Archive for December, 2005

Merry Christmas

Who needs a star when you have a penguin to lead you to Bethlehem?

It was a quiet Christmas this year, just the four of us Kennedy/Spanos’. I was in Arlington on Friday afternoon and helped my dad pick out the perfect Christmas tree–it might really have been our best (healthiest) tree ever! My mom also decorated a “wire” tree with ornaments:

and we set up the cresche:

I saw some old friends, saw “The Polar Express” (not recommended), read my childhood Christmas books (all wonderful):

A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote
Father Christmas by Raymond Briggs
Merry Christmas, Strega Nona by Tomie de Paola
The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
Angelina’s Christmas by Katharine Holabird
Madeline’s Christmas by Ludwig Bemelmans

We had our Christmas Eve tradition of watching “Scrooge” with Alastair Sim (great movie) and Christmas day was quiet.

The star gift this year was an iPod Nano, though my Lego angel came in a close second.

Posted at 10am on 12/27/05 | no comments; | Filed Under: General | permalink

Snow day

It’s quite a winter that’s mixing up out there right now. Roads are icy and I can’t seem to get enough hot cups of tea.

Last weekend Martin and I went to New York City to celebrate his PhD. The train was delayed 9 hours, but we finally arrived, tired and cold. In fact, you might say that ‘tired’ and ‘cold’ were the buzzwords of the weekend. We walked to take photos from the Brooklyn Bridge, we had lunch at Gobo in Greenwich Village, stopped for many warm beverages, and did some unsuccessful shopping. We waited in line for bar seats at the Blue Note to see Chris Botti (eh, he was okay). We experienced the insanity that is Times Square pre-Christmas–somehow it seemed much worse than New Year’s Eve 2 years ago. People evidently get stressed out about holiday shopping.

In thekatespanos.com news, I’ve finally taught myself to use cookies so I’m databasing a detailed log which I have, of course, designed an elaborate display page for. Don’t ask me why I waste my time doing things that I already get for free. But I guess my answer would be that I really enjoy learning how this stuff works. In terms of design, I’m suddenly interested in bright, bold colors. My site is plagued with these fuzzy dreamy looking tans and pastels and wispy flowers and it’s starting to bother me. A re-design may be coming soon!

This weekend will be for Christmas shopping, Christmas baking, Christmas partying, Christmas caroling, and just all around Christmas goodness

Posted at 2pm on 12/15/05 | no comments; | Filed Under: General | permalink

Holidays Commence

Thanksgiving was a great kickoff to the holiday season. I was home with my family–running around baking pumpkin pies, stuffing turkey, and mashing potatoes.

The next day, Martin and I went downtown to do some museum wandering. It was freezing. So we ended up at the Botanical Gardens, where it was warm and tropical, and where we he could give me some digital camera lessons.