CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS

Okay, okay... I know it's been awhile.  A whole month, actually.  But I got really busy after Thanksgiving and then I got sick the whole week before Christmas and now I am sitting here with a massive headache (probably stress induced) trying to update my blog because it seems silly to have the title with no substance (and because Emily got a little sassy in her comment!).  Actually, I have been thinking about this blog post for most of the week since everything this time of year often revolves around tradition.  So here goes.....

I come from a family of tradition lovers.  We LOVE our traditions.  Sometimes we debate (discuss rapidly) which behaviors are actually tradition and which are not, sometimes we resurrect old traditions, sometimes (due to current circumstances) we postpone traditions for next year, and sometimes we catch ourselves doing the same thing over and over and pronounce, "it must be TRADITION!" Whatever its origin or reason, my family loves our traditions.  And I have come to rely on them for a certain sense of familiarity and belonging and comfort.... especially when sick.  I thought I would share a few of my favorite from this year.

Christmas decorations  

1-The past many years, although not when we were children, my mother puts her Department 56 North Pole Village set on the mantle and lights it up.  These houses - each house with a letter on it (the entire set spells out North Pole) - stay lit all day and all night.  In the evening, with the fire in the fireplace, the lights of the room low, the TV turned off, the village's soft glow fills our family room with this incredible look.  I always try to take one night to sit on the sofa after everyone has gone to bed, sip a cup of tea or hot chocolate (or warm milk with honey when I have a cough) and be quiet in the soft glow.  It has become one of my favorite calming traditions during a season of chaos.  

2-My entire life we have had wood letters with Christmas paintings on them that spell out N-O-E-L.  They are free standing, so we can space them as close together or as far apart as we wish.  Every Christmas season, NOEL somehow rearranged itself to spell LEON with a little help from my dad.  Who is LEON, you ask?  Who knows.  It doesn't matter.  LEON has become my dad's NOEL and even now one of us will always rearrange the letters in his honor.... some traditions become more about the person than the actual act.

3-The Christmas tree and its ornaments are generally a source of frustration every year.  We never seem to get one that pleases everyone and I have decided that stringing lights around the tree is the worst job EVER invented.  How many times can you get poked in the face with pine needles before you give up?!?!  So this year I refused to put the ornaments on.... long story, but we ended up with a beautiful tree filled with salt dough star cookies and hand strewn garland of popcorn and cranberries.  It was gorgeous.  But Christmas Day I realized that ornaments are not just there to give me grief, many are part of our tradition.  So I admit that I, too, was a little bummed that I scrooged out and didn't hang our traditional ornaments on the tree this year.  It seemed like Christmas-light without the Starship Enterprise ornament with a button that says, when pushed, "shuttle craft to enterprise, shuttle craft to enterprise... spock here.  Live long and prosper."

Christmas Eve

1- I have no idea when or why this started as our dinner tradition, but for as long as I can remember we eat spaghetti on Christmas Eve.  Not just any spaghetti, though.  This is Ce Pfeiffer's traditional Italian sauce recipe with short ribs and italian sausages that simmer in the sauce all day long.  It is so good.  I don't think any of us would ever trade this tradition for another kind of dinner on Christmas Eve.  

2- After dinner, we have always had a short Christmas Eve program.  As kids, there were often skits involved.  But when we moved here over 25 years ago, one of our first Christmas Eve's involved a power outage.  So we gathered all the candles we could and continued reading the story of Christ's birth from the scriptures, another story mom would always buy for dad to read, sing a couple Christmas songs and drink wassail.  The lights out became an instant family classic to be recreated every Christmas Eve since (although now with our aging eyes, we tend to leave one of the lights on in an adjacent room as well as the Christmas tree lights, of course).  

3- Midnight Mass.  Obviously, this became a tradition for the adults who were still up wrapping presents and putting together Santa toys.  I don't think I have ever watched the entire thing.... I get a little sleepy with all the Latin and bell ringing and stuff.  But I love the tradition of having it on the TV as we move in and out of rooms finishing preparations for the big day.  I will always stop to watch the Pope and listen to a few of the songs.  It really is quite impressive.

Christmas Day

I realize everyone has the tradition of opening presents, so I will skip ahead to the after party with Johnny Mathis or Bing Crosby blasting from the CD player and mom cooking a ginormous breakfast to get us through the day.  Then the frenzy begins.  The most notable tradition of opening presents/stockings, however, is the tangerine in the toe of our stocking.  Every year we have a tangerine (discovered only recently to be from the neighbor's tree) in the toe of our stocking to prevent smaller items of treats or toys from falling down there and getting lost. Oh, and corn nuts.  Yuck.  Every year a bag of corn nuts in my stocking and every year I hand them straight over to Julie.  Stocking traditions are the best!

It was a wonderful Christmas as you can see.  I am indeed grateful for my family this year and every year.  I am especially grateful for our traditions that I can pass on to my own family someday..... and now to all of you.  I will save our New Years tradition for my next post.  For now I wish you all a very happy holiday.  Thanks for all you have given me in love andfriendship in 2008 and I look forward to an even better 2009!

Thanksgiving.... Trot and all

So, it's been a month since my last post and I have now become the blogger that I make fun of - same dumb post day after day after day.  Sorry, folks.  Most of November was uneventful, so I will skip-a-dee-doo-dah ahead to Thanksgiving.  All the family was here - 7 adults, 4 kids, 3 dogs.  Tight fit, but it was a whole lotta fun.  For those of you who care, Jen and I got up early Thanksgiving morning for the 5K Turkey Trot.  It rained in the beginning, but cleared up nicely.  I admit that I walked most of the route, but my goal was to finish and I did.  At first I was disappointed in myself, but Jennie kept reminding me that this is only the beginning and I need to be proud of what I did accomplish and use that to move forward.  By the time we got home, I had recommitted myself to another 5K where my goal will be to run the entire course!  I am grateful for a sister who is so supportive and, yet, so give-it-to-me-straight.  She cheered me the whole way and then reminded me of what I need to do better for next time.  

Thanksgiving Day and weekend was great.  Full of lots of food and fun with the whole famdamily.  We did plenty of shopping and eating, even managed our traditional outing to Wildlights at The Living Desert and, of course, lunch at Thai Smile.  But the best part is our TRADITION - every year since 1984 we each have written thoughts and hopes for that year to be placed in a "time capsule" (which turns out to be old cookie tins).  Now we have so many that we open last year's, 5 years ago, 10 years ago and 20 years ago.  It is always one of the highlights of Turkey Day to read our time capsule letters from years past.  This year was most interesting because of the contrast of the situations I was in 5 years, 10 years, and 20 years ago.  In 1988, I was in my senior year of high school thinking about college with all the anxiety and excitement that held.  10 years ago, I was living in Washington DC and had just gone through one of the most difficult personal situations of my life and I was relying heavily on my faith and testimony of the Atonement of Christ.  Five years ago, in 2003, it was the first Thanksgiving without dad, which had changed my life so dramatically.  What was interesting to me was that these time capsule entries were so different in content and yet so similar in tone - in each one I talked about how blessed I am with good family and good friends who are loving, supportive, and keep me going through the good times and the bad.  Each time capsule had a strong sense of faith and humility and gratitude.  Of course I cried reading them because I remember the emotions of all three times of my life, but part of it was a happy cry because I have been so blessed and I am truly grateful for the people and the gospel in my life.  

RUNNING......

As some of you may already know, I am now a Runner.  It may come as a surprise to some, but a few months ago I started to realize that there is a big difference between the perception of who I am and the reality of who I am.  I think everyone does this to some extent in their lives, so I'm sure you can understand my point.  You see, I perceive of myself as athletic, sporty(spice), average-size, Meg Ryan-ish.  In a way, it's good because I don't have many fears about things I can and cannot do.  However, the reality of who I am started to become undeniable.  As I near the age that shall not be mentioned, my body jiggles and sloshes and aches more like a fat old lady and less like the person in my mind.  Therefore, I decided that I needed to close the gap between reality and perception.   

How do I do that, you ask?  That is an excellent question - I asked myself the same.  Luckily, I have some good friends who are runners themselves and knew that finishing a marathon is on my life to-do list (my 'bucket' list).  They convinced me that I can run a marathon in a year with training.  These girls aren't generally liars, so I decided to trust them.  I bought a good pair of shoes and started training for my first 5K run: Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning!  

I also wanted to say how much I love and am grateful for the friends I have in Indiana - the deKock family.  I love, love, love visiting them because Jessica and Daniel make me laugh so hard, because Jaden crawls in bed with me in the morning for at least 1/2 hour (and makes me laugh I almost pee), because Carly is so fun and interesting to hang with (and a great singer), because Carson and Soren are so sweet and funny and amazing.  I also love the look and smell of Autumn, which I don't get in Indio anymore.  Mostly I love being part of their lives - the ups and the downs, the craziness and the quiet moments, and the friends.  I adore all my new Indiana friends and am grateful they treat me like their own now.  Here are my two favorite pictures from my trip.  Love to all in Valpo.  Miss you! 

Oak Glen

It is fall!  Yeah!  When you live in the desert, that means it is finally time to drive over an hour to pick apples, pumpkins, and berries at Riley's Farm in Oak Glen.  People greet you in authentic revolutionary war outfits and point you to the privies when you need to go pee.  The fresh apple pie and dumplings are delicious, but they sell out quickly and you do not want to get the day old stuff.  So disappointing.  You can press your own cider if the cider press isn't broken.  Mostly, it's a place for great fall looking pictures in a non-fall looking part of California.  So we bundled everyone up and drove to Oak Glen last Saturday.  It was raining.  Bummer.  But that didn't stop J from getting apples, a pumpkin, and plenty of pictures.  Here are a few of my favorites.  Despite the cold, it was a fun trip.  Made me miss Connecticut a little.  Makes me a little envious of you lucky few who are seeing the fall leaves turn and picking your own apples and pumpkins.  

(post) Bridal Shower

Last weekend, a few friends and I hosted a bridal shower for our dear friend, Jennifer. This was an unusual shower because it is almost 2 months after she got married.  But our philosophy is that every bride deserves a party in her honor regardless of how early or late that may be.  So this shower was a travel theme because Jennifer - along with the rest of us - loves to travel.  In fact, Melissa and I knew of the legendary Jennifer long before we ever met her because when we first moved to the PB Ward, we heard about a gazillion times, "Jennifer's in Paris", "Jennifer's back from Paris", "Have you seen Jennifer since she went to Paris"..... Paris, Paris, Paris.  

Anyway, that was 9 years ago and we have all been many places since.  So the theme was travel and each guest was asked to select a country that would be represented in their gift.  I selected Egypt and gave her Egyptian Cotton 400 thread count sheet set.  Nice, I know.  (HINT: when I get married, I really like new sheets!)  It was great fun and I think all the girls were amazingly creative with their countries/gifts.  So here are a few pictures of our shower.  But first I want to say congratulations to the new couple.  I really am happy for them and wish them all the best in this world.  I look back on that time in my life with tremendous joy.  It was a very special time with a very special group of friends.  I am so glad they allowed us new girls to be part of them.

LAGOON!!!

Last weekend I flew to UT for a trip to Lagoon with my sisters and their families. Actually, they were extremely generous in paying for this trip so I didn't miss out on the fun. I am very grateful because it sure was fun! It was a quick trip, so for all of you in UT that I did not contact... I am sorry. In on Sat night and out on Mon didn't leave much time for visiting.

Lagoon was a blast. I have found my new favorite water ride. Don't know the name of it, but it was fast, dark, and wicked fun. Which reminds me, Wicked the ride was also wicked fun. It was just great to be with my sisters and the kids (and Ri, of course). I love the picture above because it is the reason for the whole trip... so these cousins can have moments like this.
Here are a few more of my favorite pics from the trip.

The best picture I have of Ni. He was loving his Aunt J and the train ride that took us around Lake Lagoon and past some interesting (sickly?) animals. Yes, he is only 5 months old. Yes, he is rather big. But we like big babies. No, we looooove big babies. You should see the size of his head.
Na was old enough to ride several kiddie rides by himself and he seemed to really love them. Bumper cars, airplanes, race cars, and boats. What more could a boy dream of? He even found time to hit on the ladies with his sweet green ride here...... :-)
I actually really love the picture below even though it is a bit blurry. I just happened to get Ma perfectly with his "yeah dude" sign as he went wizzing by me. I love the bright colors.
After many hours of fun, the heavens opened and the rain poured. A "close-the-hatch-on-the-ark-Noah" kind of rain. Wow. We were trapped in Lagoon for quite some time. But then the rain slowed and I was talked into riding a couple roller coasters in the cold wind & rain. Half way around the second coaster with raindrops pelting my face like small, sharp daggers cutting my flesh I realized that, perhaps, I have outgrown the excitement of roller coasters in the rain. I think I may leave that to the teenagers from now on. But I couldn't resist taking a picture of Da to show just how wet we were. A memorable day.


I just had to include two of my favorite pictures from July. Clearly Ni loves snuggling with his Uncle D. He doesn't realize, yet, that when he turns 2 years old, Uncle D will torment him with a ponytail like he gave his older brother, Na.

Texas (Yee Haw!)

I am finally home from a week-long trip to Texas with Melissa, Verlyn, and little Ms. LaRee.  They have officially moved to TX now and I helped them make the drive from San Diego last week.  We left Monday night and drove to Yuma.  Tuesday we drove all the way past El Paso to a VERY small town in west Texas (with very scary motel rooms).  We made good time on Wednesday getting to Euless in time for dinner (or supper if you are from Wisconsin).  Here are a few of my favorite pics from the road:

 

This is my diet coke "beer" (looks like the silver bullet can).  I had never seen the tall can before and I got waaaaaay too excited about it.  So I enjoyed my snacks.  Melissa, on the other hand, was disappointed in her blizzard.  Chocolate ice cream with snickers when she thought it would be vanilla.  Oh well... I guess she'll just have to go back to DQ for another one!

LaRee was mostly great on the trip.  Although she was cutting a couple fangs, so there were miserable moments for her.  We found that it's always easier to calm a troubled child with food!  Donuts and cheetos did the trick! I love that little girl. ;-)

It was a bittersweet trip for me because I am so happy for them and, yet, I will miss them more than they know.  Melissa and I have known each other for almost 15 years and I have grown very attached to all of them (you, too, Junior).  They are family to me and it is always difficult to say goodbye to family, yet I want all the goodness and happiness and love the universe can give them.  I know this is a good move for them and they will settle in to a wonderful life for LaRee and future Latus.  But I left with a very heavy heart not knowing when I will see them again.  I couldn't even bring myself to see the little one in her crib that morning.  

The good news is that I like to travel, Junior works for an airline and Texas ain't that far away.  So I send big hugs and kisses to Euless until I see you again!!  I love you!