This was the first year witnessing my nephew’s vegetarianism. Unlike one of his sisters, who is a vegan, he still ate food with eggs in it, such as his father’s famous sweet potato pie. Here’s one of the meals he put together: cup of fruit, protein bar, apple bar, tofu scramble, granola bar and a slice of sweet potato pie!
Since watching him do parkour last year, I’ve added the discipline to my bucket list. I’d planned to start taking classes last summer when he visited me, but his mother postponed that trip because he visited Germany instead.
One night, he requested I show him some yoga hip openers. Another night he showed me some parkour exercises, but I chose to take pictures of those, figuring I’d do them during my fitness room workouts.
He referred to this move as “declining handstand” or something like that. The point was to gradually lower oneself then roll out of it.
He followed that up with a move that looked similar to a yoga position known as “peacock.” The hand placement was different, but I was impressed at the arm strength. Once I can do about 6 minutes of planks, I may try adding this move as well.
Yet my absolute favorite exercise he showed me was the “pistol squats.” The name alone was badass and since it targets glutes, I’m sure to add that to my routine!
For another year in a row, I woke up before my nieces and nephews. The Christmas tree appeared more bountiful than it had just a few hours earlier when I had gone to bed.
Even the stockings had gained weight over night.
And making his Christmas debut: Q-dog Chef!
Between my mother and the older sister who thinks she’s my mother, they had us take this group selfie four times before opening gifts.
I found these lemon-oil laced vegan products for my vegan niece: lip balm, soap and moisturizer.
I figured my sister would appreciate this retro Lionel Richie album cover on the front of a blank book. Now she has somewhere to sketch out all her latest creative ideas for 2017.
Mom’s always touting new home remedies for ailments; so I gifted her some beeswax beauty products that came with a small jar of honey.
I leapt with joy when I saw my nephew already making good use of several little notebooks, strategizing his business pursuits. I had that in mind when I got him a moleskin little notebook.
What to get the woman who seemingly has it all? Why something to make her laugh! Whoever came up with the idea of marrying mistaken lyrics with coasters must have had loved ones who habitually screwed up songs as well like my sister does.
What to get the guy who seemingly has it all? Some consumable he can use. In general, my brother-in-law and father are hard to shop for; so they tend to get the same gift.
This year, the gift was a vegan and rainwater-based shaving soap.
Again, I got lucky with my other niece’s gift since her care products were peppermint oil-laced. I discovered after the fact that’s one of her favorite scents.
My other nephew’s gift was a no-brainer: reading material. Not necessarily the type of reading material he’d prefer to read, but The Journal of Best Practices is about a married guy with autism and the other reading material are highbrow magazines. During one of our conversations, I pointed out that he needed to read more and build his vocabulary since he didn’t know the meaning of a couple of words I’d said, such as “prolonged” and “ambiguous.”
After the gift exchange, I finally tasted Christmas breakfast: grits with butter and sugar and a biscuit-based casserole with sausage, eggs and veggies.
Now here was something to melt my former science teacher’s heart. My little niece set up her IB Biology project.
She’s testing how various levels of carbon dioxide affect the growth of marine plants.
I just loved how she did a little at a time and had her handy laptop to document the arrangement.
Hours later, we enjoyed a Christmas dinner buffet: roast beef, honey baked ham, fried turkey, mac and cheese, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, vegan baked beans, cranberry sauce, stuffing, gravy, vegan croissants, collard greens and dinner rolls. I refuse to put chitlings in that line up of delicious food, but Mom brought those foul-smelling innards from NC.
As par for the course since my visit, I partook of two desserts. For Christmas, the new dessert selections were pineapple cake and red velvet with white chocolate lace. Those two added to the sweet buffet of chocolate cake, sweet potato pie, pecan pie, various candy and vegan desserts.
It’s no wonder why most people make dieting a part of their New Year’s resolutions. Not me. I just return to Austin and avoid eating two desserts a day. I exercised every day in 2016 except for on Jan. 16th! A very good track record I plan to keep for 2017.