Christmas Day 2008

We woke the kids up at 8:00 today. I have always wondered what time they would wake up on their own...but Todd is never that patient. The kids got the Wii this year. This is the first game system, we have ever bought them. I don't think they expected it. I think they had given up hope that they would ever join the "owning a game system" club. They spent the day playing "Guitar Hero - world tour, Mario Kart, Wii sports and the Price is Right. It is now 10:00 p.m. and they are still at it. Ariel is on vocals, Aaron on guitar and Megan is on the drums. We had a relaxing day and the best part, we all stayed in our pj's all day.

The Eve of Christmas 2008

Christmas eve we had our traditional ham dinner. Aaron found the almond in his pudding, so he got the surprise He was kind enough to share his chocolate orange with all of us. One of my favorite parts of the night was when Aaron read us "The Polar Express." He did a great job complete with character voice changes and showing us the pictures. We played "fill in the blank" when Todd read the nativity story from the bible. He would pause every few words and see if we remembered the next phrase. We found that between the kids and I, we knew the nativity story pretty well. We sang some Christmas songs complete with guitar, keyboard and microphone. Then the kids opened their pajamas and gifts from the family drawing.

Every year I buy new pj's for Todd and I when I buy the kids theirs. I always wrap mine up and put them under the tree and say they are from Santa or from Todd... I decided I wasn't getting any pj's for me this year. When my plan was discovered, I received some gentle encouragement to keep up the tradition, and broke down and bought some. I couldn't keep up the facade this year though, the label on my present said: To: Ang From: Ang. I can't keep pretending that someone, other than me, buys, wraps and places my pj's under the tree.

Aaron felt a little bad when he found out that his sisters had bought him a gift and he did not buy one for them. They told him it was ok and that he could do "things" for them that would be better than buying them a present...like not annoying them. They wrote him a list and put on the fridge. Here are the things he is not allowed to do anymore... squeal, yell make annoying sounds, throw the ping pong ball around the house, play drums with no pads, play drums early in the morning, "buggy" things, touch them, be loud, getting involved in other people's business, make whistle noises, make pouty faces, throw tantrums, and stand within two feet of them. I don't think a list like this for a 10 year old boy was a very fair exchange for not getting them a present. He is giving it his best shot though.

Snowfall

Yesterday afternoon as I was leaving an appointment, I noticed small tiny snowflakes were falling from the sky. We don't get snow here very often in Henderson. If there is snow in Vegas, it seems to fall everywhere in the valley, except our neighborhood. The snow never stopped here until long after I had gone to bed last night. By afternoon, the roads were completely snow covered. Aaron got invited to go "tubing" in the early evening, which he really enjoyed. Around dinner they made the announcement on the news, that all Clark County schools were cancelled for today. They haven't cancelled school for a "snow day" since 1979. The fact that school was closed here brought a little gentle "mocking" from some people that live in snow states.

I never thought I would see the day when two girls would be so upset that school was cancelled. But it was real. This week is student council winter week. They have spent a lot of effort in decorating the school in the "Candy land" theme and they had dress up days all week. Also today was Gator Gives, they were going to deliver Christmas presents that they had collected for children in need. This has always been one of Ariel's favorite events of the year. I was sorry that she was going to miss it her last year. We had to cancel our Young Women's party tonight which was kind of sad. I called the girls to tell them and actually left a message on one voice mail that our activity was cancelled because the weather outside was frightful. (I couldn't help myself.)

Our neighbor, Alysha, came over around 9:00 p.m. and asked if anyone wanted to build a snowman. Aaron, Megan, and Shea wanted to build one. Ariel does not like to be cold so she had to stay inside. They built a most excellent snowman. They made a huge bottom to the snowman and when they had finished the middle section, they could not get it lifted up onto the base. I would have helped, but I wasn't wearing any gloves. I think you are suppose to wear gloves when you handle snow. They struggled for quite some time, even with the four of them using all their strength, they were unable to pick it up. They finally had to break the middle section in half and put it back together once it was on the base. They asked me to drive to the store and buy a real long carrot...I thought about it for about a second... and then politely declined. So he had a short baby carrot nose. When they were done, I went out to take a look...they did a great job..."Buddy" was one of the best snowmen I had ever seen. He was a close second to the very best snowman ever made, his name was "Eddie." Then they had a snowball fight, I had to put an end to all their fun and drag them in at 11:00 because I wanted to go to bed.

This morning I strapped on my hiking boots and went for a walk. It was a "balmy" 36 degrees when I left the house, but the wind was blowing. So when you factor in the wind chill, it was really about 80 below. It is not every day that you get to walk in the snow in Vegas. I love the snow. I love the way it makes everything look clean and fresh. I love the crunching sound it makes under your feet and the sparkles it makes when the sun hits it. As I was walking, I thought I saw some deer hoof prints...or maybe they were just dog prints. I can't be sure. Our winter wonderland is starting to melt now, water is starting to pool in the streets where the snow use to be. I paused to visit "Buddy" next door. I tried to prepare the kids last night by telling them that the "pranksta gangsta's" might come in the night and knock over their snow friend, but suprisingly, he was still standing. His carrot nose, one eye and part of his smile and fallen to the ground in front of him, on account that he is beginning to melt. I carefully put them all back into place and picked up the broken broom that was laying on the ground and put it back on his skinny little arm. He is good for now. I will look back on this "snow day" with fondness for years to come.

First attempt at photo for Christmas letter - Failed

We had a little trouble getting us all together to take a family photo this year. I sent the black and white one to the Costco printer and requested 80 prints. When I picked them up, the top of the kids heads were suspiciously missing. As much as I tried to move the crop box around I could not get us all in the photo. Costco is very stubborn with their crop boxes, they would not even give me a fraction more "space" to get the kids heads in the photos...so we had to go through a second photo session. For those of you who have ever had a family picture taken, can imagine how torturous the second photo shoot might be (thank you for your sympathy.) So, because you won't get any of the above in a Christmas card, I thought I would let you look at them here.

The Tree Trimming

We got the tree up and decorated last Sunday. We had our friends, the Arterburns, come over and help us. It went as smooth as tree trimming parties can go. Not too much fighting (since we had company and all) and no broken ornaments.

I love getting the decorations up for Christmas. I have scaled down some over the years so it goes a little faster. I don't like "fluffing" out the tree. Every year when my hands are covered in lots of tiny artificial tree cuts, I think that the next year I am going to wear gloves when I fluff, somehow with all that time in between Christmases, I forget my most excellent plan.

It is already December 7th. I had plans to put all the lights outside up this weekend. I did not get that done, so now I am thinking that it is too close to Christmas to go through all that work and then take them down again. We might have outside lights this year, but we might not. I think outside lights should be more like an every other year event.