Ladies and Gentlemen, Due to Lack of Interest, Christmas is Cancelled.

This is my backyard right now. That "frost" on the surface of the chairs is actually a casing of ice about a half of an inch thick. The snow, which has be falling all week, has a little frozen skating rink on top of it. And Christmas is canceled.
School was closed all week.
Jonah's Christmas program at pre-school was canceled.
Christmas shopping is not happening.
Church was canceled today (don't even bad Catholics go to church the Sunday before Christmas?)
Yesterday Jonah and I ventured outside for a while to get some essentials. The rations of bread and Diet Coke were running low. Can you imagine what would have happened if we had run out of Diet Coke this weekend and were ice-bound? Scary....Other than that, I have left the house about 4 times times this week and Amy has probably been out twice. That is a long time to be inside with two toddler boys. We've played a lot of Candy Land, and a lot of Zingo and a lot of Super Smash Brothers.
I guess we should just be grateful that we are warm and safe and haven't lost power...yet. And we are. But it does suck a little joy out of the season when you spend the week before Christmas sitting around the house looking at each other.
I think today we will make Christmas cookies. And then eat them all, because we can't go outside to deliver them to anyone.

Snow Day

We thought it would never happen. That was one of the "pros" of moving here, actually. But it did.

Snow Day.
This is what we woke up to this morning. I know all of you people who live in Utah are thinking, "What is that? A quarter of an inch?" Well, yes it is. And let me tell you all of the odd snow day events that occurred due to that quarter inch.

1. I had to shovel my driveway. Good thing I kept my snow shovel. Actually I did about two passes and then thought "Aw, forget it. This will all melt."
2. I saw other people shoveling their walks with brooms (like the poor Priests in our ward. Does the church not own a snow shovel?)
3. I saw children playing in the snow in coats, gloves and shorts. Really? You don't own long pants?
4. Families brought blankets to church to sit under. Adults. Not children.
   
5. Church was canceled after sacrament meeting.
   
6. All auxiliary meetings and tithing settlement were canceled.

Don't you think this is how snow days should always be treated? We hurried home, put on sweats and will sit the day out with a fire in the fireplace and Super Smash Brothers on the Wii.

Jonah, the ever obedient, was a little disappointed that there would be no lesson today. Luckily Amy had prepped a lesson for her primary class, so they went ahead and had primary on the living room floor.Noel took advantage of the opportunity to play video games. Which I suspect he will do ALL DAY long.

Happy Snow Day!

Gettin' Crafty Wit' It.

Well, we went and got all crafty again. I don't know what it is. I went my whole life without stepping foot in a Michael's or JoAnn's, and here I have gone twice in the last six months.

We felt like the kids are old enough to start giving gifts to each other for Christmas. Jonah still doesn't quite get it. Anytime I tried to ask him about getting a present for Noel he would just say, "Why don't you just go get a present for me, and you can get one for Noel too?" Hmmm...

A friend of mine takes her kids to the dollar store and gives them each a dollar and they can pick out whatever they want for each other. That seemed fun, but ultimately we would just end up with a lot of crap from the Dollar Store. Another friend of mine has her kids make presents for each other. That way the money spent is minimal and they get the satisfaction of doing the work. And while I don't know if we will ever reach her level of awesome homemadeness, we thought we would give it a go.
So we busted out the paints and markers and goodly eyes and new mini glue gun and set off. We didn't try to keep it a secret. And this was the result:
They each mad a couple of egg carton bugs for each other. Every time we would say to Noel "Noel, what a cute bug you made!" Jonah would say, "Excuse me, Don't you know that bug is my Christmas present?" So there will be no surprise on Christmas morning. But they seemed to have fun. And Jonah was thrilled to help wrap them and put the under the tree while Noel played computer games.

And I must say, that picture is misleading. It makes it look like I was doing the work. Amy actually did all of the bug construction and got paint and hot glue all over her hands and tried to keep the kids clean while I put my head down to make a wreath for the entryway:
So give credit where credit is due. Amy did all the work and all the photo taking.

Where's my Square?

There is a temple in Portland, but it is nestled in a forest, so there is no Temple Square. Thus, no pilgrimage to Temple Square to see the lights, stopping off at the food court at Crossroads mall for a Cinnabon. Wait, isn't Crossroads Mall a big hole in the ground right now? So no Cinnabon? Wait - that's not my point.

If you know Jonah, you know he loves holidays and celebrations and most importantly, decorations. In fact, we really mostly put up the decorations for him, because he loves them so. And he lurves lights on houses. It is the greatest thing on earth to him. When we lived in Salt Lake, we had a special route to drive home from Grandma's house to pass the most possible lit up houses and houses with inflatable penguins on Harleys in the yard. So since there will be "See the Lights at Temple Square" on our calendar this year, we did the next best thing: Zoo Lights.

Our kids, as previously noted, love the Portland Zoo. And every year, the Zoo gets all decked out in lights for the holiday season. It is pretty impressive, actually. The trees are all lit up, and the walkways and there a moving animal light sculptures all around.
The problem with photos at such an event is that the flash flashes, making everyone looked washed out and also dulling the Christmas lights in the background. We tried.

Good thing last years winter coats still fit! Notice the river of lights in the background with lighted fishes jumping out of it. Lovely.

The cherry on the cake was the zoo train, which we must ride every time we go to the zoo, even though it costs extra and mostly you see the back of the zoo. It was all lit up for the holiday and was quite simply Jonah's every wish and dream come true.
The picture doesn't quite do it justice. Luckily the kids were so enthralled by the lights we passed that the weren't listening to the man behind us discussing his latest trip to Hooters. Who goes to Hooters, anyway? The food is gross. And then why would you talk loudly about it on a train full of small children? I hate adults at the zoo.

So, hats off to the Portland Zoo! You did good work! And while the spirit of the Lord was not quite the same when looking at a giraffe with a heart in its mouth as it would have been seeing the live nativity at Temple Square, at least there is a Cinnabon in the Fred Meyer 1 block from my house.