Christmas 2008

 

Last week seemed to blur by and I can't believe it's already Sunday. My husband came home from work early on Christmas Eve and we all sat around the kitchen table and peeled pears - and then we canned 19 jars of them. We would have gone for more, but ran out of jars and decided to dehydrate them instead (yum - like candy.)

We finished up as a couple of dear friends arrived to spend the evening with us.
Our candle light supper was pretty simple, yet special and enjoyable. We acted out the Nativity, watched Joy to the World, the kids opened their pj's, and then went to bed.
On Christmas morning our kids came into our room at 4:13 am. Holy cow! After some negotiations, around 7:45 our morning got started. I think one of the greatest things about Christmas this year was watching my kids give each other gifts.

One got her sister an alarm clock - I think that was one of the presents that she was most excited about. One got her sister a webkinz - one that she really wanted. They were both just so thrilled with what they'd given each other, we could have probably just stopped there. They were also excited about some hand made gifts they had made for family members. It was their first foray into machine sewing and embroidery and they did almost the entire thing by themselves.

The girls got some sleds that attach to their behinds - they call them 'big bottomers.' They spent a lot of their day outside sledding and playing in the snow. We had so much that my husband just shoveled it into piles along the driveway and the kids sledded down right there. We have a snow cave in the front yard now too.

My husband was able to take Christmas day off as well as Friday, so we've had him around for a while - and we've really enjoyed it! We've really enjoyed just hanging out together watching shows, sledding, playing games, and reading. Simple, nice, and quiet - what more could one ask for?

Christmas tradition - Jerusalem Supper

I'm excited that to celebrate Christmas Eve tonight! Our kids are getting older and it really makes the holidays so much fun. They were so excited to wake up this morning.

I hate that the focus of Christmas has moved from celebrating Christ - his birth, his life, his teachings, his love and his sacrifice, to commercialism and consumerism - I hate it.
Ever since I was very young my family began a tradition of having a Jerusalem supper on Christmas eve - this has become my favorite Christmas tradition. I love this tradition because it helps put the Christ back into Christmas for me.

For our supper we try to eat foods that Mary and Joseph may have eaten. Our menu tonight will include roasted chicken, grapes, dates, figs, pomegranates, pineapple, cheeses, and olives. We eat our supper by oil lamplight (but candles work too.) I love the simplicity of the dinner, and the reverent mood created by the lamps.



After dinner, we read and act out the nativity. We are excited to have two friends joining us tonight, and so we will have more people to play different parts, and then we watch the movie "The Lamb of God."

In a new twist this year, the girls have asked to go caroling prior to our supper.

I'm excited to spend this special evening with them and can't wait!

Christmas can officially begin

As I was reading a journal entry from last year I came across something I'd recorded that my husband had mentioned. It was December and I had played "For Unto Us a Child Is Given" from Handel's Messiah in church that day. After I'd played it, he had sighed and told me that Christmas could now officially begin - apparently it never begins for him until I've performed this piece.

As such, I played it in church last Sunday, and again today at a friend's piano recital as she accompanied me.

We've mailed out our cards and packages, made treats to share with our friends, got some snow, and I think we are officially ready to sit back and enjoy the holidays. Wishing everyone a peaceful and joyful holiday season!

We did it!!!

In September of 2007 our stake presidency asked us to begin reading the New Testament. Although our children are small, we decided to take up the challenge and give it a try. It took us until Easter to get through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John - talk about timeliness!

Well, tonight, we finished the last two chapters of Revelations and we were all very excited to say - WE DID IT! We read the entire New Testament - WITH two young children - they helped read and they followed along.

Ironically, last Sunday a letter from our Stake Presidency was read, asking us to read Preach My Gospel, so we'll be starting right in on that. Nice timing!

It has been a special experience to spend time as a family each night reading together. We've been able to have some amazing gospel discussions, and we have grown to love and appreciate our Savior Jesus Christ as we've come to know Him together as a family.

What a blessing it has been. If you haven't read it for a while - I challenge you to start now - it will change your life.

Old Christmas tradition renewed

I remember being awestruck and mystified as a child when we would visit my grandparent's home. My grandparents had an old Swedish Christmas decoration that I could never get enough of. It consisted of some angels, candles, and some chimes. When the candles were lit, the angels would begin to twirl and thus the chimes would begin to ring. How did it work? I could never figure it out, but I loved it when grandma got the candles out and lit it up for us.



Several weeks ago I found this same decoration in a catalog and couldn't help myself. It came last night and we lit it up for FHE last night and we were all mesmerized. Yes, I know, elementary physics, but still so beautiful and fascinating.

Thanks grandma for the warm memories and for something I can pass down to my children!

Another year!

Several years ago (I'm not saying how many) I met my husband. He noticed that I had joined our church choir, and so he too joined up. That year we learned and performed 'Otro año mas' meaning - another year has passed. It talks about looking back and evaluating the past year. Is there something I can and should do better the next year etc. A fairly interesting hymn of self reflection to say the least.
My husband still remembers this hymn and enjoys singing it with gusto.

So as I thought about this blog, I thought about the related hymn. We just hit another anniversary - yep another one and we still like each other. We even still love each other. Marriage - what a miracle.

It's kind of funny when you meet the person that completes you and sort of fills in that other half. Where I'm off the walls (yes, me-gasp) he is down to earth. He is patient, generous, and kind, and over the years I've seen him turn in to a very wise man who gives great counsel (generally in the form of - just sleep on it, don't say anything and DON'T write any e-mails or letters about it - wait until tomorrow.) He shares my joys and my sorrows and is my best friend. He's the last person I want to see each night and the first one I want to see in the morning. I'm so grateful and thrilled that he's mine. We share our hopes and our dreams and look forward to the future together.

Although we discussed lots of fun filled romantic anniversary options, ultimately, we ended up sitting in the dentist's chair for our six month exams and then getting snow tires. What could be more romantic you ask? It's true, I was all aflutter:)

As we were in a slightly unfamiliar town, we made plans to go to dinner. After first trying a restaurant which had peanut shells strewn all over the floor, raw slabs of meet at the entry, hordes of people, and a 50 minute wait, then a Indian restaurant that was a hole in the wall, we finally opted for a nice little Italian restaurant complete with candles and twinkle lights. We had a very enjoyable dinner, and then went back to where we were staying and watched an edited version of 'Gladiator.' Yep - there's the reality for you. It just isn't possible for every year to be a tropical get away anniversary. And really - that's okay with me. Just like anything there are ups and downs. Life isn't a tropical island and sometimes you need the dentist and snow tires. The journey isn't really that important - rather, it's sharing the journey that counts.

Here's our self portrait we took from our cell phone at the restaurant.

 

And yes - my dentist is great - check out that sparkly smile!

Something's right

I'm not sure if the sun, moon, and stars are properly aligned, or what it could be, but something is going right. I was amazed this morning.

If you know my oldest daughter, you might know that she has 'porcupine'ish tendencies. She doesn't like physical demonstrations of love. She doesn't hug, she doesn't express her love - she just doesn't. We've learned to accept it. The closest you can generally get is to wrestle with her - that's how she gets the physical love she needs - yes wrestling. Each night after scriptures and prayers I always say - "who wants to give me a hug and kiss goodnight?" She then runs the other direction. However this past week she's been squeezing the guts out of me - that's very new.

This morning as she was running out the door to school, she actually turned around and came back to give me a hug! I about fell over as it is the first act of physical affection initiated by her that I've seen in a LONG LONG time.

She did all of her homework on Tuesday after school - with a minimal fuss, and made both lunches this morning. I'm not quite sure what is going on, but I really like it. Maybe she's maturing - I don't know but it sure is nice. I do acknowledge that by the act of publishing this post, it is likely that things may go in the other direction. However, when something this extraordinary happens, I have to record it!

I'm a winner!

So despite what my brother may say - I got a notice in the mail that yes indeedy, I am a winner! Remember way back when I entered my peaches and tomatoes and jam and all sorts of other things in the county fair? Well, I just won again! I received this in the mail yesterday.


I won the premium prize and I got $15 in coupons for canning stuff.
Even better than that was the timing - I just bought 63 lbs. of pears to can on my new stove.

Back porch photos

I heard some odd bumps on our back porch the last couple of nights. When I opened up the curtains, this is what I saw

Please note that he appears to be sticking out his tongue at me! Why I never...!

The Stove saga

So - last fall (yes 2007) while canning I somehow managed to create so much heat that my internal stove top wiring all melded together. Since then, I've been solely operating on my two small burners. We ordered parts, but they never came in, and when they finally did it was much later, and the roads seemed to be treacherous and then we could never get hold of the guy. Yes - very long boring saga.

Here's the old stove

So just before canning season, I thought maybe we just might need to address the stove situation again. The local gas company (that also does appliance repairs etc) ordered some new parts for us. They found some special burners that are a little more heavy duty and raised up - made specifically for canning so they said and ordered them for me. Along came August, September, October and finally November... and somebody was getting a run around. So here are some pictures of the installation of our new stove. We switched from electric to gas - we're still doing some adjusting, but my husband made cinnamon rolls today on his own and they were beautiful. Who knew a new stove would get him cooking?

We had to drill through our floor to connect to the gas downstairs (yes the kitchen is a bit messy - oh well, it's been worse)


Here's our friend who was willing to work for food and help us out - with his 'red-necked tool' as he called it.


I'm so happy to be able to cook normally again!

I take it back

Well - apparently we weren't actually finished with the bikes - my last posting appeared to be a bit premature. Maybe next week?

Anecdotally

Yesterday I looked at the date Dec. 3rd and realized that my kids were STILL riding their bikes to school - I couldn't believe it! However, today we crossed into the threshold of snow. We awoke to something just barely heavier than a dusting and I believe that the bikes will be put away until the spring. With Christmas three weeks away, it seems like it's about time.

Overdue Gratitude

As I look at the last week - I realize that I am grateful for so many things. Here are a few of them (not necessarily in order of importance):

Health - (especially after the nasty Thanksgiving Day virus that hit my family and I)
Home - a place where I feel safe and loved - my own oasis and haven in the tumultuous world
Family - both my micro and macro. They give me the strength to be, and the freedom to be me. They love for my accomplishments and even my faults (I think) They also help me to laugh!
My freedoms - the opportunity to believe in whatever I want
Employment - there are many who aren't employed right now - my heart and prayers go out to them
Enough - I have food on my table, clothes on my back - possibly much more than many others in the world
Love - those I love and those that love me
Laughter - it keeps the world going, and gets me through difficult times
Friends - those who lift me and pick me up when I need it most
Life - birds, flowers, sunshine, blue skies, green grass and children's laughter
Books - they take me away when I need a quick escape
Adventures - something to dream about
Future - something to plan for
My husband - someone to dream and plan with
Air - clean mountain air to breathe
Stars - to sit on my porch and watch (with minimal light pollution thanks to our town's night sky ordinance!)
Roads - to get around on (when they are open)
Cars - that work
A furnace- need I elaborate?
Children - the promise of tomorrow and their laughter and excitement
Agency - being able to make my own choices and mistakes and be accountable for my actions
Music - where would my life be without it? I'd be expressionless!

I'm sure I could go on and on, but I stop there. Moving along, we had some family come in for Thanksgiving, which we celebrated early on Wed. It was a fairly simple meal, yet enjoyable. Thursday morning I woke up quite early feeling sick (I hadn't felt great on Wed.) and was thrilled when I started to feel better that evening. One of my children got sick Thurs. pm, and my husband the next evening. Needless to say - I am extremely grateful for modern day inventions such as indoor plumbing!
We enjoyed our guests - thanks for braving the weather, and for not being offended when I couldn't properly entertain.

Following are some photos of our dinner. We had the fairly traditional meal - turkey, potatoes & gravy, yams and apples, (candied yams for my brother) cheesy beans, homemade wheat rolls, homemade cranberry sauce (with raisins and walnuts,)and my favorite salad followed later by the pies.

Here we are out for pizza the night before



Dad and the girls hanging out and keeping out of the kitchen that morning



The Turkey




Check out the facial expression on some of these characters!


The pies
Lemon Meringue

Cherry

Emeril's Banana Cream

(Pumpkin - Not pictured)

Afterward






The finished puzzle



Finally - on another much less grateful note:

The Birds - my girls saw these on our neighbor's houses. It seemed too 'Hitchcockish' not to photograph. Kind of eerie!

Finally Finished!

So, I've been working on this project for a while, and even posted the unfinished product earlier. Here is the final quilted and finished product, just in time for Christmas!

Here's the front



And obviously the back

I guess it has been a while and I should post. This past week I've been pondering some of the changes that are hitting our nation. Suddenly, some of my beliefs have come under virulent attack and I've been interested to feel my own emotions and reactions to these attacks.
Last week I spent a lot of time working on some cleaning projects. While I worked, I listened to the past General Conference. As I listened to some of the talks, I was amazed at HOW much they applied to today, now, especially in response to the backlash from some of the recent election issues. I was particularly impressed with a talk given by Elder Robert D. Hales and Elaine Dalton. They both talked about standing firm and not lowering our standards. No matter what others may say, or what the public opinion may hold, there are absolutes. Some things are wrong no matter how they are painted, and some are right. I've just been thinking about this quite a bit lately. Yep - lots of controversial stuff, but it's been on my mind.

On another note, the food storage challenge is over. We somehow survived. And, apparently, despite their rapturous statements, my kids do NOT like the powdered milk. I think the novelty wore off after um... one glass?
One thing that was tough was being asked to take dinner to someone who was sick, and then the next week being asked to take two dinners to the school teachers. We made chile one day, rice and eastern indian food and I just forgot everything else we did, but we survived. I did find that I need some powdered eggs, cheese and butter. I was surprised to realize how often we just use those types of ingredients and don't really realize it.
I'm sure all of our local grocers will be thrilled to know that the challenge is over as I'm sure they were affected by the challenge as well.

What'sup?

Lots going on - sorry about the slacking.

Do you really want my food storage menu from the week?
Monday - Homemade tomato soup and green chile cornbread
Tuesday - Curried vegetables and rice
Wednesday - Fried chicken, au gratin potatoes and veggies (I finally learned to make the chicken and it worked!!)
Thursday - Stew and homemade wheat bread
Friday - work party - yuppie appetizers
Weekend - lost cause...we spent the weekend out of town. My husband got to make up for some lost time this summer (all of those girls'cations we did without him) and hang with the kids for two days. Might I say - he's been in bed tonight since 8:15 pm. :)

So being out of town sort of skewed the food storage thing - I heard they had McDonald's for breakfast. Mexican for lunch (I joined them for a moment), and Perkins (similar to Village Inn) for dinner. Sunday was hotel breakfast, leftover take out and some fresh fruits, veggies, bread, and Halloween candy, with a dinner of tacos back at home. I can just hear how jealous my readers are, and almost see you salivating.

We'll see how next week goes. My kids did state that they wished we could always drink powdered milk - they think it tastes great!

In regards to our trip, well - the snow is officially flying. As we traveled early Sat. am, we happened upon VERY icy roads. As we started down a pass, we saw a car that had moments before slid off of the road and rolled several times moments before it resting upon its roof. We called 911. On our way home we came upon another accident. I swear my blood pressure never goes down between November until June - I really need a winter home somewhere else!

On another note, a friend sent me a link regarding some negative press and religious protestations occurring in several areas in regards to some recent ballot issues. I was amazed at how skewed and biased the articles that I've read have been. I spent some time tonight on the LDS.org website in the newsroom. If you haven't taken the time, I'd recommend spending some time hanging out there. There is a particularly informative article which is a transcript from an interview with Elders Oaks and Whitman on some of the issues.

And finally on a much lighter note (no pun intended,) one of our kids started singing in her sleep at 4:00 am this morning. I kid you not - singing. 3 different songs, then went back to sleep - well, she was already asleep, but back to where ever she was. She is CONSTANTLY singing or humming, but I thought it was hilarious to note how much a part of her conscious and subconscious it has become. That's my girl!

The food storage challenge

Did you know that in 1913 over 7 feet of snow fell from one storm and 35 mi/hr winds were sustained in my area?
Living in our area, the accesses in and out are very limited. As such, if the road is closed, no one gets in or out. We've had avalanches that took two weeks to clear from the roads - the grocery stores were barren.
In church yesterday we discussed the importance of our being prepared. We were challenged to live off of our food storage for the next two weeks. The point was that it should give us a pretty good idea of what we might need, what we might like, and that we might also see how prepared we actually are.
Kind of interesting to think about - how would you do???

Well, we came home and my husband immediately inventoried our freezer and our pantry. We are up for the challenge - it will be interesting to see how we manage.

While we'd planned on a bigger meal for lunch, my daughter wanted breakfast for lunch so we fared with pancakes and spam (yum, I know.) After taking an easy day, we ended up with some peaches on toast for dinner.

I thought it would be fun to sort of journal this and see how we actually do.
I dare you to try it!

Creation

Yesterday was a creation day. Elder Uchtdorf mentioned a while ago that we need to create, and so I spent my day yesterday doing just that. Here's a quilt top that I started cutting four years ago. Then it got set aside for a while. When I pulled it out, I found that I hadn't really known what I was doing at the time. As such - the result wasn't exactly how I'd envisioned it, but I finally pushed through and finished it as best I could. I think it is pretty darn cute - thanks to my friend who gave me the present suggestion for the filler blocks.

On another note, to offset my creationism, I am also a sewing machine breaker. Three weeks ago, I took my new one (May) back because it stopped working. Just as I had laid out my borders and was starting to work on them last night, my new machine decided to stop - oh, I'm so mad (and hate that machine anyways)...so my borders aren't on yet. Guess I'll have to trade it back in again...

Here is our other creation. The girls and I spent some time on the computer searching for what they wanted to bring in for their class treats today, and this is what we came up with. Little blue hairy monster guys.


Kind of crazy but fun. The girls helped cut the gum/feet, the whoppers/eyes, and the antennae/licorice and then assembled everything.

Happy Halloween!!

Avalanche!

 

So last Wednesday my husband called me from work and asked me if I had plans for Thursday. I didn't think so, and so he told me that his boss had been given some tickets for a hockey game. He asked if I'd like to use the tickets with some girlfriends since he had to study. While my sister was coming into town on the train (getting up at 3:00 am) she was game as well as two friends.
We traveled to Denver, got to park in the VIP parking lot (we didn't have to pay for parking in Denver - what a first!)
The tickets were for a suite...what does this mean you may ask? Well - you get very cushy seats, only approx. 12 people are in the room with you, there is a sink, counters, a fridge etc. And the best part? You get a private toilet!! Yes, I know it doesn't sound very exciting, but I would much rather share the potty with 12 people vs. 10,000 +/-. Yep - that was the highlight for me - the private facilities - I was sold there!
The Aves played the Edmonton Oilers, and spanked them well. The game ended at 4-1.
I have to say, I enjoy hockey, but I hate the violence when they get into the fights. I understand it is a physical sport, but I don't like how the media responds to the fights - focusing and highlighting them -that's the part that makes me sick. However, the majority of the game was great, and all of the penalties were for hooking... oh the jokes...never mind...I missed my old friends Camille and Cherish at those few moments - those who really appreciate my humor.

So - in regards to the pictures - that one ref - he had a MAJOR mullet...it needed to be documented. My sister really wanted a rickshaw ride to the car after the game. Mony, Mony really brought back some memories, and NO ONE can get down and dance in public like LIZZIE!

Halloween Party

Here's a scrapbook of pictures from our Halloween Party last night. Our eldest was pretty tough to pin down (off playing with friends) so we appreciate the token photos we got of her! Hope you enjoy.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook