The third day of Christmas

The suspense was almost more than they could take...

Candy canes with a story!

Some enjoyed it
(great looking tonsils I might add)

more than others!

The second day of Christmas

On the second day of Christmas (Monday) Justin and Brady came running downstairs first thing in the morning, gift in hand, to find Paige. One rule was that it could only be opened with EVERYONE present.

I had wrapped the "stuff" to make gingerbread houses. Here are the results.

Paige's house after the earthquake hit.

Brady's estate. He said he had been planning his design all day at school.

Justin's "anti-Santa" roofed house (guess the candy canes don't fall too far from the Christmas tree, do they?) along with a "Sugalo" as in like a Buffalo, but made of sugar.

The first day of Christmas

I had this hare-brained idea this year. I wanted to do something to make Christmas more meaningful, give my family something to do together this year. If you knew my deepest, darkest secrets, you'd know one of them is that I don't love Christmas. There. I said it. OK OK. I love the the real meaning of Christmas, oldies songs from the likes of Elvis and Jim Reeves, and seven layer dip on Chrismas Eve....but all the rest .... too much running for not enough meaning. Don't get me wrong, we have family oriented Christmas traditions, but why does it become such "a thing" at Christmas. How much money and time is spent on producing the "picture perfect" Christmas? Does that exist, besides in the Target commercials or Pottery Barn catalogs? It's not just the commercialism that bothers me. I think we get pulled in so many extra directions this time of year, when really the best feelings are created when doing the normal things of life with your family. I'll shut up now. I do still want friends, even after they read my blog.


On to my idea. Actually it was my neighbor's idea. I stole it. I would do the 12 days of Christmas for my family, (I did it for my parents too, just a little altered to fit them). Everyday they open one gift. It's not like a "gift" as in toy, or valuable item. (that's the other end of my Christmas rant). It would be something to do together. This works out well, since I am not going to be much more than a warm body around here this Christmas season.

Hence, the picture of the puzzle above. The first day of Christmas. On my parent's gifts I included a scripture or quote to go along with each gift. As the days grew closer to surgery (I had a week to pull Christmas off and get my house in order knowing that I would barely be present for 6 weeks) the notes for my kids gifts got more to the point. The big emphasis on doing everything TOGETHER. So far so good.

Losing Things

Just catching up on the weeks before Thanksgiving...

You know the Jack Johnson song, it's even on my blog. "I've been losing lots of things lately..."

We have been living it. It started with the only key that would start the Corolla. Then Justin's new ski mask, parts to the hot tub, the list goes on. All things that mattered, that cost money, not just little things that didn't matter. To get a key to start the car they needed the car at the dealership, to reset the computer or something. If you know my husband you know he will not pay someone to do something he can do himself, even if it means a lot of work.

This picture shows him jacking up the car in order to slide the car dolly under it (it was stuck in Park). We tried using a come-along to pull the car on. We tried pulling the car dolly under the car using the truck and running the rope from the dolly under the car to the truck. We only ended up dragging the car along with the car dolly, all the while scraping up the driveway with the boulders we had put behind the cars tires to try to hold it in place.

In the end it cost $45 for the tow truck, $50 for each key, plus the dealership's fee. If I ever find that key.....

Lucky

There are two possible captions for this picture:

We are lucky to have Lucky.

OR

Even our animals love bikes.

It's all Relative

Existing. That about sums up what I've been doing for 6 days. You see, last Friday I joined a club. That's what the nurses at the hospital kept telling me. It is a good club to be in, they say. The hyster-sisters club. This site will tell you all you need to know if you are thinking you want to join, or if your doctor has suggested you join. The kicker about the club is that you're not really glad you joined it for at least 4 weeks. Some say longer. I'm ignoring them.


I am actually better than I expected. The pain is all I had heard it would be, but surprisingly, not much worse than I was experiencing every 28 days or so. I'm sure the women I teach in Relief Society every 4th Sunday never suspected I was on narcotic pain pills many of the times I was teaching. What timing. Or maybe it was obvious, how would I know? I was on drugs. All the more reason to have the surgery!

I am so grateful for a friend who calls daily to assure me that it will get better. I hang on her every word. I try to erase from my memory the first week after her surgery when she had me convinced to NEVER do it. And for another who quelled my fears about doing this at all. She said "Go for it!" and that I'd feel so much better! She said it was no big deal and that shouldn't worry at all. I am now questioning her sanity, but she helped me find the courage I needed!

Who knew I had so many friends that could make amazing homemade rolls. My family has been fed way better than normally!

It's crazy how we think the rules don't apply to us. I was told to do nothing, absolutely nothing, for the first week or I would pay for it. But I felt so much better yesterday, certainly putting the laundry in, or unloading just a few dishes couldn't hurt. Tell that to my bed, from which I could hardly drag myself for the next 8 hours. I believe! I believe!

In the days before the surgery I was doing dozens of lunges, sprints in the pool (beating Jill, which is very rare) and loving a new mtn. bike. Today, sitting at the computer for 20 min. is a great accomplishment. It's all relative, I guess.

As You Wish

This was the one and only day we had available to go cut down our Christmas tree. Paige didn't want to go because there wasn't going to be any snow, and it just didn't seem right. In past years we have had to snowshoe in to where we get our tree, and have gotten the truck stuck a few times. We discovered our own Christmas tree garden a few years back and have been returning ever since to pick our tree. But, as you can see, Paige was granted her wish, and we hit snow!

Where would we be without boat straps? Nowhere, I tell you. As we pulled up to "our" Christmas tree place Justin warned us to not hike downhill to get a tree, pulling one down hill to the car would be more ideal. Always thinking, that kid. If there's an easier way to do something he will think of it.

My Brady blued eyed boy.

Kissable cheeked Paige.