"It's Christmas Time in the City"

We had a very Happy Christmas this year!

We woke up early Christmas morning; I still get all sorts of "what did Santa bring me this year" excitement and can't sleep. I will say that sleeping hasn't really been going that well lately any way, so it was no surprise that I was up and ready to go!
The little buddy, Duff got a new coat from grandma Gentry this year and doesn't he look stylish sporting this new Zebra print? How could you not love a cute face like that? He was super tired after all the excitement of the Christmas Eve Party and was not quite ready to wake up and open presents yet. He is somewhat of a lazy dog which has worked out to our benefit most of the time.

We got lots of great gifts this year! Here is a new video camera to replace the old one that was stolen out of our luggage by the airport workers this summer. We need to be able to document little B's cuteness for all to see, so it is imperative that we have this! Thanks Dad...again.

Every year there is a gift that makes Christian tear up a bit; he is such a tender heart, he takes after his mommy in this respect. Yes! Mission Accomplished!

We opened all our presents, called some family, took a Christmas nap, and then got up and went to a movie. I know lots of people do this on Christmas, but it was a first for me. We saw DOUBT which we really enjoyed. After the movie, we did something I have always wanted to do ever since watching
A Christmas Story
growing up.......eat Christmas dinner at a Chinese restaurant. I know I am a weirdo, but it was much fun! There were a few other people in the restaurant, but not many! We went to the local China Delight and had some delicious food! This is not a traditional thing to do, but hey it was not the traditional Christmas for us and we had a great time!

Here is my cute hubby enjoying his "Chinese turkey"!
"Fa ra ra ra ra, ra ra ra ra!"

I am also pretty happy as I ate my orange chicken, even though you might not be able to tell from this photo.

We went home after an enjoyable meal with our Chinese friends and watched, what else but...
A Christmas Story.
It was a wonderful Christmas if I do say so myself. It was nice and relaxing and enjoyable to spend so much quality time with the love of my life before this little guy arrives.

(BTW, he can come at any point now, I am totally ready for him!
Get out of my belly!)

We hope everyone had an enjoyable Christmas as well! We love and miss all our family and friends during this time of year, and hope that everyone had a blessed holiday season!

2nd Annual Christmas Eve Party at the Gentrys!

This year was our 2nd Christmas in Boston, but we had a good reason not to travel (see below posting). Last year we had a rockin' good time where we started a new Christmas tradition of having a Christmas Eve Party with those who were not going to be visiting family for the holidays.
This year we held the 2nd Annual Christmas Eve Party.We had some great friends come over for an Italian dinner.There was no lack of food, we had a cheese ball, brie,a veggie tray, salad, stuffed shells, garlic bread, lasagna, fudge, toffee, cookies, etc.

Here are all the composers talking shop during dinner(exciting conversation as you can imagine).

We had an entertaining Yankee Swap, where I ended up with the DVD, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. There were other great gifts such as a dog biscuit baking kit, some gold toed socks and the violin music book for Les Miserables.
Afterward we sang Christmas Carols around the piano, it was pretty great. We tried to sing that Christmas Song, Fum Fum Fum but man that is a fast song and those are the main words that everyone knew, so it didn't go so well. Silent Night went a lot better.

After Christmas Caroling, we read and acted out the Nativity Story. We understand this is usually acted out by the children in the family, but we only had grown adults, so we did the best we could. The Santa Teddy played a great Baby Jesus. This is the new designer glasses version of Joseph and Mary.

This is the Shepperd watching over his flock; McDuff played the great role of "the flock" and was so cute doing it. Peter also looks great in C's blue bathrobe and beard grown for this special night.

It really was a fun night and we feel so lucky to have such wonderful friends with whom we can spend the holidays. We hope we can carry on this fabulous tradition, as every year it gets more and more fun!

37 Weeks

The little guys first Christmas (sorta)

a GooD DAy!

Today I am thankful for the little things in life. Sometimes I forget what a lucky girl I am and it is nice to take notice of the little things.

I am grateful for:

1. My stomach being just the right size for McDuff to have a comfy napping spot. He and Berkeley are already bonding! The little man gives the Duff some kicks when he lays like this, but it doesn't seem to bother Duff at all.

2. My husband has a serious gift! He spent the day yesterday baking up a storm; yes, he has a gift to mess a kitchen up in a matter of minutes, but he is also an amazing little baker. He made Boston Cremes, Fudge, and English Toffee yesterday all of which taste AMAZING!

3. I am again in awe of my amazing co-workers. Today the entire office got together and had cake to celebrate the coming of the little one. Everyone in the entire office signed two cards and donated to a gift card for us. I am so touched by every one's kindness. One woman even made the baby this cute hat!!! I seriously love it, it is the cutest elephant hat of all time.
FYI: Just because I put this hat on my little boy in NO way means he will be a Republican.

4. I am so thankful that Christian went to the dentist today for the first time in 20 months and had NO cavities!! He has been working hard by brushing and flossing and it paid off!

5. I am grateful for a husband that spent a good deal of his morning digging our car out of the snow and filling up the flat tire so I could make it to work safely.

6. I was deeply touched when I arrived at work this morning. I was making my way to the office threw our icy parking lot; our facilities manager, who I have seen, but never met, saw me and rushed over to take everything out of my hands, put my arm in his and walked me into the building. What a gentleman.

7. I was so happy that Christian brought me lunch, so we could eat together today.

It really is the little things in life that matter! I feel so lucky to have the most amazing husband, wonderful friends, an understanding family, and for strangers who take time out to help a pregnant woman.

Welcome Little Nephew Tristen

My brother and his wife welcomed their first son, Tristen, to earth last Sunday.

What a cutie! Congrats Stevie and Marci, can't wait to meet him!

Winter Wonder Land

I was wondering when we would get our first big snow storm. I just wasn't feeling the Christmas Spirit without this powdery white stuff. It started Friday and it hasn't stopped. I got out of work @ 3:00 p.m. on Friday due to the fast falling snow. We stayed in that night and watched our favorite Christmas show, ELF.

Saturday, the snow kept falling. We decided to venture out that evening and joined some friends for a holiday feast at PF Changs (an upper middle class restaurant as Dan refers to it) before everyone left town. We have some wonderful friends and love spending time with them!

After dinner, we walked around the Prudential Center, which is a huge mall, and enjoyed the holiday shopping and decorations. It seemed like the warmest way to enjoy the festivities.

I was really hoping to visit Santa, but he was long gone by the time we got there to see him. Shucks!

Sunday we woke up to more snow, the really wet, sticky, hard falling kind. Church was canceled, WAHOO! Of coarse I enjoy church, don't get me wrong, but having a Sunday off can be quite refreshing!
One thing is for sure, we will be having ourselves a white Christmas!
Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season!

Christmas Work Parties

I feel pretty lucky this time of year to get to celebrate the holidays with my wonderful co-workers. Last week we had a Protective Services Party at our boss house. It was really fun to get to know every one's spouses and have Christian meet all the people I work with.

(Kevin and Tom(don't you think he looks like Prince Harry?))
This week we had our annual agency Yankee Swap/Pot Luck. It is always a good time; it is a little less fancy that most corporate work parties, but we are a non profit, what do you expect? I brought the famous "Carolyn Cheese ball;" I have been craving cheese ball quite a bit this holiday season. It was a big hit!

Here I am with Kelly and the sweater she made for her ugly sweater Christmas Party (the fur collar is removable, which comes in very handy as you can imagine).

Here is Sebole who brought our table some desserts, we asked for a brownie, but we got so much more! Sebole had his first baby last year on Christmas, so he has been giving me lots of baby advice as I prepare for our little guy.

Here are my other partners in crime, Gloria and Julie, love these gals!

I am not sure how I get so lucky at these Yankee Swap events. The only rule is bring a $10 gift that is wrapped. I brought in a nice gift, I even unwrapped a nice gift on my turn, but somehow I ended up with cheese and crackers! REALLY? I felt kinda like Michael Scott when he got the homemade oven mitt from Phyllis. Although Phyllis put time and energy into her gift, I am pretty sure the person who gave this gift went through their kitchen that morning.

The next day after the Yankee Swap event, my co-workers threw me a surprise baby shower! They took me out to lunch and gave me lots of wonderful gifts for the little guy. I feel so lucky to work with such a wonderful team of people. This is the first agency I have worked for where there is not constant back biting and contention, it is quite refreshing. Everyone is super supportive of each other which is very needed in this highly stressful job.

Boston Celtics vs. Utah Jazz

Boston Celtics vs. Utah Jazz
Last night Christian and I went on a date to the TD Banknorth Garden for an exciting game of basketball. This was Christian's first time to a professional basketball and he loved it!

Here we are at the game; see that wall behind us? Yeah, that is because we are on the very back row!! Isn't that how life is? When I was at the Celtics game last time, I didn't buy the tickets and they were row C on the floor and then we pay for them and we are on the back row. I thought I might die climbing all those stairs with NO lung capacity, but I made it!

Really our seats were not too bad, until the little kid in front of us showed up. Luckily this only lasted a few minutes and his dad got the clue that there were people behind that couldn't see.

It was a good game. I was cheering for both teams, because I love my Utah Jazz, but how can you not love the Celtics right now? The Celtics won the game, their 15th straight win in a row, they have won the last 44 of 48 home games. They are seriously on fire!

I love me some date nights with my hubby! We are trying to get them in before the little one comes!

After Two weeks of Child Birthing Classses

Christian's thoughts: "This is going to be so much fun!", "I think you should try to go natural.", "I am so excited!"

Laci's thoughts: "There is no way I can do this!!", "I am going to have an epidural!", "If the baby comes out of my body, then I think it's natural.", "Is it too late to change my mind?"

Piano Recital

Last Sunday Christian had a small piano recital with three of his piano students. It was really fun to meet the people he has been teaching and working with for the last year. They were all so excited to show off their piano playing skills, and it was fun to see them do so well. Christian was like a proud dad watching them play their pieces. He has been teaching a mother and daughter together; he has loved watching them learn the piano together.
One of his student's parents offered their home for the recital, which was beautiful and created a lovely ambiance for the evening!

Support our Holiday Heros

One of my favorite Friday's of the month, is the Friday when I get together with my gal pals for Card Making Group. We have been doing this monthly for over a year now and I always have such a good time laughing with my friends and making cute cards.

This month we made Christmas Cards; we make 10 of the same card and then everyone exchanges their cards at the end of the night. The goal is that everyone leaves with 10 different cards with the theme of the month.
We all made an extra card this month that we could send to our troops who wont be with their families during the holiday season. This is such an easy way to show our troops that we support what they are doing for our country! We also did this for our youth activity this week, easy and fun.
If you have time this week, I would encourage you to write a card or a letter to a "holiday hero" and send it to the address above by December 10. It is easy and it makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside!

Altaira

Did you know that C is in a Boy Band? Sure, they don't do much dancing, their outfits are mostly from thrift stores, they are not performing on a big stage, and they don't have a huge fan base. What do they have? They have bird whistles, an ocarina, boom boxes on stage and some great
Ace of Base impersonations.
This is C's "Boy Band," aka new music improv group, Altaira. They had a show this week in Cambridge and it went pretty well.
You have MAD skills babe!

Wreath Making 2008!

Cambridge 1st Ward held its 44th Annual Wreath Making Party this week!
I brought along Charlotte, my adorable neighbor across the street, for our 2nd Annual wreath making experience. It was a wonderful night full of musical numbers, spiritual thoughts, a delicious dinner and of coarse wreath making. Wreaths are a big deal here in New England and I love to be a part of all the fun festivities.

Here is what my finished product turned out to look like this year. It looks quite nice decorating my front door!

Here is my sweet friend Amy who is moving this month; she has been serving with me in the Young Women's Presidency for the last bit and I am going to miss her so much! Thanks for your friendship Amy; good luck in Texas!

Happy Holidays!

33 Weeks and still counting...

Feeling large and not in charge!

Who's got the Holiday Spirit?

My job has this really cool holiday, it is called "your birthday holiday," basically you get to take your birthday off of work. Since my birthday was on Thanksgiving, and we had that day off already, I took the day after off! Oh how sweet a four day weekend felt! I have been saving all my sick, vacation and personal days for my maternity leave, and I was so happy to have some time off!
Christian and I spent the whole day together! We slept in a bit, visited with some friends from the University Village, shopped at Target. Then we headed to downtown Boston for the annual Macy's Tree Lighting Ceremony.

There was a little show with singing and dancing and all sorts of fun stuff. Santa showed up to switch the lights on the tree and all the Holiday festivities were in full swing.

Name that movie: "It's Santa, I know him!! I know him!!"

After we window shopped at the Apple Store, where Christian tasted a bit of heaven, we met up with Bonnie and Patrick for dinner at one of my favorite Italian restaurants, Maggianos! It was the best day off ever! I loved spending time with my hot hubby, getting in some shopping, hanging with fabulous friends and eating good food. Doesn't get any better than that!

Thanksgiving-ed Out!

The Thanksgiving Feasts have taken place at our house for the last 3 years! It always starts out Wednesday evening as we prepare some of the food. Christian always stays up way to late cooking pies, his favorite Thanksgiving food to prepare! This is his first apple pie he made and he is not pleased with how it turned out. Should have started out using your momma's pie crust!
Yes, his apron does say "Treble in the kitchen."

You may or may not know that I was born on Thanksgiving Day; this year my birthday fell on Thanksgiving again! I love having big feasts on my big day! McDuff was a big help in opening my birthday presents this year, I think he may have been more excited than I was when he heard the gift wrap and tissue paper. What a good helper he is.

This is my plate of food! So yummy! We had some friends over for the big day, the Hadley's, Andersons and the Burger-Reynolds. Everyone brought food which worked out great! EVERYTHING tasted so good!

There always has to be a little bit of drama at our house or things just wouldn't be normal. NO, McDuff is fine. Our sink on the other hand, not so much! The sink decided to clog as we were doing the Thanksgiving dishes this year- great timing!

This is what was happening down below, not good! Dishes stayed around until Monday night when the plumber fixed things up. Have I ever mentioned how much I HATE dirty dishes!!!

A special thank you to the Hadley's who brought me these beautiful flowers for my birthday, you two are so thoughtful! Thanks bunches!

We had a great Thanksgiving/Birthday with our friends! We ate yummy food, played silly games, and vegged out!

Thanks to everyone who called or sent Birthday message, I feel so lucky to have such wonderful family and friends!