christmas eve

If you can't have a white Christmas, then you ought to get the kind of day we had. 80 degrees, sunny, clear skies and not a stitch of traffic. After gorging ourselves on ridiculously huge burgers & steak fries we went to Santa Monica. Monica, my mom, my sister Jody, her fiance David, and the monkeys lounged on the beach. We were at the beach about 30 minutes before the Monkeys stripped down and went straight for the water. They frolicked in the water for nearly an hour. Remember what it was like to be a kid and have no sense of temperature??

2006 - my favorite moments

I love year-ends. They're filled with best-of's, big sales, taking stock of life, and new goal setting. Every January feels like a fresh start to me. In the spirit of the year-end I thought it would be fun to list some of my favorite moments from 2006...(this list is a work in progress so check back for updates)

• New Year's Eve 2006...We began it all with our annual PEOPLE W/KIDS NEW YEAR'S PARTY in which we watch the ball drop in Times Square on the east coast feed (9PM) and everyone's gone by 9:30. Last year, like the year before, our neighbor Alan Skinner popped in to invite us to his annual party. He has a Pirate Party every year. You see, Alan is a pirate. He dresses like a pirate, he has the girth and facial hair of a pirate, he even plays in a pirate band. We didn't make it over to the party mostly because we were just too exhausted. But we watched out the window as our older neighbors chatted and mingled with the pirates and thought, warmly, that we couldn't have bought a house in a more perfect neighborhood.
• Monica's 40th birthday party. It was so lovely to have all of so many of our friends & family together to celebrate. The girls dressed in their best princess gowns, I forgot the camera but Joe played photographer with his new cellphone, and Monica seemed to truly enjoy chatting up all her friends.
• Getting called out at a dinner party by my friend Dave for pirating music. He was appalled that I - an entertainment industry professional - had no shame in borrowing a friends CD & making a copy. I pointed out to him that I am also the person who pays for one movie and sneaks into two others.
• Picking up my kids from preschool. There's nothing like seeing them come around the corner - the way their faces light up...they just sprint for me, leap on me, and usually take me out (in front of all the other parents!).
• My 20 year high school reunion. I didnt think it was going to be fun or enjoyable. I went into it with a small amount of dread. I cleverly roped in most of my high school posse to go along with me so that I wouldnt face all these people alone. The majority of the people at the reunion I hadnt seen in 20 years. It was like walking into some sort of weird time warp. Some people have changed dramatically, others not in the least. I left there realizing that we all kind of look like our parents. When I was in high school, most of our parents were in their late 30's/early 40's (OUR AGE!!) . The reunion itself turned out to be a blast. But the topper, was brunch the next day when all of the high school posse got together with our kids. Up until the last 5 or 6 years, we'd done an amazing job of staying in touch. I think the last time we were together was for Zoe & Ella's baby shower. It was so cool to hear what everyone's been up to, gossip about the night before, look through old yearbooks, and watch our kids tussle with each other.
• Spin class...I feel off the spin cycle (metaphorically) in early 2006 and found my way back to the bike at various times. I've got my two spin gurus: Tevia and Andrea. They set me right...and make me look fabulous. I even bought my own spin bike in the hopes that I would give it a whirl at home. It's hard to exercise at home. The few times I've tried, my monkeys have decided to coach me "C'mon mama, make the wheel spin faster!!" I love 'em but they're no Tevia or Andrea!
• Christmas Eve. It was a typical So. Cal winter-y day...80 during the day, 40s as soon as the sun sets. We went to Santa Monica - my mom, Jody, David, Monica, the girls - and within 30 minutes the Monkeys were butt-naked and swimming in the ocean. The water was not as cold as I'd expected so they frolicked around for almost an hour.
• Christmas. Blessed with yet another ridiculously gorgeous day, we turned our traditional French Christmas dinner into a gourmet, candlelit meal in our backyard for 16 people. The whole day was fabulous and the meal was just the absolute perfect topper to the day.

plaground ethics

Ella got smacked on the side of the head with a plastic shovel by a kid at preschool the other day. A huge bruise emerged on her right temple a day or so later. She cried when it happened but didn't tell the teacher about it...nor did she hit back. Monica - sorcerer that she is - managed to get out of Ella what happened. I can tell you that I wanted (and still really, really, really want to) throttle the little shit that did it. Throwing something at one of my monkeys, slugging them, I'll even give ya biting - that all falls within normal preschool playground misdeeds. But clocking a kid on the side of the head WITH A SHOVEL so hard that it bruises the side of the face?!?! That falls in the land of future serial killer & I think I should be able to (lightly) smack the kid on the side of the head with said shovel...Pushing it? Probably punishable with jail time you say? OK, then, how about this: is it considered "bad parenting" if I give Ella and/or Zoe permission to clock the kid with, say, a playground truck? Maybe run the kid over with one of the huge industrial-sized playground tricycles (I could just politely instruct them not to swerve if the kid should happen to be in their path...). It's wrong to retaliate against a three year old right? If the little scrapper does it again, I'm going to name a blog after said abuser and slander the kid all over the web!! That'll learn 'em!