hi! it’s been a while since i’ve done a catch up here on the blog and i totally fell off from doing my monthly update posts for the last few months of the year. it’s mid january but i’m here now!

we had thanksgiving here at our house, a last minute change because of a plumbing issue at my moms, so i got to do my favorite thing — SET A BIG PRETTY TABLE 🙂

the holidays were very low key for us because almost everyone in my family ended up getting sick so we got to celebrate hanukkah with everyone but spent xmas entirely alone.

for my little hanukkah party i hosted for my family, i made the most incredible roast chicken i have to share with you guys. you proabably know i’m an alison roman stan, well this is the best chicken i’ve ever cooked. it has anchovies, if you have a problem with that, well you gotta change. everyone in my family was fighting over the last pieces and when i revealed the secret ingredient they’re all super squeamish about, they kept eating it because it was just too good!!

for winter break, arlo and i had lots of fun doing all the christmasy activities. making the best ginger snaps, watching holiday movies, being generally just very cozy.

christmas at home alone was reminiscent of 2020 but we are really good at being on our own now, and now that we have izzy it barely feels like we’re alone. the four of us have a very good dynamic where i think it’s genuinely fun to hang, just us.

we had our favorite din tai dumplings on xmas eve (we always get like 3-4 orders of the kurobuta pork xiao long bao), and for xmas morning we had a leek quiche that turned out really good! i made it the day before and i had NO idea that you can actually get a store bought pie crust out of the foil after you bake it — i used a butter knife around the edges and put it onto a plate the way you do with a cake. FYI!

we aren’t sure how much longer arlo will be into santa for, but on christmas eve he suddenly started cleaning the house like a maniac, organizing all the shoes, folding the dish towels up nicely… the house was spotless hahah it was the sweetest thing.

after xmas izzy ended up getting sick herself, so our trip to costa rica didn’t happen after weeks of packing and prepping! in the end, i think it was for the best and actually wild of us to think that was gonna be a fun trip. izzy is in the phase where she is loving her newfound freedom of being able to walk but very clumsy so she’s constantly falling and hurting herself and getting mad if she’s not in complete control and she’s just a handful right now so an international vacation to a tiled house with a pool is probably not the move until she’s a bit older.

instead, we spent a few days at the la quinta resort and we had the best time. super low key, we stayed at the resort almost the whole time, they have a few restaurants there so you don’t have to venture out, and lots of cute holiday events like an outdoor holiday movie every night with hot cocoa and popcorn. we would definitely go back!

arlo and izzy are SO SO SOOOO cute together. it’s crazy how strong their bond already is. she’s becoming a kid so quickly and they already play together everyday. they both genuinely enjoy each other so much, i talked and cried a lot about their age difference during the years i was trying to have her, but it’s really been good. obviously every age gap will have its pros and cons, but i didn’t realize how beautiful their relationship would be with a 5 year age gap.

i say this a lot, but i love the holidays SO much and wish they didn’t go by so quickly. ever since becoming a mom, i’m always so nostalgic that i sometimes get sad about how fleeting everything feels. the last christmas that arlo will ever be 6 for, etc. i know i gotta just enjoy the memories in the moment, it’s just all so special and magical that i miss it while it’s even happening!!!

ps — i posted about this on IG, but we swear by this nasal spray now from keeping us from getting super sick. anytime your kid seems sick or you feel slight symptoms coming on, spray it after blowing your nose a couple times a day. it really has kept me fairly healthy considering all the germs in our house!