After Thanksgiving, I often try to squeeze in one more trip to Paris, before my kids come home to California for Christmas. And Paris is a gorgeous place to be before or during the holidays. In recent years, in California anyway, there seem to be fewer Holiday decorations as people become more and more politically correct. » read more »
Archive for the ‘Holidays’ Category
Paris at Christmas Time
Posted on December 21, 2009
Filed Under Current Events, Family, Holidays, Paris | 7 Comments
Back to Paris
Posted on December 7, 2009
Hi Everybody,
I’m going back to Paris for a couple of weeks before the holidays, which is always great fun and exciting for me. Paris is always decorated up beautifully for the holidays. There will be ‘falling’ lights all strung up on the trees on the Champs Elysees, lights everywhere, Christmas trees set up and decorated, and the Eiffel Tower will be sparkling on the hour, which looks festive at any time of year. » read more »
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Thanksgiving
Posted on November 26, 2009
One of my favorite sayings in the Bible is “God places the solitary in families”.
Just like everyone else, my life is not always easy, and hasn’t always been easy. There are bumpy times in everyone’s life, and lonely ones. And the holidays are always a challenge, for most of us. We can probably all count on one hand the times that the holidays were ‘perfect’ and easy. Stuff happens. Or doesn’t happen when we wish it would. It’s easy to be disappointed on the holidays, if they don’t work out just the way we hope. » read more »
Filed Under Family, Holidays, Relationships | 10 Comments
Paris in the Fall
Posted on November 3, 2009
Hi there!!! I’m having a really fun time enjoying Paris in the autumn. After a brief wintry blast a few weeks ago, when I got here, it turned to Indian summer again shortly after, with warm sunny days and gentle nights, and all the best things about autumn. The leaves were turning slowly, a few drizzly days but mostly sunshine, a brief school holiday (for All Saints Day), and everyone in a good mood. With the last of the balmy weather, » read more »
Filed Under Holidays, Paris | 9 Comments
Summer Vacation Photos
Posted on August 20, 2009
Here are some photos of this summer’s family vacation. These are pictures with my daughters Victoria, Vanessa and Samantha, on a boat in Italy, near Corsica (which is actually French). We had a graduation party for Victoria, who graduated from college in May. And the young man in one of the photographs is Vanessa’s boyfriend, Chad Muska, who is a famous skateboarder. (Younger fans are sure to know who he is). We had a great time!! » read more »
Filed Under Family, Holidays | 17 Comments
Surviving Cupid
Posted on February 19, 2009
Getting through Valentine’s Day is not as easy as it looks. Flowers, candy, romance, how complicated can that be? Sometimes very. My own early experiences with this holiday were questionable at best. My first memory of Valentine’s Day was being the only kid in third grade who did not get a valentine from anyone. I was crushed. This was not a good omen for the years to come. » read more »
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Family Feuds
Posted on December 4, 2008
As the holidays approach, starting with Thanksgiving (I just don’t consider Ground Hog Day the start of the holiday season), a million tender memories come to mind: making brownies with my children, decorating the trees, their eyes full of wonder as we went downtown to look at the store windows all decorated for Christmas. Christmas is truly my favorite time of year, and always has been. But I know that for many, it brings up other memories too, of family dissent, challenges, and disappointments. No one gets off scott free in life, the bittersweet for my family at holidays now is the absence of my late son Nick. We will always miss him and his crazy antics over the holidays, and at other times. So we all have our tough moments amid the joy. » read more »
Filed Under Family, Holidays | 23 Comments
Thanksgiving
Posted on November 26, 2008
I hadn’t intended to write a blog about Thanksgiving, but here I am anyway. We all know what it’s about. You’re supposed to eat turkey and a lot of food, and be thankful for your blessings. Seems simple enough, right? Not always. Sometimes, in tough times, we have a hard time figuring out what to be thankful for, the people we share the holiday with can be annoying, or we wind up alone. There’s a lot about holidays that can go wrong. Family disagreements can surface over the holidays as we come together, or it may just be a tough year when gratitude is in short supply. » read more »
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Halloween
Posted on October 31, 2008
Now that we’re getting to know each other a little better, I will confess that I have an extremely silly sense of humor. (After years and years of eating with children, one of my favorite foods is peanut butter. And after the same number of years of hanging out with my kids, occasionally my sense of humor got stuck in fourth grade, possibly even third grade. My kids grew up, I didn’t). It’s probably genetic. I come from a long line of practical jokers—which I am NOT! I hate jokes that embarrass people, but I do like a good laugh. My oldest daughter has an outrageous sense of humor too. She dressed as a pumpkin for Halloween one year, painted her face orange and dyed her hair green. It was a great costume, until she discovered the next day that the orange color on her face wouldn’t come off—-for the next 3 weeks! (She works in a hospital, and they sent her home, thinking she was jaundiced.) My other children demonstrate the same inclination, and April Fool is a nightmare at our house. Every year, at least two of the unmarried ones call to tell me that they’re pregnant, and three to say they’re in jail. And I always fall for the first three calls until I realize what day it is.
» read more »
Filed Under Family, Holidays | 41 Comments