Hanukkah and Christmas 2011

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Gift giving on steroids.  For the next week.  Good news is we’re done with Chloe for Hanukkah.  She just wanted cash.  All at once.  None of the one gift per night nonsense. Sophie is easy, too.  Although she still receives one surprise every night, they’re small surprises.  We also have plenty of presents for them for Christmas – many of which were sent by family members in France.  I truly think they made a mistake in ordering because we received so many.  The girls are going to be very happy, for sure.

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Chloe is a Member of the Colbert Nation

Thanks to my husband who, as I’ve written about before, has no sense of appropriate TV for my girls, Chloe has been introduced to Stephen Colbert.  Among all of the other TV shows she DVRs, she is now recording episodes of “The Colbert Report.”

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Happy Birthday to Me

I took the day off from work and I only sent two emails and made one phone call.  Not bad.  Still some room for improvement, but not bad.  My husband gave me a beautiful new handbag.  Sophie gave me a lovely handmade card and a huge hug and kiss. Chloe also gave me a handmade card that said, “I love you SOOOOOOO much!”  She also gave me a box of 1970s nostalgic candy.  While the latter is really fun, I have to admit that I love the card even more.   Because I’m going to keep it.  And shove it in her face in a couple of years, when Chloe is a teenager and tells me she hates me.

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It Does Not Feel Like the Holidays

We still have a lot of shopping to do. Too much shopping to do. Work is way too busy and stressful. The days are too short and sleep is elusive.

But my birthday is next week and I plan to stay away from the office if I can. Because I need some time to myself and away from my desk.

I’m turning 43 and I’m still asking myself the same questions about my life as I was asking one year ago, two years ago…Will I ever come up with the answers? And more important, will I ever build up the courage to act on those answers?

Calgon, take me away!

Sophie Is Still a Fashionista…

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…and she compensates for her older sister, who’s only occasionally a fashionista when she’s under extreme duress.

Apparently, the brightly colored fake hair clips are very chic among the young hip crowd. We had to convince Sophie that she didn’t need to wear a headband as well. She really loves color and patterns, even when they clash.

Chloe’s more monotone. Denim, dark t-shirts, a sweater and she’s happy.

It truly is mind-boggling to me that the same genes (and jeans) produced such radically different girls.

Sophie Ma Belle

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My girly girl. She loves to dress up, she loves to pose for the camera and she loves to dance.

I was able to convince her to come to the mall today by promising her that we’d see if we could find her a new dress.

So we looked and we found. At a store selling a Spanish brand called Desigual. An adorable dress that reminds me of my favorite French brand, Catamini.

She was happy, so we were all happy. Sophie loves her dresses. Very, very much.

A Mom's Ramblings About the Marvels & Mishaps of Parenting, the Joys of Family Travel & the Writing Life