Month: December 2011

Friday was our 2nd Annual Donuts & Wine Christmas Tree Decorating Party (it’s still a party if I only invited one person, right?). I had promised Sym I would make donuts, and I had all these ambitious ideas involving holiday-hued sprinkles and crushed peppermint candies. In the end I was too tired and hungover (remember, I’d been at a hockey game the previous evening) so I just bought some cinnamon sugar donuts and syrup wafer cookies and said GOOD ENOUGH. Also, we’re supposed to have sparkling wine, but Jenn brought over a giant economy-sized bottle of pinot grigio and it was only polite to drink that instead.

Does your dog make too much noise?
Sym has a little purple tree, but last year she took it to her dad’s house instead of putting it up here. This year she’s staying with us for Christmas so we’re having a two-tree holiday. At some point I decided it would be a great idea to fold it in half to make it fit in a bin and I must have really hulked out on it because I couldn’t straighten it out to save my life. I did the best I could, and have it set up so that it’s angled towards the wall so you can’t really tell, but it’s kind of obvious in some of these pictures.

LOL IT IS COMPLETELY ASKEW

The first couple years she had this tree we had really terrible ornaments on it, but I’ve slowly built up a sweet collection of cute donuts, cupcakes and miniature glass balls. She used to have a whole collection of Disney princesses as well but we could only find Sleeping Beauty.

After we helped Sym with her tree we started on the big one. I put the lights on it a week earlier so it was ready for Sym, Jenn, and I to put all the ornaments in place (Taylor just took pictures).

I put it at the end of the wall that separates the living room from the kitchen, right next to my festive holiday fire extinguisher. Safety first!

The dogs were very helpful, but which I mean annoying. Dougal and Georgie kept fighting over her toy pig and bashing into the tree. At one point Dougal stole it and promptly fell asleep with it in his mouth, much to Georgie’s dismay.

All decorated & ready for the star…

Sym can’t quite reach the top…

… so she climbed up on the counter! I was there to spot her as she put the star in place.

Finished!

I mean, except for me going around and rearranging all the ornaments in my typical Christmas control freak fashion. I CAN’T HELP IT I JUST WANT CHRISTMAS TO BE PERFECT.

l-r: me (I should have redyed my hair to match my jersey), Fin, Lori, Jenn
Last night I was lucky enough to attend the Canucks-Predators game with my friend Jenn. Actually every time I’ve gone to a game it’s been lucky, and here’s why:

OUCH
Because I’ve always been fortunate to know someone who has access to free tickets, because otherwise, WOW. Unfortunately these particular free tickets were in the alcohol-free section, so we spent every intermission out on the concourse chugging Budweiser (bleagh).

Unfortunately our team didn’t win, but it was a great game and like Jenn said, it’s better to go to a good game that you don’t win than a boring game you do. I mean, this happened right in front of us:

SCREAMING WITH LAUGHTER. From the poutine to the hockey to the beer, it was a super fun night so a huge thank you to Jenn for inviting me!

So about a month ago Symphony turned ten. Double digits. It’s a big deal; she says she’s a tween now (before she was a pre-tween).

She is also a total butt.

Every thing I say to her turns into an argument. EV. REH. THAH. NNG. This week my mom sent her an advent calendar, and last night I told her she could have the chocolates every day after she practiced her piano, partially because she’s not always here in the morning/evening, and partially as a clever trick to get her to practice her piano more often. Her response: I CAN’T DO THAT BECAUSE I DON’T PRACTICE EVERY DAY SO I LIKE JUST DON’T GET CHOCOLATE THEN I’M GONNA THROW SOME STUFF ACROSS THE ROOM AND WEEP AND SNIFFLE LOUDLY THROUGH THE WHOLE OF MY PIANO PRACTICE BECAUSE IT’S NOT FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIR. Really? I make her practice for like, 20 minutes a day. It’s not a Big Deal, or it isn’t until she FREAKS OUT about it.

This morning we had three dumb arguments before she went to school. Like, between 8 and 8:45. THREE ARGUMENTS. ALL DUMB.
1. I asked her to brush her hair again because it was still full of tangles. She stormed off muttering “I ALREADY brushed my hair whine grumble SLAM the bathroom door whine grumble complain eyeroll.”
2. She was running across the apartment with a pencil. I asked her not to because she’ll put her eye out! She walked for two steps and then started running again. I told her to stop and she goes “I was skipping eyeroll eyeroll god I’m so clever to sidestep your authoritarian rule with my brilliant skipping tactic.” OMG DO NOT EVEN ARGUE SEMANTICS WITH ME BEFORE I HAVE HAD COFFEE.
3. I was holding Georgie and stuck her little feet in my sweater pocket and joked to Taylor “Look, I have a Georgie in my pocket!” and Sym chimed in with a snotty “No you don’t, only her feet are in your pocket eyeroll.” REALLY??? I DIDN’T EVEN REALIZE THAT, I THOUGHT THE ENTIRE DOG WAS IN MY TINY POCKET. SORRY FOR JOKING AROUND MS. LITERAL MINDED. Okay so this probably didn’t have to be an argument but I was on my last nerve and had already had two talks with her about her Attitude Problem.

So what the hell? Is this going to be every day now? Because I’m already sick to death of it.

UGH. TWEENS.