The Greatest Christmas Gift of All

My boyfriend Edward popped in to say hello to me--we had a wonderful Christmas Day. Jealous much??

Lance has my heart...but Edward, oh Edward...he has my neck. And I clearly have his.


P.S. My birthday is in April--what more could a girl ask for?? I want my own Edward. I would put him in the corner, and he could watch me sleep.

Merry Christmas To All...

...and to all a good night!

Happy Holidays!

Love,
The Jacobs

Nice Try

I 'm always bargaining with Lancer. For example, I will promise to cook 2-3 nights a week for a new pan set, or promise to do a smoothie a week for a new blender. I always keep my promises, a fact that Lance tried to take advantage of. See below.

Me: I'm so tired...if we go get burritos tonight, I will provide vittles every night until we leave for vacation.

Lance: Make it through New Year's and you have a deal!

Me: **Angry face**

Lance: I see I've pushed my luck. Unamas??

Sweets, Treats & Tasty Eats

I held my 4th annual Cookie Swap on Sunday. The gist of the cookie swap is to bake 72 cookies and then come and swap them out for 72 different cookies. That way, you take home 20 different kinds of cookies, and when you give them out to friends and neighbors, you look amazing and talented. Because, really, what kind of freak has the time to bake 20 different kinds of cookies??

Here's the cute invite I used this year:

Because I had spent the previous evening partying it up in an ugly sweater, this is what my kitchen looked like at 3 am--2 pans of 7-layer bars, and 4 pans of hand rolled enchiladas.

On the menu this year:

• Chicken and green chile enchiladas
• Spinach salad with roasted red peppers, tomatoes, and avocado-Italian Dressing
  
• Chips and guacamole
• Homemade limeade
  

Once everyone arrives, the revelers place 2-3 cookies on a little plate with their name, and take them back to the judging room. Every year, we choose 5 lucky suckers to come and judge the cookies.

The judges: Hooman Mansour, Louis Gray, Scot Fairchild, Kyle Sager & Tyler Atwood:

The cookies arrive--what an amazing display!


Once the treaties are all on the tables, and the judges are judging, the ladies get to dine on dinner. We love the chance to catch up with friends over food--some of the people we only see once a year, so it's a fun tradition.


The judging is done, and the judges come to announce the winners. We have 3 winners each year. I must point out that Natalia Mansour has *always* placed. She is an AMAZING baker.


Here are the winners! Erin Parkes took 1st, Natalia Mansour placed 2nd, and Melanie Sager placed 3rd. Congrats ladies!

Time for the swap baby! Grab your cute tray and get moving!

The cookies are going, going....

Gone!

The slightly ill feeling cookie judges. What I would give to eat 20 cookies in the name of holiday fun...

Thanks for coming friends!

We're excited to bring you back next year little gingerbread man!

My Sweater Got Runned Over by a Reindeer

And that's why it looks like this:


Yes, Virginia, somebody really made these sweaters. Better yet, I had some lady track me down and beg me to show her where I found it. Ugh. Unless you're a Kindergarten teacher or 80 and senile, you should never wear these holiday monstrosities to celebrate the season.


H and I had a little 'Bring it On' style battle going on. Both of us assured the other that we were going to win. She told me to bring it, and I crisply responded that it had already been broughten! H's sweater had a stupid pouch, but I had on 2 pieces of flair, so I thought that might give me a competitive advantage over the others:

L announcing the ugly winners:


These two ended up being the winners. They won as a team, mostly because Tim (willingly) wore a woman's sweater decorated with the 12 Days of Christmas divided up into different numbered quadrants.


H and I were a little let down. In fact, I'm not sure what burns more...losing the ugly sweater party with my ugly vest (that Lancer accurately pointed out instantly added 15 pounds to my frame) or being rejected as a flight attendant back in the day. I will have to mull that over.

More ugly sweaters:

After pondering our ugliness, we moved on to the next phase of the evening--the gingerbread house competition. People took this quite seriously.

L explaining the rules and doling out the bags of icing:

Hard at work...

My humble abode:


H's roof caved in...

Workin' Away...

Team Pharris works on their campground:


Team Leeflang had the winning house:


Ta-da...the losing house. I lost for the third time in a row in under 24 hours. I wasn't expecting to win this one, though. I didn't even vote for myself like I did for the sweater portion, though I purposely left an 'a' out of my name when I wrote it down so no one would think I voted for myself.

You Got to Know When to Hold Em...

....and you also have to know when to cheat. Like this guy. Why, what a large pile 'o' candy you have Mr. Cheater/Liar Atwood!

The lovely hostess with the birthday boy:

Here's Alie *not* posing:

Hiding my winning hand:

Tyler...probably cheating and/or lying:

Brian...he's the birthday boy, so he's exempt from accusations:

Steve with his big bowl of booty...gotten by cheating and/or lying:

Louis giving the Bday Boy tips on lying and/or cheating:

L consulting with me. This should not, however, be construed as cheating and/or lying:

The gaggle of cheaters and liars!

The only honest one in the room. I suppose good morals come with age. Old, old age:

Hayley, wrongfully accusing those who weren't lying and/or cheating. Perhaps she should have simply looked at the man she shares a last name with. I'm just sayin..


I like getting together to play poker. It's so rare that we get to compete and trash talk as adults. Plus, it's fun to accuse others of shady behavior, especially when you're losing. My favorite part was losing my booty on a bad hand, and then asking for a bailout. I figured I would improve my game while showing the others that I'm savvy and up to date on what's going on in the US.

Happy birthday Big B!