Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

Isn’t that what the song tells us to do?  Well we sure did it! 

This was supposed to be a recession Christmas and as she does every year, my mom says how much smaller this Christmas will be compared the past years.  Yeah right!  When we commented on how once again, she outdid herself, she just claimed that she found some amazing deals, which I don’t doubt.  But does this even look like a smaller Christmas?  She is RIDICULOUS!

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Please note the Choo Choo that Claire had to turn on at least forty-seven times every single day.  “Hi Choo Choo.”  “Nite nite choo!”

For the last two years, my mom has turned the atrium {the most pointless use of space in that house} to the Christmas room.  It does look all pretty in there, but…

…. does anyone see a problem?  Let’s look a bit closer. 

The bar!  How the heck are we going to get to the bar!?!?!  Bad call, Santa.  Bad call.   We need to get these presents moved stat!  So all the little elves started relocating Christmas.  Whew – that was a lot of work, but at least we can now share a Christmas morning cocktail!

 

Christmas was so much fun this year since Claire actually knew how to open presents and recognized the new ones Santa had left out for her.  She loved walking in to discover brand new toys!

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It didn’t take this little busy chick anytime to start shoving us out of the way to get her shopping on.  I think she’s seen this a time or two. Precious.

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Claire already had a little jumpstart into Christmas morning with her visit from Santa, but to get all the big kids in the spirit, we began our morning with a little game I stole from Danette.  I bought a gift {unknown to the rest of the family} and wrapped it up several times.  Box after box after box.  I love jacking with people!

The way you play is each person rolls a pair of dice.  You have to get double numbers {like two 5’s or two 3’s, etc. ) in order to get a turn at attempting to open the box.  But before you can dig in, you must put on your Santa hat, scarf and oven-mits.  Let me just tell you how hard it is to open a wrapped present with those big things on!  While someone is trying to unwrap the present, the other players are trying to roll the doubles in order to steal the present and wardrobe and begin their own attempt.  Believe me, we went through several rounds of each of us trying to open the dang thing, but Scotty was finally the big winner.  He won a $15 iTunes gift card.  Too.Much.Fun! and a great family game to kick-start family festivities. 

And with that energy flowing, we were ready to dig in with the presents. 

Claire was really good at opening presents this year and scored some totally awesome toys:  a bag toss game {to channel her throwing aggression in a positive manner to develop a good throwing arm for football} lots of baby dolls, two puppies, a blender and hair dryer so she can be just like mommy, plenty of other garb and probably by far her favorite, her chair and Barney DVD’s. 

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Oh and don’t forget about the absolutely adorable vest that I found for her.  I knew I just had to get it for her when I saw it, because I have one very similar.  She wasn’t as impressed…

Molly and the boys all scored big with either a new flat screen, new TomToms (for all three,) new Texas gear for the big game, luggage, bedding, etc.   

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Molly and I decided to get my parents a little matching set to sport on Sundays.  How queer adorable are they going to be in their new Saints get-up? Who Dat!?!?

As for myself, I definitely think I racked in some pretty awesome loot, if I do say so myself.  Everything but one item I received was a complete surprise and I am just so thankful for the effort my mom put into making all of our Christmas’ extra special!

But, you know you’re an adult when you buy yourself a new tooth for Christmas {true story} but an even bigger adult when you get this awesome accent piece for Christmas! Heart it.  Adios Donald Trump fireplace!

   Pair that with the new iPod Nano + speaker docking station, a coffee maker {which I’m sure Molly & Kacy will get far more use out of than I actually will} amongst plenty of other goods, I think I faired pretty well this year. 

PS – No, I didn’t get deodorant for Christmas. Hah!  That’s some awesome anti-chaffing Glide for when I run.  Cool, huh?

But more than all the stuff you see above, Christmas always means so much to me because of the joy I see in the eyes of my family and the awesome memories we make together.  Seeing someone’s face light up when they open that perfect gift makes me feel so warm and fuzzy inside.  I love it!

But wait, Jacques-Imo scored a sweet little gift to from Aunt Molly and Cousin Boudreaux.  He loves sportin’ his new collar.  Such a handsome boy!

And if you think that was good, Christmas was only half-over at this point.  Stay tuned…

I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas

 

Can you believe that we finally had a white Christmas here in Dallas?  This is my 25th Christmas and it has taken me 25 years to see snow falling during the holidays.  It made the spirit of the season that much brighter for me and my family. 

Of course, sir Jacques-Imo wanted absolutely nothing to do with the snow.  Does this look familiar?  I swear I took this same picture just a few weeks ago and then there I was…taking it again.  With the snow that we are expecting later today, I have a feeling there will be a third picture for this season!

 

After going to the early Mass on Christmas Eve, we returned home to mom and dad’s house to find this: 

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Unfortunately, we didn’t get any snowfall on Christmas day but waking up to find the golf course covered in a pretty white blanket of snow was just perfect!  Jesus really blessed us this year.

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You Can’t Always Get What You Want

 

The Rolling Stones said it, but sometimes people just don’t get it.  For instance, Miss Claire.

Last Wednesday night, we had to make a quick last minute trip to Michael’s, where we ran into Nonnie {my mom’s grandma name.}  Claire was about thirty shades of excited when she saw her and wouldn’t take her eyes of her until she found the toy shelf.

Apparently, she’s never seen something so cool as this Abbie Kadabbie thing.  She would not put it down and carried it around with her like a purse. 

 

Anytime we’d try to take it from her and put it back, she’d take off running in the opposite direction. 

It was too funny and we were chasing her all around the store, trying to get this damn thing back.  Finally I had to hold her down and pry it out of her hands.  You would have thought I cut off her right leg, she threw such a screaming fit!  It was so funny, but I had already stopped the video before doing this.  Damn! 

At least I captured the chase:

Breaking News: Stanga Train is Back on Track!

 

I really can’t even describe what has been going on in my head when I even think about blogging.  I have just been so blah about it, not blah about life, just blah about blogging.  There are plenty of things I still need to blog about, but I figured this is a nice little start to catching up and moving right along this track.

Choo Choo!

Find the newest posts below!

Fashion Do or Fashion Don't?

Girls' Night Out

Murcripmus

Love At...

A Little Christmas 'Spirit'

Fashion Do or Fashion Don’t?

As if I didn’t catch any shit for the awesome little tribute to Jesus I’ve been sporting around my neck this holiday season, I’m fairly certain I’ll catch a little more for what I’m about to put on my feet.

First of all, let me introduce you to my gaudy God-y Christmas necklace {mentioned in a previous blog} I found at World Market. While it’s hideous and completely blinged-out, I secretly heart it, much to the dismay of many.

Amen!

So if you think that’s bad, just wait. Remember how I went out for a festive date night with Allison last night? And she definitely influenced me to dish out some dough on a frivolous pair of boots? Turns out, I had actually been looking at these boots the day before and when she urged me to try them on, I figured I’d give them a second thought. I asked the sales assistant what the sale price was and he informed me $109. It was a sample sale for Donald Pliner {like I know fancy brands} and this was an unbelievably low price for one of his boots. I looked at his display of regularly priced shoes and one of his small slip-on women’s loafer with just a smidget of the same skin as the boot was selling for $333 {GASP!} so I didn’t deny him when he said the boots were anywhere from $700-900 originally. Okay, twist my arm. You know I’m a Jew and can’t pass up a good deal, even if the shoes are absolutely insane and even if I don’t know who the hell Donald Pliner is. So of course, I bought them. And I can’t wait to see what kind of wild outfits I can pair with them.

Love.Them!

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Girls Night Out!

Again, I was fortunate enough to get together with some awesome chicks to celebrate the holidays.  Man, I was one busy lady last night with a few events on my dance card. 

First up was a festive date night with Allison.  I can’t even believe that I hadn’t seen her since July and we live in the same town!  CRAZY!  We have been trying to get together for months and either our schedules conflict or we had something come up on a night we had planned to catch up.  FINALLY, last night was the night!  We met up at the Galleria to partake in a little holiday ice-skating.  We definitely weren’t the fastest moving ones on the ice but we laughed {while terrified} at ourselves trying to just stay on our feet.  It’s possible that she may have even yelled at a few kids for going too fast or backwards or coming within an arms reach of her.  It was too funny!  Unfortunately, I didn’t even get a picture of us because I was too scared to bring my camera onto the ice.  I was just certain that I’d faceplant or something and smash my camera, so I left it behind.  Boo!

After an adventurous skate, we headed over to Five Guys for a DE-LISH burger and some amazing Cajun French Fries.  OMG Cholesterol!!! {Literally}  It was so good and the fun conversation continued.  As we headed out to our cars, we perused the shoe department at Nordstrom’s.  I mean, who doesn’t just LOVE that shoe selection.  Ah.Maze.Ing!!!  With a little help from my sweet sweet friend, I indulged in a frivolous purchase {which deserves it’s own blog.}  After laying down the plastic and walking out with a ridiculous find, I hugged her goodnight and we parted ways.  It was so so nice to catch up with her.  It had been way too long! 

While I had an awesome night already, I had one more stop to make on my way home.  Casey is in home visiting for the holidays and that definitely was worthy of sharing a cocktail or two at Black Finn {Hello Jersey Shore!}  While I’m so sad I didn’t get to document my great night out with Allison, I was at least able to capture a quick photo of some other awesome chicks! 

I think I need Girls’ Night Out much more often.  I just can’t even get enough. 

Murcripmus!

 

Some crazy shenanigans all started with a fun little text message I received a couple of weeks ago.  I have to thank Marty for starting this craze that I have developed for such a phrase.  The text message wasn’t anything spectacular, it just definitely got a rise out of me:

My cuzn’z baby daddy’z lil bruda’z bes fren’z uncle’z x-wife’z boyfren’z momma’z nexdoe neighba’z  susta in law said to tellz you MURCRIPMUS!

I about fell out of my chair reading that and immediately had to let Kacy in on this greatness. Since she always makes funny little pictures/comments during the holidays, I demanded that she use this.  I found a picture selection of various ‘Santas’ for her to choose from and boy, she did not disappoint! 

If these aren’t some of the funnier things I’ve seen, I tell ya. But it got so much better when she said she was working on a little something special that I didn’t even know about.  I swear to baby Jesus that this is only one of the millions of reasons why I love this chick.  Out.of.control.

Later that day, I was headed out to pick up another 8 bottles of wine run some errands and made a quick stop at World Market, where I found this little gem.  I immediately started playing a scenario in my head and realized this is the perfect picture frame to have if you’re a cheater.  I took a picture of it, left it on the shelf and kept moving. 

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Upon telling Kacy about my sweet little find, we had an absolute heyday with coming up with awesome little gimmicks for such a fine product and we named it the “Shut Dat Hoe” Frame.  After having so much fun with it, I just knew I had to go back to the store and actually buy it for her.  When she came over for my wine party, I had a special gift with a very special picture in side waiting for her.

She couldn’t have been more thrilled and since we had consumed a bit of wine at that point, it is only to be expected that this lead directly to a homemade infomercial. 

And with that, I would like to wish each and every one of you

MURCRIPMUS!!!

Love at…

…first sight order.

Tis’ true, I experienced it for the first time in my life just a few short weeks ago. 

You see, I signed myself up for this sweet little promotional program Whataburger has implemented this holiday season: The 12 Days of Whataburger! Starting at the beginning of December, they would email me a coupon for a free item every other day and this will continue right up until Christmas Eve. 

Love.Free.Shit!

One of the days they were offering a free taquito and don’t think I didn’t leave work at 10:45 in the morning to go get my breakfast lunch before they stopped serving it and I’d miss out on my freebie.  While ordering in the drive-thru, I noticed that the window cashier was unbelievably friendly, and when I pulled up to the window, I was going to tell him how much I appreciated his positive attitude.  I did, just as planned, to which he responded why I only thought he was friendly and not cute.  I had to ask him to repeat himself because I was in such shock, but before he could say it again, his manager walked up and he straightened up. 

He handed me my order but before handing me my receipt, he wanted to make sure he made me feel just a tad bit special that day.  He pointed to the receipt, then to the name on his nametag, and then motioned with his hand to call him.  I look at the receipt as I’m driving away and he had circled his number – AT WHATABURGER – and wrote his name next to it. 

Dearest Tony, you are too sweet to give me your {work} number so I can holla at you later.  I’m not so sure if it’s below me to take him up on his offer to chat if it’s going to secure me a few free cheeseburgers. 

Hey, a girls gotta eat, right? 

XOXO Tony! 

A Little Christmas ‘Spirit’

 

I absolutely love, love, LOVE the Christmas holidays and all that comes with it.  The shopping, the giving, the lights, the decorations and of course the food.  More importantly, I love the holidays because I get to spend a little extra time with my favorite friends and family!

A couple of weeks ago, I hosted a little wine night for a few girlfriends.  It turned out to only be six of us because brilliant me decided the week prior to host the party on a Friday night.  Do you know how many corporate Christmas parties are on Friday, December 11? Anyhoo, it was a perfect small gathering and we had tons of fun.  I don’t care if it was even only one person, at least I wasn’t the only one getting to enjoy my ridiculously festive house. 

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Another one of my favorite things about the holidays is receiving all the ridiculously presh Christmas cards and letters.  Unfortunately, I only had four when this was taken but MAN, I have absolutely no room left on my mantle for any more cards.  I.Heart.It!

{Oh, and I am sincerely sorry for not sending out Christmas cards this year.  I started filling them out, and then I had to sign and address 75 Christmas cards for work and I decided to draw an X through my own Christmas card list.  Do you know how long it takes to write Barrett Burke Daffin Frappier Turner & Engel LLP on an three different envelopes? Yeah, I’m pretty sure you understand that after filling out envelopes to law firms with 1957131 names, I was O.V.E.R. Christmas cards.}

After Christmas last year, I hit up all the discounted Christmas decor and stocked up on some nice little finds.  I was so excited to be able to decorate my kitchen this year thanks to all my new stuff.  It was so fun to unpack the boxes and remember what all I had bought.  Have I told you how much I love Christmas yet?

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With the house all clean and decorated and a smorgasbord of food, I was totally ready to get this sweet little holiday gathering started.  It is an understatement to say that we stuffed our faces while sharing plenty of good laughs.  We indulged in Chicken Enchilada-Stuffed Jalapenos, Raspberry Brie Tartlets, Baked Brie Croissant, Buffalo Chicken Dip, Tortilla Roll Ups {turned into little Quesadillas} Bruschetta, Spinach Artichoke Dip, tasty little Spicy Red Pepper Oyster Crackers, Homemade Fudge, de.lish! Snickerdoodles thanks to Kacy and her G, and Peppermint Swirl Cookies with Peppermint Cream Cheese Frosting. 

O.M.G. Cholesterol!

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Oh and I can’t forget to mention the vino!  I found this little gem, Electric Reindeer, at World Market for $5.98.  Um, SUH-WEET, I’ll take a case please!  It’s a seasonal wine they carry and they have a Cab, Merlot, Chardonnay and White Zin.  The whites are $4.98 and the reds just a dollar more.  Don’t think I haven’t stocked up and walked out of that joint with a box full of wine … TWICE!  Hey, it’s the Holidays…

Sure enough, the little bottle{s} did the trick and we were full of energy once we got a few glasses sips down the ‘ole hatch.  It was so so good to see these girls again and laugh the night away.  I was so excited my sweet sweet friend Jessica was able to make it.  We have been friends since we were three years old and now that she is married, with a precious baby girl, she doesn’t get to come out as often as she used to!

{Does anyone see a portion of the gaudy  ‘God-y’ Christmas tribute to Jesus I’m wearing?  Just wait, it will make a full appearance soon enough.}

And don’t forget about Robs.  She came into the picture in 1st grade. Talk about long-time friends! :)

How blessed am I to have such great friends?  Can you believe I had visitors from both Fort Worth & Tyler?  Thanks girls, it meant so much to me to have you there!

Of course we had to get a group picture so I managed to rig a stand for my camera to take one on self-pic mode.  Turned out decently, however I could have found a much better spot to poke my little head in.  Off-balance much?

And why 6 grown women decided it was appropriate to build a pyramid on the tile floor in someone’s house is beyond me.  But we did it! … and we laughed so damn hard!

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I say that any night that ends in an adult pyramid is a night going down in history.  I’m pretty sure these awesome memories will hang with me for many years to come!

Thanks for coming ladies – it was WAY.TOO.MUCH.FUN!

It Is Right To Give Thanks & Praise!

Every other Thanksgiving, the Train packs up and heads to Southern Louisiana for a fun and food-filled week on the bayou. In past years, we've rented houseboats that have been tied to cypress 'knees' about a mile or so into the thick marshy swamplands, where we rough it for a few days. You may recall this scene:

I do realize that is some pretty fancy living for the holidays, but this year we decided to make it a even more upscale and rented actual cabins on Lake Ponchartrain. For those who are unaware, Lake Ponchatrain is the second largest saltwater lake in the US and the bridge connecting the north shore town of Mandeville to New Orleans is 24 miles long!!! Talk about anxiety.

Recapping the history of Thanksgiving on the Bayou: Daddy and his high school & college fraternity brothers still get together a few times a year and have formed their group called The Martini Tour. All these men are from small towns on the north shore and have a copious amount of stories about their childhood. They probably know way too much about each other, which eventually comes out late night after a lot of drinking. It's spectacular to watch the wives' faces. Truly.

Meet the Martini Tour Board of Directors!

(L to R:)

• Chef Robert E Lee {Stewart} -- I'm 100% serious with his name! ...And he's 100% serious about food!
• Billy Boy Bratton (my Godfather who was once lost but has now been found)
• Cottontop Cochran (we owe him a bunch of Thanks this holiday for keeping the lake clean and safe for us to use)
• The infamous Stanga Train Conductor/Engineer
• Unka Donamann (He is significantly responsible for the best MT event planning)
• Newf (always love the fella that brings the vino!!!)
• and last but not least... Sir Dobber-Doo (thanks to him...or well, thanks to some of his people... we were blessed enough to get such gems on the lakefront.)

Returning to their homeland was probably very special to them, and the cabins caused far less bitching from the woman than did the houseboats. Not too shabby, eh?

All seven families sporadically arrived throughout the afternoon on Wednesday and that night we gathered for our first ridiculously delish meal. Dobs made a ginormous pot of gumbo (to.die.for) while Donamann fattened us up with a rendition of Muffaletta Pasta. Leave it to 'ole Lee to come in with finishing touch: Oysters Bienville. Oh holy shit. Bless that man! After stuffing our faces, we rolled on over to another cabin to spark up a frivolous game of Bouree and consume mass amounts of spirits. Hey, it's what we know. It's what we do.

Thanksgiving morning, we were left to do our own thing. Michael {Stanga} was up and at 'em early, ready to get his cook on.

Dobs was up and at 'em early, ready to get his work out on. It may appear that he might have been passed out on the dock, which is par for this group and wouldn't be a bad guestimate, but actually, he was doing a few crunches.

Unka Don was up and at 'em early, trying to do a little crabbing for some stellar fresh seafood. Check out this bad boy. Good work Unk.

Molly and I were up and at 'em early, doing... um.... well.... Let's just say you should be real real impressed!

Thank you Dooley Elementary Music Program!!!

After that sweet workout, it wasn't long before we were ready to E.A.T. and eat we did! Doesn't every Thanksgiving have an appetizer round? Because if you don't, you are so doing the T.Giv. wrong!

Um, crawfish pie, 'Best of the Bayou' Pie, tuna/cream cheese dip stuffed in jalapenos, boudin dip, shrimp remoulade??? Um, YES.PLEASE!!!

It took me about three point six two seconds after devouring that before I was in line chompin' at the bit for some real food. If anyone ever doubts the weight-gain potential of our group -- your questions can stop here!

Molly brought along D'Larry'ous and introduced him to his first Martini Tour Thanksgiving. It is an understatement to say he was impressed with the spread. He finished his plate, looked up with big excited eyes and a child-like smirk and went back for seconds.

After this meal, he was nothing but a big 'ole joy kettle!!!

Because we Stangas are nothing if not intelligent, we decided to wait until we puffed up like balloons to take a few photo ops. Always the best idea ever!
{Raise your hand if you're impressed with my undone zipper.}

{Raise your hand if you're impressed with my undone zipper AND my closed eyes.}

{Raise your hand if you think this is the cutest damn couple. Wait! Can you even see them? If you could, you'd know that daddy is holding a beverly while mom is holding desert. Odd!}

{Raise your hand if you think she is 'the one' for me.}

Not only did Pops get to rehash with his buddies during this trip, so did Mom. I finally got to meet some mighty nice ladies, some of which I have heard stories about for years. Since we were so close to their hometown, sweet Les invited all her old childhood friends over. Wow, what a group to introduce them to! Anyhoo, it was so neat to watch my mom laugh so hard and revisit her childhood -- I have never seen that side of her. It truly made my heart melt. *Tear*

There was way too much fun to be had on this trip. Too much that we decided we needed to catch up and laugh every.single.year rather than doubling up every other year -- so guess what's already on the books for next year: Martini Tour Thanksgiving 2010! {Danette & Chris, book your cabins now. You're coming with!}

Just when we thought we'd had the best time possible, we struck gold once more. Instead of making a trip up to Death Valley for the LSU game {Thank you Les Miles!} we detoured and made way over to New Orleans Fair Grounds for some pony races.

{Let me just make a sidenote with no other explanation: We didn't really realize before planning this that Grambling & Southern Universities were duking it out in the Superdome for the Soul Bowl that day. You've never seen so much chrome and fake Louis Vuitton jumpsuits in your life!!! Oh and don't forget about the weaves. I'm just sayin...}

Okay, back to the races: Dad mistakenly laid a $60 bet down on the very first race of the day. He was for sure ready to only bet $2 races the rest of the day when he lost $60 in the first minute and twelve seconds. But do you know what happened? The three horses he selected at random all either won, placed or showed. We hadn't even ordered our cocktails yet before he won $587. Holy shit! And with that good luck, we ended our trip and returned home.

Well, not without an LSU win first! Geaux.