We've adopted a new Christmas tradition for us, however, one that is not new at all!

Christmas Tamales!

A couple days before Christmas Terry makes dozens of tamales, we sample a few and freeze the rest for when the leftover turkey and stuffing get tired! Yum!

I love new traditions!




Christmas in the new kitchen was a blast! We had 26, yes, 26 people for a sit down dinner! Well, we all sat down, but we set up a buffet for service. The line went down through the dining room and into the living room! I wish I got a picture of that!








We all filled our plates and found a table!













The "adult table" loosely called now that practically everyone is one!











The Grand Dames themselves!












Our living room "Bistro". Can I get a bottle of wine for table 4 please!











The party table! More rolls for table 3!












Just wouldn't be Christmas without the "kids" table! Jello pronto for table 2!










Another new tradition for the Pollards? Kareoki!
They are lovin' it!












Taylor belts out his favorite this year "I Want A Hippopottamus for Christmas". It still is stuck in my head!


Merry Christmas to all!

Sorry this post is so late, but thought I'd start with the night before Christmas Eve. . . all through the house, the cookies were bakin' and Taylor shows up!

We baked and baked and baked in my new oven and look how big my counter is!!







Our WHITE CHRISTMAS EVE!

Yeah! Snow! We headed out for mom's Christmas Eve and low and behold if a truck didn't dump his bed of snow right in front of us as he crossed the intersection! "Terry, do we have our snow tires on!?" :-)






After trudging through the snow, we made it to grandma's and who did we see, but the little baby I used to babysit across the street! Sissy and her family came by to say "Merry Christmas!" Doesn't her daughter make a spitting image of her mom when she was little!









Everyone started showing up in good spirits!















and families unite!












from far and near they came!















and were so delighted to see each other again!










But, it was time to get busy chopping the pizza fixin's in the kitchen! So we got busy!














Everyone had their pizza request put in!












and out came the pizzas. . . yum!












Then it was time for gifts!













And before you knew it. . . we were putting on our nightshirts and kerchiefs. Time for that long winter's nap. Tomorrow is Christmas Day!

Taylor is helping me out with a very special surprise for Christmas.

I can't say very much except that it is priceless and I came across it quite by chance thanks to two members of the family (and one other).

It became very complicated and required much finesse and gentle care, not to mention a bit of research.




Thanks to Terry, too,who also was very helpful to me in getting this implemented.

This is going to be special!

In the sunny LA 78 degrees, I send out greetings of sunshine and fair weather to the East Coast digging out of snow laden walkways, driveways etc.

I decorated the front door, porch and am showing off my wreath sent to us by our contractor who completed our dream kitchen this summer! Thank you Mr. Bailey!













And even got to decorating that poor tree that sat for a few days undecorated and lonely in the corner of the living room neglected. Unfortunately, since my tree is decorated somewhat monochromatic in white, silver and gold, much of it you can't see. I turned on the lights, and they don't even show up. Really, it looks really nice in person! You'll just have to imagine how great it looks! ;-)

Merry Christmas from LA!

It was pouring rain much of last weekend when we decided we had just enough time for getting our Christmas tree.

The guy at the lot triple bagged it for us since it was flocked and so it would survive the ride home. Yeah!

The guys brought it up the back deck to the living room and unbagged it.





Perfectly dry and intact, the tree came in with a little help from the guys.













And now rests waiting for lights and trimming. . . if only there was time.

Merry Christmas still to come.

I came home last night to my house lit up eerily bright!

No one else in the neighborhood had their house bright lighted. It was so wierd and spooky.

I came in the house and looked out the front door to see what was going on and. . .






couldn't see a thing for the blinding light coming from across the street!

http://www.facebook.com/#/photo.php?pid=9644346&id=504480463

Taylor is taking PanAfrican Studies this semester. I benefit!

Not only do I get to go to the theatre with him, he has another assignment to see "Precious", the new movie I heard is really great.

So, last night we went downtown to the new LA Theatre to see "The River Niger". The theatre is really a complex of several small theatres, so there were only 4 rows and about 40 people for this showing. We sat in the front row; the setting was the living room of a Harlem home. Taylor's knees were practically touching the back of the old console TV! We really felt a part of the production being literally observers on set. It was a great experience with drama, tragedy and comedy!


Thanks for the theatre experience again, Taylor, I look forward to the next!

Sometimes it is the little things that make us feel great. For me, it is this tiny little closet in the hallway that makes myself feel terrific.

It is our broom closet. Just a broom closet. . . but everytime I needed the broom, the mop, the dustpan, a screwdriver out of the tool box we keep in here, it would be a major waterfall with everything falling out on top of me. Then, I would shove everything back in and close the door. . . fast.

Then, it was the same thing when I had to put the item away. Arrgh!






Off to Target I went and returned with a few hooks and clips and I grabbed Terry for a little help.

He got out his tools and I emptied the closet and got rid of all the stuff that accumulated in the closet we no longer used. Already looking better.

Up went the hooks and the aprons had a home.

Up went some clips and the broom, dustpan and mops had a permanent home they couldn't escape from.









On the other wall, the feather duster, hand broom and the swifter mop found their place.


Even the back wall got hooks for the plastic
bags, vacuum bags, and even the step stool!











Now, the floor had usable space for carpet cleaner and paper bags and tool boxes!


Cleaning up is a breeze and I don't mind doing it like I used to!

Life is great when the littlest things make the biggest difference!

It all started with an inspection of the work being done on the property in LA that mom and Aunt Dorothy are supervising. We met Andrew, their property manager and he showed us all the progress on the house being renovated.

The foundation was terribly uneven, so his contractor jacked up the house and placed new posts and beams under the foundation to fix that.





The entire inside of the house got a new coat of paint. What a difference!


The floor felt even!










The tile in the kitchen is getting an acid wash to clean up the grout and is looking much better. We originally were going to replace the tile, but after cleaning, decided we wouldn't have to. We wil be getting a new faucet in here, too.










The bathroom clawfoot tub unfortunately, did not make it this time. I saw it and it was totally rusted and the multiple layers of refinishing that had been done were peeling off. The edges cracked when the foundation was lifted and so a new small tub was put in with this new tile. The same tile will go on the floor. The shower plumbing had to be replumbed and will be enclosed in a addition closet outside the bathroom wall. I always wondered why all the plumbing and electical conduit was run outside the walls. Well, I found out. . . the walls are not thick enough to put them inside! The consist of 1x4's!


The front porch got a new railing and the floors inside will be new bamboo!

There is still some window flashing to repair (the existing windows were installed with the flashing on the interior) and new thresholds front and back.

Contractor says it should be ready to show next week. Andrew says we can raise the rent $300/mo!



Next on my weekend plans, celebrating Taylor's 21st birthday!

Celebrate we did! He opened his new skateboard!
We went out to his favorite restaurant and. . .









had his favorite mudpie!

Too much for Terry!











Next day, we celebrated again with Terry's family. James and Terry's mom, Pat, were also celebrating Birthdays!












The gang was all smiles!













Later, an impromptu dinner and cooking class took place and we had a blast learning the fine art of rolling wontons and spring rolls from Terry!











Meanwhile Taylor and James brushed up the their "Time Warp"!












And we made wontons, lumpia rolls, spring rolls for ohr'derves and Japanese Curry for dinner!


Yum! It was fun and delicious!








Last, but not least, we went out the next day for lunch at the Americana's Cheesecake Factory! A first!











Ever wonder how they decorate those huge Christmas trees? We got to find out.


What a great weekend!