A Holiday Recap

Well, the holiday's have come and gone, and much like an over-taxed Mormon mother of the mid-90s who is WAY behind on her scrap booking, I haven't blogged about ANY of them. So this post is a bit of a catch up and has ton's of photos. Enjoy.

 I wish there was more to blog about Halloween. It's pretty much always the same. We carve (meaning I gut and do all the carving on) some pumpkins. The kids pick random costumes from the costume bin (Lila, decided literally at the last minute to wear that Snow White costume and I had to find a coordinating long-sleeved shirt and a hair bow. While Amy was not home.) and we trick or treat. Hopefully next Halloween we will be stalked by a serial killer, or but a cursed doll at a garage sale that will haunt our house so I have something better to blog about.

For Thanksgiving I made a lot of pies, as I am want to do. I think I was assigned to bring one pie, which quickly became three and then a lemon meringue at the last minute because I had extra dough and some lemons. Lila can't see me cooking in the kitchen without wanting to help, so she rolled out the scraps of dough to cover in cinnamon and sugar and bake. So delicious.

Apple, lemon meringue, pecan and Nantucket cranberry. 

Thanksgiving was at the Peterson's this year, and in addition to a lot of great food there was a lot of the kids playing Sing It and Just Dance in the basement, which is pretty funny/cute. Nothing is better than Noel belting out "Magic" with Selena Gomez.

Christmas is one of the things that makes me most grateful that we live back in Utah. Because despite the fact that my work schedules is hellish and too many late nights and too many early mornings, we can at least squeeze in some family time and activities. And we don't have to travel over Christmas, which is a huge blessing.

The house has never looked better. We've dressed up our $39 Wal-Mart tree with some pretty actual glass ornaments. It feels like a milestone that we can actually have breakable things in our home without being in constant fear that they will be destroyed withing 5 minutes. Granted, we still worry about 65% of the time that they will be destroyed, and try not to even let the kids in the front room, but it feels good nonetheless. 

As per Parental Tradition Law 140.51523, the kids got new Christmas PJs. Our kids get theirs at the beginning of the season so they can wear them all December long. 

We even ventured out and saw the lights at Temple Square, which mostly involved me yelling at the kids and telling them to be reverent. (Yes, I can see the irony.)

The kids, who are spoiled, got to see three different Santa's at three different parties. I don't think they noticed that he looked slightly different at each one.

I miss Santa. I miss the power that he give parents. We took this picture the Sunday before Christmas when Lila was throwing one of her irrational fits about not wanting to wear a black bow in her hair. I made a quick phone call to Santa and he said he thought the black bow would look great. So I took this picture to text to him. He approved and Lila wore the bow without another complaint.

Christmas morning was awesome, as it always is. I am usually about as excited as the kids and stay in bed until 7am to keep Amy happy. It mostly looked like this:

I did manage to get a few pictures of gifts. 

The kids were thrilled with their gifts. Lila really wanted a "Dora doll" from Santa, but also got a cute Kitchen and an art easel. Noel wanted Skylanders Giants for the Wii, which he is obsessed with. And Jonah wanted a Tetherball pole, which he got thanks to Santa and some amazing help from his Grandpa Bingham. 

If he is willing to go out when it is 4 degrees outside and play, I think he will spend the whole summer out there. 

And then New Years! I worked late and then was washing the dishes when the ball dropped. It's a big holiday here.

So Happy Halloween, Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

'Tis the Season...to fail

I'm currently doing Weight Watchers. I have been for about 8 weeks, and so far I have lost about 20 pounds. Yes, I DO look fantastic! Thank you for noticing! I give a large chuck of the credit to my new job. I am on my feet a lot more and moving a lot more and no longer have an expense account where I can eat out every day at lunch.

But the number one thing I accredit to this weight loss in environmental control. You see, I have zero will power. If I am near cookies, I will eat them. If there are 17 pies at Thanksgiving, I will have 17 pieces. If there are tortilla chips, cheese and salsa in the house, I will make nachos. There is no ifs, ands or buts about it. So mostly we just don't have those things in the house. I eat the same thing for breakfast every day, I pack a lunch and Amy typically makes a delicious and healthy dinner. It even leaves a little room in my Points Plus (TM) points that I can have a few snacks at night and not worry. (Note: Apple Jacks are surprisingly low in points! They are better for you than most healthy cereal. Look it up!) So most days are pretty safe. And if there is the occasional dinner at book club where there is a main course of Monte Cristos, Nachos and three deserts, I can handle it.

That is why I am screwed this Christmas season. First of all, those events where there is bad for you food happen more and more frequently (like the ward party where Amy and I ate warm out of the oven shortbread and Lila danced to accordion music.)

And second of all, and this is the real killer, is the tradition of "Neighbor Gifts." In many ways, it is kind of my dream come true. You are sitting on the couch, watching the latest episode of New Girl, the doorbell rings and there is someone standing there with a cake for you. Is there anything greater than that, I ask you? And, I think it is a lovely tradition. Sharing holiday cheer with the neighbors, visiting each other during the holiday season. It's what it is all about.

But it is kind of a dieters nightmare. Like this morning, one of our lovely neighbors showed up with this:

Um. OK. The packaging says to put it on toast, graham crackers, cupcakes turkey sandwiches (weird sounding but I know I will try it.) Delicious. And then when we got home from running errands this afternoon we found something that looked something like this:

Not exactly like this, but it is the closest I could find. We ate the ones brought to us before I could get a picture. This is from Our Best Bites and I totally want to make it.

Our neighborhood is so lovely and amazing. And I wouldn't want to dissuade people from bringing me treats. Because what is more annoying than that person who is always reminding you that they are on a diet? As I said, I have zero will power. Especially when the food is a gift. If I don't eat it, I feel like I am being ungrateful. I know Gillian Michaels would yell at me and tell me it is about me and not them. But I kind of don't care. I guess I will gain 19 pounds or so this month. At least I will break even.

White Christmas Tree

We found ourselves this year without a Christmas tree. Whilst living in Oregon, we would always go cut our own tree down. Christmas Trees COME from Oregon, you know. 


So when it came to finding a tree in Utah, we toyed with the idea of finding a tree lot and getting a fresh tree, but tree lots seem to have gone out of business. So we decided to go fake. I'm OK with that. I miss the smell, but we could barely keep a tree fresh and green in Oregon where it isn't so dry and where we know the tree was freshly cut because I cut it down myself. 


So we went to Walmart and got this delight:

That's right. The white fake tree. It seemed to be just what La Settanta needed. A little Seventies chintz. A little sparkle. And it was half the price of the green trees. It's like some sort of reverse arboreal racism.

Yes, Jonah is wearing a Halloween shirt.

The kids seem to like it. And I don't have to water it. So everyone is happy.


And while we miss some of our Oregon traditions like cutting down our own tree, and...well OK. I think that was the only tradition we had that was unique to Oregon. And while we miss our Oregon traditions, we are so excited to be spending the holidays close to family.

Thanksgiving was at my house and it was delightful. First it was nice that I didn't have to cook the whole meal and I usually did in Oregon. And second it was nice in the sense that we came really close to my "One Pie per Adult in Attendance" rule. I made up that rule a long time ago and have never come close to following it. And it isn't so that you can EAT a whole pie (though if you want to, who am I to stop you?) it is so that you have the variety. 

Check that out. There were 17 pies. In the following varieties: Banana cream, triple berry, chocolate toffee cream pie, black bottom butterscotch cashew , cherry, chocolate cream, Nantucket cranberry, sweet potato (with cinnamon whipped cream,) pecan pie, sour cream lemon, chocolate peanut butter pie, pumpkin cream, pumpkin, French silk, pear upside down 

torte, and apple cranberry pie. I think we can beat the record in 2013. Start getting your recipes ready!

And we got to go to the annual Peterson extended family Christmas party, which we have missed for the last 4 years or so. It is fun and the kids get to see Santa, which is always a treat. Noel was game and sat on his lap.

And Lila was totally in. She'll sit on Santa's lap. But then she'll get really shy and talk in a really quiet voice the whole time. (Which I assume is why he is holding up a microphone to her.)

It is good to be home for the Holidays. No airplane ride on Christmas afternoon, no shipping gifts across state lines. And sure, no real Christmas tree. But I think it was worth the trade. 

Happy Christmas

Well, my week of work is done and I am sitting in PDX, my home away from home, waiting for my flight back to the winter wonderland of Salt Lake. I got here about 3 hours early anticipating crazy lines and hold ups, and promptly walked right through security, found a comfy bench and have been listening to holiday carols on my iPod ever since. God Bless You, PDX for being the greatest airport in America, what with your speedy lines, friendly TSA associates and free Wi-Fi. Would that every airport was this cheery this holiday season.

I am anxious to get home to my wife, who has been tried and tested this Christmas season. She's had to run and organize and buy for and cook for all of the holiday events while I jetted around and ate at restaurants and gained weight. She is truly a saint.

Sitting here quietly listening to carols has really made me start to feel the Christmas spirit. It is amazing how in my job how quickly Christmas dissolves into "holiday" and isn't a time of joy and celebration, but a time to make lots of money. Don't get me wrong. I love capitalism. But it is nice too to stop and smell the poinsettias. Sitting here listening to carols has also made me realized that I really dislike the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas," no matter who sings it or how. It is a bit repetitive. I have also realized that Clay Aiken sings "What Child is This" like NOBODY'S business. And that Sufjan Stephens makes me smile. And that I'm gonna buy these shoes, for my Mama, please.

So Happy Christmas to all of my three readers! (Including that guy from the Heygood's who checks my blog because I mentioned them once. I have no ill will.) May you have a wonderful holiday. And as my gift to you, a lovely remembrance of Christmas Past (well, last year.) ENJOY! (Please see the next post.)