June Cleaver Nirvana

In honor of the holiday, I will take-out my favorite meal and share it with you. We will be feasting on vegetable samosas, paneer pakora with carrot chutney, kachumber salad, palak paneer over steamed rice with extra naan, chai tea and gulab jumun.

Yesterday, we went to my in-laws house for Christmas celebration #3. Dinner was yummy and the Christmas tree was set up in the dining room which created a distraction for the boys who collectively ate 5 bites. They had used the big (most fantastic thing ever created) "trash" bag-style wrapping which was a bit translucent. We were teasing Ryan about the present on the end which could be clearly made out to be a battery-powered 4 wheeler exactly his size but didn't have a name tag on it. He made compelling arguments why it should be for him (it was) due to size, power, etc. I suggested that maybe it was a trick and that it was a box shaped like a 4 wheeler and inside was something else. He responded, "Mom, it SMELLS like a 4 wheeler".

Blog-Stedman's sister and our niece are in town staying with the in-laws so they suggested another huge Christmas present to us...they kept the boys overnight and aren't bringing them back until this afternoon. So last night we lallygagged, lounged and vegetated. What bliss. This morning blog-Stedman is already off to work. I slept in to....7:15! I took a shower (unaccompanied and no one was banging on the door the whole time). I am quietly at the computer with my coffee writing...truly a Christmas miracle. I am planning on getting productive this morning, but right now I am reveling in my solitude.

I finished reading "The Great Gatsby" this weekend. I was reading it for the first time (which is wrong on so many levels, but I will save that tirade for another day) and I absolutely loved it. It is such an amazing tale compounded by incredible writing. It is hard to even comment on such a masterpiece. What I loved about the book is the way I cared what happened in the story, but didn't like ANY of the characters. How is this possible?

In a 180 degree shift, I also watched "The Nanny Diaries" last night. I had read the book several years ago and really enjoyed it. What happened to the book bears so little resemblance to the movie I have no idea why they even bothered slapping the same name on it. The movie was sad and contrived. As is often the case, read the book and skip the movie.

I will leave you with some words from "The Great Gatsby":
"Reserving judgements is a matter of infinite hope."

"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther...And one fine morning----
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."