Wednesday, December 30, 2009

A Post-Christmas Christmas Post

My Butt, I'm behind on blogging. Oh, I mean, My, but I'm behind on blogging! ...I'll never forget my friend Randy who played Bob Cratchit in a production of A Christmas Carol. He walked on stage and said, "My Butt! Would you look at this room!" when he was supposed to have said, "My, but would you look at this room!" Luckily that was just in a dress rehearsal. It sure was funny. BUTT I digress.

Christmas happened, so blogging did not. I'm sitting at the back desk watching snow come heartily sprinkling from the sky, and I'm wishing Christmas were still a few days ahead of us instead of a few days behind us. Partly because I've had the work all done for so long now, whereas I was still scrambling around on the 23rd and 24th. It's just so Christmassy out there! I hate that the season goes away as quickly as it comes. I guess that means that I really do love it.

Things to remember about this year. Our family did a few fun things such as visiting Zoo Lights with my brother Peter and his family. What a spectacular sight! Of course, we went on the discount night, which meant that we were kind of shoulder-to-shoulder with half the valley. I'd say that the zoo lights were spectacular and totally worth paying more money for a less-crowded night. The kids were entranced.

Another evening out was Indian Food and This is the Place State Park with our friends the Radants. Indian Food? Totally worth it. This is the Place? Perhaps not. It was so crowded I couldn't believe it and it was almost not fun. Almost except that we love the Radants and we always enjoy time with them. Also, some of the attractions bordered on being kind of strange. There was a puppet show in which something like, "The God of all Heaven!" kept being shouted by these puppets that looked like they came straight from the 70's. Little weird. But we did like the gang of highly theatrical and historically dressed singers wandering around. They were very cute, if slightly too reminiscent of the cast of Glee.


I always love visiting the down town lights at Christmas time, but we weren't sure we'd be up for the crowds this year. I hate it when everyone discovers something cool and then it's not cool anymore because it's so dang crowded! Well, the kids and I came up with an alternate plan that ended up being really really fun. We got in the car, buckled up, turned on some Christmas tunes, and took a driving tour of the valley. Up Capitol Hill, down through the city, over to Christmas Street, playing i-spy all the while. It really was fun! And warm. It would have worked out better if Bundle hadn't been crying most of the way, but I think it's a great alternative to braving the crowds and cold.

On the 23rd my entire family gathered for our traditional Mexican feast with gift exchange. It was so fun to be all together, although there are so many kids now that the atmosphere at our parties is much the same as you'd find inside a popcorn popper. Not a lot of quiet moments to sit and reflect on the season or have much serious conversation, but I'll promise you you'll never get bored. Great gifts, too. Peter and Sheri had us this year and gave us a hard copy of the first year of our blog. THAT is a treasure for us, so many thanks to them. The evening did have its high-brow highlight, which was when my sister and her friend who is a harpist played some music for us - some Christmas, some not, all delightful. It really made the evening.


I have a feeling that these three girls are going to be slightly over-photographed together over their youth, but we just can't help ourselves. Well, I think that's all this post can hold. I better publish before another month goes by, and keep working on all the other updating I have to do!

Monday, December 14, 2009

Having a Wonderful Christmas Time

I think we may have started something this year that will become a can't-miss-it tradition in the future. I got an email from the SLC Downtown Alliance advertising that the Broadway movie theater would be hosting a free screening of A Muppet Christmas Carol and serving waffles and wassail. My brother Peter and I decided this sounded like the funnest thing ever and were planning on going. And then our brains turned on. He has a two-year-old and an infant. I have an infant and a four-year-old. It would be cold. We'd have to go early to get tickets. Maybe this would not actually be fun at all. So we decided to put it on ourselves at our own house - after all, I can make both waffles and wassail. Peter has a copy of A Muppet Christmas Carol (perfect for kids because it adds a lot of humor to the spooky stuff) and Troy has a projector that you hook up to a laptop. So I hung up a sheet in our living room. Margaret, one of her girls and my dad all joined us. Seriously, I think we're going to have to do this every year. Yummy waffles (anything is good if you add melted butter to the batter) with plenty of toppings - buttermilk syrup, berries, applesauce, and, for my dad, roasted raspberry chipotle sauce. Not everyone's choice, but he sure loved it. Cuddled up on couches with heaps of pillows and wiggly babies to watch a really great movie, which was broadcast on a screen just to the side of our glowing Christmas tree. FUN!!!


By the way, I have to say that I so love our tree this year. I just love getting those leggy kind of trees that show off all the ornaments so well. I love all the ornaments the kids have made. I love the new ribbon I got at Tai Pan. I LOVE the new garland I got from 10,000 villages - it's a string of folded grass stars, colored red - I need to go get more and hang them all over my house. Last night for family home evening we (Troy) built a fire in our wood stove, put on soft Christmas music, turned out the lights and snuggled up on the couch next to the tree. We made a plan to surprise someone we know with some anonymous gifts (just little things the kids will pick out) and sang some Christmas songs. Moments like those just make the season for me.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Two Houses, Both Alike in Dignity.




Not really. One house was definitely more dignified than the other. I'm hardly to blame for not having the gentle spirit of creativity with me as I slammed together the gingerbread house in our 4th annual house construction party with The Misty and Co. This continues to be a favorite tradition, heading up to Bountiful on a chilly Monday evening in December, eating pizza and salad and then starting the wrestling match between me and my kids as I piece together the house while they simultaneously try to eat it. Come on, guys! At least let me put it together before you start eating the stuff! And why are they so sure they want to eat it? The gingerbread is hard as a rock, probably due to the fact that it's been in a Costco warehouse since July. I know the candy is colorful, but it really is not the tastiest of treats around. And yet, it is made of sugar, so my kids are pre-programmed to do anything they can to get it in their mouths. And also, Bundle was not a happy girl hanging out with the men in the living room while the kids and moms were doing the decorating in the kitchen. So, I did not come up with the best house ever, but it was still fun. And really, as long as the thing is plastered all over with colorful candy and pasty frosting, it ends up looking great. Now, I bought two house kits this year in case I had the energy to put one together for the kids and then one for me to do in my uptight, perfectly symmetrical and color coded way. I did not. But the house kit is just sitting in my kitchen, and I can kind of imagine me doing it all by myself late one night just to satisfy my inner perfectionist. How crazy would that be? Quite, I tell you. Quite.


Wednesday, December 09, 2009

Baby Bundle is Big!


I just love photographs of babies being enthralled with their very first Christmas Tree. That just warms my heart. Well, as I type this, Miss Bundle is sitting right next to me in her Saucer of Joy. You know, the very large but very helpful "exersaucer." She's babbling away, chewing happily on anything she can grab, trying to get me to look at her and doing a bit of drooling. What a big girl. Last week she turned six months old and what I'm wondering is how come the past six months have blown by in a millisecond while my nine month pregnancy took at least a decade to get through.

I would say that Bundle's big six month accomplishment is to be the best grabber this side of the Mississippi. Heaven help you if there is anything on your person that she wants to put in her mouth, because she will come at you, mouth agape, like a ferocious toothless dive-bomber. Lately I feel like I'm getting gummed to death all day long. And it's worse if you have hair. Anywhere. Poor Troy, his arms are going bald because Bundle is methodically dehairing him one gripfull at a time. Youch! (Wow, spell checker doesn't like my creative use of the English Language here.) Here are some examples of her steely grasp:




You know, as difficult as the past couple of months have been as we've been getting a handle on her reflux and now dealing with head colds and bilateral ear infections and upset tummies due to antibiotics (I'm so not loving this) and in general getting not much sleep, I'm still just in love with this little bug. She's really starting to be a big baby now, with the dadadadada babbles and reaching her arms up for me and playing "how big's the baby?!?" I can't get enough of her. Okay, today when she refused to nap for five hours, (yes, I was counting,) I did actually get enough of her for a while. But for the most part, I feel like I could look at her round little elf-face for hours. She's a keeper, I'll tell ya!


(Check out that belly hanging over down to her knee caps! Love it!)


Monday, December 07, 2009

Calling All Bakers!


That's kind of dumb title, I know, but I can't keep titling my blog posts "Another Lesson Learned." I feel like I'm learning LOTS of lessons these days. My latest educational venture has been in the world of cookie making. As I may have mentioned in the past, Sunday afternoons get a little LONG for me. I was thinking of what we could do to fill up an empty afternoon and I thought to myself, "Hey! Candy Cane sugar cookies! Fun!" I mean, how hard can it be to mix up some sugar cookie dough, color half of it red, roll it out, cut it in strips, twist the strips together, and bake them up like candy canes? Well, I tell you. It's very hard. Something went terribly wrong in the "roll it out, cut it in strips and twist the strips together" department. Those were the ugliest cookies I've ever seen. Happily, the kids had a great time playing with the dough that was left over after I gave up, and as it turns out, even ugly cookies are delicious!

p.s. If you MUST know why the kids aren't wearing shirts, it's because they had just been playing Tarzan. Running around in their undies with their blankies tied in intricate fashions around their nether regions. That was funny. I did convince them to put on pants (and wash their hands) before handling the dough.


Tuesday, December 01, 2009

I Love You, Cornelius!


You'll never believe it, but this phrase, as of last night, is now one of the most commonly uttered things in our house. I myself am a little surprised.

I think I started my new favorite Christmas Tradition last night. On the good advice of my friend Melissa (thank you thank you!) I have begun the tradition of "The Elf on the Shelf." I guess this is a book you can buy that comes with a little elf and it costs like 30 bucks or something. I just took myself down to Tai Pan and picked out a cute little guy for $6. Then, starting December 1st, the elf gets to hang out on a shelf (or, in our case, in the treat basket on top of the fridge today) and keep an eye on the kids all day. He reports back to Santa at night, thus appearing on a different shelf each morning. Rules? Kids can't touch but they can talk to him all they want.

Last night, being Monday, we had a quick family home evening after we held the season's first viewing of Rudolf. I wasn't sure how warmly the kids would take to this idea of a little dolly perched someplace in our house for a whole month and me using him as bribery for good behavior. Stupid me. I pulled out our elf, and started telling the kids that he is a real Santa's helper and everything. Their eyes grew wide with amazement and awe. They had all sorts of questions about him (wish I had thought through some answers sooner - answering those things on the fly is a bit of a task...) and we picked his name, Cornelius (in honor of Yukon Cornelius, of course). The kids have been nothing short of hilarious, talking to him, telling on each other to him, and believing in his purpose with great gusto. This is so fun. Last night Troy had to actually leave the room to go and laugh, while I was left to try to smother my snickers as the kids faithfully reported to Cornelius all of their good deeds, all of their Christmas hopes and dreams. They wish him good evening and good morning, they ask his opinion on important matters, and Stomper even apologized to him after being a stinker to me. Huh. I'm trying to figure out how to get Cornelius to stick around for a while...