Too Many Candles on the Cake

We’re back. Had a lovely time in Kingston, as always. Cakes was surrounded by all of her favourite people:



As nice as they were this year, I am done with the holidays. I am feeling bloated and sluggish from far too much cheese and wine. I’m also feeling old—it’s my thirty-fifth birthday today. Yep, I’m almost too old for a Contiki trip.

I don’t know if it’s the milestone birthday, or having so much family time the last few weeks, but I’ve had this overwhelming feeling of ennui for the several days. It doesn’t help that Cakes has been really clingy to me for the first time ever—to the point where she only wants me to do her diaper, fetch her juice, put her to bed. It’s flattering, but I hope it’s a phase that passes soon. I feel like hopping on a plane to someplace sunny with nothing but a bagful of books.

Instead, I’m going to go shopping. McHotty has given up trying to buy clothing for me, so I am going to go pick something out. If that fails, I’ll buy shoes. Shoes never fail to cheer me up.

Which birthday have you found the toughest so far?

Snapshots and Tidbits

I am far too exhausted and wine-hazy for any kind of narrative, so please be content with these holiday snapshots and tidbits until I recover. I can't promise anything better anytime soon; we're off to the in-laws tomorrow for a few more days of decadence, so I will be even wine-hazier, plus I'll be dealing with dial-up. Oy.

Christmas was pretty special this year. Before Cakes, I hated the holiday and bemoaned the stress and commercialism. I was always happy when it was done and over with for another year. But this year she was so aware of everything going on; so happy to see almost everyone she loves in a five-day period; so thankful for this magical person called Santa who fills her giant stocking with Dora crap:



I think my most poignant moment this week was Christmas night, when during our final cuddle, she, unprompted, looked skyward and said, "thank-you Santa".

Oh, scratch that, maybe it was Christmas Eve, when I asked her to choose her bedtime story, and for the first time, out of a selection of probably 100 titles, she chose The Polar Express, the book McHotty gave her on Christmas Eve last year. Doesn't that give you a tingle? By the way, in case you don't know, I'm not the type of person who ever says things like, "doesn't that give you a tingle?"

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Cakes loves her cousin so much. She talked about his coming days before the actual event. And it was a real testament to him when she said not a word about the brand new red wagon they played with all day going to his house instead of staying in hers:



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I was in the holiday spirit so much, I didn't even mind when my father presented Cakes with a very realistic miniature dairy farm with 807 tiny plastic pieces:



And I didn't blink an eye when my mother presented her with a giant Dora blanket:



I was so gratified with Cakes' delight when her favourite neighbours, one of each side, came over to give her a Christmas hug and presented her with the perfect gifts for my little fashionista: a black faux fur vest from one, and a hot pink Dora jacket with a fur collar from the other. She immediately donned her new duds and did a little twirl in front of the full-length mirror. If she's like this at 2, what the hell are we in for? Where did this come from?

But ultimately, she takes after her mother--her favourite gift was her big girl underwear:



Though I don't run around topless so much these days. At least not when there are cameras present.

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This is your toddler on blueberry pie:



This is your toddler on a big plate o' whipped cream:



Hey, if there's any time to be indulgent, this is it.

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

'Tis the Season to be Jolly

Sorry about the long absence, but I may actually be having a relaxing holiday. Imagine!

We are being utterly selfish this year. We aren’t doing a single thing we don’t want to do. I didn’t do a bit of baking (who am I kidding--like I ever do). I sent exactly three Christmas cards, to Cakes’ great-grandmothers. Shopping has been kept to a minimum--ninety percent of it was done at amazon.ca and our friendly liquor store. McHotty and I only do stockings for each other, as we’re always saving for a trip. So, there has been no shlepping around the stinking mall, thank christ for that.

Last night was the second annual neighbourhood Cristmas Crawl. It was fabulous, as expected, though not as debaucherous as last time; we weren’t literally crawling like certain people were last year (oh no, not me). Though our numbers increased by 30% we kept the number of hosting households to six, which was a smart move. People do killer drinks, and it really wrecks you having eight different cocktails in an evening. My faves from last night were the mohitos, the sangria (which marinated in a giant jug in a snowbank all day), and the gingerbread martini. Decadent.

We were going to visit my in-laws this past week, but the weather forecast was sketchy and I was busy finishing papers, so the dear souls, even though they’ve just spent the last three months travelling, packed their gifts in a huge suitcase and took the train here to see us for a couple of days. Oh, do I love them. They brought Cakes back the most colourful, outlandish beaded tunic they could find in India and she was thrilled. I’ve barely been able to get it off her to sleep.

We are not going anywhere in the next week. My brother’s family is coming here for Christmas Eve. I’m going to do my mother-in-law’s famous ribs and a fabulous vegetable dish, all of which I can do tomorrow. Christmas Day it’s just us and my parents. We’re doing the turkey dinner thing, which I don’t really find that hard. We have a great new bakery and a stellar cheese shop around the corner, so I’m set for dessert and appies. Easy.

Oh, and we’ve decided to do an Indian feast for our New Year’s Eve party. Can anyone recommend a good Indian cooking website? I ordered McHotty an Indian cookbook for his stocking, but it’s not going to arrive in time.

In case I don’t get to post again for a few days, I wish you all a wonderful holiday. Relax and have fun. Be merry. Drink and eat and drink some more. Find the time for a little nookie in all this madness. Take lots of pictures to post on your blogs.




Happy Holidays!

Metro, McHotty and Cakes

Hooray for Snow Days

I don’t know where the days have gone. Well, I’ve been partying. I was out again the other night, with my school colleagues. We went to karaoke at the Gladstone (which is a blast by the way—the host is fab and it’s an eclectic crowd). I helped perpetuate the karaoke cliché of six drunken women screaming “Total Eclipse of the Heart” (when will I learn I’m a terrible singer). Good times.

Despite my intentions to have an early night, I stayed until the end. There were rumblings of an after-party, but I bailed. I was kind of sad about that—I always used to be the girl who hosted the after party—but I was thankful the next day when I took Cakes to see Santa along with 20 other toddlers. By the way, toddlers are afraid of Santa. They don’t really enjoy being taken to see him. They do like the presents though…





Yay! More plastic Dora shit.

Other than that, McHotty and I have been doing Christmas stuff with our girl.









We were going to get our tree today but we’re snowed in…



I'm kinda loving it, since I don't have to be anywhere today. But Cakes only appreciated it for about half a block.

Tonight we’re going to start watching Battlestar Gallactica. So many people whose opinions I value have recommended it to me. It must be good.

One last thing—we’re having vegetarian (not that there’s anything wrong with that) friends over for New Years Eve. Can anyone recommend something special McHotty can whip up for us?

Path Me a Tithue

Sorry about the lack of content around here lately. I had intended to get back on track in December, but my ass is getting kicked. The day classes ended and I finished my last presentation, my body said “enough”, my head filled with snot, and I’ve been in my pyjamas hacking around the house ever since.

I still have a lot of work to do over the holidays, but nothing’s getting done. Cakes is sick too and has been home from school all week. We are watching a lot of Thomas.

I did drag my sorry ass out yesterday though. My mom is in town for a couple of days, so McHotty and I seized the chance to see the Coen brother’s latest No Country for Old Men (adapted from Cormac McCarthy’s novel). OMFG, it’s so good. The acting is superb, especially Javier Bardem as the chilling psychopath Anton Chigurh. The dusty setting and the lack of music contribute to the theme of emptiness and despair. It’s perfectly paced, dark and tense, and true to McCarthy, the Coens resist a Hollywood ending. A+ for me.

After the movie we hooked up with the MBT gang and I drowned my germs in Hoegaarden. I actually felt good for the first time in a week.





We need to do this more often.

Metro Reco: Late Nights on Air

Classes are done until January, and I celebrated by reading my first book in ages that wasn’t assigned reading. I’ll probably only have time for a couple of extra books this month, so it was hard to choose, but I decided to start with the Giller winner, Elizabeth Hay’s Late Nights on Air.

I chose wisely. Set in 1975, the novel centres around the employees of a small radio station in Yellowknife, including: Harry, cynical yet vulnerable disgraced TV veteran from Toronto; Dido, confident broadcaster, enigmatic and bitchy; Gwen, young and insecure, trying to find her voice; Eddy, ambitious and misogynistic. Hay’s characterization is superb, her characters alive on the page.

There is a lot going on in the novel: the behind the scenes world of radio; the political context of the Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline inquiry; First Nations activism; life in the north; love relationships; relationships to nature; the formation of personal identity—there is something for everyone.

Late Nights on Air is elegiac, funny, and thoughtful; the prose is seductive, the descriptions of the landscape so evocative it practically becomes a character in the novel.

Put this one on your Christmas list.

November Shat on My Keyboard Awards

It's that time again. We're a little short on nominations this month. Let's try to shoot for more for December. Send your funny nominations to metro_mama@hotmail.com or chickychickybaby@hotmail.com.

In the meantime, throw some Dora on the telly, take a break, and have some laughs.

Pundit Mom awarded Self Made Mom

Moosh in Indy awarded Clink

Bri awarded Crystal

Red Stapler awarded I Am Bossy

Jozet awarded Beanpaste

Marie awarded A Pile of Dog Bones

Mrs. Chicky awarded New England Mamas