The first day of advent

In years past, we've always done the cardboard chocolate a day advent calendar.  I love cheap and waxy chocolate as much as the next person but this year I wanted to do something else, something experiential for me and the boys (and our dad and other family members when applicable.).

It's embarrassing to admit, but I started looking for cute advent calendar themes and templates in the middle of October.  I was totally inspired when I got a new Garnet Hill catalog and this gorgeous advent was prominently displayed in it's pages.  But, I wasn't going to pay $100 and I needed something "bigger".

After weeks and weeks of searching for little stockings and socks and gloves and all that sort of thing I walked past the dollar bin at Target and found super cute little felt bags that were perfect for stuffing with treasure, hanging on my stairs railing, and using year after year.

Once the packaging was in place, it was time to figure out our advent experiences.  I used the Internet and my boys interests to guide me, of course, but I think that we are going to have 24 days of awesome fun.  And, for each of the days, I've got a small trinket, toy, or candy to keep the boys interested.

 

New Phineus and Ferb Christmas CD
Make paper snowflakes to hang on the windows
Make Christmas cards for great grandparents
Build part of the nativity and read scriptures
Shop for Sub-for-Santa
New Christmas book to read
Make a Christmas ornament
Make hot chocolate (deliver sub-for-Santa)
Watch a Christmas movie and eat popcorn
Christmas activity downtown (movie?)
Build part of the nativity and read scriptures
Activity with Petersen's and Binggeli's
Make a treat for primary teachers and Mrs. Stratford
Zoo lights with Grandma and Grandpa Howden
Make felt Christmas trees
Make a snowman or have a snowball fight
Get a Christmas cookie from Schmidts bakery
Build part of the nativity and read scriptures
Buy food for the food bank (buy and leave at smiths)
Play in the snow (paint and blow bubbles)
Go for a drive to look at Christmas lights
Gingerbread houses with Haley, Molly, Willie, Parker and Meranda
Early Christmas w/ Howdens' (make cookies)
Christmas Eve treasure hunt

The bags were hung on the railing with care last night after the boys were asleep.  

The boys got to open the day one activity/gift this morning before their dad left for work. Elliott definitely "gets it" and is excited. Wyatt got mad that he didn't get to open whatever one he wanted. Oh well, I'm sure he will figure it out as we go through the days of the month. And today, the only way to pry them away from Phineus and Ferb on the TV was because I knew I had an equally awesome platypus gift for them to share this morning.

My "beef" with Thanksgiving

The evening before Thanksgiving last week, my wonderful mother knocked on my door and with the help  of some devoted cousins, whisked my children away for the evening.  They wanted some time with their grandma and their grandma wanted them without me, their mother.  (On the latter, I cannot blame her, Sam I am!  I'd want those boys away from me, too.)

The tired monkeys returned home many hours later with brand new twinner lighting mcqueen pajamas, smiles on their faces, stories to tell, and the remnants of their Slurpee's still in their cups.

My husband arrived home a little bit early that evening from work, walked in the door and asked me what we should do.  He suggested we clean bathrooms.  I said "No! You are taking me out to dinner!"  After much discussion, we settled on a trip to Target for some Christmas shopping and a dinner at 5 guys for some burgers and Cajun fries.  I did drink water and only ate the fries that fell out of the cup in the bag so that made it healthy.

Driving home that night, to curl up on the couch and watch a documentary about the Helvetica Font (his choice) we had a discussion about Thanksgiving Day, holidays in general, and food.

I posed the question:

"Why isn't there a beef holiday?  I mean, why don't we have a holiday where we eat prime rib?"

My husband turned to me, laughed, and immediately pulled out his phone to mock me on face book with a status update, "My wife wants to know why there isn't a beef holiday."

Ignoring the mocking, I was posing a serious and to me, baffling question.  Why isn't there a holiday where a big hunk of beef is the main course? I know we eat burgers all summer long, and I like ham for Easter, but why not a giant roast for Thanksgiving?

Forgetting a bit about my lamentations we moved on to the turkey day itself.  When it was my turn to dish up a plate of food I stared rather longingly at the spread thinking, "There isn't a traditional Thanksgiving Day food that I like to eat." (Poor me, right?)

Yams gross me out.  Green beans when cooked with bacon and shallots and brown sugar are delish, but not baked in a pan with some cream of mushroom soup and crumbled onions.  I've seen stuffing be made from scratch before and cannot stomach the thought of eating soggy bread and other junk that's been thrown in.  The actual turkey itself, if I consume too much (more than a few small slices) gives me a stomach ache - several turkey days in a row in fact.

My dinner consisted of carrots (that Ross prepared in an orange balsamic glaze with fresh chives that were delish), mashed potatoes, and a teeny tiny bit of turkey and gravy.

I also ate dessert, but just the stuff that I brought because I don't particularly care for pie, though all the pies looked lovely with golden brown crusts and I should have taken a picture of them all but I forgot.  (Yes, I know we could engage in a whole pie vs. cake debate, but we can save that for a different blog.)

I am so grateful for the holiday of Thanksgiving.  I love being able to spend time with all my family and this past Thanksgiving I had a tremendously wonderful time - the best I've had in years!  It is always fun to squish in my grandpa's house and then dash to the basement when the meal is over to find the cool air.  This year, to keep and the big and little kids occupied, I even brought crafts.  We did stickers, and made bracelets and pins and did thumb print art and had drawing contests.  It was so much fun.

I'm just not a fan of the food.  It's funny how traditions are created and stuck with for years and years and years.  I guess for most folks, its the one time of year to break out the jellied cranberry sauce and that's really important.  I'm just one of those people who, if I were in charge of Thanksgiving, this would be my #1 menu of choice:

*A cross-rib roast coated in olive oil and lemon pepper cooked for 24 hours on very low heat.
*Carrots and potatoes roasted in the oven until they are so soft they melt like butter in your mouth.
*Grilled asparagus with a dash of lemon and sea salt.
*Home made croissants to make Julia Child proud.
*Chocolate molten cake or some sort of chocolate truffle torte for dessert.

Or, if it was going to be a small group, we'd go French:

*Beef Bourguignon (with lots of onions, carrots, and delicious goodness)
*Roasted garlic mashed potatoes
*Green beans in melted brown sugar with crispy bacon and fried shallots on top
*Croissants (yes, please!)
*Something Frency for dessert, like eclairs (for my guests), or Napoleon's or mini raspberry and strawberry tarts.


Now those are some meals that would make me very, very thankful.  And full.  And fat!

A typical Sunday night

Every Sunday we join the family for dinner at my mom's house.  We eat at 5:00 pm, but everyone gets there a little bit early and then after dinner we hang out all night.  It seems that each and every Sunday though, we fall into the same routines.  Everyone sits in the same spots, does the same stuff, and we talk and laugh, and some of us (dad!) snore a bit.

Last night I decided to do a quick run through the house to photograph everyone in their designated spots.

Last night we ate dessert first. Cherry dump cake, a family favorite.

That handsome brother of mine, who will never tweet me back because he says twitter isn't for conversations even though he twits back all the other people he tweets with, doing his hard math problems for his math teacher who, whenever anyone asks her a question says, "My husband is nearly blind!"

The super smart math teacher sister helping the handsome brother with his hard math problems.

All the little chillin's with grandma ma. Usually, they are in the basement playing air hockey, pirate dinosaurs, or watching bull riding. Last night they were all playing Elmo in Grouch land on the computer.

The over 30 men's crowd watching football, reading tweets about football, sleeping through football, and making work appointments for the next day while watching football. Once football ends, they'll find something else to watch, usually ESPN classic or some "fat guy eating greasy food" show.

And then, there's me. Last night, like most Sunday nights, I don't really have a crowd. I float. I'm too dumb to do math. I'm too lazy to entertain the kids (though Molly wog did sit on my lap for like 15 minutes, a record, to watch Elmo movies on my phone). I'm too disinterested to watch football. I'm too unemployed to talk about taxes. Sometimes I'll color a picture.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Today was a first in our little family.  There are still 4 days left in November and all the Christmas decorations are out.  There are a few more little things I plan to do to make the spirit bright, but it feels festive in our house.  The tree is up and decorated.  The stockings are hung by the chimney.  The pine candle has been lit.  Tonight after dinner we watched "The Grinch", had a roaring fire, and drank home made hot chocolate.

All but two of the Christmas presents are purchased and I'm working on setting up a sub-for-Santa project for us to participate in.

I received my Christmas cards in the mail on Wednesday and I already have all the envelopes addressed.  I won't be sending them out yet, still some work to do.

I'm almost finished with the awesome "activity a day" advent calendar I'm working on for the boys (and me).  We just need some snow so we can build a snowman, blow bubbles that will freeze, catch snowflakes on frozen black paper, and paint a rainbow.

I have a fabulous top secret present in the works for my husband.  He has no idea and he might cry.  Power tools are so emotional.  He isn't planning to get me anything (we have a deal every year - no presents, but I cheat every year) so I already bought myself a new dress (from him of course because I have no income) to wear to church on Christmas Sunday - I just need a navy blue cardigan.

Ah yes, the spirit of the holidays has hit early this year - and the boys were absolutely crazy today to prove it.  We've got two trees this year, one for me and one for the boys and that enabled me to decorate my tree all by myself and if I do say so myself, it turned out lovely.

Familius Activitus

This morning we were going to do a family activity.  The boys rushed our room at 7:35 am and we asked them, "Do you guys want to go to the zoo today?"

"Yes!  The zoo!  I love the zoo," exclaimed the almost five year old.

"The rhino has a butt!" shouted the wee Chickadee.

It was decided.  After cinnamon rolls and the struggle to get showered and dressed we would head to the tippy top of the mountain for the zoo.

Only problem, on the drive up, on the foothills of the mountain, it started to rain.  A very light rain mind you, but rain nonetheless.

Mom and Dad did not want to get wet.  Seeing the light drizzle on the windshield inspired the Dad of the family to change our course.  "What if we go to the new natural history museum instead of the zoo, " he asked?

One boy was psyched.  "Sweet!"  he declared, "I love dinosaurs."
The other boy was disappointed because you see, the rhino has a butt.

We called in the car to make sure that said museum was open and once it was confirmed, we headed up.  Luckily, the new natural history museum is just three minutes away from the zoo.  We got a space to park, admired the view and headed in.

Let me tell you, the museum is awesome.  It is the perfect mix of hands-on kid stuff and grown up fact stuff.  It is bright and colorful and dark and dinosaur-y.  The exhibits are laid out well, the museum flows exceptionally and before you know it, you are at the very top, on the 5th floor, looking at the most amazing, spectacular, breath taking view.

Take a look for yourself.

Anyway, I was impressed and we had fun. In the end, we signed up for a season pass, applying our admission for the day to the final cost for our family to return as often as we'd like. It was a pretty cool day.