Poetic Anxiety

I've been feeling this so much lately! Or, actually, amazement that all of those things don't happen every day -- letters arrive, destinations are reached safely, dinner is cooked, loved ones return 🙂

Boxing Day Highlights

::working on the puzzle o' year

::reading new books, playing new games, nibbling chocolate -- bien sur!


::the Christmas cactus actually bloomed on Christmas!  I was stunned by its punctuality!


::sleeping under the Christmas tree = dreamy

Merry Merry Christmas to all!

::required line up photo -- blurry, gah!

::so happy to get a robot from his new brother-in-law


::they were both completely happy and occupied all day


::La La Land music was a hit -- listening to them sing and play piano is one of my absolute favorite things


::the sun was shining, the magic of Christmas morning was in full force, and Ella gave me the most scrumptious mug that has ever been created = bliss.  I was so enamored of this gift that I was holding it to my face and stroking it lovingly -- Matthew just looked at me and said, "I'd like to apologize in advance for knocking that mug off of the counter."

Festivating

::the annual Yule Log

::Nativity reenactment with the Clays -- and Ian

::always a photo shoot

::Christmas light viewing

Merry Christmas Eve Eve

::getting those gingerbread houses in right under the wire

::Final creation -- blurry


::two cuddle bugs

Nutcracker Battles

The End of an Era

So last night at dinner, an earnest six year old boy looked up at me across the table and seriously asked, "Is Santa Claus still alive?" I put down my fork and gave him a long look because, well, he's six! With everyone else chattering on around us, I finally just shook my head very slowly back and forth. His face fell and with a shaky, but brave, voice he quietly whispered, "I thought so."

holidays

I was just sitting down at my dining dream table dreamily thumbing through the latest House Beautiful whilst sipping some egg nog when along came my adorable and playful kitty cat who proceeded to first, sit directly in the middle of my magazine, and second, after I tenderly shoved her away, daintily dip her paw in my glass and coldly tipple the whole thing over!  I had just barely put a fresh tablecloth on, too!  I suddenly had something pressing to do and took it as a sign that I should change my activity and not be so lazy.  So after changing the cloth, wiping down the floor, chair, and table legs, and starting a load of laundry I'm here being industrious at the computer.  Maybe I'm singing different words, but it is pretty much the same tune, I'm afraid.

We had a wonderful Christmas and I hope that all of you did, too!  My kids always are so pleasant on the actual day and then this year we left early the next morning to drive to Washington D.C.  I can't believe how good everyone was in the car -- we even went one six hour stretch in the middle of the afternoon without stopping!  I really had some pressing needs, but with everyone else content I wasn't about to rock the boat so I suffered through it.  It did snow most of the way, but the roads were fine and we made it in good time.  Coming home was the same, just long, but no one too miserable.  Once again, my camera battery was always dead when I wanted to use it, but I did get some pictures from the last couple of days.

::Philo standing in front of the Philo

 ::listening intently to the very good tour guide.  I used to conduct tours of the capitol building when I was an intern, but now the security is so tight that you can't just walk around by yourself.

 ::I took this picture while I was waiting for people in the car.  Isn't the sunset colored capitol pretty?  I spent a lot of time on this day waiting, so one time I decided to charge my phone and camera while I waited.  I turned on the car to plug in my chargers and didn't realize the lights were also on so the next time I tried to start my car... it didn't.  I then asked a very nice man from Ghana to help me and he turned his car around on a one way street to help me jump my car.  So nice.

 ::after plenty of museum-ing the kids skated on a rink in the sculpture garden of the National Gallery

 ::a new (to me) memorial to FDR that was very nice and fun to play on

 ::Ella was cold and tired -- there were of course very cold temperatures in D.C. during our visit, with Illinois enjoying unseasonably warm weather -- we call it the Smith curse.

 ::Phin LOVED playing with his cousins.  I am quite sure that he wouldn't have noticed if we just left him there at their house forever.

 ::Doesn't it look grand?

 ::more romping

 ::Ella and Charles made it around the construction at the Jefferson Memorial long before the rest of us.  Can you see them?  The whole time we were there I kept insisting that Matthew imagine the cherry blossoms and he obliged.  I don't know if his imagination is very good, though.

 ::the horse riding police were a hit

 ::this time Phin didn't want his picture taken -- a change

 ::we kept noticing so many Charles' at the Vietnam Memorial and then we saw a Charles M. Smith

 ::being irreverent -- sorry!  he is not very containable -- Rebecca was so nice and kept him at home most days that we went into the city.

 ::another new memorial -- this one for the Korean War.  Everyone agreed that it was a little creepy, but in a good way -- it was very poignant

 ::waiting for the dad's to come get us.  They walked in the wrong direction, which I knew, but no one would listen to me so we played while we waited.

 ::lights at the Washington D.C. temple

 ::and a fun free concert which I didn't see the end of because of mr. wiggly pants

There you go.  And Happy New Year!  My goal for the year is to not completely lose it.  I have made more lofty goals in the past, but that doesn't make this  one more attainable necessarily.  What are your resolutions for the coming year?

ho ho hmmm

As I am wont to say, people are so funny.  Twice yesterday I heard people telling children, who were not their own I might add, that they better stop being so naughty or else they were going to call Santa and tell on them.  In both cases, the children were about three years old, maybe four, so the awareness was there, but not the emotional maturity to deal with someone threatening them like that.  One woman at the Dollar Tree, and yes I should remember where I was and take that into account before I get too critical, just went on and on to this one little boy and I can't believe his mother didn't just tell her to shut it.  The boy kept saying, "I'm not naughty!  I'm not!"  But the woman kept telling him he better stop being so bad or Santa wasn't bringing him anything.  I just thought it was so mean!  People!

I keep getting asked if I'm ready for Christmas.  Yes and no.  We try not to go overboard around here and that seems normal to me, but then I see what some people do and I am conflicted.  On the one hand I get a twinge of guilt that my kids Christmas isn't ever over the top and they might hear what Santa did other places, but usually I am just my typical self-righteous self and think that my way is much better because my kids really are always so happy and have never once been disappointed, bratty, or ungrateful.  Christmas morning is always a sweet peaceful event at our house.  So yes, I am ready with all of that.  I usually pick things up throughout the year -- my kids don't watch t.v. so they never know to ask for the latest thing -- and have adopted my friends' idea to get them four things: something to wear, something to read, something they want, and something they need.  I get to give them underwear and they receive something exciting (it's usually not the underwear that fits in that category) -- win, win!  The area in which I am not ready is Christmas cards, but I am going to do that today.  Yes I am.

It is hard to get too into things because Phin is sick this week.  He was vomiting on Monday and then now has croup and a severe viral sore throat.  When I asked if any of them were related, the doctor just laughed, implying that no, Phin is just very unlucky to have caught three separate illnesses at the same time.  That gives all of us a lottery, as it were, of what we might catch.  Yay! 

I hope that you are all enjoying the Holidays!!!

sing along

I woke up this morning with a lovely bass solo from the Messiah rolling around my head.  Last night we (I should say "I" since Matthew hightails it to the basement) hosted our annual Christmas Messiah sing along.  I cannot believe how much I love it!  The first year we had a very talented pianist who sight read the entire score, but since then we have played an mp3 and follow along with our own music.  It is so nice to be reminded of the beautiful words and we try not to be too irreverent as we laugh uproariously at our slaughtered rendition of the trills.  At the end of each song we breathe a long sigh and count it a victory if we at least got the last note right.

I couldn't help thinking about the Provo Tabernacle as we were singing.  And it makes me cry that it burned down.  I cannot even count the number of times that I have heard the Messiah there.  My parents sang in a chorale and we not only would attend the performances, but my siblings and I would be given free rein of the building while they practiced.  Truly we were supposed to be doing our homework, but it wouldn't take long before we set down our books and started exploring and hide and seeking.  Up the spiral staircase and across the steep top aisle.  Up even higher into the topmost seats.  Over to the side to a little nook too small and hidden to be a comfortable spot for anyone.  Oh, a little door into the rafters!  Unfortunately always locked (shoulders sag).  Back down and across to the back stand and down the narrow little stairway in the very back.  I can smell it and hear the creaky floor, feel the smooth polished shine of the banisters and benches, see the light coming through the magnificent stained glass windows.   


We also always had stake conference there so twice a year I would insist that we sit in the center top balcony where I could have the best view of all of the people!  I would settle right in and commence gazing slowly and methodically around the entire audience -- a funny couple, unruly children, pretty dresses, cute boys...  Then I would count how many people I could see from my school.  Oh, and of course I listened intently to the speakers.


I cannot think of another building that I knew so well and I mourn.

holiday spirit

On Friday I had to walk at the mall by myself.  Joy was nice enough to join me on the phone.  The stores have been opening early so it was pretty crowded by the time I was leaving.  Do you know what this means?  My parking space was a fairly hot commodity.  So hot, in fact, that a man was willing to wait for me to unbuckle baby, put him in his car seat, fold up my stroller, get everything stashed, etc.  I know!  I tried to hurry.  Unfortunately, I had to exit the parking lot in the same direction he was in so he had to wait until I was all the way out and then out of NOWHERE a car zoomed into my space from behind me.  The man that had been waiting (for quite some time) started honking at him, but the new car did not care one whit!  I felt so bad and wished that I could have accommodated the patient waiter a bit more by, I don't know, ramming into the other guy, for example.  As I was exiting the parking lot, I saw them involved in a heated exchange, but the new guy didn't move.  Wouldn't you totally not park there if you saw that someone had been waiting?  And then if you hadn't noticed, but someone tried to alert you to that fact, wouldn't you just let them park there?   Aaaah, the Christmas Cheese, I mean Season.  While we were in Japan, we would always try to figure out what the topic of our church meetings were.  One Sunday a man, talking in very rapid Japanese, kept repeating the same phrase "kurisumasu chizu" was what I heard.  I turned to Matthew and said, "I think the first word is Christmas and the second word is either cheese or map."  It wouldn't have surprised me if there was some Japanese christmas cheese tradition that I had never heard of, after all the entire country has been convinced by KFC that everyone eats fried chicken on Christmas Eve whilst waiting for Santa.  Or perhaps it was a story about finding something using a map.  I didn't know.  Finally, 20 minutes later we realized he had been saying Christmas season the whole time, but now I always think Christmas Cheese.  Probably had to be there.


No I am not packed.  In case you were wondering.  Everyone seems to have been wondering.  For the past six weeks.  Let's see where we are next week at this time.

counting down

We got out our Christmas decorations last night finally.  Everyone in my house that is over 12 years old is being rather scrooge-y about it all in my opinion.  They think that since we are leaving we should pretend that Christmas isn't happening.  We are not leaving until after Christmas people!  It was frustrating because lights weren't working, trees were tilting, and people were yelling (that couldn't have possibly been the sweet mommy spreading holiday cheer...).  We are definitely paring down this season, but it is still nice to have some of it up.  I got an advent calendar from Garnet Hill on clearance last year (I am so very grateful for wonderful sales ~~ they make me happy).  I found a very nice idea on another blog of putting in scriptures leading up to the birth of Christ on Christmas day so I am eager to fill mine up.  Like I always say, better three days late than never!

Christmas and Lucinda

We had such a nice Christmas. I always enjoy being home with my kids and they are always so well-behaved and sweet on Christmas day. We spent Christmas Eve with friends where we had Mexican food, reenacted the Nativity, and then sang the Messiah with laughter (at our ineptitude) and tears (at the beauty of the sentiments -- "Surely He hath borne our griefs" is so lovely). Then Santa came and -- oh, wait -- he didn't leave anything. The thing I ordered weeks ago hadn't come and when I finally got a hold of them a couple of days later, they said they weren't going to have it anytime soon. Were they going to tell me? I guess not. So finally on Monday morning I went out and bought the main Christmas present which was ----- Rock Band. Pros: the kids have been playing all together in one room happily for hours at a time; baby sits on his knees and bounces along to the beat. Cons: Lucy singing "Livin' on a Prayer" at dinner last night.

Lulu has been growing out her hair for years so that she could donate it to locks of love. Her hair grows slowly, but finally we took her in on Friday and her ponytail was 10 1/2 inches long! It would have been great to get a picture at the hair salon, but since my camera is apparently glued to the kitchen counter, I had to bring the hair home and then take it back later. She is also excited about her dangly earrings she got for Christmas. She got her ears pierced a couple of months ago and it was quite dramatic, as things in her life tend to be. She really wanted them pierced, I even had her wait a few weeks to be sure, she told everyone at school and church that she was doing it on a certain day, and then we get there and she starts screaming. I was kind of holding her down and telling them to just go ahead, but she was trying to get off the chair, and moving her head. The place where we were doing this is at the mall and they do it in a little window so the passerby can watch. As I am pinning her arms in place and trying to hold her head still I am sure that everyone walking by was thinking, "Why is that lady making her daughter get her ears pierced when she obviously doesn't want them pierced?" I don't really know. It didn't matter to me one way or another, but I knew she would regret it later if she had to go face everyone and nothing had happened. Finally it was over, but they made her sit in the chair for a while since she had been hyperventilating. I asked her if I did the right thing making her go ahead or should I have let her back out? She said she was so glad that I had not listened to her pleas to not do it. Then she laughed and said "Oh, that wasn't so bad." It wasn't??! Maybe for one of us.


"Lucy-locks" and Ibby got a trim, too.











Hats from Grandma Carolynn -- everyone has been wearing them for days! Baby found a candy cane and looks pretty pleased with himself! Not to mention all the cords and garland in this picture -- it is like an ad for how NOT to care for a baby. I think there is some broken glass and poisonous cleaning supplies right behind him.

Ho, ho, ho!

A couple of weeks ago there was a man from the high council who spoke in our ward. He was talking about... well, I don't even remember what he was talking about, but suddenly from out of nowhere he says, "... when my 11 year old daughter found out that Santa Claus wasn't real..." and then went on like he hadn't just ruined Christmas!!! I gasped and looked at the bishop, wondering when he was going to get out his hook and yank that guy away from the microphone. I mean really! He let his daughter get to the ripe old age of 11, can't we let my five year old enjoy the magic for at least one more year? I looked around the congregation and saw loads of children. Did he not see them, too? What was he thinking? And then I looked around again, saw various blank faces, and realized that no one was even listening. Whew! That was close. However, not being completely assured that the false doctrine hadn't penetrated my daughter's brain, I was relieved to find out that Santa was coming to her class party. All the kids were taking turns and close to the end Ibby shyly walked up and sat on his lap. He asked what she wanted and she quietly said, "A stuffed animal." "What kind of stuffed animal?" "I want a duck." Well, this was the first I had had heard this, but I smiled as I realized how easily I could fulfill all of her dreams. How nice. When all the kids were finished, Santa looked at me and asked if the baby would like to sit on his lap. I said that I was quite sure that he really would not like that and then Santa proceeded to invite ME to sit on his lap. Umm. No thank you? I think I will just take the kids and slowly back away.

Merry Christmas Bedford Falls!

Out with the old, in with the new

My friend Amy is doing a giveaway! Go on over and enter at Mommy and Beyond.

Our friends came for Thanksgiving and we had so much fun! I have lots of wonderful memories, but the most lasting outcome of the visit was... Brock fixed my kitchen cupboard door!!! Yea!!! Thank you, thank you! It makes me happy every time I walk by, or sometimes I don't even notice it and then I remember that it used to be a broken, gaping hole, and anyone could see everything spilling out of it, and the baby was constantly crawling in there and wreaking havoc, and that that one cupboard made me yearn for an entirely new kitchen, etc. etc. and a feeling of peace and joy overcomes me because I didn't notice the cupboard for the first time in three months! And by notice I mean grit my teeth, clench my jaw, and scream inside -- I really despise open cupboards at the best of times, but generally one can just shut them with a flip of the wrist and feel better immediately. So, yes, that has made me happy and when I recover from the uncontainable delight it derived it will also bring tranquility.

My new frustration, because I needed a new one to replace the old one, is beautiful fake candles. We cannot seem to manage to put up Christmas lights. I really like tastefully done Christmas lights and would love to live in a house that had them, but it is beyond us. So I bought the candles that look really nice in all of the windows of a symmetrically laid out old house because I happen to live in one. I had about 18 of them with brand new batteries and they lasted approximately 10.5 hours. How completely nice! I see other people have them in their windows. I have tried this before, but thought I got the wrong kind. This time I spent a little more, but no. I will do some research and see if it is the light bulbs, the batteries, the whole candle, or just me!

Decorating the Christmas trees