Pretend it is Dec 22nd.

I was going to post this on Dec. 22nd but something happened and I never got around to it.

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Last Friday I went to the kid’s school for their Christmas Sing. I was overwhelmed with gratitude to live in a place that still allows Christmas celebrations instead of winter parties, or worse, no parties at all. They sang a lot of the old classic Christmas songs (Jingle Bells, Here Comes Santa Claus, Jingle Bell Rock etc.) as a group and then each grade sang their own song. They even had a teacher playing piano to accompany the kids. It was nostalgic. At the end the kids were all singing a song together when the principal brought in Santa Claus.

The party and cookie decorating went well. The kids had a blast. Some trees were works of art and others were just globed with frosting. Then there was my child who didn’t use any frosting at all, go figure! (This is a friend of Andrew's that live in our neighborhood)

Saturday we spent a lot of time at the mall after seeing Santa and then we went out to do some last minute shopping. We got home with two hours before the ward party. Paul did not want to go to the party because it was happening while the BYU game and Cowboys football games were on. He threw a mini fit when the bishop started talking about he game and I told him to just go home.

We had a nice time listening to music (Emma got to play her three songs while we were there) and visiting. Santa showed up and the kids got another picture with Santa and so did Maggie and I!

Sunday I got a new calling. I am no longer Enrichment Leader. I will now be an instructor in Relief Society. I will be teaching the Teaching for our Times lessons. I am excited about the change but I little nervous too. I teach next week! The way this calling came about I am where I know I need to be so that is a comfort.

After church we took some family photos by the Christmas tree. Some came out okay, others not so much. What would family pictures be without the outtakes?

That evening Emma had her piano recital. She felt bad that she made a little mistake but we reminded her that there wasn’t one kid there who didn’t make a mistake. I think that helped.

Monday was supposed to be stormy in the afternoon. The kids and I got up early to run some errands before the snow hit, but the snow wasn’t listening to the weathermen. It came fast and furious first thing in the morning. We started out but it was pilling up too quickly. We turned around and it was good we did. It accumulated so quickly. We got over 7” here on the bench. The kids and I just stayed inside all day long and I was able to finish up my project. I did it! I’m done! I’m thrilled!

I was worried about Paul getting home okay from work. He decided to send everyone home early so they could be safe on the roads. He finished up what he had to do and then made his way up the mountain after running around to the post office, bank and some stores. We spent well over and hour shoveling out the snow so we had a place to put his car. What a pain in the arse. I just don’t get why people would ever want to live in an area with snow. I am convinced that those who think it sounds fun have never tried it.

He Cried!

It wasn't a boohoo cry, but he was so touched with his gift he shed a tear. That sparkle below his eye is a tear. This is the man who has only cried at the birth of our children. He understood the love and work behind the gift and was as happy to receive it as I was to give it. It's true, giving of yourself is the best gift. We have had a magical, Spirit filled Christmas. It was just perfect. Merry Christmas everyone!

I didn't want to do this.....

but the Christmas Card thing just isn't going to happen before Christmas. Let's be honest, it might not happen at all. I'm sorry. I had the top card printed but never got around to getting envelopes or stamps. The bottom was the one I made first, but we ended up liking the brown one better. We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!

Santa

Today we went to the mall and the kids got to go and visit Santa. I appreciate the kids getting dressed up and doing this for me. It means a lot that they will still humor their mom even though they are getting pretty big for this type of thing.

Missing! One Santa Apron

Has anyone seen this apron? It hasn't been used since 2003 when this photo was taken
on Christmas Eve.

I found out that I am in charge of the snack table at the party. I could tell the room mom really wanted this to be interactive. I decided to get cookie decorating kits from our local grocery store (you can't take anything made at home) and soda for the treat.

I have a really cute Santa apron that I got at Old Navy years ago. I thought it would be fun to wear it today while I help the kids. I knew we had unearthed it while opening the bins of Christmas decorations so I went back into the garage to find it. It wasn't in any of the bins. I checked the linen closet. Nothing. I looked everywhere I thought it could be at least twice without any luck. I had given up and was feeling very defeated.

While I was doing my hair I had a bit of inspiration "Check the pantry where the aprons are hanging." There it was. Who would have thought to look in the location the item actually should be? Certainly not I.

Now I am ready to go party it up with the second graders!

Christmas Parties, Open Houses, Gatherings and Get Togethers

Last Friday was an adults only dinner with some friends. The food was great as was the company. Jennifer had all the kids at her house with a baby sitter. Jennifer is soooo amazing. She had gingerbread houses made from graham crackers ready for the kids to decorate, a movie for them to watch, pizza and ornaments to color! They had a blast.

Sunday night we had tithing settlement and it was also the annual holiday open house at the Erbs. Once again we had a great time visiting with friends and eating hors d'oeuvres. Monday was our neighborhood party/home night.

We were asked to bring food for the food bank and treats to share. I made my Peppermint Fudge (if you like fudge, it was great) and Mexican Wedding Cookies, AKA Snowballs. The cookies were a huge hit. I plan, well need, to make more soon.

I still have Andrew’s class party to do, our ward party to attend (Emma has been asked to play some background music along with the other kids she takes lessons with) and Emma’s piano recital. I hope I’m not forgetting anything!

Holiday Lights

(I wish this was my photo but it isn't. It was dark by the time we got there)

This year I had a list of things I wanted to do before Christmas. I wanted to visit Santa (even though the secret is out around these parts, it has become a tradition to get a photo with Santa), do the Holiday Lights at Thanksgiving Point and go ice-skating.

Last night we were trying to decide how we were going to fit everything in(we have even had to give away basketball tickets since they were on Dec. 23 rd and that wasn't going to work anymore), not to mention the weather has been bad and it is only suppose to get worse.

I said, “Why don’t we go right now?” No time like the present right? We hurried and got in the car, still in our pajamas, and drove over to Thanksgiving Point. It was neat, I’m glad we did it, but we won’t be doing it again! Paul felt like he was stuck in traffic LOL! Here is Andrew in the car in his PJ's.

Emma, mad that Andrew is trying to get in her picture.

The one shot that I got from our moving car.

Visiting Teaching

Today Maggie and I have appointments to do our visiting teaching. I love butter cookies with hot cocoa, it is one of my most favorite things this time of year. I saw these adorable little tins of cookies and knew they would look great with the blue peppermint cocoa cans sitting on top. The store was out of the blue cans so I got the next best thing, marshmallow, however they look like crap since they don’t match. Matching is very important to me. Very. After being convinced that I was sick in the head by Maggie and Paul, I decided to just keep what I had and not to let the colors bother me. (Like that can happen)

This is what it should have looked like. This is my own can of very well used Peppermint Cocoa.

Instead this is what they look like. Ick! I just have to remind myself of the song Silver and Gold

I now have to shower, and shovel my way out of the house and brave the snow for our appointments. I was going to do some returns and try to get the treats for Andrew’s Christmas party, but I might come right home if the roads seem too bad.

Just for the record, Marius hates snow. This is as far as he went (this is under our overhang where it should be dry but it isn't) then he turned around and is back asleep on my bed.

Update!!!

We went to Beth’s house and there were tons of cars. She had forgotten that she was having a presidency meeting so we didn’t get to visit with her. We just dropped off her gift and wished her a Merry Christmas. The roads were covered with snow at that point. It was/is bad. I will not be going to the store! I couldn’t even make it back up the mountain to my house. I had to have Gary pull me with his four-wheeler. My brand new car is cute, I love it, but I miss my all wheel drive……a lot.

Other useless info and ramblings…..

There is a program here for 5^th graders that we enrolled Emma in. She will get a ski passport that will allow her to go to each of the resorts in Utah up to three times. Paul dusted off his skis yesterday and enjoyed a half-day at Sundance before his work Christmas lunch at the Foundry Grill. He is so excited to teach his baby girl how to ski. He wants to do skiing the first time and then have her try snowboarding. I am trying to figure out how I can be there to take pictures.

Paul was given a quesadilla maker yesterday at work. He also brought home some tortillas and gourmet salsas from the Sundance gift shop for me. (Isn’t he so thoughtful?) Instead of the tri-tip, twice-baked potatoes and basil-roasted carrots we had planned for dinner we had quesadillas. The kids loved seeing the new toy in action! They thought it was so cool.

This time of year is great. Paul gets to bring home all kinds of things that are sent to his office. We got a Kneaders gift basket that was AWESOME! Emma got mad at me for eating all of the pumpkin bread. Oh well, you snooze, you lose;)

Christmas Cheer

I have heard a lot of people saying that it is hard for them to get into the Spirit of Christmas this year. I've felt it too. I like to blame working in retail for so many years. It really ruins the holidays dealing with crabby people who don't understand what Christmas is all about and working the long raunchy hours. This is my second year out of retail and it has been great.

Today everything started to turn around. I think that the little things like visiting Disneyland at Christmas, walking around Temple Square and driving around looking at lights have helped me shift from Bah Humbug to Holly Jolly. I hate to admit it since I hate snow so much but the little bit that we got today helped it feel like Christmas.

I found a few little gifts this morning that I know the kids will love. I have a surprise up my sleeve that I can't talk about that is making me pretty excited also. I am done with the Enrichment Christmas dinner so I can just focus on my family and it feels great.

I think the Christmas shopping for our immediate family is done, and now I can just attend all the neighborhood/ward parties, bake yummy cookies and wrap gifts. I am even going to try making Peppermint Fudge tomorrow after church.

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas and that is pretty great!

GLOW

Tonight we got to see Andrew in Glow. The second grade puts on this cute little musical each year. It is about finding your place in the world and how everyone has an important role. He was one of the fireflies. The music is really fun, the kids are so cute and the costumes were a riot. We all enjoyed ourselves (my parents made a trip down to watch with us) and I couldn't help being a proud mommy with a tear in her eye.

Yesterday was a Good Day

I got up and ran some errands and bought A Christmas Story for the kids. When I got home Paul was raking leaves. I was frustrated because I just knew he was doing it so he wouldn't have to go to the Festival of Trees. After he finished, we ate lunch, all showered, did our hair, got dressed, gathered are stuff and then we were finally ready to leave. I never thought we would get out of the house. The kids really enjoyed watching their new movie in the car as we made our way up to Sandy.

We were all really impressed with the trees that we saw. The were so unique and beautiful. Seeing the faces of some of the little children that these trees were dedicated to and have lost their lives really tore my heart out. It made me want to donate my time, a tree, a craft or anything really just so you know that you are helping to keep some of these children alive. I wonder what it would take to organize a donation next year. I saw some that were

sponsored by wards and some by grade school classes.

This was made of all blown glass by the artist who does the stained glass windows in the temples. It sold at auction for $27,000. It was stunning!

I couldn't help but think of Grandpa David when I saw this tree.

This tree was made in remembrance of Ashley. She was a beautiful little girl who passed away in March of this year at only six years old. To me it was the most special tree there. So pink a perfect for little Ashley.

This is a gingerbread castle that we just couldn't believe. It makes me crazy just thinking about making something like that.

After we were done we sent the kids off with grandma and grandpa and Paul and I had a little time to do some shopping. We went to Big Rock Clothing Company and realized we are too old and fluffy for designer clothes!

We walked around the Gateway and then went out to dinner at Thaifoon. It was delicious.

We had tickets to the BYU vs. Utah State basketball game that was being played at the Energy Solutions Arena. It was a great game.

Those Aggies were out in full force and boy were they a ruckus bunch!

BYU won the game by only a few points. It was very close and exciting. We had a great time!

After the game we walked to Temple Square to see the lights. We were meeting my parents and they were bringing all the grandkids so they could see the lights too. Right when they got there Cora got sick so that did NOT work out like we had planned. Our kids did not seem that interested so we rode Trax back to our car and went out to Leatherby's for ice cream sundae's. What more could you ask for?

This tree looked way cooler in person. The flash was just too bright.

The Happiest Place on Earth

The week before Thanksgiving we went on our third trip to Disneyland in the space of twelve months. My faith and love has been restored. It was the Disneyland I know and love. The crowds weren’t there, the temperature was great and the new Christmas decorations would have even the Grinch singing Fa La La La La. It was magical.

We flew into Long Beach airport (Bwahahaha! I’ not sure you can really call it an airport, but I digress…) very early Tuesday morning. We had our breakfast, got changed and found a Wal Mart where we bought deodorant and still got into the park by 11:00 am.

It was Mickey’s 80^th Birthday (we were also there on his 75^th Birthday!) and Emma and I were able to see him ride off with his best friends after being wished a Happy Birthday in a very fancy, very Disney style car. Notice the hood ornament and tires!

We were able to zoom onto every ride we wanted, meet Tinkerbell (here is Emma in Pixie Hallow)

and have our Dole Whips and clam chowder with time to spare.

Our friends arrived that night and the next morning we started our first official day of vacation out right with a continental breakfast of waffles, donuts and hot chocolate. The kids were so excited to get into Disneyland with their friends and to show them all around.

Their first priority was to ride on Indiana Jones. After we tackled Adventure Land, we then made our way to New Orleans Square. We found out that A Small World was having a soft opening after 10 months of renovations and got to enjoy all the lights that evening. It was beautiful and relaxing.

We got to do and ride just about everything we wanted to that day.

Thursday we ate at Goofy’s kitchen, which was great (Paul is even talking about “the next time we go” GASP!!!)

and then we went into California Adventure. We rode everything there, often more than once and left feeling satisfied that we had done all there was to do. I even managed to get Paul on the Hollywood Tower of Terror one last time. I have never laughed so hard. His eyes were squeezed shut so tight and I couldn’t help but claw at Maggie’s arm each time we dropped.
Friday was different. It was the first “official” day of Christmas in Disneyland. There was media set up everywhere and the crowds were back. We still managed to revisit our favorite rides and have a good day. Nothing beats soaring around the corner in a Matterhorn Bobsled and catching a glimpse the Small World all aglow below you.

It was also the first time, since we had arrived, that they turned on all the Castle Lights. It was amazing!

Saturday Robb, Maggie, Chandler and Olivia had an early flight home but we were able to go into the park for a few hours. We kept it easy and only rode one ride, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. We took the train around the park, saw all the princess’s

on our way out and got a nice dinner before driving back to Long Beach. We got home late that night where our fluffy Monsieur Marius greeted us. It was good to be home, especially in a dry house!

Under Construction

If you check in today and things look wonky, I am working on it. Hopefully we will be in the Christmas Spirit sooner rather than later.

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So I think I am done. How does it look? I have checked it on my wide screen and one my standard screen and it seems to be working on both. The banner is even lining up this time, unlike my Autumn one. If it looks crazy on your computer let me know but by golly I think I've done it!
Off to do a happy dance.