Family Weekend

The hubby and I rented a car for the weekend to take the aggro out of our numerous family obligations in the 'burbs, and it was well worth it, considering the arrival of Snowmageddon. (I don't know which keener reporter came up with that one, but I hope that he's very proud of himself, 'cause he's gotten a lot of airtime out of it.) Lots of fun, and more of Mom's yummy Christmas baking than was advisable.

• Friday night was Nan's Christmas concert. She's definitely the oldest person in the group, but such a trooper. We missed the first forty-five minutes, and as much as I love Nan, thank god! The bloody concert didn't end until 10:30, and as much as I love my grandmother, and enjoy Christmas music, three hours is excessive.
  
• My mom's random bark is the best thing ever. Four ingredients: chocolate, saltine crackers, butter, brown sugar. To-Die-For. In the vien of chocolate and salt (the best combination ever), Lindt has a new 70% dark and Fleur de Sel bar that I need to get my hands on.
  
• I need to get a St. Bernard like, now. My aunt & uncle got a puppy named Kaboda (apparently a Russian tractor company?) about a month ago, and he is the greatest thing ever. Super chilled out, super sweet, and HUGE! He gains 5 lbs a week, apparently. But I'm in love. As is my mother, which is shocking, as the woman hates most animals. Her sisters spent the night (the dog came over) looking at her going "who are you, and what have you done with my sister?
  
• Saw Rachel Getting Married last night. It was fantastic. Anne Hathaway (a.k.a. the hubby's mistress; she's his fave) was a hot mess, and the rest of the cast was fab. It was more like watching someone's home movies than watching a movie, which is what I liked about it. As much as I know, being well trained in critical theory, that realism is an illusion, this was a good semblance of it.
  
• Today was our gift exchange with Mom's side of the family. It could have turned out all kinds of bad (Dad's contribution was a shop vac and clamps. Like, what?), but it ended up being great. I got a fabulous fair trade bag from Honduras which will become my new school bag, and then hubby got all sorts of gourmet condiments, which is perfect, considering that he's a total condiment slut. Good times! And Darren got the shop vac, so God's in his heaven and all's right with the world.
  
• I am thisclose to being done my Christmas shopping. Just have to pick up a few little things for the baby, and I'm good to go.
• The time has come to pull out the crochet hook and hook me up some legwarmers (invaluable on the picket line). I almost bought some yesterday, but homemade are better. I think this is going to be my plane to Florida project. Off to the yarn store I go tomorrow.