So much going on when all I really want to do is eat fudge and watch Miracle on 34th Street.

First up, all the Christmas decorations.

I got an automatic timer outlet thing for the tree and it has changed my life. No more climbing behind the tree twice a day to reach the plug.

Plus the candles in the windows are on a timer too and it's so fun to watch them turn on at sunset.

I'm loving this Christmas tablecloth that I bought for $8 last summer. It makes me so happy.

Enjoy some other Christmas stuff. I like to look back on past years so that's why I take pictures and put them here.

We went to his parent teacher conference. He is so smart and we all knew that. He's pretty much dominating every subject. I love this art project hanging in the hall. I hope he gets to bring it home soon.

It wouldn't be the Christmas season without making treats all the time. These are hot cocoa cookies and they were so good. It has like a cup of hot chocolate powder in the dough and it created a better tasting chocolate cookie than just cocoa powder alone. I would leave out the little freeze-dried marshmallows if I wasn't making them at Christmastime. They don't add much flavor or texture but they look cute. Maybe white chocolate chips instead.

How is this rose shrub still putting out flowers like it's summer? Sure, we've had a crazy warm December but not that warm. It's not called an iceberg rose for nothing.

Erica wanted to do a gingerbread house but no one else was interested so she happily worked on it by herself for hours. Her friend Ellie came over and helped her finish it. She was so happy the entire time.

This is our ward's Christmas breakfast. All the primary kids sang "Picture a Christmas" and they did a great job. Ward members brought breakfast casseroles, fruit, pancakes, whatever they wanted, and the ward provided cinnamon rolls and milk and juice. Best part was we shared the decorations with the 2nd ward who had their party later that day so we didn't have to take anything down.

Later that morning the kids painted ornaments. This year were snowmen.

I don't know if our tree can handle any more ornaments!

There are two movies that must be watched or it isn't Christmas. Garfield's Christmas Special and Will Vinton's A Claymation Christmas Celebration (I have them on DVD but here are some good links if you don't want to make the investment quite yet.) These were my favorites as a kid and they are now my kids' favorites too. They have them memorized and I'm pretty sure that's my greatest accomplishment as a parent.

"Do you think we are the only people that are watching this this year?" I asked.

"Oh absolutely," they replied.

What's nice about only having 9 hours of daylight is that I am definitely awake and aware of the sunrise and sunset. We've had some stunners.

I'm late to the watercooler discussion on this but it's true: ice cream is no longer ice cream. 

Well some ice cream is no longer ice cream. The powers that be say if it doesn't have enough cream in it, it's not ice cream so it's labeled as a frozen dessert.

I'm happy to report that this affected brands and flavors I never buy anyway.

Justin and I were in charge of the entertainment portion of his work Christmas party. I wrapped up all the presents we bought on black Friday and we hauled them to an event center at Thanksgiving point. After dinner we played a group game of Wits and Wagers with Christmas questions and then we did the gift exchange. 

Afterwards, Steve Anderson, the founder of Anderson Engineering, did a presentation on the beginnings of the company.

I missed a few weeks of Sarah's swim meets (away meet, cancelled meet, James's parent teacher conference) so I was surprised and pleased as anyone to see Sarah win her heat in the 50m free!

Her coach told her that her stroke looked technically perfect the entire time. Pretty good for a girl who is not out there to win but just do her best.

Saturday Justin and I went to a movie. That should be a headline in and of itself. I can't think of the last movie the two of us saw. Seriously. We saw Hamnet and then went to Holy Taco. Both good. It was a good night.

No one loves guacamole more than Erica. No one.

James's basketball season is in full swing. He is on the same team as his friend George and they are having so much fun.

He is a great defensive player, just like when he plays football. He's always watching the ball and gets right in there. Last night Henry kept track of his stats and we were all impressed at how many rebounds he got.

Erica drew this on my phone during the game.

A couple of the third grade teachers even came to the game. That was so nice of them. Miss Willis is standing behind James. He is 4/4 having amazing elementary school teachers. His bff is George, #11.

First photo is caramel cooked too hot and got too hard so I melted it back down and added more cream. It turned out like fudge. Delicious but not what I was going for. Second photo is a large portion of that fudgy caramel that I again melted down. I added butter, cream, and corn syrup and brought it back up to soft ball temp. It created a gooier caramel with richer flavor that Erica and Henry say is the best caramel ever. Last picture is the caramel how it was intended to be. I just had to start all the way over but nailed it that time. So come over and try all three versions!

I still have a list of treats to make and movies to watch and fun Christmas things to do. I just need everything else to stop so we can get to it!

Thanksgiving 2025

I'm thankful for this girl and she is thankful for homemade pretzels. She went from never having a soft pretzel a few months ago to soft pretzels biggest fan.

 

I'm thankful for our new garage door. It has no dents, no scuffs, isn't bent or cracked, and doesn't sound like a witch got caught in it.

One night I showed the kids the lost art of tracing silhouettes. In the days of yore, these were self portraits and something to do on a dark winter night, I explained. Then the kids filled the outline with all the things they were thankful for.

Erica has outgrown all her dolls and the clothes and accessories and triple bunkbeds that went with them. She thought long and hard about which little girl would appreciate it. She decided to give it all to 5-year-old Maggie who is in our ward and is her friend's little sister. So Ellie came over the day before Thanksgiving and they wrapped it all up and carried it to Ellie's house.

They tried to balance it on a scooter but realized it was faster to just walk the 2.5 blocks to Ellie's house. I hope Maggie loves it.

I'm thankful for this kid. He's the only person I took a picture of on Thanksgiving day.

The other picture is of my food. I could go for another roll about now.

I was a little bummed going into Thanksgiving this year since we were going to be a smaller group and only the sisters that I see all the time and their families were going to make it. (That sounds rude but the best part about holidays is seeing people you haven't seen in awhile and I didn't want to wait 2 more years to spend Thanksgiving with these absent people). Wednesday my oldest sister made my day by telling me she and two of her kids were coming after all! I could have cried with joy. Then on Thanksgiving after dinner my brother and his wife surprised us all by walking in the door! They had just flown back from Arizona and were looking for a warm meal (they had their Thanksgiving dinner with my sister-in-law's mother the day before). It went from being a regular ol' Thanksgiving to one of miracles!

Friday Justin and I went on a shopping spree to Costco. Costco the day after Thanksgiving is like Costco on a Saturday: not especially busy since they don't do black Friday sales. We picked out gifts for all of Justin's office since we are in charge of his work party this year. There's a bit of pressure to pick out stuff that people would actually want but also fun to spend other people's money.

Saturday morning we drove to the mountains to cut down a Christmas tree. No snow, no coat, no sledding. It was a strange tree hunt. Half the fun is climbing up the mountainside in knee deep snow and then shaking the snow off trees to see if they are contenders. But not this year. It was strangely cool but not cold.

It still took us a little while to find a good shaped tree that was tall enough. It took Justin less than a minute to cut it down.

Isn't it pretty?

Back at tree camp we had hot chocolate and cold doughnuts.

Erica was running a fever so she isolated in the truck so as to not get her little cousins sick.

She had a great view bb gun shooting.

Most of all I am thankful for this crew, my peeps, my nerds.

I spent almost 2 hours Saturday afternoon stringing the lights. I don't know if I'm just too picky about how they are strung or just not very good at it but it takes me forever. This evening we put ornaments on the tree. My kids are better ornament hangers now that they are older (spread them out, use hooks, don't drop them) but they don't get excited about it and I miss that. Poor Erica was running a fever but still a good sport.

2025 v 2022