Sayonara 2011!

Almost there!!!

Now that Christmas is officially a distant memory, I no longer have to keep up the cheery "I’m-so-happy-and-I-just-love-everyone-so-much-I-want-to-sing-Disney-songs" act. With New Year's only days away, I’m free to go back to being the normal, complaining girl that I know and love, sippin' on hatorade while I fight with my laundry.

That said, I feel that there are some things I need to get off my chest before 2011 comes to an end. I spent a good majority of this year idling around taking care of a baby; this resulted in plenty of extra time to consume an excessive amount of unimportant things like celebrity gossip, reality television and bad take out; and, like any other normal, mature adult, I immediately formed irrational and unreasonable opinions about everything and everyone I encountered. Since I'd like to start the New Year off with a clean slate, free of baggage so that I can start hating anew, I thought I would share with you all the short list of some of the things that I greatly disliked in 2011, from entertainment to my everyday encounters. In no particular order:

A Brief History Lesson: The Christmas Edition

Drunken debauchery + The birth of our Lord = Santa Clause?

First, let me start off by saying that I’m not downing Christmas; I love Christmas. I love the lights, I love the good vibes, I love the presents, (I love the egg nog), I love being with family and, most importantly, I love celebrating Jesus because I think He is the best everrrrr. 

        

But

I happened across a Facebook post the other day…yes, Facebook…and the subject of Christmas’s pagan origins were brought up. I had previously learned briefly about how the Romans inserted the birth of Christ into the pagan festivals but I had never been clear on the details. So, in typical fashion, I decided to research every bit of information I could find about the topic until I was completely exhausted and my brain felt like it was going to melt out of my ears. 

DIY Baby Food

Which banana would YOU rather eat?

 
Since I realize that I shouldn’t waste all of my excess time on gossip websites or MTV reruns, I sometimes try to use that extra time to be a good, productive mommy.

As some of you may know, I don’t eat meat and am a huge proponent for fresh, organic or locally grown fruits and vegetables. I’m going to spare you my rant about organics, raw foods, and the poisons that we unknowingly ingest every single day in frozen food and processed meats—I promise that I will go on and on about that another time.

What I am going to talk about is something which stems from this belief system: how to make your own baby food, something that I’ve done with my daughter since she was 4 months old. Friends and family frequently ask me about this so I thought it might be a useful post. 

Warning: To any non parental reader, you might want to avert your eyes from this point on because the rest of this post is about to get pretty mommish and boring; If you choose to continue reading, do so at your own risk.

The Cutest Christmas Card Of All

Unicorns and Rainbows!!

I find that the most aggressive Christmas assaults seem to occur the closer that we get to the holiday (which, I’m not sure if anyone knows this, is supposed to be about celebrating the birth of Christ, not spending your life’s savings); the guy standing outside of Walmart ringing that little bell now follows me directly from my car to the front entrance of the store and my television is INSISTING that the happiness of my holidays is absolutely dependent of the purchase on every single item that is advertised.

But, perhaps the most telling sign of the impending festivities is the sudden barrage of Christmas cards that I’ve been receiving in the mail, the family photo Christmas cards to be more precise.