Christmas

Christmas was great this year. Santa came and seemed to leave way too many presents for Emma. She was a little spoiled this year. I love how versatile she is and that she doesn't get obsessed with only one or two things. She loves so many things that it's fun shopping for her (and really easy). She got way too many things to mention them all, but her favorite two gifts were definately her kitchen set and her camera.

Here she is with her kitchen set.

After we opened presents in the morning at home we went to my parents house to exchange and open presents with my family. We had a wonderful brunch followed by way too many presents. Emma had brought her camera with her (her kitchen set was too big to bring), and it was glued to her face all day long. She took 268 pictures and completely wore out the brand new batteries we had put in that morning. We of course will be buying rechargeable batteries for that thing so we don't go broke. Looking at her pictures is so fun because we get to see her perspective. Even though many of them are blurry, they are still so much fun to look at. Of course I deleted all the ones of people's butts (hey, that's about eye level for her, so what do you expect?).

Here she is at my parents house holding her camera.

Here she is taking a picture of her cousin (this is pretty much what she looked like all day - her camera up to her face).

When we finished at my parents house we packed up and headed for my Grandma's house. We exchanged and opened presents there and ate a delicious roast for dinner.

On our way home we came across a scene from Calvin & Hobbes and had to get a picture.

Emma played with some of her toys and then it was off to bed. It was such a great day, and lived up to all the expectations I had for it. And what made it all worth while? - That night in her prayers Emma thanked Heavenly Father for sending Jesus to earth so we could celebrate His birthday. I love that kid of mine SO much.

Merry Christmas!

I hope all your shopping is done and that you can now officially relax and focus on time with family and on the Savior and His birth. I am so grateful that Jesus was born on this earth and that He lived a perfect life as an example to each of us.

I can't believe how much time has gone by since we were blessed to have Emma join our family. She is so different than she was 3 years ago. This picture from her first Christmas is still one of my favorites. And, if you'll forgive a mom her absolutely unbiased opinion, isn't she the cutest kid ever!! =)

There is a song that my dad taught us when I was little that I've never heard anywhere else, but he didn't make it up, so maybe some of you know it. I always liked it, and thought it was cute. I have taught it to Emma, and as a present to all of you here is a video of her singing it. Here are the words (in case you have a hard time understanding her). Merry Christmas everyone!

In a little stable, far across the sea

Was a little baby just like you and me.

Shepherds stood around Him; Angels watched with care

For the babe was Jesus, lying smiling there.

Ding dong ding dong, Christmas Bells are ringing

Ding dong ding dong, happy children singing.

Ding dong ding dong, what do all the bells say?

Ding dong ding dong, this is Jesus' birthday.

When Eric was growing up (and I think still) it was a tradition for a local radio station to read the following story. It was written by an unknown author, so I can't give credit to anyone. Eric read it to me once a few years ago, and it was really funny, especially if you live where there is snow. So here is a copy of it for your enjoyment.

Diary of a Mad Snow Shoveler

December 8: 6:00 PM. It started to snow. The first snow of the season and the wife and I took our cocktails and sat for hours by the window watching the huge soft flakes drift down from heaven. It looked like a Grandma Moses Print. So romantic we felt like newlyweds again. I love snow!

December 9: We woke to a beautiful blanket of crystal white snow covering every inch of the landscape.What a fantastic sight! Can there be a lovelier place in the Whole World? Moving here was the best idea we've ever had. Shoveled for the first time in years and felt like a boy again. I did both our driveway and the sidewalks. This afternoon the snowplow came along and covered up the sidewalks and closed in the driveway, so I got to shovel again. What a perfect life!

December 12: The sun has melted all our lovely snow. Such a disappointment. My neighbor tells me not to worry; we'll definitely have a white Christmas. No snow on Christmas would be awful! Bob says we'll have so much snow by the end of winter, that I'll never want to see snow again. I don't think that's possible. Bob is such a nice man I'm glad he's our neighbor.

December 14: Snow lovely snow! 8" last night. The temperature dropped to -20. The cold makes everything sparkle so. The wind took my breath away, but I warmed up by shoveling the driveway and sidewalks. This is the life! The snowplow came back this afternoon and buried everything again. I didn't realize I would have to do quite this much shoveling, but I'll certainly get back in shape this way. I wish l wouldn't huff and puff so.

December 15: 20 inches forecast. Sold my van and bought a 4x4 Blazer. Bought snow tires for the wife's car and 2 extra shovels. Stocked the freezer. The wife wants a wood stove in case the electricity goes out.I think that's silly. We aren't in Alaska, after all.

December 16: Ice storm this morning. Fell on my a** on the ice in the driveway putting down salt. Hurt like hell. The wife laughed for an hour, which I think was very cruel.

December 17: Still way below freezing. Roads are too icy to go anywhere. Electricity was off for 5 hours. I had to pile the blankets on to stay warm. Nothing to do but stare at the wife and try not to irritate her. Guess I should've bought a wood stove, but won't admit it to her. God I hate it when she's right. I can't believe I'm freezing to death in my own living room.

December 20: Electricity's back on, but had another 14" of the damn stuff last night. More shoveling. Took all day. Goddamn snowplow came by twice. Tried to find a neighbor kid to shovel, but they said they're too busy playing hockey. I think they're lying. Called the only hardware store around to see about buying a snow blower and they're out. Might have another shipment in March. I think they're lying. Bob says I have to shovel or the city will have it done and bill me. I think he's lying.

December 22: Bob was right about a white Christmas because 13 more inches of the white sh** fell today, and it's so cold it probably won't melt till August. Took me 45 minutes to get all dressed up to go out to shovel and then I had to piss. By the time got undressed, pissed, and dressed again, I was too tired to shovel. Tried to hire Bob who has a plow on his truck for the rest of the winter; but he says he's too busy. I think the a**hole is lying.

December 23: Only 2" of snow today. And it warmed up to 0. The wife wanted me to decorate the front of the house this morning. What is she nuts?!! Why didn't she tell me to do that a month ago? She says she did but I think she's lying.

December 24: 6". Snow packed so hard by snowplow, I broke the shovel. Thought I was having a heart attack. If I ever catch the son of a bitch who drives that snowplow, 'I'll drag him through the snow by his balls.I know he hides around the corner and waits for me to finish shoveling and then he comes down the street at a 100 miles an hour and throws snow all over where I've just been! Tonight the wife wanted me to sing Christmas carols with her and open our presents, but I was busy watching for the goddamn snowplow.

December 25: Merry Christmas. 20 more inches of the f***ing slop tonight. Snowed in. The idea of shoveling makes my blood boil. God I hate the snow! Then the snowplow driver came by asking for a donation and I hit him over the head with my shovel. The wife says I have a bad attitude. I think she's an idiot. If I have to watch" It's a Wonderful Life" one more time, I'm going to kill her.

December 26: Still snowed in. Why the hell did I ever move here? It was all HER idea. She's really getting on my nerves.

December 27: Temperature dropped to -30 and the pipes froze.

December 28: Warmed up to above -20. Still snowed in. THE B***CH is driving me crazy!!!!!

December 29: 10 more inches. Bob says I have to shovel the roof or it could cave in. That's the silliest thing I ever heard. How dumb does he think I am?

December 30: Roof caved in. The snow plow driver is suing me for a million dollars. The wife went home to her mother. 9" predicted.

December 31: Set fire to what's left of the house. No more shoveling.

January 8: I feel so good. I just love those little white pills they keep giving me. Why am I tied to the bed?

Christmas Activities Update

Okay, so we finally got a new computer (well, it actually hasn't been that long, but it seemed like forever because we were borrowing a 5 year old laptop from my dad - what a dinosaur...the computer, not my dad...well...just kidding), so I can now upload pictures again. Here is just a quick update on some of the activities we've been doing lately.

We went to see the lights on Temple Square. Emma loved it. There were a few too many pink and yellow lights for my taste, and the big red tree wasn't lit, but other than that it was great.

My family got together for a big game night. We also celebrated Brad's birthday, which I already posted about. We had a white elephant gift exchange as well. It was a really fun day (some of us started at 2:00).

Here's Jill and Brad showing off their nicely coordinated gifts of toilet paper and the super dooper reindeer pooper.

Emma and I made some gingerbread cookies, which didn't last long.



Emma saw Santa at the mall. The line was very short, so I didn't mind waiting with her. She also ha Santa visit her at our house. Our ward Christmas party is adults only (which I think is kind of dumb given that Christmas is such a family oriented holiday), so the Bishopric brings Santa by the homes of all the kids for a visit. He gave her an early Christmas present too.



Eric and I also got together with some of my friends for dinner. Thanks again for planning it Sarah! It was so much fun.

Christmas Cards

So, I was just curious...how many of you actually send out Christmas cards? Am I the only one who doesn't participate or hasn't ever participated in this tradition? It's not that I think it's dumb, but it's kind of, well, dumb. Don't get me wrong, I love receiving cards from people. It's nice to know someone is thinking of you. And maybe that's the point, which isn't so bad, and makes the whole thing seem a little more worthwhile. And the ones that are just cards aren't too bad - they're rather nice to get actually. And maybe I could see myself sending this type out at some point in the future. The ones that I think are funny (and a little silly) are the ones that take you on a journey through the year of whoever sent you the card and their family. If it's someone I care about I usually know the stories already, and if I don't care that much about them (how mean does that make me sound?!), then it seems a bit wierd. I do, however, love reading them. Some of the funniest things I read are by self (and or family) promoting individuals trying to make minor incidents and accomplishments sound very intense and highly enviable. I'm not saying people should stop doing this if it makes them happy, and I'm not saying that I want to stop receiving any cards. I'm just expressing the same confusion I always feel at this time of year with regards to this activity. I promise I'm not attacking those of you who fall into this catagory, so please don't feel the need to defend yourselves. Really, you can continue to send cards and letters, as long as I can continue to be confused. (On a totally non-Christmas related tangent, I also don't really understand sending out birth announcements.) Am I completely alone in this sentiment? I guess if you're wanting a Christmas card from me, instead of waiting by your mailbox, just go back and read all my blog posts from this year. Because that's really what a blog is, a never-ending Christmas card full of all the ups, downs, and self-promoting you can handle. So from me to you, etcetera etcetera and so forth on the blog posts, and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

What's Your Favorite?

One of the best things about this time of year are the books, songs, movies, etc. that you finally feel justified in enjoying. You could listen to Christmas music any time of year, but who wants to do that? Part of what makes this season so special and fun is the enjoyment of these holiday treats that we wait all year for.

My favorite Christmas book is A Christmas Carol. Many many years ago I got the idea from my brother to read it, and I have read it every Christmas since. It's incredible. If you've never read it you really should. There are some beautifully written thoughts and ideas in it. Many of which are usually kept in some form or another in the movies, plays, etc. of this story. A couple of my favorite quotes are also a couple of the best known, and both are spoken by Jacob Marley as he visits with Scrooge prior to the visit of the Three Spirits.

''Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!"

"At this time of the rolling year, I suffer most. Why did I walk through crowds of fellowbeings with my eyes turned down, and never raise them to that blessed Star which led the Wise Men to a poor abode? Were there no poor homes to which its light would have conducted me!"

While there are so many good songs to listen to, both traditional and new, it may seem hard to select just one as your favorite. Most of my favorites are in German, and many of them are only in German, like Es wird scho gli dumpa. But if I had to choose just one as my absolute favorite it would have to be Silent Night. I've always loved this song, but after serving in Austria it is permanently ingrained in me as special. Most of you know of its origins and that it was written in Austria (near Salzburg, in Oberndorf), but you may not know that it is such a special song over there that they only sing it on Christmas Eve. That's the only day that it's okay to sing it. That was hard for me since I love it, so on that day both years I was there I must have sung it about 20 times just to get my fill. It has such powerful imagery that I feel like I am there at the birth of the Savior when I listen to it. It has the ability like no other song to make the spirit of the season very palpable.

I love old movies. And I mean from as far back as the 30's. So it's no surprise that the movies I love to watch around Christmas are old black and white ones. As cheesy as they might be, I always want to watch them. I enjoy newer movies too, but my favorite is It's A Wonderful Life. Even though it's on TV all the time and people make fun of it, I love it.

So what are your favorite Christmas songs, books, and movies? Do you have a favorite quote from one of them? Please share! I love learning things like this about people.

Adventskrantz

One of the many many many many many things I loved about Christmas in Austria (seriously- no one does Christmas as well as Austrians and Germans- why do you think so many of our traditions here in America come from them? - they just can't be beat) was the Adventskrantz or Advents Wreath. They would have a wreath laying on a table with 4 candles placed along it. On each of the four sundays prior to Christmas they would light the candle / candles corrosponding to that sunday. So on the first sunday they would light one candle, on the second 2 candles, etc. And each time they did this they said a little poem. Here is a rough translation of the poem:

Advent, advent a small light burns

First one, then two, then three, then four

Then the Christchild is at your door.

A better translation of the last line would be that "now the Christchild has arrived" but this way at least it ryhmes a little. It sounds much better in German, trust me. There is a lot of symbolism to the Adventskrantz, but my favorite is true of all wreaths. The round image reminds us that Advent is a time to look both forwards and backwards, remembering the two comings of the Savior.

I just always liked anticipating the birth of the Savior rather than Santa Claus. I made my own Adventskrantz (the picture is not mine, but one I found online - computer woes, remember?) our first Christmas we were married, and do this every year with Eric and Emma. It's just another nice reminder of the real meaning of the season.

Why Complain or Take Offense?

It always bugs me this time of year when I hear about all the complaining about holiday greetings and whether it's PC to use them or not. Why does it matter? I know the arguments people use, but I just don't understand them. If someone is wishing you a happy or merry whatever, why get mad instead of feeling good? I've been wished a happy Hanukkah, happy Kwanzaa, Merry Christmas, & happy Holidays. I love all of them, even if I don't celebrate all of them. To me it doesn't matter. Most people celebrating any of these can feel the Spirit of the season, so their greetings and well wishes are meant well. I would love it if everyone celebrated for the same reason I do, but just because they don't doesn't mean I should criticize them or dismiss their traditions, just like I hope they'll let me celebrate for my reasons and not criticize me.

Computer Woes

Our computer died this week. Sad. I am coming over to my moms a couple times a week to check email and the blogs. So if I don't respond to an email right away or something on the blog, that's why. I'll get around to it, but please be patient with me. You gotta love being able to schedule posts on blogger. It'll look like I'm so much more on top of things than I really am.

Happy Birthday Uncle Brad!

Today is Brad's birthday. I thought I would do a little tribute to him and how great an uncle he is to Emma. She loves him so much. Here are a bunch of pictures of the two of them together (Jill is in some of them, even though this isn't about her - it couldn't be helped. But she is a great aunt and we love her too!). Happy Birthday Brad - we love you!

Christmas Traditions part 4 (last one I promise)

A lot of my family traditions took place on Christmas Eve, but one that didn't was eating at the Lion House. Every year we would go down during December and eat lunch there. It was usually during a day of shopping. For several years now my dad has reserved a private room upstairs for us to eat in, and sometimes has to make the reservation as early as July to make sure we get it. We still do this each year, and will be going this year on the 23rd. Yum!

On Christmas Eve we would always go over to my Grandma's house and take our presents which we would be exchanging the next day so they could be dispursed under the tree. On our way home my parents (and then John and I when we were older but Jill & Mike still believed in Santa) would always pretend to have seen Rudolph up in the sky. This would of course convince us to hurry as fast as we could when we got home to get ready for bed so we could pretend to be asleep when Santa arrived. The funny thing is that once we got home and were ready for bed we still did quite a few things together instead of hurrying into bed. We would always read Luke chapter 2 and then watch the opening nativity scene from the movie Ben Hur (my dad loves that movie, and the nativity scene is really well made). We also lit every candle in the room, turned on the Christmas tree lights, and sat there for a few moments enjoying the beautiful soft glow. Then came the best part. We were all allowed to open one present that night! My parents would try to have a few items under the tree to us from them so we could choose something. We never did the pajama thing, so I'm talking hardcore toys here. It was awesome. And it just made it that much harder to wait until the next day. The last thing we would do is listen to Why the Chimes Rang. If you've never heard it or read it, it's a really neat and touching story. Email me or leave your email adress here and I will send you a copy of it.

Christmas Traditions part 3

Christmas lights are the best part of the season. They are definately Emma's favorite part. She loves the lights on her Christmas tree in her room, and has to have them on every night. While I don't rush to do this each year anymore because I abhor crowds (we get around to it before the holiday), I always loved going to Temple Square with my family to see the lights when they first turned them on. Back then they used much better colors than now. Now there is too much pink and yellow. I don't think of pink as a very Christmasy color. My favorite spot was a huge pine tree that still stands just inside the east entrance. They would completely drown this tree in red lights. I would stand as close to the trunk as I could get and just stare straight up. All I could see were thousands of red sparkling lights. Beautiful. When they still decorate this tree (they don't do it every year for some reason) I still love standing under it and looking up. In that one gaze upwards all my warm holiday memories come flying back to me, and in that one moment all is right with the world.

After seeing the lights there we would cross the street to the mall and get hot chocolate at the McDonalds which was just inside. Then we'd all pile back into our car and drive around to look at some of the better Christmas lights on houses. This was back when it was almost universally thought that colored lights are better than white ones, so there was tons of color everywhere. I still prefer colored lights to white, but each year there are fewer and fewer people who agree with me. Just a few streets away from my parents house are two streets that were always fabulous to see at Christmas time. One was called Christmas Street and the other Bible Street. Of course these were just adopted names for the season. Christmas Street was a dead end street where every house was decorated really well with lights. They would often have lights stringing from one house to the next, so the lights never ended. On Bible Street they had big picture boards along with exerps from Luke of the nativity story. You could drive along and read the scriptures and view the pictures. Both these streets still do this, and we take Emma each year.

Christmas Traditions part 2

Each December my family had a pretty full schedule. Actually it all started right after Thanksgiving. We would go to a tree lot and buy our Christmas tree. The entire time I grew up we always had a real tree. I loved it, probably because I wasn't the one cleaning up after it. My parents now have a really nice artificial tree (mostly because my mom finally won the argument) that they use each year. Ah, but I digress. So, choosing a tree wasn't just a mere trip to the lot, it was a war mission. John and I would always take off and run around the lot and climb in between the trees spying on people pretending we were on some sort of secret mission. We'd always keep tabs on my parents so we would know when they needed us or so we could persuade them to buy a bigger tree or something. While out on our missions we would survive on nothing but peanuts. The lot we went to always had a big barrell of peanuts just waiting and pleading to be shelled and eaten, and we were only too happy to oblige. The shells would be discarded and thrown to the ground, casualties of our war. Even though it was never long, I always loved our annual trip to the tree lot. It always made for a great evening of high adventure.

Krampus Lauf

The 5th of December in Austria is Krampus Day. It goes hand in hand with Saint Nicholas Day, which is on the 6th. A Krampus is a devil-like creature who roams the streets punishing those for their bad doings throughout the year. They are often accompanied by St. Nicholas and often appear in parades or will show up at parties. The Krampus often wear wooden masks, are dressed in furs, and often carry bells, chains, whips, and baskets with them. The baskets are for taking naughty children away. As they walk the streets they'll beat or whip people standing around (yes, it's done fairly lightly, but it depends on the person they're "attacking"). It might seem wierd, and it is definately different, but it's a lot of fun.

The 6th of December is Saint Nicholas Day. The children will put their shoes outside their door in the hopes that St. Nicholas will come and bring them candy, money, or other goodies. This isn't done instead of Christmas, but in anticipation of it. Of course, if you're bad you recieve coal, sticks, or potatoes. Hmm, I think being good is better...especially if the consequence for being bad is being beaten by a Krampus and getting coal. We do the shoe thing with Emma, but so far haven't done the Krampus thing. We'll see if that changes in the future. =)

Christmas Traditions

There are so many fun things that people do (and so many different and unique things), I thought I would share a few of my favorite memories and family traditions from this time of year. Not that any of them are unique necessarily, but thinking about them (let alone doing them) makes me happy.

When I was younger I shared a room with my sister while my 2 brothers shared a room through the wall. There was a small hallway and a bathroom, and then another door which closed off this part of the house from the kitchen/dining room and living room. We each had a small Christmas tree in our room in addition to tons of other lights and pictures and decorations. We kind of went nuts with it all. Anyway, each year Santa would always leave each of us one small present under our little trees which we were allowed to open right away, without waiting for my parents to get up.

Here is how the morning would usually go: My older brother (John) would wake up and come wake me up. I think the earliest he ever woke me up was 2:30am! I would grab my present from under my tree and go into his room where we would each open our gift. He would usually get a video game which he would proceed to play (and sometimes beat!) while I watched/played. Later in the morning we would wake up our younger brother and sister (Mike and Jill), and they would open their gifts and we would just play. At some point John and I would lead Jill and Mike out beyond the hallway door into the kitchen so we could all look at the empty plate of cookies and the note from Santa which, oddly enough, always looked just like my dads handwriting. Then we would peek into the living room and without touching anything (really- we were pretty good kids...at least about this) we would take in the beauty of the room and stockings filled with presents. At around 7:00am we would go downstairs and wake my parents up, which I'm sure they always deeply appreciated. We would give them about 15 minutes to be upstairs, and then, as soon as my dad put on some Christmas music, we would begin with our stockings, followed closely by the gifts under the tree. We never took turns opening presents or had any of us "play" santa, we just all dove right in.

This same thing happened every year for many many years. It just made the anticipation of the morning grow and intensify until the very last minute. I always loved Christmas morning. It's the most magical morning of the year, and sometimes I wish I could go back and relive it as a child just one more time. Seeing Emma's face on Christmas morning is one of my absolute most favorite things. Through her eyes I can come pretty close to getting my wish.

So So Funny!

Okay, I was reading the newspaper the other day and came across a short article that had me laughing hysterically in a matter of seconds. I don't know why, but I thought it so ridiculous that it was funny. I couldn't find it online at the newspapers site, so I've typed it up here for you. I found it in the local Tribune, but it was a story by the Associated Press in Paris. Enjoy!

A French appeal court has said that voodoo dolls of President Nicolas Sarkozy may remain on sale but must carry a notice saying that pricking them harms the president's dignity. Sarkozy's lawyer had asked that the dolls be withdrawn from sale, saying the president, like any French person, owned the right to his own image. The court backed a ruling allowing the dolls to stay on the market in the name of freedom of expression, but ordered the marketing company K&B Editions to add a warning that using needles on the doll "constitutes an attack on the personal dignity of Mr Sarkozy".