Stinkerpants

Chrismukkah Decorations: Part 2

December 21, 2011 in Personal Projects • DIY and Crafts • Holidays

I realized last night that I didn't take photos of our decorations last year - or at least, I didn't share them with you. What the heck, Stinker, amIright? Especially since last year was the first year we hung our tree from the ceiling.

Yes, you read that right. We now hang our tree upside-down. See?

A few years ago, my friend Sarah shared that her grandparents have been hanging their tree from the ceiling for as long as she could remember. I loved the idea and decided to steal it (thanks, Sarah's grandparents!). Last year, we installed a hook in the ceiling. We save the eye hook each year, and simply screw it into the bottom of the tree and hang it. 

One of the main reasons I wanted to do this is because of Elvis Purrsley, who is disgusting and pees on tree skirts. An added benefit is that the tree is child-proof, because C can barely reach it.

But I digress. Here's the rest of the room. 

See the garland there? Up at the top of that photo? It's five separate strings, which run from the center of the fireplace to the back of the room, where they hang down above the Chanukah bags I made (for a new family tradition, which I'll get into later).

Here, let's turn on the lights:

The bags are made from raw silk. They were kind of a pain in my tuchas, but hey - they're done now and I love them.

My mom and I made the stockings last year. I love them. 

Next year, I'd love to make some better decorations for the mantel - maybe some glittery animals or something (or is that overdone?). We also need a wreath - our door is naked. 

So that's it - what do you think? Do you agree with Y? Is too much "crap" hanging from the ceiling? Or is he just a grinch?

Happy Chrismukkah! 2011 Decorations

December 20, 2011 in Personal Projects • DIY and Crafts • Holidays

Well hello, everyone! I hope you're all having a fantastic December!

I have been waiting to show you this year's Chrismukkah decorations, because a lot of our family and friends read my blog and I wanted it to be a surprise. :) But now almost everyone has seen it, so here we go! I'm going to split this into 2 posts. Why? Because I haven't taken a photo of the tree yet, and I can't exactly do it in broad daylight. ;) So the living room is next. For now, how about the rest of the house? 

{Confession: I went apeshit with garlands this year. I couldn't help it. Yorkey thinks I hung way too many things from the ceiling, but I told him to shut his piehole and put up another set of garlands in the living room. It's all about decorating vertically, people, I'm telling you.}

First up are my favorite OY letters. This year, I hung them from the ceiling.

I didn't think they were getting enough attention where they were sitting before. In addition, I re-glittered them, because they were damaged in our move last year and had been leaving a trail of glitter all over the house for years. This time I used Krylon's Glitter Blast - if you need to glitter anything, that stuff is AWESOME. Highly recommended. 

I hung the OY using Command Hooks (my mom's genius idea) so as not to ruin my ridiculously expensive and over-budget wallpaper (don't touch it!):

I also decided to frame the holiday cards we've been receiving - they're all so festive and beautiful! We have acrylic frames from Crate & Barrel - the photos needed to be updated anyway, so I emptied all of them and replaced them with holiday cards.

Then came my major project of this year: the holiday carol garlands:

I pinned this idea on Pinterest and obessed over it until it was finished (mine were less religious than the carols I found online). I cut the letters out of red foam sheets from the craft store, and strung them using baker's twine. I included a few Chanukkah songs (a must, of course!). The garlands go all the way down the hall and into the dining room:

I hung ornaments from our chandelier (I did that last year, too) by putting an ornament on either end of a string and draping them over each sticky-outy part (what do you call those? arms?).

My felt "Happy Chrismukkah" sign (third year running!) was hung in a new spot this year - and I think I like it. This is the entry to our sunken living room, and I thought it needed a little something.

All right, peeps! The living room (with tree! and stockings! and - you guessed it - more garlands!) is next. :)

Charlie’s Circus First Birthday

August 17, 2011 in Parenthood & Life • Projects & Tips for Babies & Kids • Personal Projects • DIY and Crafts • Holidays

I’m beginning to realize that party planning is not for me. While I enjoy the coming-up-with-ideas part, the actual execution part stresses me out. Somehow, things never end up going as planned.

In summary, I should have known better than to plan Charlie's first birthday party outdoors in the hills of the San Francisco Bay Area in the summer. It was very cold for most of the party, and the fog/wind wrecked a few of my DIY projects. Oh well. I like to keep it real here at Stinkerpants.com, so it wouldn’t have been me if I had an array of stunningly perfect first birthday photos, now would it?! ;)

Also, I’m convinced that people who have beautiful parties for babies either have a professional photographer, or they have a lot of help. Or maybe everything in their lives goes as planned? I'm not sure - whatever it is, the parties I looked at for inspiration were perfect. I don’t believe in photoshopping myself for this blog, and birthday parties are no different...so these photos have cars in the background, Charlie isn’t smiling (why is that?!), and I don’t look perfect (mostly because I was cold and had my jeans on under my dress - otherwise I usually look perfect, right? HA!).

Despite the weather, the carnival birthday party ended up being fun for all (even Charlie, who is going through a shy stage right now). And although my favorite DIY project didn’t work out, I let it go and had a good time anyway.

Because we live in a condo and don't have a back yard, we decided to hold Charlie's party at a local park, near a carousel. I had grand visions of tons of balloons (which Charlie loves), a very cute display of her weekly photos, and a warm, sunny day. The reality was a bit less than that, but I still think things turned out well. How about some photos?

Inspired by a post on Hostess with the Mostess,I bought a few tin circus toys on Etsy and displayed them on painted, upside-down terracotta pots. I also used rolls of tickets to create displays. Some of the ticket displays were actual ticket rolls, and others were 9" round foam discs (which I got from our local flower mart), with tickets glued on. The other centerpieces were cheap plastic wild animal toys, which I spray-painted gold, and ticket flowers, which I made using the various colors of tickets I bought. It was Y's genius idea to cut out the "one" from the "admit one" tickets for the center of each flower. Perfect for a first birthday!

On Pinterest (which, by the way, you should follow me on! Or, if you want an invite, comment below and I'll send you one!), I found this awesome beverages display and was totally inspired. I circus-ified a sign, and used a tin beverages container we've had for ages. Izze makes the perfect party drink - it's tasty and oh-so-pretty. It's also not cheap, so I wanted to prevent people abandoning their half-finished drinks when they lost track of whose was whose. I made little flags for people to write their names on for the stripey straws (leftover from our baby shower), and displayed them in a vase I made from one of the ticket rolls.

Another photo of one of the tables...notice Charlie's weekly photos, laid out on the tables? Those weren't supposed to be there. This is the only project that didn't work out that I was truly sad about. These were supposed to be hanging up as part of a "step right up and see the cutest baby on earth!" display (which you'll see in a minute).

For food, we served hot dogs, pulled pork sandwiches and various delicious sides from Best in Show (Y got a great groupon!). I must say, the food was really good.

Because it was so cold, the birthday girl's adorable outfit (handmade by her Grammie) was covered up for most of the day. She was wearing a mish-mash of various warm add-ons, none of which matched (haha). Y and I also dressed up to be a little circus-y, but I think Y's outfit (completed by an awesome moustache) looked way better than mine!

Y and I bought a birthday hat from a seller on etsy, which would have been awesome (if she'd sent the one we ordered). My mom and I took it apart and made the hat a million kinds of awesome using glitter and a feather boa (thanks Mom!).

Both of Charlie's grandfathers got rainbow suspenders - my dad already has a moustache, but Yeh Yeh needed one (like how it matches his hair?).

Clown noses were provided for the guests (of course).

See this display? I still think it was a genius idea. I bought cheap umbrella stands from Amazon (yay for Amazon Prime!), and wooden dowels from Home Depot. Then I hand-lettered a sign that said, "Step Right Up & See the...cutest baby on earth!" The idea was to string all of her weekly photos between the two dowels. Sadly, the moisture in the air from the fog combined with the breeze ripped the strings and the photos were flying all over the place. Sad. That was my favorite idea. I would have set it up at home, but somehow the sign got ripped and part of it was missing. Oh well. As it was, it became a cute backdrop for people to take photos with their babies.

I didn't want to go over-the-top with cake. Fondant isn't really my thing - it's a little too fancy for a first birthday party in my opinion, and it isn't the best taste-wise. I really wanted simple and relatively inexpensive cakes from a local bakery (they make the best Red Velvet cake!). We reused cake stands from our wedding, and I bought cake bunting from a seller on Etsy (even though these are super trendy right now, bunting is just soooo circus-y! I had to do it!).

I really expected Charlie to freak out and do a face plant into her tasty cupcake, but she didn't eat ANY OF IT, even after I put some of the frosting in her mouth! Behind Charlie, you can see more bunting (from the same Etsy seller). I strung the bunting between two dowels, much like the beverages sign & the weekly photos display (my dad got the fun job of getting the dowels in the rock-hard ground. Still not sure how he did it!). You can also see Charlie's cute oufit a bit better here.

The cakes came in three flavors: chocolate, white, and red velvet (the red velvet was the biggest, of course!). People seemed to enjoy them - I know I did!

So that's it for Charlie's first birthday party! I still can't believe she's a year old. Next year's party will be a lot less involved (unless I get carried away again...)!

Creating New Holiday Traditions

December 6, 2009 in Miscellaneous Ramblings • Personal Projects • Holidays

Coming to terms with Christmas has been one of the hardest issues I’ve had to face in my marriage.  I’m not even remotely kidding.

I am Jewish, and I guess I figured I would marry someone Jewish; Christmas isn’t part of my past, and I never thought it would be part of my future.  Growing up, I always felt left out during the holiday season; one of the great tragedies of my childhood was being forced to go Christmas caroling with my girl scout troop.  What the heck is wrong with “I Have a Little Dreidel,” I ask you?!  Don’t tell me that song sucks compared to Jingle Bells.  Everyone wants a dreidel made out of clay, dammit.

As I got older, my feelings of sadness turned into resentment; I still don’t understand why Christmas music starts in November and Target starts decorating in green and red starting in September.  And after working at Paper Source and being forced to listen to Christmas music 10 hours a day for an entire month, my resentment turned into full-blown hostility.

Y, on the other hand, loves Christmas.  Every year, he hosts a “Cousin Christmas” (now Chrismukkah, because of me) for all of his cousins, which involves gift exchanges, a white elephant exchange, and lots of food.  He loves everything about the season: everything from stocking holders to santa hats for the cats.

Our first holiday together included such hits as:

• Sara feels like a traitor as she hangs a Santa ornament on a Christmas tree
• Sara insists on getting a BLUE tree skirt for said tree
• Sara tries her hardest to “get on board” with Christmas by making stockings out of felt, then feels dejected when she looks around her own house and sees stockings, a tree, and a lot of red & green.
• Sara is secretly thrilled when her parents send a box full of gifts wrapped in Chanukkah paper, along with sugar cookies shaped like Stars of David.

But my quiet bitterness was interrupted by Y, who seemed to totally understand that celebrating Christmas (and not complaining incessantly) was really hard for me.  And to this day, his gift of a gorgeous menorah is one of the most meaningful things he has ever done for me.

We’ve been together for five years, and each year I’ve tried to make a bit more effort to enjoy Christmas–both by decorating the house and trying to squelch my inner hostility.  Last year, I made a “Happy Chrismukkah” sign and a giant sparkly “OY.” I gave Y a personal ornament for the tree, and tried my absolutely hardest not to get all Grinchy on him.  This year, my mom and I erected the tree and set out the decorations the day after Thanksgiving.  I still have mixed feelings, but I try my hardest not to show them.

Yesterday I read a post over at Not Quite Betty Crocker and started thinking about holiday traditions.  Marisa talked a bit about her own Christmas traditions growing up, and her apprehension about spending the holidays with her husband’s family instead of her own.

My family doesn’t have too much in the way of holiday traditions, mostly because Chanukkah isn’t an important holiday for Jewish people.  I do have some favorite memories of the holiday season though:

• For a few years, we had a nice dinner with friends on the first night of Chanukkah, complete with gelt and dreidels.
• Going to a movie on Christmas Day.  When we first started doing this, the theaters were empty because everyone was opening their gifts.  As I got older, though, (enter bitterness) the selfish people who had a great time opening their presents would all RUSH to the movie theater, making sure it was hard for us Jews to get a seat and enjoy the only good thing about Christmas.
• Lighting the menorah with my parents and our dogs.  Allie, one of our dogs, would howl to sing along.
• My mom and I each buying a new ornament for our Chanukkah bush, then setting it up together

I am really happy that I have those memories, and really, it’s kind of sad that Chanukkah’s not a very big deal.  My favorite holiday is always Passover: that is the holiday that means “family” to me.

But now I’m thinking about our future holidays.  My friend Marianne absolutely adores this time of year, and I think it has a lot to do with her memories of family traditions.  Last year, Jen suggested that I invent some of our own traditions–and now I’m taking her advice.

I am now making it my personal mission to make December our own month of Chrismukkah.  Here is how I’m going to do it (otherwise known as The New Stinkerpants Chrismukkah Traditions):

• Invent Santaberg.  He is a Jewish Santa.  I don’t know what he looks like, but I think he will definitely be very fat, have a big white beard (and possibly Payote) and a yarmulke.
• Have Cousin Chrismukkah every year with Yorkey’s cousins.
• Have a Chanukkah open house on the first night of Chanukkah every year.  Invite all of our friends and family over to enjoy appetizers and cookies and karaoke (Y’s parents love karaoke).  Every night of Chanukkah, have something special for dinner–maybe our future kids will get to choose their favorite dishes so everyone has something to look forward to.
• For Christmas Eve, everyone gets a new pair of pajamas and a new pair of socks.  If we can find some that are not super Christmassy, I will not be bitter (I swear).  Watch a movie.
• For Christmas Day, open stockings and gifts, then have a big brunch.  Put out a puzzle to work on and hang out.  Maybe decorate a gingerbread house.
• Have the entire family come over–aunts, uncles, cousins, kids, etc–for Christmas dinner.

These are my ideas for new Chrismukkah traditions, which I think will make me excited about this season instead of inexplicably hostile.

What are your family traditions for this time of year?

Our First Thanksgiving

November 29, 2009 in Personal Projects • Holidays

Hi Everybody!  I hope you guys had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

This year we hosted Thanksgiving, which was our first major family event.  I have to say, it was a big success!!  I created a heavy-duty Google Doc that kept us super organized (including timing for when dishes went in the oven, etc), and all of our dishes were served warm and tasty.

I made most of the side dishes, and Y was responsible for the mashed potatoes and the turkey.  If you follow me on Twitter, you might already know that we have a turkey fryer, which we tested a few weeks ago.  It was a little crispy the last time, but this time it was totally perfect.

Y spent a pretty penny on a Heritage Turkey from Marin Sun Farms.  I wasn’t morally opposed to eating him because he had such a wonderful life, so I tasted a little bit of turkey–and I have to say, it was delicious.

And of course, with the responsibility of hosting comes the responsibility of decorating.  I drew us a little turkey to be our mascot.  He held up a sign to identify each of the dishes:

I think my turkey’s name is Fred–and as you can see, he is also a Heritage Turkey.

Below is a photo of the Chestnut and Apple Stuffing I made (I changed the recipe a bit so it was vegetarian).  I also made a Vegetarian Strudel, Green Bean & Artichoke Casserole and pumpkin and vanilla ice cream sandwiches (I just put ice cream and pumpkin pie filling between two graham crackers).  Everyone said things were delicious!  I am proud of us.  :)

In addition to our turkey mascot, I decorated with orchids and decorative gourds:

and I used chalkboard paint on glasses I bought at World Market to create useful place cards:

I have to say, it really was an awesome Thanksgiving, and we had a great time hosting it for our seven guests (from both my side and Y’s!).  I wouldn’t mind hosting it next year, too!

How was your Thanksgiving?  Are you guys ready for Chrismukkah/Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/The Holidays?