Sleigh day.

One of the absolute best parts of living in Northern California is our proximity to pretty much everything. An hour and a half one way, you are at the beach. An hour and a half another way, you are at some of the countries premier ski resorts. But a mere forty five minutes East, you will hit snow and hills and loads of people sledding.

Growing up in Texas, you have to go pretty far to find this kind of fun, so as a parent it is just so much fun to watch Gia play in the snow like this and still not have to shovel my car out or the path on our front lawn.

We built a miniature snowman, went down the hill, wiped out just as many times and had Christmas cookies.

Ralph and Gia made snow angels. The smiles and laughs that came from the two of them were contagious. Not only to me, but to others at the Sno Park as well. Such a treat to be one of the Three T's.

And of course, RT could not resist throwing snow balls at me every opportunity that presented itself. So, my camera and I were covered in snow by the end of the afternoon.

I am confident that this will be a regular activity that we partake in this winter. What a fun afternoon of good ole fashioned, wholesome fun.

Perfectionist? STOP IT!!!!!

I am not a perfectionist. But I am married to one. It is an interesting dynamic and there are pros and cons to both sides but combined, they really do make a great team.

One of the benefits of being married to a MALE perfectionist is like many men, he does not seem to let it bog him down. But I see so many of my girl friends that are perfectionist paralyze them. They just don't do things because they can not make them perfect.

I think that if you stop trying to be a perfectionist, you get more things done. Making your expectations of yourself or others to out of reach leads to doing nothing or being eternally disappointed. Cut yourself some slack.

You have to expect that if you are trying something new, whether blogging, hanging curtains, starting a new job that there is going to be a learning curve. You may make a few mistakes, but seriously you are not performing neuro surgery or anything....or are you?

I think a lot of perfectionist (including my husband) take on so many tasks that they become overwhelmed and bogged down in the details. If you limit what you are doing you can be a perfectionist like your natural tendency.

Just know that there are really two types of people in the world. Those that are going to be appreciative of your efforts and those that will criticize your efforts regardless of how perfect or imperfect they are. Keeping that in mind, I chose to surround myself with the first and limit my interaction with the second. With the latter group, I do my best and know that really their criticism is there own shortcoming not my perfectly diced onions.

And finally, be good to you. Would you chose to spend all of your time with someone that constantly MADE you do everything perfect? (If the answer is yes, SEEK HELP IMMEDIATELY) So why are you so mean to you?

So, during this holiday season stop fretting about EVERYTHING being perfect and celebrate. Celebrate the tree, celebrate time together, early evenings and time with those that you love. And who doesn't love hot chocolate....I don't think anyone can mess that up. Even a bad cup of hot chocolate is good.

All I want for Christmas....

Christmas in San Francisco.

This past weekend we went to San Francisco and met my mom for a weekend of fun in our beloved city by the bay. I know that NYC has loads of charm during the holiday season, but SF has it without the bone chilling temperatures. It was rather rainy (and cold), but we had so much fun with all of our SF favorite activities. {The Three T's, and SF's finest Cappuccino}
{Macy's Windows}
{Gia's Santa writing efforts, she has now asked for hot chocolate four times}

{Mimi}

{Gia pretending to sleep post lunch at Bocce}

We had a blast. I will be in SF a few more times prior to the close of the Christmas season, but it was so nice to be there with my mom and enjoy the holiday spirit together. We will have to make it a T family tradition.

Gia and Jace visit Santa.

On Friday, Gia and I headed to Modesto to meet my mother in law and Gia's Aunt Corina. It was ridiculously rainy and cold, but everyone made it there in one piece. This is the best picture that you can get with two tots under four. Pretty darn cute if you ask me. Gia asked for hot chocolate. I think I am going to have to find some seriously fantastic hot chocolate for this kid.

Holiday simplicity.

I have stated before that I never knew of any stress surrounding the holiday season until I was an adult. And much of that stress is created because we live pretty far away. A three hour drive from my husbands family and nearly two thousand miles from mine.

One of the reasons that I think my mom never had any stress was because she is so dern organized. She has everything in a folder. Every recipe. The shopping list. Everything. Down to a t.

So, because I do not want to even TRY to reinvent the wheel, I copied my moms goods when I was home. Here is the shopping list....if you want the menu, just let me know!

Holiday Shopping List:

Meat and Dairy

Jimmy Dean Sage Sausage

Butter

Whipping Cream

Frozen Yeast Rolls

Eggs

Sour Cream

Cream Cheese

Cool Whip

Produce

Celery
Onions

Green Onions

Parsley

Fresh Cranberries

Oranges

Sweet Potatoes

Baked Goods

Pecans

Pillsberry All Ready Pie Crest

Karo Syrup Light

Stuffing Croutons

Corn Bread Mix

Canned

Solid Pumpkin

Pet Cream

Green Peas

Water Chestnuts

Cranberry Sauce

Frozen

Whole spinach

Carr Crackers

Cheese Ball Stuff

Christmas shopping complete.

And that is a relief. I should rephrase. Christmas shopping for all thirty two people BUT my husband is complete. And now it is the most difficult person on the planet. What do you get the man that has everything that he wants and gives you everything you want?

Any suggestions out there? Because I am pretty sure getting this one gift is going to be the most difficult and time consuming.