Well, it happened. We have two teenagers. We celebrated Lauren’s birthday after Christmas with her “ideal day.” Breakfast a Hymies, a facial (her first), a manicure, lunch at Chipotle, shopping on Walnut Street, dinner from Taqueria Amore, and a chocolate matcha cake from A La Mousse. Perfection!
Becky and Ari came up to celebrate and Ari joined Lauren in all the activities, although not her “thing,” she was a good sport.
Happy Birthday to our happy girl! We love you so much!
We hosted Christmas again this year – for a very manageable crowd of 16. It was lovely and especially as I didn’t have to lift a finger as I continue to recover from the donation surgery. I’m feeling great and healing well, but still supposed to keep lifting or strenuous movement to a minimum. I’m very grateful for Dave and his mom, who did all the heavy lifting (which, if we’re telling the truth, they do every year!).
I’ll blame it on my being so relaxed, but I completely forgot to take any picture of the afternoon with everyone so we’ll just have to imagine everyone sitting around the living room opening presents and our long dining room table stretching into the living.
The day started with a nice and quiet Christmas morning with the girls opening presents and Dave and Kathy joining us for breakfast.
On December 17, 2025, I donated my left kidney! It’s been something I’ve wanted to do for some time and actually started the process last year. It finally happened and I’m so happy I did it. I don’t know who it went to – only that it went to a woman in her 30’s in Massachusetts and that she’s doing well now. Recovery so far has been fine. First week was tough with swelling, pain and general exhaustion, but each day is a little better.
It’s been a pretty cold winter so far. We’ve already had a few snowfalls, one pretty big one and the others just a dusting. Lauren is very happy about this! No skiing or snowboard yet, but everyone is looking forward to it in the coming weeks/months. Here’s a picture of our house after the first big snowfall.
At the beginning of December, Lauren hosted a cookie exchange with a few of her friends. They all brought their favorite cookies and then decorated sugar cookies together. The dogs also enjoyed the get together 😉
Ashwini participated in Girls on the Run for the first time this year and each runner needs a running buddy so Lauren joined her as the buddy. They ran a 5K together at the Navy Yard in South Philly. Both did a great job!
