Saturday, January 3, 2009

THE HOLIDAYS IN A NUTSHELL (or is that a nut house?)

This is just one of my favorite Christmas decorations. It's how I would have to start any letter to Santa.


I've been a bad, bad blogger. I have taken a very long break and now that I've mustered the energy and found the will and the time to put my fingers back on the keyboard and return to bloggyville, I've got nothing. I read somewhere (and I apologize that I've forgotten who said it) in one of the many blogs I've read trying to catch up, that the first post of the year should be something clever, interesting and worthy of the first post of the year. Geesh! Talk about pressure. After giving the matter a great deal of consideration and still coming up with zip, zero, nada: I decided to let my camera do the talking. The following is a photographic diary of my holiday season. While you're looking at my holiday pictures, I'll be trying to think of something clever, witty and interesting for my next post. Wish me luck!


Making these n0-sew blankets for D1, D2, Nole Boy and the Officer and a Gentleman was the cause of my severe lack of sleep and very large bags under my eyes during the pre-holiday season. It was during this time that a neighbor kid who works in produce at the grocery said to me, "Hey, Ms. Smart Mouth, you look really tired." I punched him right in the face.
OK, I didn't but I really wanted to. I'm gonna have a talk with his mother about the things a man should never say to a woman.

Pixie shows her appreciation of D2's arrival home for the holidays.

We did make it to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party and D2 and CinDEEerella wasted no time making a beeline for the candy store to get their all-day suckers. I may post more about this later.....if I remember.
The annual Christmas Eve open house went off without a hitch. The meatballs were a success again. That is my niece, SMB in Training in the striped top.
(Yes, that is MHS in a Santa tie)
We did finally get the tree decorated. Those two big ornaments in front are my favorites. *wink*
Daddy and Daisy were with us for Christmas.


Santa brought Daddy a new Seminole shirt.


An Officer and a Gentleman was home on leave. He had to leave to return to San Diego on the 26th but we were so glad to have him with us for Christmas.

Nole Boy and D2 were happy to celebrate the season together.


The Biker Nazi and The Saint arrived the day after Christmas with their two boys and a girlfriend. We took a little day trip on the bikes and explored this historic lighthouse in Jupiter.


The view from the lighthouse is beautiful. This inlet is one of my favorite places in the world. The lighthouse is actually on a military base. The white houses below are Coast Guard housing.

The gang is all ready for their night out on New Years Eve. The boys belong to the Biker Nazi and The Saint. D2 left earlier for a party with Nole Boy. They all met up later and rang in the New Year together.


D1 is all decked out in her Fancy Nancy attire for her birthday on New Years Day. Twenty-four or four? I'm not sure. *wink*

We were truly blessed with a very happy holiday season. Now everyone has left and it's just MHS and I again. .......oh.... and the Biker Nazi who decided to stay on for awhile. Stay tuned as I'm sure there will be some real blog material in the days ahead.

23 comments:

Fragrant Liar said...

Your family is beautiful. I'm glad you had such a fabulous Christmas. I was in Florida myself for Christmas. At my parents' place in The Villages and my bro-in-law's in Ocala. Despite my sister's very noticeable absence, it was an enjoyable holiday.

Happy new year. Come visit me at my new site.

KJ
http://fragrantliar.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

OMG... the first post of the year was supposed to be clever and interesting?? Dang, guess I better go do a re-do. Who makes all the bloggy rules anyway, and weren't rules made just to be broken?

Happy New Year.. glad you're back with us all in Bloggy Land.

Di
The Blue Ridge Gal

Tricia said...

What are you talking about? If you were trying to hit the nail for interesting, you did. Plus add in a little lovely, merry and lots of smiles and you posted a beautiful first post for 2009! Your family looks happy. Happy New Year!

Vodka Mom said...

That was a lovely picture tour!!! THe whole family is gorgeous!!!

Happy New year!!

Bear Naked said...

Looks like a fun time was had by everyone.
Don't need no clever words when you have photos to post.

Bear((( )))

cheatymoon said...

Hi - I'm new here (hopped over from a couple of people) - will be back. Your family photos are great, and is the dog really named Pixie? We had a Pixie growing up... :-)

Lori said...

Looks and sounds like your holidays were wonderful and fun. Love the pictures of your beautiful family. I think this was a great first post for 2009! Blessings to you and your family for a great 2009 and looking forward to visiting your blog through out this year too! Hugs! Lori

Smart Mouth Broad said...

Fragrant Liar-So close and yet so far away. I wish we could have met up for a spiked peppermint mocha. This must have been a really rough holiday season for you and your family. I'm sure it meant so much to your parents and your brother in law that you were there to share it with them. I'm going to have to check out your new site. Will you still be maintaining the old one as well? Lots of work... Cheers to a better 2009.

BRG-You are so right. Rules were meant to be broken. It's good to be back. I was busy but I missed everyone and tried to keep up on reading as much as possible.

Tricia-I love to see pictures in other blogs so I try to put a few in mine. Thanks for your very kind words. We are happy....most of the time. But I don't post the cranky pictures. *wink*

Vodka mom-People are starting to come out of their rooms in full make up in the morning in fear of my camera lens. LOL Beware of mother with blog.

Bear-We did have fun. I wish I had taken pictures of our very competitive game night. Alas I was way too into the bottle of wine Nole Boy brought me and intent on being the WINNER to remember to snap some pics. You should have seen it. My ensemble came complete with sunglasses and a cowboy hat. Even after we switched from Texas Holdem' to Uno.

Only a Movie-While all the other names on this blog have been changed to protect the guilty, the dogs names are real. Thanks for visiting my site and I do hope you'll come back for more healthy doses of nonsense in the future.

Smiles-Thank you so much. Many blessings to you and yours for 2009. (((hugs))) right back at cha!

The Chicago Blogger said...

Happy New Year!

Thanks for sharing the pictures -- what a beautiful family! :)

Pseudo said...

This was a great first post. Loved the picture tour SMB. Your family is gorgeous and everyone looks so happy.

Pseudo said...

PS The meatballs were greatly appreciated over here. Thanks for the recipe. ; -)

Reader Wil said...

That was nice to see your family during the holiday! You shared your family life with us, thanks! I wish you all a very happy, healthy New Year.

Reader Wil said...

Thanks for your comments. My daughter is the one who draws on her blog. She is an engineer and works as a technical draughtswoman. We went together to Australia.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the posts on my site. I've been sick (and still am) but the blogging world waits for no one. Love the big all-day suckers, looks like they'll last a lifetime. Wow that view from the lighthouse is spectacular. It would be great to own a house there. How is it the governmnent owns such great pieces of land?

Anonymous said...

This is a great post! How fun to see pics of the fam. And isn't just like men -- in the photo of the gang getting ready to go out for New Year's Eve -- did you notice that the men have on jeans, and the three women are all dressed up in party dresses?? What's that about? LOL

Smart Mouth Broad said...

Diana-And you also. Thanks.

Pseudo-Thank you and I'm so glad that you all liked the meatballs.

RW-Thanks and I look forward to reading your daughter's blog too. It's fun to read and learn about people in other countries.

Geri-I do hope you are feeling better soon. The inlet is beautiful. MHS knows if he wants to make me happy, all he has to do is take me there. I'm a cheap date. The government property is really quite small and consists only of the few houses and the lighthouse but it is considered by Homeland Security as a military base and treated as such. They threatened to shoot us if we strayed from the tour. I'm pretty sure that was a joke though. *wink* Of course years ago, it was a more functioning base established there by President Franklin Pierce to protect our shores.

Midlife Mama-Thanks. In the boys' defense, they live out of state and were not warned prior that they should bring dress clothes. One of the girls is Son #2's girlfriend also from out of state but she was able to borrow a dress from D2.

Anonymous said...

Love the blanket and it was a no-sew? Seriously? I am impressed! Love the family photos! We have not taken the Harley out since a rally we went to in TN in September. Too freakin cold! Lucky you getting to ride to the lighthouse. I love lighthouses!

Anonymous said...

Great post! Thanks for sharing your holiday and family pictures with us!

Anonymous said...

Gosh, I think it is much harder to put in all those lovely photos than to write anything "clever" -- a splendid beginning to 2009. And aren't you lucky (and clever, as the Brits say) to have a New Year baby. (I always think my peace baby, born on November 11, is extra special).

Thank you for the post. I look forward to many more in 2009.

Smart Mouth Broad said...

Erin-Yes, no sew. That's the best I can do. You actually tie it together. I should have taken pictures of the finished product but it was the wee hours of the morning and I wasn't thinking clearly at that point. Being able to ride is the reason the Biker Nazi is still here with us.

Fancy-Thank YOU!

Duchess-Well, I didn't really have much control over the situation and she was due on the 31st and has been late ever since. D2 was born on Flag day and while that particular holiday is not too well-known....don't tell her!

Anonymous said...

You're bitching about having nothing interesting to write and I'm still trying to catch up on my reading and writing NOTHING.

btw, it really was an interesting post. You already know what I've been doing all day and then the evening turned into sh*t so I blew the d.i.e.t. and ate the exact same thing you had for lunch and now I'm drowning my sorrows with Corona. Ugh....

Smart Mouth Broad said...

I can think of no better way to end a sh*t day than with pizza and Corona. Unless you add chocolate chip cookies!

Anonymous said...

Brits always tell you you are clever whenever you have a baby. Especially since you don't have a lot of control.

I say, Take the credit and run, especially as your lot are quite stunning.