Christmas in my mind is:

1. Gift wrap or gift bags? Gift wrap. I found this AWESOME paper last year that was reversible. So I only had to buy two rolls and I had FOUR choices!!!

2. Real or Fake tree? I like real trees. Have we had one yet since we've been married -- no. We had to stick with our 3 foot fake tree for different reasons each year. But someday...

3. When do you put up your tree? As soon as I can after Thanksgiving.

4. When do you take the tree down? Before February..... or the first time we have visitors in January.

5. Do you like eggnog? No way, Jose' ! I EAT sweet stuff with my milk...... my milk is not supposed to be sweet.

6. Favorite gift as a child? It was my refurbished banana seat bike. I'm pretty sure it was a garage sale buy, but my mom and dad fixed it up. It was painted white with neon flowers and my name in neon orange. Ahhhh, the 80's.

7. Hardest person to buy for? Parents and in-laws. They are always the last ones I buy for because it takes me so long to think of something.

8. Who is the easiest person to shop for? Kids.

9. Do you mail or email Christmas cards? Mail, when I actually DO them.

10. Worst Christmas present? These amazingly ugly, XXXL gym shorts that Jeff got me one year. They were pretty close to skorts because they were that flowy. His thinking was that I would, for sure, take them back and get something I really liked.

11. Favorite Christmas Movie - It's a Wonderful Life

12. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Because I am COMPLETELY against Christmas before Thanksgiving, as some of you could tell from a previous post, I don't start shopping until after then.

13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Only the few white elephant gifts that seem to go around every year in our family: the Christmas toilet paper, a potty training video...

14. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas time- My grandma's sugar cookies! She used to send them to us every year. We tore into that box the second it arrived.

15. Clear or colored lights on the Christmas tree? I like clear with nicer decorations, but growing up I liked how we always had the colored lights with all of our individual ornaments.

16. Favorite Christmas song.- Ooooooo -- too many to choose from. I really like this album called "One Star" by Cherie Call. It has 3 original songs plus The First Noel. It's a must-have.

17. Travel or Stay home? I love being with family, I'll go wherever they are. Especially when money is tight and our kids might only have 3-4 gifts to open. Christmas morning lasts so much longer when you get to watch others open their gifts as well.

18. Can you name Santa's reindeers? Only when I sing the song in my head.

19. Angel or Star on top of the Tree? A star or a bow, as I have now...... angels, ehhh.

20. Do you open presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning? We used to get pajama pants from Jeff's grandma each Christmas Eve, but the actual "openings" happen on Christmas morning.

21. Most annoying thing about the season. Thinking of what gifts to give people.

22. Favorite ornament theme or color. My grandpa gave us an ornament each year of our lives, so those are really special to me. But for my bridal shower, my mom gave me a beautiful set of glass ball ornaments that were my wedding colors: lavender and light blue.

23. What do you want for Christmas this year? Some new clothes (as I am constantly growing these days), new close-toed shoes, and for my boys to be spectacular angels while in San Diego.

24. Does Santa wrap or leave the presents out? Wraps with his special paper, unless the gift is too big and it would look silly wrapped. His gifts have to look perfect.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I guess I'll tag: Whoever needs something to blog about before Chrismas. :)

Christmas Plans....

This year, for Christmas, I am getting a gift for Griffin that most people wouldn't think of for a boy. However, each time he sees a commercial for one, he says, "Mom, I want that. That would be fun." So, even though there have been laughs from Jeff's friends when they find out, I'm sticking by my decision. Okay, here it is:

http://i.walmart.com/i/p/00/02/52/17/11/0002521711900_215X215.jpg

Yep, that's right. And he'll LOVE it too.!!!!

We're also taking a trip with my family to San Diego to go to this wonderful place:

I'm VERY excited!!! I haven't been to SeaWorld since I was little, and I'm sure it's just gotten better. It will be neat to see how the boys react to whales and sharks and dolphins. SO FUN!!

What are YOUR holiday plans?

OUR CRYSTAL STALACTITES

While the snow fall here has died down, the white cover remains. It's usually 30 degrees here at the warmest part of day, so there's not much chance of the snow melting completely. However, with the warmth inside the houses and the little bit of sun we get sometimes........ it creates this other beautiful winter gift. I am amazed each time I see them. I think they are gorgeous!

These lovely lickables are hanging right outside our bedroom window. How lucky are we? It's funny.......as a kid I would eat an icicle until my frozen hands couldn't handle it anymore. And only now do I wonder if they're actually the cleanest ice in the world. Does the top snow melt onto the edge of the roof, or is it the lower layer that creates an icicle? During childhood, was I really eating a piece of ice made from melting snow that flowed down the bird-pooped shingles of my house? Hmmmmm......

Well, since you got to see a great view from the front of my house, I'll leave you with a few from my back door. Enjoy.

What would I do without family....probably grow up.

Before I start blogging about all the snow we've gotten the past few days, I wanted to take a few steps back in time to remind you how cool my family is. Over Thanksgiving, while in Snowflake, we usually make a trip or two across the street to the softball field. There we play kickball and other superb games. However, because of the chilly air this year, too few people made the journey and they had to come up with new games. One of which is shown below:

Yep, that's my 26 yr. old brother, Brian, playing Red Rover with his wife and our cousins and brothers and sisters. None of which are younger than 15. The other line included my brother Allan (10) and my sister Shannon (11), so they were essentially the youngest ones there. But still.......

MY FAMILY IS AWESOME!!

Playing Dress Up

Once a month at work, we have a "Teen Night" where we're open from 1-6pm only and we try to make it fun with decorations and cupcakes, drinks, etc. Also, we dress up. A few months ago we had 70's Day, before that was 80's Day, and there was a Pirate Day somewhere in there. Although I am very proud of the outfits I came up with......I can't believe I'm about to show everyone.

Yes, that's a bell-bottomed denim jumpsuit.

Leg warmers made out of t-shirt sleeves.

Aaarrrrgggg! Did I scare you with my foam Lego brand sword?

*
*
*

Thursday at work, we had a Hollywood Day, I guess you could call it. We were supposed to dress up as a movie star. They were originally calling it "Red Carpet Day", but when we opted NOT to roll out the fake red carpet we had for fear of people slipping on it all day, it was changed to Hollywood Day. Dr. McLaughlin was Rambo, there was a J-Lo, Ellen DeGeneres (spell?), Dr. Izzy Stevens (Grey's Anatomy), Catwoman, and Elle Woods (Legally Blonde).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This will be a game for those who don't know what I dressed up as on this particular day. Whoever guesses my character correctly first...... ummmmmm........... I'll send you some candy in the mail. I'm talking like a few sweet-tart packets or something, nothing big. But you'll have the title of "WINNER" for this contest. So here you go:

What movie star did I attempt to imitate here?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEFFREY !!!

Okay, I didn't post this picture just becuase I was in it too. I honestly couldn't find a picture of just Jeff or one that I could crop small enough to be JUST of him. So there you go.

I just wanted to say publicly, "Happy Birthday" to my wonderful husband. He is an amazing father and so very patient with me and the boys.

Thank you Jeff for putting up with all my "stuff" and for helping me be a better person. You're the best. I love you tons!!!

BBUUUURRRRR !!!

After a freezing cold Thanksgiving in Snowflake, ( I had to pull out the big coats).... I'm a little more prepared for the winter I can expect here in Flagstaff. Although, weather here is so "fickle" as a girl at work puts it. Some days it will be quite nice -- like today. It's mildly cold, but no wind to bite us. Other days we will stay inside for as long as possible because it's so windy. We wait for the absolute last minute to go anywhere. When we do leave, it's a fast run to the car, another hustle into church or the store, and then back home.


While we were gone, there was a really bad wind storm I guess and the foam mats I had placed in the backyard.......

.......had blown up against the backside of our house, despite the bricks I had placed on each corner to hold it down. Griffin's beloved tent, however, was not so lucky. A week past before Jeff asked me where it had gone. I figured Jeff had put it away before we left. It was then, we realized the space tent was ours no longer. Hopefully it made it into the hands of some homeless person. Or perhaps it will be the hibernating station for some lucky animal up in the mountains. Griffin hasn't asked about it yet...... cross your fingers.



We put up our tree this past Home Evening:

Griffin loved helping this year.

Kai, on the other hand, was constantly pulling off the ornaments and driving his Lightning McQueen car all through the branches. That's what he's doing in this next picture:

And, NO, Griffin is not peeing on the tree. Even though his pose might suggest otherwise.

We also went out with some friends and had family pictures taken. It was too dark for most of them to turn out and SO RIDICULOUSLY COLD!!!

(notice Griffin's "I'm freezing" fake smile)

OH, yes, it's definitely winter.