Christmas Past

Christmas celebrations are laden with tradition.

 We outgrow some traditions, like taking the kids to see 

Santa and leaving milk and cookies for him on Christmas Eve.  

Others evolve as the kids mature into adulthood.

But each year is unique in its own way.

1991 was our first Christmas with a child,

and it was very exciting for us after waiting so long for this!

1992 was Kerry's first Christmas!

She didn't know what was going on yet.

In 1993,  Adam loved his Brio train set.

Kerry was just as happy with other things.

Grandma Alice gave the kids a box of Dress-Up clothes 

in 1994, and they played with nothing else!

1995 was Annie's first Christmas.  She was learning to walk

and fell into the coffee table, needing stitches above her eye!

Adam and Kerry continued their love affair with Disney movies.

1996 was Molly's first Christmas (the cat),

American Girl dolls,

and sweater vests for the boys!

1997 was very "red".

It was also the year the kids posed with Santa bellies.

The girls all wore red plaid on Christmas day.

In 1998,  Annie brought her "list" to Santa.

Christmas Eve at Grandma's house.

These are faces of very excited kids coming downstairs 

to see what Santa brought!

In 1999, Adam was a shepherd in the Christmas play at church.

Christmas Eve with the family.

Razor scooters were the highlight of 2000!

Our puppy "Jack" was added to the family in 2001.

Annie was the only one really interested in

leaving cookies for Santa.

Kerry was a huge UConn basketball fan.

I love this picture from our 2002 Christmas card photo shoot!

In 2003, the kids all slept in Kerry's room 

on Christmas Eve.

Adam was thrilled with stuffed animal that Annie sewed for him!

Adam made crepes for Christmas breakfast in 2004.

Mia joined the family (although Jack sadly left us). 

In 2005, Vance got a picture for his office

commemorating the Red Sox world series win.

Sami was a new addition to the family.

Our beloved Mia was very happy to have Sami to play with.

We spent Christmas 2006 in Florida.  It was the last

Christmas my mom was with us.

We spent a rainy Christmas night at Disneyworld.

We also met up with other families from our church

who were also at Disney for Christmas!

2007 was the year of Guitar Hero!  And my father joined us

for his first Christmas without my mom.

From what pictures I could find,  the pets were the
center of attention in 2008!






Of course,  the pets are most often the center of attention
in our family.  Here is 2009!


This is one of Kerry's faces when she doesn't really like
what she opened!




Here is another example, in 2010!
She never wore that hat that Grandma gave her!

After opening presents, we drove to New Jersey to surprise the relatives.


Maddie had joined the family for Christmas 2011.


Adam got a satchel for his semester in Italy.


Kerry made a vase of paper flowers for me!


We drove to New Jersey with our ugly Christmas sweaters.


and Adam got a make-over!


We went to New Jersey once again in 2012 on Christmas day,
but this time dressed as an Amish family in costumes
made by Grandma Alice.






My sister and her family joined us for Christmas in 2013.







2014 was the year of the Charlie Brown tree.



We also celebrated Christmas a week early
so we could all be together.







In just a few more weeks,  everyone will be home
for Christmas this year.  Kerry has to work on
Christmas Eve, but will be catching an early morning
flight to make it home before noon on Christmas morning.

It will be different than other years,
but we can wait to open up presents.
I'm just happy that we will all be together!

A Taste of City Life

Sami and Halle got a taste for what it's like to be city dogs this weekend!

Our kennel had an outbreak of kennel cough

and we didn't want to risk getting them sick,

so we took them with us to Rochester to visit Annie.

This is the lobby of her apartment building.

They experienced their first elevator ride on their way to Annie's 6th floor apartment.

Annie was extremely happy to see them!

Taking them outside to pee was very different than anything they've ever known.

There were so many things to smell and Sami smelled them all.

We stopped at every tree, pole, and fire hydrant!

Luckily there was a nearby church will some grass for Halle to use.

After an exciting evening getting petted by more students than I could count

on the street outside the school, they were tired out 

and settled nicely on their dog beds for the night.

Bright and early the next morning,  I took them for their morning walk.

Evidently, the students eat lots of pizza after their time in the bars.

Halle may have enjoyed a few bites here and there.

We also came upon a sandal.

A very large giraffe.

And very large houses.

Street cleaners.

Churches.

And a Boy Scout troop selling Christmas trees!

It was very nice to have a garbage can nearby after Sami took his morning poop!

 In front of the science museum was a large reflective ball

which invited us take a few selfies.

When we got back from our walk,  we woke up Annie!

It was a short visit, but I believe they had a lot of fun.

They never made a peep during the 5 hour drive back to Connecticut.

Back home to the regular old routine.

How I Lost My Muffin Top

My mother used to call it a midriff bulge.

Now it's called a muffin top.

In August, after a summer of bagels, granola, and ice cream,

(among other things)

I had a sizeable muffin top.

In fact, I had reached my highest weight EVER.

135 lbs

Being only 5'2" tall, I was definitely overweight.

I could have hidden beneath loose tops, but I wasn't willing to accept

this as "me".  I've always been pretty slim, and at 56 years of age

I knew if I didn't make a big change now, it would only get 

more difficult to lose as time went on.

On August 15, after wearing a tight pair of Spanx under my dress

 to a wedding, I knew this was enough.

I put my husband's Jawbone UP24 on my wrist to

begin measuring my steps.  

I set my goal to 10,000 steps/day.

I also began using the Jawbone app on my iphone to keep track 

my food intake.  Not just calories.  For my height, it suggested

a 1200 calories per day including a max of 100 carbs 

and at least 20g of fiber each day.  It also tracks unsaturated fat,

protein, sugar, saturated fat, sodium, and cholesterol.

Calculating these totals was easy with the barcode scanner option

in the app.  I just had to measure/weigh the portions.

I believe tracking my food intake was the single most valuable

tool that helped me lose weight.  It was very eye-opening.

I was consuming so many excess calories, and way too many carbs.

It forced me to be creative in my food options.

I never went hungry. But I needed to make different choices.

Becoming more active was also very important.

I have walked 4 - 5 miles every day with my dogs,

rain or shine.  I biked 3-4 times per week until it got too cold.

In the past month,  I've begun to run 2-3 miles almost daily.

On a recent vacation,  I hiked at least 2 hours each day.

And my friend Karen introduced me to the sport of "pickle ball".

Taking weekly pictures of my body helped me to "see"

my progress and be encouraged.

The progression of my weight loss is shown here:

I'm not done yet.  My goal is 115 lbs. 

I have some toning to work on too.  

But I no longer track my food because I now

have a good idea of what/how much I can eat.

I am MUCH more active now than I've been in the last 15 years,

and this helps me eat normally without gaining weight.

I FEEL GREAT!

Here are the changes in my measurements:

      Weight:  -16 lbs

               Waist:  -4.4 inches

                 Hips:  -3.2 inches

           Thighs:  -2 inches

                 Arms:  -1.5 inches

              Neck:  - 3/4 inch

I don't think I've been at this weight for 20 years

and it feels wonderful.  I am enjoying being able

to tuck shirts in and still have room to breathe!

I feel younger.  I feel strong. 

I have so much energy.

As a final note,  my intention of this post is not to boast.

It is to show what can be done when you really work

 and put your mind and heart in it.  

So many women, including me,

have complained how impossible it is to lose weight 

after menopause.  That, and my "slow metabolism" 

because of hypothyroidism, were my scapegoats.

These past few months are proof that I simply ate too much 

and was too sedentary.

Period.