After waking up at 7am on what us Brits call “Boxing Day” I must say I got quite a lot accomplished. Christmas was amazing and I was blessed to get everything AND more that I asked for, including a silver Chanel, a beautiful dark wood Jewelry box, Escada perfume, a Keurig coffee machine, heels, lots & lots of clothes and money from my family. Luckiest girl in the world=understatement! Christmas Eve was also fun, doing straight shots of vodka with my 74 year old grandmother.
“Santa” also came and spoiled Mauro and I rotten (Thanks Mum) 21 and still never too old for a talking Santa, who comes in my room laughing that one of my little sisters had left a wire trap to catch Santa and his reindeers. Mauro was also startled and woke up, stating that “THIS WAS IT!”Apparently the magic never grows old, unlike us humans. After opening stockings and sacks from “Santa” in each of my 10, 8, and 5 year old siblings rooms, we went downstairs to find a professional drum set, a Taylor Swift guitar, and a microphone. Goodbye Jonas brothers, Hello Band..Benstock.
So as you can only imagine the house was LOUD all day long. Luckily my mother had brought me a “home for the holidays survival kit” that included ear plugs, a flask, 10 excuses to leave a family function early and a humorous 32 page, actual survival kit. It remained un-open up until around 1 pm, when my brother started “playing” his drum set, my sister started sweetly singing/screeching one direction on her microphone, and my grandfather started swearing (or as Americans say: cursing) at cooking the christmas dinner. I needed alcohol and ear plugs ASAP.
A British Christmas dinner is equivalent to as much food on thanksgiving. It consists of yorkshire puddings, paxo stuffing, roast potatoes, butter beans, peas, green beans, broccoli, carrots, turkey, bisto gravy and the best part yet: three bottles of Cristal. Mauro also contributed to the traditional dinner celebration by bringing Chateau Talbot from 1978.
The fun started to kick in after two glasses of champagne, a taste of Chateau Talbot, raspberry chocolate moose cake from Leonetti, and ice cream. A sugar rush and Cristal go well together. I then played twister dance moves with my 5 year old sister Poppy, who is a mini version of me, with more cheekiness, sass and beauty. Baby blue eyes and dark brown spiral curls- yes please!
After Mauro survived a Benstock Christmas, we ended up driving home and got back to the city within 50 minutes, and then passed out leading too our snowy adventure today.
The day started at 7am with organizing,cleaning, Starbucks, croissants, and what-not-to wear outfits. Or in my case boots. Ugg boots. Ugly Ugg boots. On the positive side they were very warm and comfy for this rain/snow/sleet/inconvenience that we are facing here in New York.
As curiosity has it, I entered the “container store” today, and dragged Mauro with me. Ironically for a store that claims to be organized, I found it very unorganized. But still I managed to pull of my “Rebecca Bloomwood” act by making a (very unnecessary and impulsive) purchase of a pencil holder, and envelope organizer. For letters/bills that I am yet to pay (Thank you daddy). We also went shopping in Victorias Secret, Dylan’s candy bar, and Barneys, where I then progressed to buy the entire store (almost).
Finally we ate at David Burke, where Mauro ate Asiago Truffle fries and I ate a lobster salad. The music was surprisingly good, but with doors opening and closing it was colder inside than out, and the crowd was full of tourists. As for tonight, dependent on snow..Lavo is on the to-do/to-go list. Along with eating Calamari, Lobster Fra Diavolo, and of course Martinis for two.
Mercedes Chloe 