Christmas Eve "Eve"

The girls were so beautiful for church the Sunday before Christmas. They were asked to sing with a small group of children (8 or so) as the opening number for the Choir's Christmas presentation. Caroline joined the group near the end - she insisted on staying for the last practice day when we dropped Lindsay off so Julie said she was welcome to join in. She sang both verses of the song just as if she had been to several practices like Lindsay. Lindsay has a higher voice, Caroline's is lower - they are so darling when they sing together. Nothing fancy, probably no vocal careers in their future, but they were excited to be a part of such a special day.

Christmas Eve "Eve" with The McGuire's, The Simpson's, and The Ashton's

Since we were leaving for Oregon Christmas Eve Morning, we spent Christmas Eve "Eve" with Molly's family, my Dad, and Debbie. Molly hosted a beautiful and delicious Roast Beef Dinner - oh my gosh - our family can make some great holiday meals if I do say so myself! No plastic molded ham, bag-o-salad, or instant mashed potatoes for us! You could practically smell the garlic from the Roast down the street. Molly has some beautiful holiday place settings and it is always a treat to be able to use them. A little something sparkle-y to drink...you had to roll us from the table. Molly asked me to make a Trifle for dessert - it was light and delicious after we were thru opening gifts.

The girls had so much fun with their cousins opening gifts and afterwards, playing int he mountains of gift wrap and tissue and ribbons. (They called it "Snow.") Lindsay was thrilled with the Polly Pocket sets she got from Grandpa and Debbie. (Mommy is not a fan - we all laughed about it - most parts get eaten by the vacuum - but she loves it!) Caroline is really enjoying her Ponyville play set as well. Molly made huge fluffy tutus for the girls - purple for Lindsay, blue for Caroline. Steve & I are very grateful for the emergency radio and pressure canner - helping towards our goals of emergency preparedness and my continuing interest in home canning. Tons of fun movies and we are good to go for a while! Debbie has a tradition of giving each family member a personalized ornament - it is a darling tradition. We (Molly and I) made several members of our family a personalized calendar. We decided to do a photo shoot last June in Colorado when we were visiting Meghan and knew we would use the pictures for Christmas gifts some how. We settled on the calendar and quickly ramped up our digital scrapbooking skills to make a really lovely calendar.

We like a UPS Christmas (Though not as much as we love being with Grandma & Grandpa Simpson)

We had so much fun opening our big package that came from Grandma & Grandpa Simpson. Caroline obviously had fun in the box of peanuts! Each of the girls received games, books, and a darling dress - they loved them - the skirts have a fluffy tulle layer which makes them super fun to wear. We always appreciate the thoughtful gifts from Steve's family. I think we have spent 6 out of 10 years with Steve's family - it almost feels weird not to go. So this year we had to celebrate our little Simpson Family Christmas without them.

We took pictures in the wrapping paper to make sure Grandma and Grandpa knew we made plenty of mess - just like usual! Thank you and we love you!

Santa's Workshop/Kitchen is officially closed!

I started this post right before Christmas when I has looking at my disaster of a kitchen and wondering what had happened. I took a quick inventory - 260+ homemade/handmade/hand assembled gifts/goodies/treats went thru my kitchen for the Holidays.

So, Since I almost have our Christmas trip entry done, here is a pre-Christmas one to make me feel like I have actually accomplished something.
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Last night, as Steve was very strategically using his entire 5'11" frame to hold down the sofa, he said something to the effect of "Whew - I can't wait for this to all be over!" Huh? OK, I gotta hand it to him for helping with the primary treat bags. The rest has been lots of moral support! Thank you Steve!! There will be at least one cheesecake left for you!!

I am not complaining - I really love all of it and thrive on the projects. Really, if it wasn't these treats and little gifts, it would be some other obsession.

Stick a fork in me, Jerry, I'm done!!! (Kramer - Seinfeld)

These cute 10 little bundles above have about 75 more friends. For our primary Christmas gift, we give each child a CD of all the music for 2008 and of course some candies. Our chorister's husband burned the CD;'s, one of my counselor labeled the CD's and stuffed the candy and Steve and I tied and tagged all the cellophane bags.

For our entire primary board - teachers, scout leaders, etc., we gave each a bag of yummy dipped pretzels made by one of my counselors and secretary. My other counselor and I packed them - tying the bows, packing in holiday themed Chinese take-out containers. The big problem here? I bought these really pretty deep green and gold containers after Christmas last year cheap to use for this year. I bought 40. So I thought. Turns out either I can't count or they are tricky to count. We had 20! So I had to run out and buy more. Didn't love the holly print as much but it worked.

I decided to do a simpler version of my usual hand made card. Semi-handmade is what I called it this year! I made a digital collage photo with a pre-printed sentiment and still HAD to card stock mount it and tie it. I couldn't help myself. That is what I do! BUT this year it was not layers and layers of cutting and piecing - definitely a simplified version. A few years back I significantly simplified the envelope process with a spreadsheet and with Microsoft Word mail merge - printing the envelopes! I highly recommend this part.

Birthday Party treat bags . Cute, inexpensive Tinkerbell stuff from the Dollar Store. I assembled while I was at gymnastics with the girls. Multi-tasking...

Two Teacher gifts - I was at Target and in the Dollar Spot, they had the plastic popcorn containers that look like paper bags. I bought enough for each teacher's family, bundled up some microwave popcorn bags, added some movie theatre style boxes of candy and a gift card to Blockbuster.

Several years ago I started making caramels for my Christmas treats for friends and neighbors. I used Martha Stewart's recipe and for years, perfect caramels. Boxed perfectly, wrapped with a band of paper and a monogram style label. The last three years have yielded failures - too hard, too soft, buying new candy thermometers and everything! One year, I even sent Steve to the store for some jelly jars and I made "'Oops my caramels didn't set' sauce!" Years of perfect caramels...now this! So, trying to find something uniquely "me" I decided to call on one of my tried and true...Cheesecake. This year I went to Crate and Barrel and bought 6 mini spring form pans and now, I am making tons of mini cheesecakes! (OK, 38.) Who knew my "world/ward famous" recipe would yield exactly SIX 4 1/2 inch cheesecakes? I need to work on the packaging, I started simple this year with a clear plate and cellophane. Next year? 6 more pans to speed up the process and maybe the perfect box!!

Oh my gosh - are you kidding me?

Regarding hotel drinking glasses...we travel a lot and this thought has never crossed my mind! Other hotel creepy crawlies yes, this one, no. (Click on the title for the link...)

Thursday Dates

Or, "Fursday Dates" as Caroline calls it! I decided about a year ago that poor Caroline was really suffering from 2nd child syndrome, getting dragged here and there, to errands and appointments and just starring at the back of the headrest in the car and not getting enough quality time alone with Mommy. First children are lucky - moms make time for trips to the library, the zoo, the mall, the park, or just take time to blow bubbles together. Sure, I did these things with Caroline but WAY LESS OFTEN than when Lindsay was the only one.

So, I decided that once a week I was going to be a decent mom to Caroline and the "Thursday Date" was born and we stick to it most weeks. She is in AM preschool Tues/Thurs and we go on our date on Thursday after preschool and before we pick Lindsay up from school. We have fun planning things that will be fun date - dates have included:

*a lunch out that she gets to choose the restaurant
*a trip to the zoo (membership comes in handy)
*library story time (this we need to do more often)
*choose a mall and play and shop
*take a picnic to a park and watch ducks
*visit Daddy at work and have lunch

Today, I was thinking of how special of a time we have together. I was invited to lunch for friend's birthday celebration today (actually invited to two celebratory lunches today - how popular am I?!?) but had already committed to our Thursday Date. I gave Caroline the option of going to the lunch with Mama's friends and she said she would rather go to McDonald's with "just Mama." Not sure if it is the quality alone time with Mommy or the fact that she knew she had a better chance of getting chicken nuggets and french fries at McD's (probably the latter) but I like to think that maybe it is because she likes having alone Mommy time.

Today she had to have a cavity filled. We found out at her dental check up on Monday. I was nervous that it was going to be a big deal so I told her for Thursday Date we would first go to lunch where she wanted (chose McD's) and then go to the dentist and as soon as we were done at the dentist we would go to the Carousel Mall and get a treat and ride the carousel. (Each of the malls around here has a designated nick name by my kids - so much better than remembering it is "Superstition Springs Mall.") She did great at the dentist - we were in and out in 15 minutes, no numbing required and they said she was one of the most cooperative 4 year old patients they have ever had! So, Caroline was excited for 2 "Fursday Dates" in one day, before AND after the dentist.

It is always a lot of fun and I get to spend time doing meaningful/adventurous/fun/educational things with Caroline and feel less guilty about ignoring my kids for a couple of hours per week!

Why no Blog updates?

Simply this: Because I have been keeping a promise - my kids and I have been working on a lot of sorting and organizing and cleaning (we gutted and organized their room and they even learned to mop) after traveling and the holidays. We made a bargain that included no TV/Movies for the kids, no computer time for me. (Except for mission critical emails like planning a family reunion!)

So now that we are full swing into rolling out the new church year for primary, with our first activity day tomorrow, first Sunday of the new year with an *almost* full staff of teachers and preparing my Sharing Time lesson (and new year birthday treats and new teacher packets etc.), I am a little swamped. So, watch for a fabulous entry about our Super Duper fun Christmas vacation to Oregon sometime after Sunday at 4pm when it will all be over.

And for the poll? My super funny brother in law aside who says I write too much, thanks for the responses. I will be making my collages with no more than 4 pictures in a larger size, I will mix it up with full size photos as well.

Thanks and Happy New Year!

I finished "The Memory Keeper's Daughter"

I had a friend tell me she read this book in a weekend - couldn't put it down! I really enjoyed this book but had to take it in small doses - when I read I sometimes ignore my world around me (my children, cleaning my house, cooking dinner, etc.) so I kept this book in my purse and read it while waiting for the girls at gymnastics, waiting for Chinese take-out, that sort of thing. Finally, with a week on vacation in Oregon, with a few of those mornings spent waking up to the stormy surf of the Oregon Coast with a mug of cinnamon hot chocolate, I finally finished it. My grandma was watching me read it and asked if there was anything "bad" in it. (Sex, language, that sort of thing.) Not really I told her. It is mostly a story so heart wrenching that you can sympathize with every choice the characters make, whether you would agree with them or not. I found myself identifying with each of the characters in some way, I at times have felt like Nora, straddling two different worlds and social groups not sure which one I fit in to, I found myself identifying with Paul, wanting to disassociate myself from my parents during my teen years (though not too often!!) I found myself knowing I have had my Caroline moments, nurturing and encouraging, and even with David, who, made the difficult choice and kept the secret that sent these 4 people on paths that ultimately defined and scarred them for a lifetime. I found the resolution to be both beautiful however exasperating it was - but it really changed the whole tone of the novel for the last 30 pages or so.

Very well done. I understand it is being made into a movie next year.