods
and some new ones that we've given to each other in the past 8 years.
We put on our Santa hats and listen to Christmas music- usually wine
is involved.  The tree gets topped with a hand sewn humboldt squid that
I made in college.

We also usually try to see a show together, over the years we've gone to:
*The McGarrigle Family Christmas  (Rufus, JGL, Antony,  Lou Reed
...it was amazing.)
*The Nutcracker (My secret is that one of my biggest life regrets is
that I never got to dance in a Nutcracker production. My studio
would sometimes do their own Christmas production-which was fine-
but I desperately wanted to be in the Nutcracker. )
*Christmas movies on the big screen at Museum of the Moving Image
(Muppet Christmas Carol was awesome, and this year it's Muppet Family Christmas)

This year we are seeing Over the Rhine on Sunday, a Cincinnati based duo
that is famous for their Christmas songs, the husband has been a fan for
awhile. Next weekend it's the Nutcracker at BAM, the last year for
Alexei Ratmansky's production which I happen to love.  Finally on the 28th,
as previously mentioned we will head to the Museum of the Moving Image
to see A Muppet Family Christmas on the big screen.

Our last tradition is our holiday party that we have every year.  Lots of snacks,
tons of wine/beer, and a whole house filled with dear friends. It doesn't get better
than that.

It's also nice knowing that so many new traditions are waiting for us.

Traditions: The Old

Christmas, more so than any other time of year, is all about
carrying on and creating new traditions. This post is all about the
old.

When I was little some of my favorites were when our whole family
would hop in the van and drive around to Freda & Fred's
and other Christmas-y shops - I can't remember if my parents ever actually
bought anything or we all just went to bask in aisles of
decorations and Santa lands.  Another was on Christmas Eve after
the festivities at my grandparents house, on our way home
we would drive around our development and look at all the
Christmas lights on all the houses.  My Mom also used to have us
put out our shoes on the night of the 5th so that St Nicholas could come
and leave us little presents.

Christmas Eve was also a really big event in the ways of tradition
and my cousin and I became obsessed with it.
We would call each other in November and talk on the phone
(for what seemed like hours) about every little detail
about Christmas Eve.  We knew exactly where certain
decorations would be, and what kind of snacks would be
set out where, the food that would be served, the conversations
that would happen- we knew everything.  And for whatever reason
it pleased us immensely to discuss it at length.

 The Christmas Eve event has since moved to my parents house
and the first year or two was a little odd, but we slowly got into
our own groove. Now that a few of the cousins are married,
myself included, it becomes harder to see each other every year,
but the feeling of that night still exists when we all can be together.

One tradition that has always existed and still exists is that
in the Chambers House, we do not do anything on Christmas Day.
That has always been a day for us to all just relax at the house together,
no running around trying to see people, that day is just for us.
We have a huge breakfast, snacks all day, and a big feast for dinner.
Many naps are taken, video games and board games are played,
movies are watched, and we all just enjoy being together.

This year we will be spending Christmas with my family
and I can't wait. It will also be an interesting year because it
is our last without little baby here. But, I guess it will only get more
magical once he arrives and we can bring him into our old traditions
and start some new ones.