Feta Cheese Spread

I made this to snack on for New Year's Eve.

FETA CHEESE SPREAD
1 block feta cheese
1 medium tomato or 2-3 roma tomatoes
1 tsp of dried basil leaves
1 tbsp or so of olive oil
garlic salt to taste

Crumble the cheese. Chop the tomato. Mix in bowl with rest of ingredients. Chill for a half hour or so. Serve with pieces of pita bread or triscuits.

The Meaning Of Ornaments

I do love Christmas tree ornaments. One of our traditions is letting the kids pick out one ornament every year to add to the tree. As a result, I think we'll need to upgrade to a bigger tree next year! Anyways, I usually put the year that they picked them on the bottom of each ornament. Every year they put their own ornaments on the tree and usually the stories surrounding how they came to pick each are told.

We also remember other ornaments each year. The ones we get from family and friends. I have many special ornaments and cherish them all. The one pictured above is from one of my most special friends. She and I have been friends for eleven years now. We are so alike in many ways. We understand each other so well and I am lucky to have her in my life. People come in and out of our lives. The ones that stay are gifts from God. So when I see that glass heart on my tree along with all the other ornaments, I remember all the gifts in my life.

Baking Galore

The kids and I did our Xmas baking yesterday. My son rolled the peanut butter kiss cookies, my daughter rolled the ginger snaps, and we worked together on the sugar cookies which, obviously, are their favorite because there's decorating involved.

Xmas Xtravaganza With The Office Bitches

Every year since I've worked in my office, we "office bitches" (as I fondly refer to us), have our Xmas Xtravaganza. Basically, it's a night on the town consisting of dinner, lots of drinking, and a barrel of laughs. This year, I must say, was one for the books. We began at 6:30 in the evening and didn't get home until after two in the morning. We all wore gaudy jewelry. Sitting at the table, you would have seen Christmas pins, big ugly beads, snowflake garland, shells, a Santa hat, and, well, I guess you'd call it a clit clip!!!! Frickin hilarious. We managed to make a few heads turn, a few eyes roll, and a few grins to appear on strangers' faces. DIDN'T CARE!!!

What I kept thinking before and after our little shindig was how happy I am to have a group of girlfriends in my life. I went several years without a group of girlfriends to hang out with. My husband and I moved around a lot in the first years of our marriage so I never really had time to bond with anyone. I can laugh and cry with these girls. They listen to me, laugh at me (notice I said "at me" and not "with me"), watch my dog when I travel, and have even babysat my kids on occasion. I appreciate them everyday but especially when things are not going too well in other parts of my life. I can remain grumpy for an entire five minutes in their presence before I'm laughing my mascara off! Believe me. I have never gone through so many bottles of mascara in my life!!! Laughter through tears is my favorite emotion and I love doing it with the office bitches. They make me smile, make my heart warm, and I know I'm never alone.

Merry Christmas to my wacky girlfriends and to yours. May we always laugh through tears, turn heads, be obnoxious, and be there for each other. I think Ralph Waldo Emerson summed it up pretty darn good when he said, "It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them."

...Yep, that be us.