We spent Christmas Eve at home again with just us, it's a big contrast to the loud mad-craziness of my huge family. My sister Moe always goes out of her way to make my birthday special, and being an enabler she made a FANTASTIC Bailey's Irish Cream cake that pairs well with whiskey.
Lola, Alex my husband, little Bug, the CAKE, me and my son Tinny |
When I was pregnant due end of December, I really wanted her to be born on Christmas Day just as I was. No doctor would agree to induce me on Christmas Day, should have looked for a Jewish OB, so we had to settle for the 28th.
I still wish she were, I mean if you're going to be born anytime in December, it may as well be ON THE DAY you probably won't have to work and you'll see your family. You're going to get combo presents anyway, and get the shaft anytime a month before or after Christmas, so why not?
People have always immediately asked me if I hate being born on Christmas and assumed that sucks. I didn't get a choice or know what it's like to NOT be born on Christmas Day, so I don't feel like it's that bad. After about age 10 birthdays aren't a big deal. I'm not a big 'center of attention' person. People you meet seem to remember that about you, especially if your name is Joy.
My mom said she called my Grandmother to tell her I was born and the last song she heard was "Joy to the world" at church, so she started singing that to my mom on the phone. That's the legend. In case you wondered.
How I went from Christmas angel to the crabby sarcastic binch I am now? Well, that is a MUCH longer story. Someday I'll write a book. Maybe. Yeah, probably not since I can't even post anything interesting to this blog regularly, but we'll see.
My family always (and still does) buy me Christmas decorations with "Joy" on it, so I never had to buy many.
My name is everywhere in Comfytown at Christmas time. My house and Christmas tree make me look like the world's biggest narcissist. It's kind of amazing.
When I was younger, my parents had special BIRTHDAY wrapping paper and cover the table with a BIRTHDAY tablecloth and put up decorations. I had no idea what an amazing feat that actually IS to do on Christmas, especially with her having FIVE kids, but it was special to have someone go through that trouble on Christmas Day.
My husband carried that on for years when we got together, but after you have kids your birthday is just another day. He still makes me breakfast on my birthday, which is a real blessing after all the stress/panic/marathon wrapping sessions that leave you exhausted Christmas morning.
On Christmas Eve, we had a ring of the doorbell, which made us panic a little about neighbors potentially dropping off cookies. Some did last year and it's why we felt obliged to make sure we made some cookies this year to have ready.
We had fun making the cookies, even if the kids lost interest after 3 minutes of eating the top candies that were supposed to be decorations. This was a giant lump of leftover gingerbread after we got bored of making the ninjamen.
At the moment the doorbell rang, however, we of course didn't have them all finished yet, so we panicked a little. Thankfully it wasn't neighbors, it was a UPS delivery man with an expected gift I had ordered and just assumed would be coming after Christmas.
After giving the deliveryman a couple Christmas cookies, I opened it and was delighted to see the custom order from The Cotton Floozy arrived! Before Christmas! Which I told her when I ordered it, NOT that long ago, that it would be totally fine if it were delivered after Christmas. It was really lovely of her to sacrifice sleep so I could count this as a present. I didn't have many.
She even put it in a white, wooden frame so we could immediately display it in ComfyTown. I've called my husband's house Comfytown since we were dating, and thought about having something made for the house, but having no talent to make things myself and very little budget to have things made, nothing ever got completed. This was extremely affordable, adorable and perfect.
You should check out the Cotton Floozy Facebook page, her blog, Etsy store and Instagram.
Those are links, check her out! As Samara from Samara Speaks said, how do you not love someone with the word 'floozy' in her name? Hard to argue with that.
She did not ask me to promote her at all, I have just gotten a LOT of laughs at her creations.
There is just something magical about seeing swear words in fancy needlepoint. It's like a ransom note written in baby food. Adorable.
She's done so many funny sayings.
There are tons of great items ready to go, ornaments, and lots of these personal messages for kids young and old.
Plus, sarcasm. In needlepoint.
She has a lot of great things on Etsy, and she'll work with to make a custom order. I wish I had thought of that months ago, I would have had things made for Christmas. I need to get started early for next year.
I hope everyone had a peaceful Christmas, with minimal credit card debt. Now we have to quickly UN-Christmas and rearrange the whole comfy house for company on Sunday
Thankful to have family and friends coming to celebrate, but it does mean a lot of spacial manipulation in our little hobbit home.
This post was part of the amazing transformational Ten Things of Thankful.
When I was younger, my parents had special BIRTHDAY wrapping paper and cover the table with a BIRTHDAY tablecloth and put up decorations. I had no idea what an amazing feat that actually IS to do on Christmas, especially with her having FIVE kids, but it was special to have someone go through that trouble on Christmas Day.
My husband carried that on for years when we got together, but after you have kids your birthday is just another day. He still makes me breakfast on my birthday, which is a real blessing after all the stress/panic/marathon wrapping sessions that leave you exhausted Christmas morning.
On Christmas Eve, we had a ring of the doorbell, which made us panic a little about neighbors potentially dropping off cookies. Some did last year and it's why we felt obliged to make sure we made some cookies this year to have ready.
NinjaBread cookies. Fun to make, but no one hear likes the taste. Can you spray these with something to turn into Christmas ornaments?? |
No one hear wants to eat this brick. |
After giving the deliveryman a couple Christmas cookies, I opened it and was delighted to see the custom order from The Cotton Floozy arrived! Before Christmas! Which I told her when I ordered it, NOT that long ago, that it would be totally fine if it were delivered after Christmas. It was really lovely of her to sacrifice sleep so I could count this as a present. I didn't have many.
She even put it in a white, wooden frame so we could immediately display it in ComfyTown. I've called my husband's house Comfytown since we were dating, and thought about having something made for the house, but having no talent to make things myself and very little budget to have things made, nothing ever got completed. This was extremely affordable, adorable and perfect.
Kim Bongiorno is from Let Me Start By Saying, |
Those are links, check her out! As Samara from Samara Speaks said, how do you not love someone with the word 'floozy' in her name? Hard to argue with that.
She did not ask me to promote her at all, I have just gotten a LOT of laughs at her creations.
There is just something magical about seeing swear words in fancy needlepoint. It's like a ransom note written in baby food. Adorable.
Is it just me?? |
There are tons of great items ready to go, ornaments, and lots of these personal messages for kids young and old.
Plus, sarcasm. In needlepoint.
Right? She gets me. |
I hope everyone had a peaceful Christmas, with minimal credit card debt. Now we have to quickly UN-Christmas and rearrange the whole comfy house for company on Sunday
Thankful to have family and friends coming to celebrate, but it does mean a lot of spacial manipulation in our little hobbit home.
This post was part of the amazing transformational Ten Things of Thankful.
Oh, so you're a Christmas baby! I love the idea of your narcissistic Christmas tree, LOL! Many (belated) wishes for a Happy Birthday! Now I'm off to check out the Floozy. I wish that had a double meaning, but it doesn't.
ReplyDeleteI took pictures of my girls in front of the tree last year and people commented on Facebook, "Did you purposely pose them in front of 'Joy' ornaments?" I wasn't sure what would sound worse, just saying 'Yes" or letting everyone know my ENTIRE tree is covered w/Joy ornaments? Meh, either way!
DeleteThanks, hope you had a wonderful Christmas and a good visit with your mom and sister.
Happy Belated Birthday! Joy! I'm so glad I read your post this morning. Starts me off with a smile:)
ReplyDeleteVery cool that Alex still brings you breakfast on your birthday:)
Wait a minute...is Kim flippin' us off? Who knew needlepoint could be fun! lol
Thank you! Merry Christmas to you and your family, especially your sister. I'm sure it was as wonderful a Christmas as possible, everything considered.
DeleteKim is covering a swear word, interestingly enough with her middle finger, but I think the phrase on there was a comment that someone left on her blog, or on one of her social media channels maybe? Can't remember the story, but it was something like that. It IS fun to see funny sayings (and swears) in needlepoint. Good stuff!
Definitely going to check out the Floozy...after one last look at that birthday cake. Damn, I'm dribbling on the keyboard...
ReplyDeleteHappy Belated Birthday!
You won't be sorry, she's the greatest! That birthday cake was soooo delicious! Bailey's in the CAKE and in the frosting. Too good!
DeleteThank you my dear, hope you had a wonderful Christmas.
Merry Christmas, and Happy Birthday! The thought of your Joy tree makes me smile!
ReplyDeletehahaha it's kind of weird, but fun. Merry Christmas to you!
DeleteThe Floozy is FANTASTIC! Especially for gifts, or in my case a nice picture to use as my header picture! I've been waiting for my son to draw something (picture a skeleton like in those "Waiting for _____" memes!)
ReplyDeleteI HAVE seen LazyTown and loved it b/c it's so CRAZYTOWN. My kids are a little weirded out by it, though, so we don't watch it much. But my kids DO love The Hive, which is a show about a Britishey bee named Buzzby.
Thank you, my friend and again MERRY CHRISTMAS! Hope you're feeling better after a bout w/the tiger.
Great post, Joy! I felt right at home, here at your comfy, hobbit house. I LOVE that you have a hobbit house. That's exactly the kind of house I want for myself. I'm an apartment dweller at the moment. Happy belated Birthday!
ReplyDeleteMy sister has a huge house, which I LOVE and it's amazingly perfect for parties, but really I would not want to have to clean all of that area. I do wish our house was a tad bigger, but we wanted to live in a certain school district for my son and gave our budget and the ONE requirement of having at least TWO bathrooms, and this was the one we liked the best. It is a lot quicker to clean a smaller house. I still don't always DO that, but you know, in theory it's quicker.
DeleteP.S thanks for introducing the cotton floozy---love her work.
ReplyDeleteMy absolute pleasure! She is hilarious.
DeleteHappy Birthmas Day!!!
ReplyDeleteI do love the Cotton Floozy!!!
Also send me the gingerbread.. I love it. Although I do like eating the decorations first just as much as decorating them!
Whooopsy, I wish I knew. I would have TOTALLY sent you ALL the gingerbread! (It was kind of hard as a rock, so my husband threw it away when cleaning up for the little one's birthday.)
DeleteHope you had a wonderful Christmas!
Happy belated Birthday to you and a very H.B. to your youngest for today, Joy! That Buddha one is absolutely hysterical! Have a great day :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Mike! Hope you had a wonderful Christmas.
DeleteIsn't the Buddha one great? I want that tattooed on my neck.
Happy Birthday! This post just sent me down the rabbit hole looking for a meme my brother posted a long time ago. 12 hours later, I'm back to comment and say I never found it. BUT, it was a funny one about the wise men finding Jesus, and when they presented the gold, frankincense, and myrrh, they said, "These are your birthday AND Christmas presents".
ReplyDeleteAnyway...
Your post also brought back memories of my childhood. Every single year, my mom made gingerbread men for her card club's cookie exchange. We did eat them, but we certainly didn't have as much fun making them as you did. Ours had to be just so, with the buttons in just the right places.
hahahaha that sounds hilarious! Sorry if you lost a significant portion of a day looking for it.
DeleteI struggle with that, too. Wanting whatever we make to look nice, but remembering my kids are little and they should be having fun and at least somewhat ENJOYING their tasks, more than just completing them in a way I expect them to. The 4 yr old LOVES crafts, but she gets impatient after awhile and just starts randomly gluing/putting things anywhere and asking "Can I be done?" It's good exercise for my patience!
Oh, I love Ninjabread cookies...not the taste, the cleverness of them. Yes, I believe you can spray them with a lacquer like finish to preserve them. I plan to do that with some gingerbread cookies my son brought home from Germany.~May @ Achieving Clarity
ReplyDeleteAren't they cute? We saw the kit at the grocery and since it included pretty much everything, we figured how bad could they be? They were hard as ROCKS, I'm talking weaponized gingerbread. But they look cute and we had fun, I'm calling it a win.
DeleteHappy birthday and Merry Christmas to you!
ReplyDeleteThe ninja-breads are very fun!
Merry Christmas right back, thanks!
DeleteThis is one of the best posts I've read in a long time. Don't even know where to start!
ReplyDeleteThe cake looks magnificent! I AM a baker (or so I consider myself). May need to tackle something like that, especially since a couple of you look like you're lit just from the fumes off of it :)
I made a concerted effort NOT to have a baby in December or January. Because of the combo thing. And being upstaged by that kid Jesus' birthday. Looks like your mom knew how to do it right!
And now I know the story of why your name is Joy! Better than the story of how I was named. No one is ever at a loss to buy you an ornament with your name on it. Never in my lifetime....
Ninjabread cookies are awesome, even if the kids lost interest and ate the buttons and eyes.
I am going to check out Cotton Floozy! How utterly fantastic! )As I scrolled down through your post, I immediately recognized Kim's picture!)
Happy 2015, Joy! Keep making me laugh!
Yup, so glad the holidays are about over. But, damn, I could go for that cake!
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year! Here's wishing you and yours a happy and healthy 2015!