Christmas 2008 - has come and gone

Well it's been an age since I posted anything. But I'm finally posting some pics of our Christmas Celebrations. We had a lot fun this year. I attribute this to shifting the focus a bit. Instead of trying to figure out the best gifts to buy we challenged each other to make something personal and heartfelt. We didn't shop on Black Friday, we barely went into any stores at all (so you can blame us for the failing economy!) Instead we thought about what we'd like to tell each other, or share. Francesca made pictures or stories for each person. Tori make a poster for her dad and mini albums for the rest of us. Kathleen made an "ABCs of You" scrapbook for each person. Barry made Tori a shadow box commerating her 16th birthday party, Francesca a Baptism Box, and searched for some meaningful pics for a cute photo display for Kathleen and her mom. Sure it was more work, and more planning...but it was well worth it. We usually don't shed tears on Christmas morning ...but this year there we several gifts that made us cry ... happy tears! Our one big splurg was a family gift. On the 15th we went to see The Christmas Sweater by Glenn Beck in Philadelphia. It was pretty awesome. It really helped with any residual feelings of "this is a less-than Christmas".

Of course we had lots of yummy food too. One of our favorite meals was on Christmas Eve. We did a fondue dinner. We marinated steak and chicken cut into bitesized bits, along with various vegetables and some shrimp. We then used my Christmas gift from last year, an electronic fondue pot. Each person got to fry their bits in hot oil. We had so much fun, and had so much leftover that we had it for Christmas dinner too. On New Year's Day we used it again -- for fruit this time, dipping it in chocolate. Yummy!! I love that little fondue pot!

It was a great Christmas! We hope yours was wonderful too!

Christmas 2008

A Recipe to Share

Francesca and I made these last night -- and they are quite yummy!

http://www.recipezaar.com/Easiest-Peanut-Butter-Chocolate-Cookies-Bisquick-336015

All you need is bisquick, pb, and a can of sweetened condensed milk a bit of vanilla and sugar. Of course if you have some Hershey Kisses to crown these beauties that's great too.

Okay -- had to add this one too --- I haven't made them YET -- but it looks very yummy -- a chocolate cookie with a buckeye on top!! That can't be a bad thing!!

http://jif.com/Recipes/Details.aspx?recipeID=2420

Enjoy!!

Preparations for Christmas

Our family tradition has been to shun Black Friday shopping and instead decorate our home. Last year I tried to do both, after the crowds and craziness I decided that I never had to do that again. And of course this year it turns out you were taking your life in your own hands going out on that day --- so I'm definitely sticking with our tradition.

What used to take Barry and me a couple of hours as newlyweds, is now an all day (sometimes multi-day) event. Barry preps the tree in advance, un-scrunching the branches and wrapping the lights. He's also great at lugging those totes down from the attic. Even though we've lived in this house 5 years – we seem to change it up every year. It makes it fun. This year we showcased all our Christmas books by putting them along the ledge in our foyer (will take a picture later). It's different – but I think it shows our love of books and shows how we try to focus on the spiritual side of Christmas.

By the end of weekend, all was done except the actual decoration of the tree. Barry is off on Mondays, so we spent that day outside (in majorly gusty winds) putting up lights. That's another area we change up a bit each year. For Family Home Evening we decorated the tree. It's fun to see that the kids enjoy the traditions we've established. It's the little things done the same way – like, special ornaments for each person. We even have a tradition for what goes on 2^nd to last and last. When it's all done – we finally turn on the tree lights (other room lights are off) and sing Silent Night. It sounds corny – but we love it and it truly is an important part of the whole experience for us.

Christmas has a way of sneaking up on me – but I'm glad it's here. I'm just afraid it will be gone before I'm fully in the spirit. So I'm embracing it. I want to enjoy it all, not get stressed. Remember when it seemed so long between Christmases! Well I'm trying to get that feeling back again. Savor the Season!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

I don't know when I'll get the chance to sitdown and type again for a few days. And it's been a few weeks since I wrote anything. So I just wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving. I wrote in the YW newsletter that it would be a fun exercise to post on here 100 things I'm thankful for -- big things like my family and the gospel -- and little things like snack size ziplock bags and my favorite bubble bath. For right now that will have to be a some day maybe project -- perhaps ongoing throughout the year. I am very thankful for technology that allows me to communicate with my friends and family - in such a fun, creative and easy way across so many miles.

Wishing you and yours the best Thanksgiving Ever!!

Tori is Sweet 16

Well our teenager is now 16! Yikes!! We talked about her party for more than a year. We had lots of ideas. But all of them cost money. We tossed around the idea of a moon bounce and a carnival theme, a Roller Skating Party and I can't even remember all the rest. In the end budget became the biggest factor. We even thought about not doing a party using the money for shopping and lunch with her best buddy. But then I remembered my own 16th birthday -- and I wanted Tori to have a memorable day like I did.

Flashback: August 17th, 1983 My best buddy, Shireen, my sister, brother, Mom and Grandmother spent the whole day at the Ohio State Fair in Columbus. The cherry on the top though was the concert that night: MY FAVORITE BAND!! Air Supply!! I even remember locking the keys to the car in the car. The state troopers had some fun with us, telling us that they'd have to bust out the window to get them. LOL. Memories!!

Flash Forward -11-01-08:

So we decided to have fun with a party at home -- as many friends who could come, hay bales to sit on, a make shift canopy of twinkle light, the chiminea, tons of balloons, chilli cheese dogs and chips. It came together to be a really fun evening. At first the friends from church and the friends from school were pretty separate -- but after a walk down to the playground people were mixing well --then they really had a blast playing flashlight tag. We had a really nice group of kids, gorgeous weather and it really was just a great evening.

Victoria's Homecoming