Holidays At Disneyland: Our Night Of 5 Firsts

How many times have you been to Disneyland? I don't have an exact count, but if I had to guess I'd say we've been there close to a hundred million times. It never, ever gets old – especially for my girls – but we do tend to do a lot of the same things whenever we visit, whether it's visiting the same attractions or eating the same foods. For example, I always clap loudly and embarrassingly whenever I get on my favorite ride.

Last weekend we were there for Holidays At Disneyland – where the entire resort gets transformed for the holidays – and we did some things we hadn't done before. Here they are – see if you can make it through the entire post without singing Foreigner's 'Feels Like The First Time' in your head.

1) We rode the first-ever holiday version of the Jungle Cruise – the Jingle Cruise!
For the first time, the Jungle Cruise gets transformed for the holidays! I'm not going to lie, this is one of my favorite rides and my girls', too, and I was ridiculously excited to ride this new version. The dock has been decked out in lights, and the skippers have added some holiday humor to their comedy routines – don't judge, but we actually love all of their slightly corny jokes. Which leads me to another first – for the first time ever I followed a Disneyland ride on Twitter. And you should, too because then you can read things like this:

One of the hippos just put “arm floats” on her Christmas list. #lazy
— Jungle Cruise (@JungleCruise) December 12, 2013

2) For the first time, someone else besides me took the photos
We just bought Kiyomi a new camera, so she was happy to document our visit. She did an amazing job and took all the photos you see here (except for the pics accompanying item numbers 3 and 4. Those slightly blurry, over-filtered Instagram pics are all mine.)

She did a photo essay of Kira and her Santa hat throughout the park. Here are a few:

I highly suggest this idea of putting your kids to work documenting stuff so you don't have to. It helps you to see things through their eyes, and also frees you up to enjoy things, like bacon-wrapped asparagus. (See next item.)

3) I ate bacon-wrapped asparagus skewers at Bengal Barbecue
That's a big lie. This is the eightieth time I've eaten these, not the first. But I have to keep mentioning them because some of you out there haven't tried them yet, and I won't stop until every man, woman and child has tasted one of these amazing pairings of meat and vegetable. (However, in keeping with the spirit of the 'firsts' theme of this post, I will say it's the first time I left without wishing I had another one – this is the first time I ordered TWO skewers.)

4) I rode the Red Car Trolley in California Adventure
I'm used to having people yell at me to get out of the way as this thing comes at me while I'm texting in the middle of the street. So this was a much more pleasant experience. The trolley takes you for a short tour through the park – starting in Carthay Circle, up Buena Vista Street, through Hollywood Land and ending at the Twilight Zone Tower Of Terror. Along the way the nice conductors (that's one of them there) tell you stories about the the park and Hollywood, including the history of the Hollywood Tower Hotel, the basis for the Tower Of Terror ride. Want to hear the story? You'll have to ride the Trolley yourself. (See how I did that?)

5) For the first time, we did NOT ride 'It's A Small World'
One of our Disneyland mottos is, "No visit is complete without a ride on 'It's A Small World,' especially during the holidays when it's transformed into 'It's A Small World Holiday.' (Our other motto is, 'Don't eat the corn dog until after you ride the Teacups.') Usually our tactic is to wait until later in the evening when the line is shorter, but this time the wait was estimated at 90 minutes. After we were done cursing everyone who had stolen our tactic, we decided to move on. But not until we had stood in awe for a few minutes and snapped some pics of the gorgeous facade, of course.

Holidays At The Disneyland Resort runs through January 6, 2014.

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Live, On Stage: Your Awesome Memories

My girls still remember going to a production of Sleeping Beauty when they were probably only around four and six-years-old. The play was at a tiny theater around the corner from where we lived at the time, didn't star any big names or feature any elaborate sets and I think tickets were only around ten dollars each. They loved seeing one of their favorite stories brought to life on the stage, and we waited after the show so the girls could meet the actors. This is probably why Kira has to linger after every show she goes to in order to meet the performers – thus a groupie was born.

Fast forward over ten years to last weekend, when we took them to see Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty at the Ahmanson Theater. They had been asking to see this for weeks (Kiyomi had already seen it on a school field trip and wanted to see it again) so we bought some last-minute tickets and headed downtown. The show was spectacular, and once again we were reminded how powerful and moving a live performance can be – and how happy we were that we could share it with our girls. (I should add that these tickets were a bit more than ten dollars, though.)

We've been taking them to live shows for years – concerts, plays, ballets, musicals, circuses – and good or bad, the experience is always memorable.  Movies are fun, but chances are they're going to remember the live pre-show way more than what happens next on a flat screen. (But I will admit movies have better snacks. Get with the popcorn and nachos, live show planners!)

People often cite the high cost of tickets for live shows, but with a little big of digging you can often find tickets for less than the price of a movie ticket, and sometimes free (hello, Goldstar!) My girls belong to the CTG Student Scene, a network sponsored by L.A.'s Center Theater Group that offers them deeply discounted tickets (students only) to events at the Ahmanson Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, and the Kirk Douglas Theatre. Last year they got floor seats to Anything Goes, and I had a nice dinner and a cocktail at Pinot while I waited for them. See, live theater has many benefits.

And speaking of live theater and FREE tickets, I have tickets to give away to a holiday family show: Aladdin And His Winter Wish at the Pasadena Playhouse. Great casting: Ben Vereen as the Genie, and Bruce Vilance as Widow Twanky. And your tweens/teens will love this, too – it stars Teen Beach Movie's Jordan Fisher as Aladdin.

So get out and see some live theater –  Frozen will still be there next month. 

What: 'Family PacK' of 4 tickets to Aladdin And His Winter Wish for either December 14 or 15 at 11:00am.

How: Leave a comment here no later than 11:30pm Sunday night (December 8) telling me your favorite live performance you've seen. I'll use random.org to draw a winner from the entries. One comment per person, but you can share on Facebook or Twitter for additional entries. Please don't forget to leave a valid email address.

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Who says teenagers don't have their priorities straight?

Ah, October. The anticipation of fall is in the air, and the excitement of the upcoming holidays start to buzz around. Then there's Costco, busy as bees setting up their Valentine's Day display.

It's also homecoming time at the high school, and my girls were getting ready. They were both performing at the game and going to the dance the next day. To quote Katy Perry, they were livin' a teenage dream! To add to our festive mood, we received an invitation to check out HalloweenTime at Disneyland, which kicks off their holiday season in the park. But guess what – it happened to be on the very same day of the dance. If there was an emoticon to symbolize feelings of teenage conflict and angst, I'd insert it here.

Actually Kiyomi was pretty relieved – she'd been waffling about going for awhile, and finally reluctantly decided to go with a group of friends. This may have been because I sort of 'strongly suggested' she go in order to have a true 'high school experience.' I get like that a lot, trying to force my teenage memories on my kids. Someday I'll tell you about the time I made her get a perm, put on leg warmers and get disappointed by a cute boy. It was epic.

She wasted no time in cancelling her homecoming plans and whipping out the face paint. Something tells me she wasn't planning on going to that dance in the first place.

But Kira on the other hand was in full homecoming mode. Ironically, their theme was Disney, and she and some of her friends were going together and basing their outfits on Disney Princesses.

I need to just pause right here and address all of you out there with young girls who are hoping their daughters will someday outgrow their 'princess phase,' who might be dreaming of a time when you can stop buying those candy-colored puffy dresses: Sorry, but that day may never come, you'll just have to start buying them in bigger sizes and with lower necklines.

Kira found a billowy yellow dress, a pair of yellow shoes and some accessories shaped like red roses to put together her Belle-derivative outfit. (It all came from Forever 21, which is somewhere you know the Disney princesses would shop if they lived near a mall and had a fondness for knockoff dresses and dollar nail-polish.)

She was looking forward to an evening of mild-debauchery with her friends sullying the Disney Princess image, so you can imagine the conflict when I told her we'd been invited to Disneyland on the same day as the dance. Honestly, I thought she would have a flicker of disappointment, wish us a fun time and then go back to pondering lip glosses. She is 16, after all, and what could be more important than the homecoming soiree?

But apparently a trip to the Magic Kingdom is just more magical than a night in an overheated gymnasium pretending you're in the Magic Kingdom, and after a quick query with her friends on Facebook (who almost unanimously said, "Are you crazy, DISNEYLAND OF COURSE") she decided to blow off the dance. Anyone who thinks that teens have outgrown Disney would be mistaken – within hours of her decision she had sold her ticket and replaced her tiara with a pair of mouse ears.

But she's nothing if not resourceful – she wore her homecoming dress to Disneyland that day.

Find out more about HalloweenTime and our day at the park here.

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And visions of doppio-espresso-macchiatos danced in their heads

Happy Holidays! Nothing like an impersonal blog posting with an embedded photo to warm your spirits and convey the true meaning of the season!

Wishing you a wonderful holiday, and may it be filled with joy, health and the company of those you love.

And may you never be standing behind me in line at Starbucks because yes, it will seem like I'm ordering that many cups of coffee.

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Too much to ask

Kiyomi (yesterday): So, mom - what are you REALLY hoping to get for Mother's Day tomorrow? And don't say 'love,' That's just lame.

Me (only half-joking): What would be awesome is if you were in a good mood for the entire day.

Kiyomi (after giving this request some serious thought. As if I had just asked her for a kidney): Oh, ALRIGHT. I'll give you until 8:30 tomorrow night.

It's 11:30am and so far so good. Hope springs eternal.

Happy Mother's Day Everyone! May you be blessed with the simple things in life.

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Happy Valentine's Day! Here's some awful-tasting candy for you

Remember those conversation hearts you used to pass out to your friends when you were a kid? Why did they taste so bad? Why did they taste like chalk? Why do I know what chalk tastes like?

Here's a better idea: Make your own virtual conversation heart here:

http://www.acme.com/heartmaker/

You can use up to four characters per line, on one or two lines. Now's your chance to use all those romantic cuss words on your sweetie. Have fun!

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Thanksgiving Recipes: The Unwavering and the Unforgivable

Every Thanksgiving my mom makes a lime green Jell-O mold. She insists that the only reason she keeps making it is because she failed to bring it one year and then my brother was disappointed and wondered where it was. My brother swears he's never asked about it, but knowing him he probably said something like, "The only reason I came to Thanksgiving dinner was for lime-green Jell-O and now that it's not here I may as well go to Denny's." That probably sent my mom into a guilt-wracked tailspin after which she vowed to make that lime-green Jell-O mold until the end of her days.

I don't mind it, though, because it really has become something of a tradition and to be perfectly honest, if I didn't see that fluorescent green ring sitting next to the turkey I might actually miss it. It's almost kind of majestic in its lime-green absurdness. And besides, it makes my mom happy to bring it and what kind of tyrant would deny an 89-year-old woman the joy of setting her jiggly gelatin creation down amidst the Thanksgiving splendor?

However, if she ever showed up with one of these I'd grab her walker, turn it around and send her out into traffic:

What is this? It's a Thanksgiving Turkey Cake. What you see are layers of ground turkey, stuffing, cranberries and sweet potatoes all held together by mashed potato 'icing' and finished off with a marshmallow topping. Think of it as the chalupa of Thanksgiving meals. Not to be mean to the hardworking chef who created this, but I think everytime one of these is made a turkey loses its wings.

But oh, how it makes me appreciate the lime-green Jell-O mold.

If for some reason you feel compelled to try it on your own, the recipe is here.

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My Earth Day FAIL. Or is it?

Happy Earth Day! I was hoping to write a post today about how I was honoring our planet on this special day. Maybe I'd be writing this on a laptop powered by solar panels while wearing a pair of hemp jeans and sipping on a smoothie made from sustainable crops. Or sending you reports from a city beach somewhere, where I was picking up soda cans and cigarette butts with my kids and filling their impressionable young minds with love paeans to mother earth.

Well -- didn't happen.

Instead, I'm having a decidedly un-earth day, because I'm in a bit of a frenzy right now. The kids are home early because of a fair and open house at the school tonight, they have friends over whose parents couldn't pick them up, and I'm frantically trying to prepare for Kira's 14th birthday party here on Saturday. So in other words there aren't any Earth Day sonnets being written and I think I actually walked by a couple of soda cans laying on the ground. In my driveway.

But you know what? Because all the women's magazines tell me to be good to ME, I'm going to go easy on myself and find the ways I did honor the earth. Today wasn't a total bust - here are some ways I found my Earth Day moments by turning lemons into lemonade. Or should I say 'juice made from organic locally grown citrus.'

1) I've been cleaning the house today in preparation for around two dozen 14-year-olds descending on my house this weekend, and every single light in the place is on. Even the waffle iron light is on which is weird because I haven't made waffles since 2001. Earth Day moment: I didn't use the vacuum cleaner! So what if I used enough electricity today to power the entire state of Wyoming -- all the microorganisms who call my couch their home will live to see another day.

2) I had the dishwasher and the washing machine on simultaneously. While I was rinsing off the sidewalk. And hosing off the cat. Earth Day moment: I didn't shower today. So what if I used enough water to supply the entire state of Utah -- all the microorganisms who call my navel their home will live to see another day.

3) In honor of Earth Day I could have walked the four blocks to the school to pick the kids up, but since they had their friends coming over and I needed to pick up lunch, I drove my van. Oh, and the other reason -- I hate to walk. Earth Day moment: At least I don't drive a Hummer.

4) Oh, and that lunch? Because of time restraints I regret to admit that it was McDonalds. Seeing as their burgers are made from extinct rain-forest toads and pandas, probably not a good Earth Day choice. Earth Day moment: We recycled all the wrappings! Even the cardboard drink tray, which I turned into a chandelier. You'll just have to believe me.

5) Getting back to that cleaning, instead of using natural cleaners made from vinegar and puppy sweat, I used all manner of toxic chemicals ranging from bleach to industrial-strength etching acid. You would too if you saw my bathtub. Earth Day moment: I used sponges instead of wasting paper towels. Okay they were endangered sponges from The Great Barrier Reef. Nobody's perfect.

But all in all it was a good day, and I'm about to drop all the kids back at school and I'll have a few minutes to myself before I have to head back for open house. I think I'll have a glass of wine during my little break. Organic wine. Enough to help me write that sonnet.

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tags: earth day | yahoo motherboard

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Now this is scary

Here it is, a mere ten days before Thanksgiving and I'm doing a post about Halloween. That means I'll get around to writing about Thanksgiving sometime around Christmas Eve, and then my Christmas post will go up sometime in June, 2010. Luckily you all come here for my excellent stock market tips and not for my punctuality.

As you know, I hate Halloween. I announced it on Facebook, Twittered it and yelled it at passing cars and then it found a way to come back and punish me for my curmudgeonly ways. Not only did I have to spend an eternity (and around five paychecks) getting all the pieces together for Kira's Fran Drescher costume (Kiyomi's was easy, an off-the-shelf McDonald's cup - score!), I somehow found myself hosting a Halloween party for the girls and their friends. It was torture, I tell you, kind of like a vegetarian having to host a steak cook-off or an atheist having to help throw a Christmas party. Oh wait - Rigel does that for me every year! No wonder he's so cranky around the holidays.

As usual, everything was saved for the very last minute. Those pumpkins up there were all carved the afternoon of the 31st and I was buying candy and party food at around 4pm. That meant only the really expensive candy was left - I really hate paying $65 for a bag of mini Prada chocolates. Also, that kind of frenzy leads to impulse buys, which is the reason I came home with goodie bags shaped like skulls, packs of tissue printed with candy corn, small bottles of bubbles with Frankenstein on them and cupcakes decorated with eyeballs. Here, in case you don't believe me:



Take a look at the food spread - I think I did pretty good for someone who hates Halloween. This photo was taken about an hour into the party, after four of the six pizzas we ordered were gone. Shocking, but those teenagers didn't like the strips of red pepper and sliced cucumbers I labored over! Those cupcakes were baked by Kira's friend, Sarah - after she brought hers over I was too embarrassed to put out my store-bought monstrosities with the eyeballs.



Just because I'm such a stick-in-the-mud, though, doesn't mean the rest of the family is. Here's some decorations that Rigel and the girls put up. Also note the 'Spells' table that Kiyomi worked so hard on - those are bottles of 'Invigoration Draught' and 'Love Potion.' In case you're wondering, that skull belonged to a kid from last Halloween who took TWO Laffy Taffies instead of ONE like I told him to.



Okay, I hate to admit - I actually had fun, and if it weren't for the exhausting costume prep I would probably have a much more cheery view of Halloween. So I told the girls that next year they have to come up with something that requires absolutely no buying, or ordering, or alterations, or hovering over wig displays. In other words, they'll be going as the half-Asian, teen and tween daughters of a mom who used to hate Halloween. Happy Thanksgiving!

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tags: halloween | thanksgiving | costumes | fran drescher

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If you've got a camera, a pen and an email address this is your lucky day

DEADLINE EXTENDED! You now have until 11:59pm on Wednesday, October 28 to submit your entries!



First the good news: I'm giving away 4 VIP Passes to Disneyland's Holiday Celebration. This includes a party and all sorts of VIP goodness.

Now the bad news: You'll have to hang out with me all day.

But more good news: It's easy to enter - just take a photo, write a paragraph and email it to me. But hurry - I need your entries by Monday, October 26.

Read all the details and enter here.

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LA Moms Blog: 'Tis The Season For Hoping You Don't Get a Really Crappy Gift

My latest post is up on the LA Moms Blog. If you're like me your holiday shopping angst is kicking into full gear right about now, and I've listed a few of my gift-giving pet peeves. And if you think it's only the thought that counts, I've got a set of pill boxes with kittens decoupaged on them that I'm going to send right over.

Awhile ago I did a post on my personal blog about one of the worst gifts I had ever gotten. People left me comments detailing their own gift nightmares, everything ranging from a woman who received a bathroom scale from her fiancé to another person who received $1.75 in change as a wedding gift. This being the holiday season, I’ve been thinking about what really makes the perfect gift, and how everyone has their own opinion about the whole process of gift giving. All I know is that during the time when we should be celebrating joy and hope, the whole idea of Christmas shopping and having to find the perfect gift usually makes me feel like punching the first person I encounter in the mall. I think you’re starting to get the picture.

Some people really put a lot of effort into finding that one special item for each recipient, and I envy you. While you spend hours trolling the aisles of funky boutiques and one-of-a-kind stores looking for that beautiful piece of antique jewelry for your aunt, I’m heading to Costco to buy twelve of those jumbo cheese selections to give to half of the people on my gift list. Of course I always include a card that says, “I saw this and immediately thought of you” and it usually works, although I did get a strange look one time from my 80-year-old lactose-intolerant uncle...Read More...

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tags: christmas | christmas gift ideas | holiday gifts | what not to give

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We Spent Three Days in a Row at Disneyland But Still Don't Know if Walt is Frozen.

(That's our cat Milkshake over there in the snowglobe. For details on how to make a snowglobe with your own cat or other photogenic family member, read on.)

I went to Disneyland three days in a row. I like to say this to people, and then watch as their eyes grow wide with amazement and they shake their heads in disbelief. Then come the inevitable questions, things like, "Why?" and "Have you lost your mind?" But I'm here to tell you that not only did I survive, but it was one of the more leisurely trips there I've had.

First off let me tell you that it makes all the difference that my girls are older, and don't require strollers or snacks every five seconds or diaper changes in public restrooms. They're tweens now, and have the capacity to go for hours at a time without food and have enough energy (and patience) to wait in long lines. Also? My girls have inherited their parents' night-owl tendencies and can stay up late without having tantrums or melting down in the car on the ride home. Unfortunately, Rigel and I are the ones who can't hold it together but we're working on taking turns so that at least one person isn't crying while they're driving.

Our three day Disneyland marathon started a couple of Fridays ago when we were invited to a blogging event held at Disneyland's Grand Californian. I'm always looking for an excuse to visit this beautiful hotel - in the past I've pretended that I'm a lost tourist from Japan, just for an excuse to sit in the lobby. But this time I was actually invited and enjoyed valet parking, a wonderful buffet meal, photo ops with Disney characters, cookie decorating for the kids, a special presentation by Disneyland PR for the bloggers AND 3-day park hopper tickets - and I didn't even have to use broken English and pantomime to ask where the bathroom was.

After that we were escorted to a private area to watch the fireworks. Being escorted through Disneyland is the best - I couldn't help but feel super important, and I had to stifle the urge to hand out my autograph and say things like, "I really love what Walt did with this place" just to be obnoxious. It was while watching the fireworks that I called Rigel with my brilliant idea: Why not get a hotel for Saturday night, so that we could spread our Disneyland and California Adventure experience over two days? I have to admit he wasn't immediately receptive, but he came around when I told him that spending two whole days with his kids at Disneyland and treating his wife to a night in a hotel might be a good way to bank some karma for that ski trip he was planning on taking with the guys.

Sure it was exhausting, but I'd say our plan worked out great. We were able to leisurely check into our hotel on Saturday and then make our way over to the parks without feeling like we had to fit everything in by midnight. Although I didn't get to ride my favorite ride of all, we did finally get to check out the winery in California Adventure, which I highly recommend - we had a nice glass of wine, and then had a relaxing dinner on the patio. The menu is limited but surprisingly good, and a nice break from the usual pizza and hot dogs we usually have. And once again - they have WINE.

I have to admit our desire to sit in a dark room for a few minutes led us to main Street to view Disneyland: The First 50 Magical Years, but the film ended up being interesting for the kids as well. It's narrated by Steve Martin and has some great film clips showing the history of Disneyland; Walt walking through the orange grove that would become his theme park, opening day ceremonies in 1955 (hey - there's Sammy Davis, Jr.!) and a glimpse of how the park looked in its early days. Unfortunately, it didn't address the rumor that Walt is cryogenically frozen somewhere waiting to be revived - we had just told the kids about that the week before - but perhaps that's coming in the sequel.

Some may argue that billions of twinkling lights and fake snow is a poor substitute for real holiday cheer, but I say seeing my kids crazy-happy and squealing as they race towards the Matterhorn in their Santa hats is real enough for me. And while I thought that three days in a row would satiate them, Kiyomi woke up on that following Monday and said, "Any day we're not going to Disneyland is not a good day" so I'm thinking she could have gone for a few more but I'll leave that for when she's old enough to go on her own. I think she's starting her own blog now.

View an exciting, animated, musical version of my Milkshake snowglobe here. If you'd like to make your own awesome snowglobe, read this to find out how. I only used our cat because my girls have forbid me to post any pictures of them online. Well, that and the fact that he's the only one that still smiles on cue.

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Thanks to Michelle Himmelberg in Disney PR for a memorable weekend and for giving us an excuse to stay in a hotel.
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tags: disneyland | disneyland photopass | california adventure | blogger events

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The Doghouse

If you haven't already seen this video, it is definitely worth watching. It's kind of long, but totally worth it and may be something you might want to watch with your husband or boyfriend or significant other. Hell, you can even watch it with your cat, if he is in fact prone to giving bad gifts.

Not to spoil the surprise, but the video does turn out to be a diamond ad for of all places JCPenney. Not the first store I think of when considering making a big jewelry purchase, but I do have to give kudos to their ad agency for coming up with something this good. I may head over there to take a look at their ruby cuff links after all.

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I'll be posting the name of the winner of the Disney Interactive giveaway tomorrow, December 12.

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As Thanksgiving Traditions Go, This One's a Gamble

I was thumbing through a magazine recently and came across an article on Thanksgiving traditions. There was a woman who was talking about something she does every year with her family that involves a little tree that sits on their table - they call it the Thankful Tree or some name like that. Starting on November 1st they all take turns attaching pieces of paper to the tree that have things they're thankful for written on them, things like, "I'm thankful for my wonderful kids" or "I'm thankful for stretch denim." Then on Thanksgiving day they read them out loud to each other and they get all emotional and everyone cries, even the men and the people with no feelings.

That got me thinking about something that I started a few months ago with my own extended family that I've decided to make into my Thanksgiving tradition. Something that has brought us together like nothing else, a simple activity that has brought new meaning to our family gatherings and has brought joy to everyone from my 87-year-old mother to my own 10-year-old daughter.

Yes, I'm talking about Bingo.

And really, what could make you more grateful than winning a fistful of dollar bills away from family members in a pseudo-gambling game that rewards you for getting five dots in a row?

Okay, so maybe it isn't as 'special' as getting a little note that tells you how much you're loved, but how many times do you have to hear that in one year? And tell me - are those sweet little notes going to pay the gas bill, or put a nice hunk of Stilton in your refrigerator? I didn't think so. And trust me - you'll see there's plenty to be thankful for when you yell out 'Bingo' and someone walks over and puts a big soft pile of money in your lap.

My little tradition started a few months ago before a family get-together. We had been trying to plan a family trip to Las Vegas but couldn't accommodate all our different schedules, so I thought the Bingo idea would satisfy everyone's gambling jones for the time being. We'd pour ourselves a drink, put our dollar bills in the pot, and feel the rush of uncertainty as we waited to see if we would win. It would be just like Vegas, except without the smoke and the ever present fear of accidentally walking into a Celine Dion show.

But this wouldn't be your kid's Bingo game -I wanted the feel of a real Bingo parlor. I journeyed into a strange part of town to a store called Bingo World and bought a deluxe Bingo cage, and ink daubers to use instead of those cheap plastic markers that could fall off your card. I wanted everyone to feel like they were actually playing in a church rec room, or spending a few hours with old ladies wearing fanny packs and crammed into an empty storefront next to a gun shop. When the person next to you asked to borrow a quarter I wanted his breath to smell just like cigarettes and day-old Slim Jims.

And what a fun time we had! There's nothing like seeing your elderly mother coming at you with a fistful of bills and hissing, "Here's five dollars. Now give me a good card this time" or seeing your schoolteacher sister jump up and do a little T-Pain grind when she realizes she just won the pot for the second time in a row. Kiyomi was the official Bingo caller and when I saw how she yelled out in a strong, clear voice, "B-29!" and "What part of N-70 didn't you understand?" I felt so proud and knew I had done my job as a parent.

I'm telling you - you can't buy these kinds of memories. I see this tradition as living on in our family for generations, long after that other family's Thankful Tree has been stuffed in a box and carted off to Goodwill. My kids will look back fondly on these gatherings, and wistfully say, "Remember the fourth game during Thanksgiving '08? I'll never forget the look on mom's face when she finally won and how her hands trembled as she counted out her thirty-eight dollars. Man, those were good times."

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tags: thanksgiving traditions | bingo | holiday traditions | vegas baby

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Going Green in L.A.? Doesn't Always Mean Driving a Prius

My latest post is up at Kango. This week I was asked to write about how Angelenos might celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Is this a holiday? I've always figured that if it didn't have its own, two-aisle special section at Target it wasn't worth celebrating. But come to find that there is plenty of Irish revelry scheduled for March 17 here in Los Angeles, and a lot of it centers around beer. Not that I'm complaining.

(I have no idea who this guy is in the picture. But I just discovered this new thing called Google and you can find lots of interesting crap with it!)

I have to admit St. Patrick’s Day is not a big holiday around our house. Although it should be, seeing as my husband is something like one-eighth Irish, along with some Scottish, English, Polish, and a certain allegiance to Australia since most of his relatives are there. Add to that my Japanese ancestry, and you can see how celebrating all of our cultures would be a little daunting. I think the most Irish thing my husband has ever done is hang an air freshener in his car that was shaped like a four-leaf clover...Read More...

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