It was a very meaningful Christmas this year. This is the "zone" for excitement in the girls (4 and almost 2). We opened presents at 7am and then headed south to Margo and Greg's to cook for the extended family (as we did with Thanksgiving). My focus was pretty much exclusively on not fucking up the 18 lb. Prime Rib and keeping the other eye on the Pack clinching the #1 seed against the hated Chicago Bears. And K whipped up a storm with Pork Loin Wellington with Sake sauce, some crab, brussels spouts, luscious
mashed potatoes, quinoa, fresh beet salad and more...

Since I won a Kindle Fire at the company Christmas party this year, that made my main gift to k somewhat of a no-brainier: a dodo case for the kindle fire. Made here in SF. A real book with bamboo inlay that is really elegantly designed. K's gift to me was an extension to the Kitchen Aid mixer I got for her so many years ago when we lived in El Cerrito. She had wanted a blender. And back then I couldn't even cook a proper spaghetti. The extension includes a meat grinder and a mechanism for making sausage. Hello? "Sausage!"

The big reason why this Christmas was so meaningful was the heart and soul K put into the gifts for the extended family. Instead if buying gifts this year, she made them. Hats, leggings, and embroiled bookmarks based on Olivia's drawings. I will be putting together a little scrapbook of this soon.

Love to all, b