The holiday season is officially BUSY. I’m not taking any time off work…but I’m also not skipping out on the celebrations. We’ve been watching Christmas movies nightly and hitting up all the neighborhood celebrations on the weekends. There seems to be a lot of spirit in the air this year and I’m loving it. I can’t believe we’re just three days away from the real start of the celebrations!
Over the weekend, the goal was to lean into Xmas hard…but Sir Finn had other plans. He’s not prone to temper tantrums, but when we decided to head to Midtown to look at the trees and the windows, he lost his mind. Threw himself on the gritty sidewalks of NYC and refused to go. My guess is that my beau let him watch stuff on his phone while they waited for me to meet them at the coffee shop (so he could sip his latte in peace – can’t totally blame him) and when that phone was taken away, game over. Eventually we had to carry him (I practically threw him over my shoulder) all the way back to the apartment where he was perfectly happy to spend the next two hours doing puzzles. Every kid is different, but it seems ours isn’t quite capable of moderating tv time. Even when he’s at the point that he can’t focus on a specific movie/show, he doesn’t recognize that he no longer actually wants to watch it. He thinks it’s what he wants, even when he’s so clearly over it. We don’t do a ton of screentime, but I think we’ve reached the point where all screentime needs to be part of a strategy. Also not on V’s holiday bingo card? Meeting Santa. I was so excited…and Finn refused to sit next to him. In fact, he refused to even get put down. Albert had to hold him the entire time, even during the mini tree craft project, which he loved. Ever the observer initially, he gets overwhelmed by other people. He eventually agreed to give Santa a high five and fist bump before leaving and we’ll call it a win.
It had been a while since I made a meat and cheese plate and this weekend felt like the perfect time. In good spirits after attending early holiday parties at La Marqueta and the local pizza place, we came home, poured some wine, and set up this lovely platter to snack on while watching The Holiday. It was a great way to spend a Saturday night and made me realize smoked oysters are a new favorite tinned fish varietal.
I spotted this dining room design in a recent New York Mag and think it’s something I need to replicate at some point in my life. The silhouettes are all of friends and family – what a dramatic and thoughtful design execution! I think it would look cool running floor to ceiling on all four walls of a powder room. I would take it to the next level by having the subject sign their silhouette.
Peaches to Apples 