today the father of my children is having a BIG birthday. out of respect for his privacy, i won’t say which one, but it is a DOOZY and it falls somewhere between fifty-nine and sixty-one… so please join me in celebrating him for reaching this special, well-earned, new decade. HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY adam! wishing you everything wonderful! x0x0x
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recap of the eggy holidays! x0x0xx
this is one of those years that passover and easter were right on top of each other, which can be exhausting for the mama in a family that celebrates everything. we made the decision not to host a big seder like we usually do… partly because the big kid couldn’t come home from college and partly because the littler kid and i were going to be in the mountains until the evening before the seder and it’s too hard to pull together with so little time. so we ordered in a lot of the meal from saul’s and i really only made the seder plate and the charoset. i was worried that it would feel sad, but it was actually super calm and easy. we all fit at the round table and we facetimed theo in. i am still getting used to celebrating some things without him. he wasn’t here for either valentine’s day or st. patrick’s… although i heard that both cupid and the leprechauns found him in new orleans.
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REPOST: easter comfort food
* in anticipation of easter i am reposting my mother’s easter brunch recipes, in case you are headed to the market soon for your holiday shop. i will only have one of my little duckies home this year as the other one decided to go to college. i AM grateful that he made it to university, but i MISS him so much and will probably be stuffing my face with far too many of my mama’s easter buns to sooth myself… HAPPY, HAPPY EASTER! x0x0x
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REPOST: the order of a seder
* i first posted this story during the pandemic when things felt super OUT of order… while the pandemic has passed and i CAN have guests this year for a seder, the world feels even more upside down than ever. every day i hope that america will start to “right itself” and put energy into supporting our democracy and celebrating ALL of our people. one small way to begin that is to appreciate the value of ORDER. happiest passover all! x00xx
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HAPPIEST st. patrick's day! x0x0x
in holiday
(photo: vintage leprechaun postcard)
i am a classic american mish mosh…on my father’s side i am german and norwegian and on my mother’s side i am english, irish, scottish and i don’t know what else. i am unclear on the percentages (i have never done “23 and me”) so i am not sure how MUCH irish i have. i know i have enough for pink skin that burns easily and does NOT tan, but not enough to like soda bread with raisins (WHY add raisins?) or corned beef and cabbage (smelly!) my mother loves those things so i know she has just enough irish to tip her into that food palette.
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it's almost VALENTINE'S DAY! x0x0xx
(me in my oft worn heart sweatshirt with my dad circa 1983)
valentine’s day is my absolute FAVORITE holiday! i LOVE chocolate (especially see’s scotchmallows … the BEST!), pink and red hearts (ALL colored hearts really), and painting and gluing and making valentines. growing up, it was considered a family holiday so i have never been flapped about whether i had a boyfriend or a husband when february rolls around. wishing you all a day full of love and sweetness and LOTS of candy! x0x0xx
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my sweet boy is TWENTY! x0x0xx
(me and my first baby at the berkeley marina)
it’s hard for me to imagine how TWENTY years could have passed since this guy arrived. i marvel that he can do things like fly across the country alone or make fried eggs or understand plato or show me special places in the town that i grew up in that i never knew about. he can drive, he shaves, he clears the table and he delights me with his quippy humor. he recently told lucy not to be upset that i invited so many people to her dance performance because “parents don’t have much to do.” when i look at him he’s every age… a tiny peanut in a car seat, a toddler whose hand i held with an iron grip because he was a runner, an elementary schooler with a fascination for james bond who wore a suit to school on picture day, a middle schooler whose ski jumps made my heart stop in fear and a college student who sleeps and sleeps and sleeps when he’s home on break… he did NOT sleep like that as a baby! wishing you everything wonderful in the next twenty years my darling theo… i can only imagine all of the adventures to come. i LOVE you so! x0x0x
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HAPPIEST BIRTHDAY to my mama! x0x0xx
wishing my wonderful mother (and her darling sidekick) the loveliest 2026. i hope the upcoming year is filled with laughter and travel and yummy dinners and super fun adventures. i am so HAPPY to be back in california so we can celebrate all year long! HAPPIEST BIRTHDAY sweet mama! x0x0xx
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HAPPY, HAPPY NEW YEARS 2025! x00xx
(time with my dad was the very BEST part of 2025)
there are a lot of really wonderful things that happened to me in 2025… the most important, of course, is that it is the last year that i got to spend time with my father. i cannot begin to express how GRATEFUL i am that we moved back to berkeley and i was able to visit with him so easily. (we moved across town - i am southside now, but it is still only a ten minute drive.) as he grew more tired, sometimes we took naps (he in his big, leather chair, me on the blue sofa), sometimes we just made faces and sometimes i read to him. all of those visits fill my heart and give me peace.
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MERRIEST CHRISTMAS! x0x0x
(me and my father circa 1987 x0x0x)
wishing you all a very merry christmas… i am so grateful to be spending time with my family and remembering my wonderful father and wondering WHY at seventeen i was still receiving dolls for christmas! JOLLIEST wishes! x00xx
REPOST: christmas sticky buns
* i am reposting this story about my mom’s christmas morning sticky buns in case you are up for a DELICIOUS challenge! MERRY, MERRY CHRISTMAS! x00xx
the BEST breakfast of the year is always christmas morning because of my mother’s sticky buns. they are coils of cinnamon deliciousness with a sticky, brown sugar topping baked on. she makes two pans each year - one with pecans and one without (my nephew has nut allergies.) i prefer the ones with pecans, but i would NEVER turn down a plain one. we think about and anticipate the sticky buns all year long… rehashing how many each of us ate the year before and whether someone selfishly snuck a third before everyone else had seconds. when the pans are cooling we circle round them like sharks, peeking under the tin foil covers and trying to count how many there are (it always varies depending on the girth of the buns) - my mother protectively swatting us away and shooing us out of the kitchen.
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LEGOS! a last minute holiday gift! x0x0x
in holiday
neither of my kids were into legos when they were little. many of my friends had huge tuppers of legos that they tried to organize and store efficiently, but mostly i heard about how PAINFUL it was it step on an errant one, especially in bare feet. so i was not unhappy about my children’s disinterest in these small, sharp blocks.
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happy, happy hanukkah! x0x0x
(theo lighting the menorah on the seventh night)
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REPOST: gingerbread houses
i can’t remember when i started making gingerbread houses… it’s probably an extension of my love of my childhood dollhouse. i do know that making them with my children is one of my favorite christmas traditions. they are messy and sticky and my kitchen gets a thorough dusting of powdered sugar every year, but the extra mopping and wiping is worth it. we eat way too much candy, lick loads of frosting off our fingers (i always tell our recipients not to eat them, just use them as decoration!) and we usually feel a bit sick afterward. some years are more structurally successful than others - more than one house has had to make due with a cardboard wall as a result of a “kitchen earthquake.” the candy roof design has evolved as well. in the early days they were a kaleidoscope of random candies and today there is careful thought put into the layout of licorice squares, lifesavers, gumdrops and mike and ikes. the recipe is the same as the modern one we did last year… just a more traditional pattern.
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REPOST: a christmas miracle (around the HOLIDAY CARD!)
in hank, holiday, photography, family
every year, we send out a holiday card featuring the kids smiling and laughing together. they DO laugh and smile together pretty frequently, but hardly ever when we are shooting these photos.
“FEO, FEO” lucy (when she had no teeth) yelled downstairs in alarm a few years ago, “the christmas clothes are out… i fink we have to do the card today!” then a series of loud groans as they commiserated together.
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thanksgiving GRATITUDE! x0x0x
(THANK YOU dad for teaching me the importance of a good NAP! x0x0x)
in addition to stuffing and cranberries and baking pies, thanksgiving is, of course, a time of gratitude. 2025 has been pretty tumultuous for me with the loss of my darling father (and how BANANAS our whole world has become!) but on this holiday, i am intensely GRATEFUL that my father was in my life for fifty-six years. i know that many people don’t get that kind of time with their parents and it was truly a gift.
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my FAVORITE thanksgiving recipes! x0x
(hank LOVES dressing up for thanksgiving!)
even though the corona is STILL effecting us all (nearly TWO YEARS later… HAY SEUS!) the pandemic has made me really grateful for a lot of things i took for granted PP…
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REPOST: yom kippur, the day of atonement, is coming!
(hank thinking about his transgressions during the year)
* i am reposting my story about yom kippur as it is approaching… it’s not always SO much fun to think about all the things i’ve done wrong, easier to think about what hank or my children have done wrong, but that’s not really the way it’s supposed to go…
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HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my wonderful father! x00xx
(me and my dad in front of the giant sedan he never had trouble parking)
despite being an economist and a statistician with a super solid understanding of probability and odds, my dad was also a DREAMER. he really believed in luck (especially his own, which he called, “rhode luck”) so he regularly bought lotto tickets. several nights a week, on his way home from the city he would pull over at max’s liquor and get lottos with our birthday numbers. he DID have luck, at least for parking, because he always seemed to get a spot right out front in his BIG sedan, even though san pablo is one of the busiest streets in berkeley (like the way the lead character in a movie always pulls up smack in front of the bar or restaurant in a crazy city without ever circling or even having to back in to the space.)
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REPOST: easter brunch
* this is the first year we will be in california for easter since i was really young… i am not sure who is going to make the buns and the quiche - me or mom - but i am so happy to be able to celebrate with my family. unfortunately, TT will be back at school but i have a direct line to the easter bunny so i know that theo will still get his basket in the dorm. HAPPY, HAPPY EASTER everyone! x0x0xx
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