Merry Christmas

Day 25: Christmas

Christmas morning- no matter how stressful the rest of the season is, always seems to be happy, calm and full of JOY for me. I love seeing the kids faces when they see the tree. I love seeing them open something that they really wanted.

Amanda Favorite Moment: Opening my very first temple dress. I have been wearing one that my mother in law loaned me the day I took out my endowments our whole married life. I got married in it even- which I will always cherish- but having my own beautiful, new, white dress that my husband picked out especially for me means more to me than anything in this world. I bawled. Jeff knows me better than I know myself. He also picked out a new perfume scent for me to wear- which may seem insignificant, but I have been wearing other people's scents my whole life. First one that my mother always wore and that a date once told me made me smell like an old lady. Then one that a boy friend bought me because he loved how it smelled on his old girlfriend. Then one that was very popular at the time and everyone wore and told I should wear. Now I have my own- scent that is unique to me- that no one has smelled on someone else- at least not yet. That I hope will remind my husband of me forever. The sense of scent is so important to me and I attach scents to memories and important times in my life and so this is something that I will always remember.

Ashtyn: Everything- she was very happy with all that she received and gave this season.

Whitney: Holding my new fur real monkey chimp- that hugs me back.

Ethan: Mr. Potato Head- he begged and begged for all sorts of Lego sets and has built each one over and over and loved them- but he has become very found of a certain spud with removable features that he likes to put upside down.

This year may end up being our last year of true believing. Ashtyn is starting to ask all kinds of questions and you can see that she is starting to see too many coincidences. Like this year when she noticed that Santa's handwriting looks exactly like dads...hmm?? But like they say in the Polar Express..."Seeing is believing, but sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can't see."

Christmas Advent Close

Day 19: Christmas Breakfast at Little America- This is a tradition in Jeff's family. We love it and it is the best meal we have all year. This year however, found me at home with a sick little Whitney while Jeff and the other kids feasted on the goodness.

Day 20: Had to cancel our red and green dinner tonight because of illness. The kids watched a Christmas movie in our bed.

Day 21: Red and Green Dinner. We invited Jeff's cousin and his family to dinner tonight to enjoy foods in red and green. We had Chicken Cacciatore with a lovely red sauce. Farfalle noodles I dyed red. Green salad with red and green veggies and fruit. Green bread. Red Jello gigglers. Pomegranate 7-Up. Red velvet cupcakes with red and green frosting. Key lime frozen dessert in red and green.

Day 22-23: Our plans were to celebrate Jesus's birthday and make snowman pizzas, but we ended up being busy with last minute Christmas details and we didn't get to do these activities.

Day 24: We held a Christmas Eve dinner with my family. We enjoyed delicious ham and other fixings and exchanged gifts. My sister gave me the most awesome cupcake cookbooks that have me in the baking mood...

Kevin & Melinda

This is a BIRTHDAY SHOUT OUT to my sister and her husband for their birthdays. His happens to be today!

Melinda is the youngest in our family. She is seven years younger than me, so as you can imagine I didn't necessarily love having her hang around me all the time at least not until I got into High School and married. I have three sisters. They are all tall, thin and gorgeous. Melinda is the brunette in our family. She has always been extremely beautiful and has the best fashion sense of anyone I know. In fact a lot of my clothes are hand me down's from her. She is married to Kevin. Kevin is one of four in his family including his twin brother ( I still can barely tell them apart and only when they are together. ) He is a hunter, builder, gather. He is amazingly talented at construction. Before we moved he and his brother tiled a few rooms in our house to help us sell it. I'm pretty sure he could fix anything or learn how to. They are the parents to Brody- who is the cutest baby in the world. They are the kind of family that would do anything for anyone. We LOVE them! We hope their birthdays are/were fantastic.

And the winner is......

Thanks to all those who entered the Mix N' Chop give away. Congratulations to the winner! I will contact you and set up delivery of your prize. (PS- Whitney's arm is fine, she just wanted to wear her old sling for fun.) (PSS- Paige I did put your name in the hat-I'll pay any amount of shipping to make someone happy :)

More Happy Days

Still Counting....

Day 10: Make Sugar Cookies. We made lots of them. I gave out snowflake cookies to all the neighbors. If you want a really good sugar cookie, this is the one to use. My sister in law introduced me to it and I get requests for the recipe any time I make them. Email me if you want it :)

Day 11: Buy a new ornament for the tree. This is a tradition. This year we chose: Dad- Utah Jazz ball, Mom- Eiffel Tower ( I really wanted a little house or something to remind me of our new house but I couldn't find one), Ashtyn- A pair of pink beaded ballet slippers, Whitney- A pink glass Ipod and Ethan- a small snowman that changes color.

Day 12: We went to Temple Square. I love Temple Square. We hadn't been in a long time and it was so beautiful. This year the kids were old enough to walk instead of needing to be pushed in a stroller, so we drove to Jeff's work and then took tracks the rest of the way. As we drove by each stop Ethan would say is that Temple Square- then when we got there he just kept saying there it is, there it is- but what is funny is that his head was completely turned in the opposite direction and he didn't even see the real Temple Square and we said no it's on this side and he turned and saw the temple and was so excited. As we were walking in we saw several homeless people holding signs and it really broke Ashtyn's heart, she was so sad and wanted to help them. We also got to see a couple get engaged- well actually we heard it first and then saw them. Afterwards we went back to Jeff's work and had hot cocoa and pistachio's. We couldn't have asked for a better night- I way over dressed the kids and I was not cold in the least. But who would be with tights, three pairs of pants, two shirts, a sweater, coat, jacket, scarf, hat, gloves and boots. The kids favorite part was the nativity scene with narration. Ethan asked me if Jesus was really born and if Mary and Joseph really stayed there and I realized that he actually thought we were witnessing the birth of Christ. He thought the characters were real. It was the most precious thing.

Day 13: Make a gingerbread house- which Ethan promptly asked to eat right afterward. We also went to Jeff's parents house tonight and had the kids reenact the nativity. Jeff and his siblings did this when they were little and his mom wanted to carry on the tradition with the grand kids. They take turns playing the different parts. This year Ethan was Joseph and our one year old niece Madelynne was Mary. Ashtyn was a wise man and Whitney was the angel. It is always so cute and funny to watch them. They never come in when they are suppose to which frustrates Jeff's dad and if they don't stay in their spots Jeff's mom keeps picking them back up and putting them back where they are suppose to stand- which leads to crying kids and all kinds of bribery to get them to do it (like this year they gave Mary the remote control to the X-Box instead of a baby Jesus.) The rest of us are just busting up laughing while the kids go about doing whatever they want. Gotta love it.

Day 14: But presents for each other- this year we took the kids to Target and let them buy presents for each other.

Day 15: Go Sledding- BBBBRRR- really cold and windy but really fun too.

Day 16: Christmas lights tour. We drove around looking to beautifully decorated homes and drinking peppermint chocolate chip shakes.

Day 17: Visit Jeff's grandparents. We love them to pieces. They are so cute and fun and the kids love their house and the cookies they always make when we are there.

Day 18: Christmas movie night. We have actually been watching lots of Christmas movies- I love all of the classic Rudolph movies and Mickey's Christmas Carol, etc.

"Soup's On"- Literally

I wanted to post/vent about something that happened yesterday and is continuing into today. Let me just start by saying GGGGGRRRRRRR! OK with that off my chest I will begin to paint the scene for you. Last night as I prepared to make dinner I found that we were down to the last of our provisions before shopping day again. So with all the creativity I have developed as a veteran wife over the years I came up with what I considered to be a substantial and nutritious meal to feed my family. I decided upon Navajo Tacos- but we didn't have chili or lettuce so I found instead a delicious can of tortilla soup. I fried up the scones, grated the cheese and was just trying to pry open the lid on the can of soup when I proceeded to knock the can onto the floor. (Side Note- This is not a one time occurrence in my life- I have always been somewhat clumsy and especially when my hands are cold they become rather stiff and tend to have a mind of their own.)

As you can envision nice red soup with chicken, rice, corn, beans, tomatoes, etc. flew all over the floor and cupboards and dishwasher and Ethan and me. As if the mess was not enough I realized that there was our dinner- ruined. Now all I had left to serve the kids were some fried scones and cheese. I looked in our dish rag drawer only to find that I had no clean dish rags. GGGRRR! So I grabbed a towel and proceeded to mop up the mess beginning with Ethan's head. There was soup all over the place so I was wiping for quite some time. After a while the mess appeared to be gone so I went to the pantry to look for a substitute to our dinner. Inside the pantry I found a single bean- just one little bean and I thought "Wow that flew a long way from where I spilled the soup." Needless to say our dinner was not that great that night. I went to bed early.

Fast forward to today. I woke up tired. I walked into the kitchen to get the kids breakfast and I started to notice red splotches all over the pantry door. I grabbed a Clorox wipe and started wiping them off and there kept being more and more splotches all the way up the door. Then to my horror I saw red, dried, crusty SOUP all over my ceiling!!! So I needed more than a little wipe. But remember that I have no clean rags at this point- so yet again I grab a towel and climb up onto the counter to begin the clean up. I am really mad at this point because I have to scrub twice as hard to clean dried on soup and our ceiling is vaulted so my arm is beginning to go dead from the angle I am scrubbing at and I am hoping that I don't slip and fall off the counter and hurt myself. After thirty minutes of scrubbing I decided to stop and come back to it later. There was soup all over the top of my cupboards and moldings. The area where the soup splattered is at least 12 feet from where I dropped the can. I will probably be finding soup for the next few weeks in tiny little cracks and crevices that I can't see. GGGRRR! I'm sure in a few hours I will be able to laugh about this- but not right now. How's your day going?

You are Good - Nichole Nordeman

GIVE AWAY!

I see other blogs do give aways all the time- I even comment and try to win- I never win. So today is my lucky day and yours too. I am going to do a give away.

A few nights ago a secret angel left a very lovely box on our door step. We heard a swift knock, knock late one evening and when we opened the door there was the most beautiful striped box on our step. In it were all kinds of wonderful and delicious items along with a note that said to pass the Christmas Angel on to two other families and spread the joy. Which we did last night.

One of the items in the box was a Pampered Chef Mix and Chop. If you have never used one of these, they are awesome. It makes the most wonderful finely chopped ground beef and it pulverises frozen orange juice (no need to thaw any more) Those are the two primary things I use mine for and I love it. I can't brown hamburger with out it. I'm sure that there are millions of other fabulous ideas it could be tried on as well. Here is the way they describe it on the Pampered Chef website:

"A Pampered Chef® exclusive! Unique, beveled pinwheel blades efficiently chop and crumble foods for even cooking and seasoning. Its high-quality nylon design follows the curves of your cookware and won't scratch the surface. A soft grip and thumb rest help you comfortably grasp the handle and chop more easily. Heat-resistant to 428°F. 11". Dishwasher-safe."

I already own one of these wonderful kitchen tools so I thought in the spirit of the Christmas Angel I would give this new one away to one of you. Just leave me a little comment and I will choose a winner at random- I probably won't mail this until after Christmas due to the high demand on the Post Office this time of year and my very little desire to stand in a long line with four kids:) But I will notify you when I have sent it. GOOD LUCK- You have until December 18th.

Jeff

Meu marido belo. Amo-o mais que vida se. Pensava sobre você hoje e decidiu colocar um novo playlist em aqui de vinte canções que dizem exatamente que o que o meu coração sente-se para você. Sou sortuda ser sua esposa. Obrigado para ser meu melhor amigo. Será mina para sempre. Ame-Me

16 Days to go

Wish we were here!

Day 8: Today we were planning on visiting Jeff's grand parents, but I had a meeting come up that I needed to go to and then we caught colds at our house so we wouldn't have been able to go any ways and it worked out fine to reschedule. Today consisted of more sledding.

Day 9: We went to the mall and rode the carousel and then shared a corn dog and fries from Hot Dog on a Stick. Afterwards we went to pick out our presents for our cousins.



The temperature today is 22 degrees. BBBRRRR! It is cold. Too cold for my liking. Ashtyn and I suffer from Raynaud's Disease. Days like to day make it no fun to be outside. She tolerates the pain and discomfort to go sledding- but is usually only able to stay out for short periods of time. This morning just being outside long enough to get in the car made Ashtyn's feet hurt and my hands go crazy. I tried to rent a movie from the Red Box yesterday and my finger wouldn't even register a response on the machine because it was so cold. I had to make Ethan touch the choices we wanted. We rented Julie and Julia- I loved this movie. It was exactly the type of thing that interests me- France, Cooking and Pearls.



Today I am really grateful for a warm home, fireplace, hot cocoa, hot baths, cozy sweaters and heated mattress pads.

Christmas Countdown Continued

We are still counting down the days until Christmas and I wanted to keep sharing the things we are doing each day. It has been making our Christmas much merrier to spend time together.

Day 3: Go through the old toys to make room for new. The kids had fun sledding today as well. Tonight we decorated the house for Christmas.

Day 4: Pick out our Christmas tree. It is one of our traditions to pick get a real tree for Christmas. I love the smell of pine and it's fun to get a totally new and unique tree each year. We don't cut down our own- we go to a tree lot or usually to Lowe's and can always find something wonderful. We came home afterwards and let the kids snuggle in our bed and watch a Christmas movie.

Day 5: Breakfast with Santa. Our city holds an annual breakfast with Santa and we thought we would give it a try. It was fun. The food was good and the kids got to officially tell Santa what they wanted and luckily it was not anything new that we hadn't already heard about :) The Santa looked more like one you might see on a Harley, but he was really nice and came around and talked to all the children there before letting them sit on his lap. Afterwards we went home and decorated the tree. Our tree consists of sentimental ornaments, a few strands of lights, and a red bead garland. I grew up with a tree like this and still have some of the ornaments from when I was little. I love to look at them and remember the years I received them. Another one of our traditions is to pick out a new ornament each year that represents something we loved that year or a special event.

Day 6: Celebrate St. Nicholas Day. I thought it would be fun to learn about St. Nicholas and celebrate. The night before we read the story of St. Nicholas and then the kids left their shoes by the fire place and put carrots inside for St. Nicholas' horse. In the morning they awoke to find a little treasure inside their shoes (glitter ball that they had been wanting and a sucker). We made monkey bread for breakfast to celebrate as well. This didn't turn out exactly like I hoped because the story tells of his death and Ashtyn wondered how he comes if he is dead. Then the next day she asked me if Jeff and I had bought the glitter balls and left them instead of St. Nicholas. I told her yes we did because like she said St. Nicholas is dead- she ended with "Well I still know that Santa Clause is alive and will come to our house."

Day 7: (Today) We are writing our own Christmas story and will post it when we are done.

This is a picture of the advent calender I made to do these activities with. I looked all over for a cute advent calender and could never find one I really liked. At least not until today. This is a cute website that I love to look at and I just may make this next year.

Countdown to Christmas

Our kids love to count down the days until Christmas- well really who doesn't? Christmas is actually my least favorite holiday. It's the time of year that I feel the grumpiest, so for me I am counting down the days until it is over. I know that sounds very Scroodge like, but I have a very hard time finding the balance between joy and all the ugly feelings that pop up. I always start the season with a feeling of utter happiness. I am one of those people that love to hear Christmas music for months. It really does make me think of Christ- which I love. But it seems that every year as it draws closer I can't help but feel stressed- over how many people we have to buy gifts for, over whether or not these people will like what we buy them, my kids constantly changing their minds about what they would really love to get, trying to get my shopping done early only to find that because I did it so early the store will no longer take back the item that I no longer feel is the right thing to give or they have recently put every item I previously bought on sale for way less than I paid. The traffic, the crowds, the icy roads, hoping that I don't forget someone and hoping that I have time to do all that this season requires.

Sometimes I dream of a Little House on the Prairie Christmas- the kind where your house gets snowed in and you can't leave and no one can come and it's just your family snuggling around the fireplace while your kids play with the one and only present they got and are so grateful for. Or where your family decides to all give up Christmas gifts this year so you can buy horses to plow your land. A simple Christmas. This leads me into a question that we are debating at our house....

"To Wii or not to Wii"
We have been debating whether or not to get our children a Wii this year. There are so many good things about this particular gaming system and yet so many things that I dislike about gaming all together. We have a PS2- it's quite old and really Ethan is the only one who ever plays it because we only have a couple of racing games. We are in no way addicted to playing it, but I fear we may become with a Wii. We know lots of families who have them and we have played them before and really enjoyed ourselves- but if we have one here all the time will the kids not want to do anything else?- Will Jeff and I find ourselves on "Wii Dates" instead of ever leaving the house? It of course goes completely against my "Little House Lifestyle". So if we don't play it that much is it worth the money required to purchase it? What do you think? If you have a Wii do you love it? It you don't have one, why not and would you ever consider buying one?

There are only 23 more days to go so the count down continues. One thing that we are doing this year to find more joy together is I have planned a small activity for every day until Christmas- nothing big- just something to look forward to. Here's what we have done so far:

Day 1: Get out all of our advent calenders and then go to the library and check out Christmas books or books about Winter. (A lot of other people had this same idea and we didn't find too many- but reading is always fun regardless)

Day 2: Make ice ornaments to hang on the steps outside. I found this idea in Family Fun