feel beautiful: A few of my favorite things during the holidays

Christmas Traditions

Ever since I was a little girl, it has been a family tradition amongst the females to go see Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Ballet. My mom said that the first time I saw the sparkly costumes, I turned to her and said, "It's diamond," but I pronounced it like "It's die-men," so we still say this to each other every time we see it. This was my first year ever to go without my family--my friend Ann and I went to see it at The Winspear Opera House and the ballet and the opera house were both beautiful!

Holiday Lunch at the Zodiac Room

Lunch in the Zodiac Room at Downtown Neiman Marcus always gets me into
the Christmas spirit. My friend Jennifer and I had lunch there
today! I always love the popovers with strawberry butter (which are
actually a year-round tradition there). The holiday decorations at
Downtown Neimans never cease to amaze me.

Cooking at Home

Here is my mom's copy of a cookbook that my maternal grandmother,
Margaret Anne, and her friend Betsy put together in the early 80s--it
contain recipes (or "receipts" as they called it here) from various
friends throughout my hometown. As you can see, it has been put to
good use. I always get a good chance to re-visit this old copy of it
during the holidays (I do have my own copy that has hardly been
touched but I have recently developed more interest in cooking :)

Pictured below: My sister and me at Thanksgiving

Childhood Photos

I want to share a few family Christmas snapshots from the
early 70s-- they are a mix of me, my mom and dad
(Jan and Jim), and my sister, Susanna (and 1 pic
of my family's home during a white Christmas in the 70s).
Check out Mom's huge hair and Dad's sideburns!!