Ba Humbug!

I posted our Christmas report last Friday and then added our photos last night. This morning I went in to delete a duplicate of one of the photos and somehow in the process deleted the whole post. Ugh! Sometimes technical things drive me crazy. I'll have to re-write the epistle and repost the photos. It looks like sometimes blogs are retrievable but I figure it will take more time and effort to contact someone from the "blog retrieval" department than it will to retype it. Who knows, maybe the second rendition will be better than the first.

Why I Like Christmas

• The songs on the radio--hopefully in the next life I'll have a singing voice. I love the Carpenter's Christmas songs, Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, even heard an Anne Murray song I enjoyed.
• Memories--I helped my mom unpack her Christmas gear and found treasures from when I was a girl. It's funny how much comes back when you see something you forgot existed. I found an ornament that I remembered getting when I was very small at the Corning glass outlet in Corning NY. Unfortunately it went to the DI because it didn't enhance the tree.
• Cookies--we love having Grandma Engle's treats around. It really is an essential part of holiday enjoyment.
• Office treats--eating WAY too many.
• Unexpected surprises--the gal who cleans for me left a beautiful handmade item yesterday which I wasn't expecting at all. I was touched that she would take the time and effort to make it for us.
• Christmas cards--it's fun to hear from folks we love and hold special but unfortunately don't get to see much of. We tape the cards on the pantry door and Matthew studies them asking who the people in the pictures are. He says' "what's this children's name?"
• Lights--it's fun to have the tree lights on and also enjoy the lights as we drive around town. I wish we had more time to sit in the dark with just the tree lights on. Somehow that never happens.
• Time to reach out--we get out of ourselves and try to remember how much we are blessed.

Sledding Fun

We took Matthew sledding on Saturday for his first time. We had so much fun. It's been probably over 20 years since I last sledded. I felt like a kid again. A park near our house has a great hill with two tiers. The sled went forward until we hit the plateu and then the sled would turn and we ended up going down the second hill backwards. I was a little nervous each time but also lots of fun!

Sleds have become new-fangled and we are obviously behind the times with our garage sale purchase. The new sleds are like boogie boards for snow. Our red plastic gem seemed to serve us well.

Clark Griswold

Most of us have seen the movie Christmas Vacation and laugh about the 250,000 twinkling little lights complete with Santa and the eight tiny reindeer. As I read an email from my friend Lee, who said her husband was up until 2am stringing exterior lights I had to wonder how many people really want to put up lights? (Too bad for Lee, she lives on one of the streets featured in the holiday section of the news) Occassionally you pass the house with illumination beyond reason and you can deduct that the owner derives joy beyond measure from his holiday display. Thankfully for us, our street is decorated well but not overkill. Corbin refused to climb the ladder so we opted for net lighting on the bushes. It's attractive and classy, I think. Matthew would like the inflatable Santa riding a motorcycle, etc. to grace our lawn but we haven't ventured there. The Paulk's across the street put up an inflatable snowman and Santa which is even better than having our own because we can see them head on! Thanks John, you saved us at least $50. We do love lights and inflatables--especially when others put them up.

Hair or Hat?

I hesitate to write this but I will. Yesterday I had one of those classic moments. I was in a meeting with some "big wigs" (no pun intended) from our insurance broker and carrier and everyone was going around the room shaking hands and introducing themselves. One man put his hand out and said his name was Mike and as I looked up my eyes went right past his face right to his hair. His hair piece was truly the worst I've ever seen. It looked like a dead animal perched on his nogen. Worst yet, I had to sit directly across from him and I had to divert eye contact. At one point, it took every ounce of self control I had not to let out a snicker because I knew if I did, I would end up laughing out loud. At the end of the meeting, my co-workers who weren't in the meeting came up to me and asked about the guy's hair because they could see it through the window and thought he was wearing a Russian fur hat. I laughed so hard afterwards that I cried. Unfortunately, I don't have a camera phone so no photo will be posted. Poor guy, he was so nice but the hair piece was like nothing I've ever seen except on a bad Halloween costume.

Let It Snow

We were dumped on this weekend but we love it. The trees look so pretty especially with the Christmas lights. We would like to go sledding before it melts although I suspect we will have many more occassions to do it before spring. Matthew can't help himself when we go outside. He has to step in the snow no matter which shoes he's wearing. Our neighbor boy shoveled our driveway on Saturday, free of charge, which made us like the snow even more.

We had a fun neighborhood breakfast Christmas party on Saturday. The theme was The Polar Express and the kids loved it. The lady in charge is so creative--it makes the rest of us look bad. I really hope I don't ever have to do that job because people will surely be disappointed. It was held at the church cultural hall and were greeted by the conductor who rounded us up to the train. The cultural hall was decorated in snowflakes and snow decor. There was a beverage station, with all flavors of hot chocolate (complete with little signs that looked like the North Pole), pancake, fruit & yogurt, and burrito stations. The pages of The Polar Express book were projected onto a big screen on the stage while a storyteller read the story. The story was stopped at various spots and a question was flashed on the screen such as "what would you do if a train stopped in front of your house?" or "what would you give for the first gift of Christmas?", etc. The kids answers had previously been videotaped and of course, most of the answers were quite funny. There was a seven year old boy, who is in theater, who was asked the true meaning of Christmas and he broke out into Away in a Manager followed by We Three Kings. His eyes rolls and drama were hilarious. Each of the kids got a candy cane and a bell. A fun party.

Our Day & Politics

Yesterday we went to Matthew's class at The Little Gym. He goes for one hour a week and the teacher works with them on strength, coordination, and social skills. The kids are so funny to watch. Matthew has great coordination and lower body strength. His upper body is not as strong but he's getting better. He could hold himself up on the parallel bar a little easier yesterday. Then we went on our weekly trip to the library. Of course, he headed straight to the Thomas books and DVDs.

Spencer is doing great and is really starting to smile and "talk". He's also discovering his hands and is holding his burp cloth. He is so sweet and snuggly. Even in the middle of the night when I am dead tired and feeding him, it's hard not to enjoy him. I wish I could sit and hold him more.

On another matter, I normally don't follow politics much but have been slightly more interested with Mitt Romney running. I'm glad he gave his "religion" speech today. Even if he's not elected, I'm glad that he stands up for what he believes is right. Conviction is something that we may find helpful to society in general if more people had some. Of course, I take some of the negative comments a little more personally because I am Mormon, but it really bothers me how uninformed some of the people are who are throwing mud about the church. One of my favorites is that Mormonism is a cult. If anything, the church encourages people to find out for themselves if they believe it and certainly encourages education and not blind belief. Of course, our beliefs are different, but aren't every religions? I agree with Mitt in that we would all be better served to act on whatever faith is ours for the good of the nation. I would rather vote for someone who believes in something as opposed to some of our recent past presidents who can't even seem to tell the truth after being caught doing things they shouldn't. No matter who wins, I hope they have morals.

Santa Has Missed

It seems that Santa may have ordered the wrong item for Matthew this Christmas. Recently, attention has been split between Thomas the Tank Engine and Lightning McQueen from Cars. I chose a Cars race set and ordered it online at the same time that I ordered his other presents. I've become a fan of Allaboardtoys.com I patted myself on the back for getting it done early and just sat back and waited for it to arrive. Now, the problem lies in that Matthew turns to the Thomas & Percy Carnival Adventure set every time he opens the Wal-mart gift guide so I am torn as to whether I should return the Cars race track and buy the Thomas track. Thomas has a big hill the engines go down which is Matthew's drawing card. I have to admit it does look more exciting than the Cars set. Ugh! I suppose in the end, I'll be the good mother and make the exchange. I guess I could save the Cars set for Spencer and give it to him in a few years. He won't have to know that it was rejected from a few years earlier.

This weekend we had our first real snow. Matthew looked out his bedroom window on Saturday and excitedly asked, "Is it Christmas?" The snow made a nice backdrop for a new neighborhood tradition that our Neighborhood Watch group is promoting. Instead of exchanging neighbor gifts (which is always challenging--do you give to everyone, does it have to be homemade, how cheap can you get away with--you know the drill) they proposed that we all bring food for the Utah Food Bank and meet at a park in the neighborhood. The Watch provided hot chocolate and a bon fire and the odd numbered houses brought treats. I thought it would be freezing cold but it wasn't too bad. The freshly-fallen snow made a great setting to usher in the season. I think it's a great tradition to start and lessens the burden of the neighbor gifts. Hopefully they will keep it going. I can't believe we will leaving 2007 in just a few weeks.