National CHAP-OONS Christmas Vacation

My all-time favorite Christmas movie is National Lampoons Christmas Vacation.  It's rude and crude and well, quite frankly, just a little too honest about the truth about the holidays.  "Because it's Christmas and we're all in misery."  hahaha... my Christmas wasn't miserable by any means, but there are those moments...

...and then the relatives invaded...

Well, we've already covered the "then we'll have a cat running around the house" and the "where do you think you're going to put a tree that big, Griswold?" parts of the movie.  Cat in the house.  Check.  Giant tree.  Check.

I felt a little like Ellen at the beginning of Christmas Vacation... you know when she and Clark are getting in bed after a long day of getting the tree and they're covered in sap and can't turn the pages of their magazines?  Ellen says "my parents called today... they're coming TOO!"  gulp.

Our list for relatives coming to town for the break, ended up:
Jane and family
John and family
Melissa and kids
My Mom

At least we don't have a cousin Eddie.  And no one brought a dog named "Snots".  And the cat wasn't wrapped in a box.

Well, we set up for a big ol' fashioned family Griswold (Chapman) Christmas Vacation.   Everyone knows how much I panic when my worlds collide, so I was a little worried how it would all turn out when I found out how many would come through ABQ over the break.  But, as it turns out, things went really smoothly.  It helps that David's parents live here, so they didn't all stay at our house and they weren't all in town at the same time.  In fact, we only ended up hosting Janie and their dog, Sneakers, as overnight guests for the Chapman portion.

Sneakers and Kit Cat were not cool with being roomies.  So, for Sneakers' stay, she was given the main floor of the house and kitty was banished to the master bedroom.

Jane and family arrived Christmas Day in the evening.  We had a great dinner at Grandma's house and had a nice time hanging out.  We always have a good time with Jane's family.  The girls were super excited to have Janie staying with us again too.

It has been almost a decade since we had a Christmas celebration with David's oldest brother, John, so that was way overdue.  John's family came the day after Christmas, minus Stephanie who was working, Jenifer and hubby Luke, who were having their first Christmas as parents to little Everley, and Ben who is on a mission in Denver right now.  Chelsea and Natalie were super fun to have around and John and Sue, who had our names for Christmas, brought extremely thoughtful gifts for us.  We had a huge family dinner at our house when John got here and had a ton of fun with them too.  Meanwhile, poor Grandpa was coming down with the flu.  He really got it bad and wasn't able to enjoy too much of Christmas visiting.

We did our best to have fun with the cousins.  Everyone always loves to go to Old Town Albuquerque, so that was high on the list.  We did the natural history museum, saw the Hunger Games movie with Janie, and had a big game night with Grandma.  

I can't believe I've never noticed this cool gate before in old town, but it makes for a festive photo op.

Barbara can get revenge later, but I had to put this one in.  This is what happens when you try to hug grandma.  Especially if you're an adult.  

Let's face it, when you have the biggest holiday of the year and you combine it with all the traditions you try to keep, involve other family, have a range of people from ages 7 to 80+, have worked for more than a month to try to make everything just right and have all of these expectations and ideas about how it will all go... well... you're kidding yourself if you think you'll pull off perfection. 

I remember a section from the book "The Happiness Project."  I didn't really love the book, but this one part stuck for me.  It talks about how true happiness is found in family events because of the love that goes into the plans, and the efforts, and the expectations, etc.  The happiness doesn't come from the actual outcome of those plans, efforts, or expectations.  The happiness comes because you have family rituals and traditions and gatherings, not how they turn out each individual time.  It's the sum of the parts that counts.  It's making that darn Buche de Noel, every stinking Christmas Eve that your kids will remember - not each one, and not whether one was prettier one year or the frosting didn't set one year or you were so sick you couldn't even eat it one year.  They'll just remember that you made it for them every year and find happiness in the tradition.  And, when they taste it again, it will bring back happy memories.  The happiness comes from knowing that Grandma has a table full of games and prizes at every party and has had for decades, not from winning the games or getting the prizes, and even if (ahem) you have a big fight over the rules, your end result will still be happiness because of the tradition of playing games with your family.  And, one day, all those awful moments WILL be laughed about.  One day.

This isn't all to say that we had lots of awful moments.  There were just normal family tiffs, cousin jealousies, sickness, food taking longer than we thought to make, etc.  Mostly, everyone really had a good time and things went really well.  I just thought a lot about that idea of happiness during the few crazy moments and afterwards.  

I digress... that's only the half of it.  Then, the Mitchells came for New Year's!  

John's family were the last of the Chapmans to leave on the 30th.  Grandma, Melissa, Sean, and Kate flew in on the 31st.  We did a quick reset of the guest quarters, made a mad dash to the store for fresh food, and were ready to ring in the new year with a few of my family as they flew in at dusk.

These little matching monsters stayed up until 1am on New Year's.  Then midnight the next night and the night after.  Tired doesn't begin to explain.  But they are sure cute making their toasts!

Even though I do believe the part about true happiness coming from the accumulation of family memories over many years, it is still super nice when everyone is actually happy and cheerful in the moment too.  Harriet and Kate can be hard sometimes and we've had our share of cousin tears.  This trip though, they were angels pretty much the whole time.  They didn't fight once, played incessantly, and pretty much had a grand 4 days together.  

David gets best uncle award.  He offered one day, to take all 4 kids to the movies by himself and let Melissa and Mom and Me go out to lunch and shopping in peace.  Melissa really couldn't believe it would work out.  The 4 kids can be hard sometimes and Kate doesn't like going places without Melissa.   We totally took him up on it though, and went to lunch at a little cafe and shopped in the mall for as long as Melissa's anxiety could take it.  She figured they would be home soon and probably in tears and didn't want to wear out her welcome mat.

We came home to an empty house.  No kids, no David.  I looked them up on find friends to see where they were.  I could see the GPS signal out in the middle of the mesa.  They were out 4-wheeling in the truck!  I called to see how things were going.  They were all on speaker phone in the truck having an awesome time, laughing and telling jokes and having fun with David.  No tears, no problems, why didn't we shop a couple hours longer?  Next time, we'll take him up on the full measure.  

These cousins needed an old town outing too, so, back we went for a second round and a trip to the aquarium.  The pictures of the kids in front of the coral reef and the shark tank are always my favorites.  We take the same ones every time they come.  Even in just 4 years, it's crazy how much they've all grown up!

I love this giant Christmas tree in old town.  

It's a tree made out of real Christmas trees (each branch is a whole tree.) 

And, I thought this was such a cute moment:  the 2nd graders reading to each other.  Sometimes I forget that it's THESE TWO cousins who are the same age.  Since Grace is the one who plays with Sean and Harriet plays with Kate, Sean and Harriet rarely have any time together by themselves.  But, Melissa and I are keenly aware that they are in the same grade as we compare their school work, assignments, and curriculum all year.  Anyway, it was super adorable to see them reading together like this.  

And, that's it folks.  Our whole Christmas break was spent with awesome family.  We are really so grateful they all came and wish we could have had more days with each of them.  Wouldn't have my Christmas break any other way.  (Or would I??  One of these years, there will be no presents under the tree, plane tickets in all the stockings and we will leave that day for somewhere tropical and magical.  But that will only be one year out of 90.  So I guess I'm already doing exactly what I wish I was doing each Christmas.)  

I took a whole 10 pictures of our time with all of these family visiting.  I don't know if that means we were too busy having fun or what, but I do feel really bad that I didn't take more photos.  This was not the year to be recorded, I guess.  Hope the memories last extra long, then.

Christmas 2013

Our tradition since moving away from Salt Lake 9 years ago has been to have a friend-centered Christmas Eve.  We've spent nearly our last decade of Christmas Eves with some of the most amazing friends of our lives.  This year, we decided to spend a quiet Christmas Eve at home, with just ourselves.  At first I was kind of sad about that (not inviting friends over), but it ended up being the best thing ever, especially considering we weren't feeling well at all.  David was the worst who had come down with the cold/flu thing that Harriet and I had had the week before, and I was absolutely sick to my stomach.  I could barely eat anything.  It was so hard to make all that delicious food and not eat it.  I was so grateful to not be hosting a party or going to one.   Plus, it was so nice to just be able to enjoy the kids.  Sometimes when you do parties, you have to be so involved with entertaining or with adult conversation that you can't really spend time with your own kids.

We set a super fancy table, just for us.  I cooked the girls' requests for dinner:  salmon and mashed potatoes and rice pilaf for Harriet, clam chowder for Grace.  I made a Buche de Noel - only Harriet and Grace were able to eat any of it.  Then, we face-timed with my family who were all together at Melissa's house and opened all our gifts together over the internet.  We went to bed early.  Santa came.  SANTA CAME! We slept fairly late, and had a relaxed morning.  (You would have NEVER known that the conversation of less than 48 hours ago had ever happened.)

 Opening stockings was great.  Santa brought Grace a 2 pound York Peppermint Patty and Harriet a 2 pound Reese's!

While I was at the store that one day, the kids made stockings for Shadow and Kit Cat.  Santa magically filled them too.  Shadow got doggie wash and Kit Cat, a toy bird, that she promptly hunted and killed like the good little hunter she is.  

I was super worried about how Grace would handle Christmas without Velvet.  It was always a special time for them together.  Thankfully, she has bonded with Shadow (just not in the same way), and Harriet was occupied with Kit Cat so she didn't spend the time she usually does with Shadow on Christmas morning.  I think Kit Cat might have actually saved my Christmas morning.  I was dreading that hole in the living room where Velvet should have been - she always watched Grace open her presents and seemed to enjoy it as much as the people did.  We still missed her, but the kids were happy and the animal love, sufficient.  Thanks for stepping up, Shadow and Kitty.

The kids declared it "best Christmas ever," just like they do every year.  I'm so glad that they are always excited about every single gift, that they always think they got way more than they asked for, and that they never cease to be amazed by what is under the tree, no matter what it is.  That is what makes it all worthwhile - seeing that much joy and surprise on your kids' faces.

Harriet's "BIG" requests this year were the "Saige" dress that matches her American Girl doll (she was SO excited!), and the LEGO Friends Dolphin Cruiser.  She set up a table in the living room and had that thing put together in one day.  It is really super cool.  

Grace's requests were all a long list of Star Wars stuff, including a very awesome Darth Maul lightsaber as well as the Darth Maul costume.  Among other things... "Padawan Obi Wan Kenobi and Qui Gon Jinn LEGO guys" (because those are still made... no worries - Santa can do anything!)

 Grace was surprised that Santa brought her a fedora hat and a flannel shirt.  Who knew she would turn into an instant hipster.  She would wear them 24/7 if she could.  At least she looks the part when she's playing a Pearl Jam song on her guitar.

The girls giving their gifts to puppy and kitty... so sweet. 

LEGO build!  What else?

Harriet was surprised with some new Ken dolls and a Hello Kitty watch that helps her learn to tell time on a clock.  

She wore the Saige dress to church the next Sunday, so I had to throw the picture in.  ADORABLE.

Nothing better than fighting with your Sith Lord Daughter, right?

David's parents and Christine came over later for brunch and to do a few more family gifts.

I don't know why, but I like taking pictures of tables I've set.  I like collecting cool things to use in the settings and I like making them different.  This year, I added a set of  Nutcracker napkin rings to my collection.  Anyway, this was the brunch table.    

Grandpa was especially excited to get a word search book from Harriet ;)

After they left, we hung out, watched a bunch of movies, and the kids were able to play with their new toys.  That's always what I really wish for Christmas Day, is enough time for the kids to play with their new toys.  I love it when they can just stay in jammies all day and play and eat and play and watch a movie and play some more.

We took much fewer pictures than normal.  No video at all.  I'm really feeling sad I didn't take any video.  I usually catch the kids waking up or coming down the stairs or opening their favorite gift.  Well, you can't always be perfect I guess.

We did have a really nice Christmas and are so grateful to everyone for everything that they sent or brought to us.  Sometimes, you think that it's not important to do so much or try to remember so many people, but on the other end, it makes you feel so loved to know that someone did remember you and went to some kind of effort - even if it was just to write your address on an envelope and put a stamp on it.  So, thanks everyone.  

funny story...

Real quick before I finish blogging about Christmas, you should refer to the comment that Melissa made on my last post.  Something about how she couldn't wait for the next post about how the cat peed on everything and ruined Christmas.  She must have a crystal ball, or she gave the universe a wicked idea...

Well, it wasn't as bad as it could have been.  But, 2 days later, we were all frantically getting ready for church.  It was "Christmas Sunday" and we were trying to get in our Christmas best and get out the door for a good seat in church.  I had my tights half on, one leg hanging from the other, when David says "Kit Cat, what are you doing... what do you think you're doing..." as he watches her from the balcony in our living room.  I run out and we watch her sniff Shadow's bed and start peeing on it. WHAT.  Nooooooo.  We cannot have a cat who pees on things!  I had flashbacks of Melissa's cat that she had to have put down because the problem got so bad.

I race downstairs, tights flapping, screaming at the cat.  She doesn't budge.  Keeps peeing.  I pick her up.  She keeps peeing.  I mean, this wasn't marking her territory.  It was like a gallon.  Poor Shadow, just watching in horror.

I did get it cleaned up super quick and washed her bed immediately.  It was not ruined, thankfully, but I spent the next week in dread of what she might pee on again.  Shadow had scared her that morning and I was dying waiting for the next retaliation.  Turns out, she was just being REALLY picky about her litter box.  It had only been 3 1/2 days since I had set it up for her and it should have been fine for another day or two.  But, I changed it right away and have changed it every 2 days since.  No more problems.  Homeless kitty seems to not want to use the bathroom where she last used it.  Well, at least problem one - solved.

Next up - how Kit Cat ruined Christmas.  The rest of this post is for adult eyes only. FOR REAL.

The very next day after the pee incident, I went out shopping for food for Christmas and left the kids home for a bit.  As I walked in the door with groceries, I asked them where was the cat.  They didn't know and couldn't see her.  I was so freaked out that she was somewhere peeing, I told them to hurry and look for her while I brought in the rest of the groceries.  2 minutes later, Harriet comes down the stairs to report that she has found packages in my closet with tags on them "from Santa."  I nearly died on the spot.

I had told the kids they weren't allowed in my closet because it had surprises in it and they were super good about it.  I had their gifts from David and me, as well as other things.  But, she had gone in there to look for the cat.  UGH!!! Kit Cat!!!

I was desperate to think of a good reason why those packages with those tags were in my closet.  After what seemed like an hour, I told them that sometimes Santa has so much to do that he will bring gifts a few days early so that they are already at the house.  Then he comes back to finish and do stockings on Christmas Eve.

Harriet said she wished that I would have just lied to her and told her something that wouldn't have ruined Santa's secrets.  Grace said she thought I was going to say something ELSE, but was very glad I didn't.  I asked her what she thought about it.  She and Harriet both agreed that they would completely forget by tomorrow (CHRISTMAS EVE, mind you) and that Grace would really like to pretend that "this conversation NEVER happened."

There you have it.  The cat peed and ruined Christmas.  Thanks a lot Lis!

Christmas Wishes... Granted... Early (WE GOT A CAT!)

Harriet, for as long as I can remember, has wanted something to hold and love.  She loves babies for that reason.  When she started to realize that it probably wasn't going to happen for her to get a baby sibling, she switched gears and started asking for an animal to call her own.  Yes, we had 2 dogs when she started asking, and no, that wasn't what she was after - the pets we already had.  She wanted something small and cuddly and cute to hold on her LAP that would love HER unconditionally.

Earlier this year, when we were having such a hard time with her, I started looking into small animal possibilities for her.  A puppy - nope, all full in the dog department (even with one now.)  A cat? Really nope - David is allergic, they shed, they scratch your furniture, they scratch you, they get on your counters, and they require a box of poop in your house somewhere.  So, it turns out, does every other small animal you can think of - it's basically just a box of poop in your house.  And, most small critters do not care much about you anyway, let you hold them for 2 seconds, and bite you.  I looked into Chinchillas - they supposedly have affection for their owners and are small and furry and cute.  Turns out, they wouldn't do too well here in the hot summers and also... they live for 20-25 years!  No, thank you.

Poor Harriet.  She was just desperate for something to love and love her back.  Then, cousin Kate turns up with a random kitten?! Life is just not fair!

Fast forward to an evening earlier this fall.  It was a gorgeous night.  I had all the doors in the house open.  The kids were out riding bikes.  I was making dinner, and an orange tabby cat walked right under my legs in my kitchen.  ExCUSE me?  Who are YOU?!  It was extremely nice, seemed like it was lost, seemed familiar (there are lots of neighbors with cats,) and it was hurt - limping on a back paw.  I scooped it up and started knocking door to door, thinking certainly it belonged to someone nearby.  Nope.  No one claimed it, but several people said it was a known stray (I had never seen it before.)  It tried many attempts to hide in our garage and stay the night.  Eventually, I kicked it out.  It was a warm night and I knew it would be ok.  We can't have a cat anyway! (At the time - still 2 dogs too.)

The cat did stay in the neighborhood for several weeks and it's paw seemed to be better.  Apparently, plenty of people were feeding it and plenty of kids were naming it.  Leopard, Sunshine, Sunflower... I didn't worry too much about it.  Harriet wished...

Then, I didn't see it for at least a month maybe.  Hopefully, it went home and the coyotes didn't eat it.

Our neighbor, Debbie, offered to do our trash cans while we were gone over Thanksgiving.  She sent me a text with a picture of the cat in my flower pot.  It had apparently been sleeping in it.  Cute.  We came home from Thanksgiving, and a few days later it started getting pretty cold in ABQ.  The cat came around.  It would be on my front porch mat trying to stay off the cold concrete.  After a few days, I threw an old bath mat out for it to sit on.  The next day, it got colder, it was crying to come in and tried to run in our house whenever we opened the front door.  I put the mat in a box with a few old towels for it to snuggle down in.  I put a note on the neighborhood Facebook page:  Who wants a kitty for Christmas? Come and get it!  It's cold and lost and it's nice and needs a home!

Another neighbor, Gail, responded.  She had been offering it a heated pad and quilt on HER porch.  She would bring it right over.  No, let's leave it at your house, Gail.  Don't you think it needs another station?  She wouldn't hear of it.  Over she came, supplies in hand.

David had been pretty quiet other than to say "if you feed it, it's your cat."  (i.e. - DON'T FEED THAT CAT!)  I didn't feed it.  I only offered it a warm place to sleep.  It got so cold, I let it sleep in the garage, fearing the whole night that it would tear up the place or pee in the camping gear.  Nope.  It gratefully slept in the warm box and left in the morning.  The next night, David spent an hour making it an enclosed house to keep outside so that it could come and go and be warm all day and night.  I might love him a lot more because he made a house for that cat.

The next day, I decided to really try to find its owners if they were out there.  It was a REALLY nice cat.  I posted on craigslist, gave the info to animal control, looked in the classifieds for lost cats.  Nothing.  Gail offered me her little dog carrier to take it to the vet to scan for a microchip.  We doubted it would have one, but it was worth a shot.

Unbelievably, it was microchipped!  Hooray!  It can go home!  Nope, I traced the microchip to the ABQ Animal Shelter.  They told me the owner information was untraceable from there and to treat the cat as though it did not have a chip.  It is stray and lost.

Harriet came home with a story about a friend whose friend lost an orange cat as they were moving.  I called to track down that story.  Oh, it was from kindergarten - 2 years ago.  Not the right cat.

The shelters here are full.  It won't last more than a day if we turn it in.  The no-kill rescues charge a $50-$200 surrender fee to take in an animal.  DEAD ENDS EVERYWHERE.

It started to look like a homeless kitty camp on my front porch.  I moved the box to the back patio.  The cat stayed nearly all day and all night in our back yard for days.  It had nowhere to go.  Plenty of neighbors were being nice to it, but it was homeless, just the same.  We knew we had to make a decision.  I thought, maybe I will have an outside cat who lives on my back porch!  Genius.  I'll just start feeding it and it can stay out there and if Hattie wants to hold it, she can.  The next night, an unknown, but larger-than-a-cat black animal, chased it out of its little house in the middle of the night.  Great, now I'm attracting other strange animals to my back porch, and kitty still doesn't have a safe place.

Harriet's big green eyes, Kitty's big yellow eyes... they were too much to take.

On my birthday, Harriet and I stayed home sick.  We let the cat in to see if it would get along with Shadow.  No problems.  Does it jump on the counters?  Nope.  Does it scratch my brand new couch?  Nope.  Does it pee on my carpet?  Nope.  Does it scratch or bite?  Nope.    Does it climb in Harriet's lap any chance it gets and purr?  Yep.

Does it nap under the Christmas tree like the Christmas present it is obviously meant to be? Yep.

Crap.  We have a cat.

(Ironically, as I was decorating for Christmas, I put out this Christmas pillow with an orange tabby cat on it and thought, "strange I have a cat pillow - we don't even have cats."  Oh the things the universe picks up on!)

I still had not fed it.  Friends were sending me texts of themselves with pouty faces and captions like "please feed the cat, we are so sad."  (THEN YOU FEED IT!)

Harriet went back to school Wednesday morning.  Instead of finishing Christmas errands, I went to the pet store and stocked up on litter box, kitty litter, kitty food, kitty dish, kitty bed, kitty carrier (so I can take the thing for shots!), oh fine, and a kitty toy.

We fed her.  We named her.  She pooped in the litter box.  She moved in.

Meet:  Kit Cat (short for Kitty Cat) Sunny Ray Chapman.  I'm serious.

Folks, just when you think that the world is short of Christmas miracles, it's not.  A little girl got the deepest wish of her heart and a lonely, cold, sweetheart of a cat, got a home and a bed, and a little girl who loves her so much - she better not break her heart!

This morning, I took Kit Cat to her first vet appointment for shots and exam.  She is officially a "she", is spayed (even has a tattoo to prove it,) is about 2 years old, is healthy and sweet, and pretty much the best cat you could hope to have decide to move in with you 5 days before Christmas.  The vet could not believe that such an awesome cat turned up on our porch.  Turns out, its even pretty rare that "SHE" is an orange tabby.  Usually, they are males.  It's rare to get the genetic combo for the color in a female, and traditionally, orange tabbies are the nicest cats in the world.  We're pretty lucky.

I hope that whomever lost her knows somehow that she is okay.  Maybe she was abandoned and no one was ever looking for her or hoping to find her someday.  (That is a real possibility since her info on her chip is blank and people often abandon animals out here on the mesa.)  But, I can't imagine that she will be loved by anyone more than she will be by Harriet.  It has been a really weird experience.  I feel like it was somehow meant to be and that 2 little match-made souls in the universe found each other.

Shadow tolerates her.

Grace likes her, but will not allow her in her room.

David does not seem too allergic and has been caught talking to her, and I... well,  I think I have fallen in love with her too.  Harriet is OVER THE MOON.  It's one of those really cool moments as a parent when you realize you can do something to bring PURE JOY to your child.  Maybe we should have named her Joy.  For the sentiment, and the holiday, and all.  Oh well, Kit Cat.  You've got a candy-bar kind of name from a sugar-infused little girl.  Welcome home, Kitty.  Merry Christmas, one and all.

We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

Christmas season at our house is fairly predictable.  It's supposed to be.  That's what traditions are, right?  Predictable.

We finally made it out to Galloping Grace, one cold and windy night, to get our tree.  In grand tradition, we bought the biggest one they had.  Although, each year, their biggest one gets smaller...  It has gone from a crazy 15' three years ago to 11' this year.  Still, that's a pretty big tree and plenty to deal with and decorate.

Grace was pretty cute; she picked up the guitar by the fire at Galloping Grace and started playing while they waited for us to load the tree.

Tried to get some good pics, but it was too dark, cold and windy!

We LOVED getting to bring the tree home in our new sleigh!

Finally got it decorated after a couple of days.  

Finally got the house pulled together after a couple of weeks. 

I dare anyone to come up with something that looks more cozy than a dog sleeping in front of a fireplace under a Christmas tree.

My new birthday tradition is to buy tickets to the Nutcracker and take the girls.  (We've been going for a long time, but I've decided to make it my birthday party and present.)  David doesn't go with us anymore.  He's seen it many times and is happy to buy the tickets for my present.  He also bought me those cool nutcrackers on my fireplace.  Anyway, I love the excuse to get the girls dressed up and take them somewhere fancy like the ballet.  You can't tell how much from this picture... but Grace did make a pretty big effort to look her nicest.  She hates having to dress up and have any fuss about her hair beyond brushing it.  I bribed her with a filet mignon to curl it.  The curl lasted about 10 minutes and she ended up looking much like her normal self (although, still in a really nice dress and dress boots.)  We were out of time to try anything else, and I had already bought the steak.  I was happy with the fact that she just let me touch her hair and attempt to make it look nice.  She felt bad though, and has agreed to let me do it nice for church on Christmas weekend too.  Harriet is my little Christmas angel.  I think she looks like a little puff of a heavenly cloud in this white and gold dress and shoes.  

The girls have developed a tradition for themselves to take their own money to the Nutcracker performance and buy their own Nutcracker every year.  They are getting quite a good collection.  I know they will love that they did this someday.  Well, they already love doing it, but when they are grown, they will have an amazing collection full of memories. 

One day in Albuquerque, it snowed!  Shadow was DYING and I mean, dying for someone to come play with her in the snow.  I tried, but I wasn't fun enough.  I think she was really missing Velvet that day.  The two of them used to chase each other through the snow.  The school district did an optional early release as of about 11am that day. My kids have missed so much school this year, I felt bad taking them out for no reason, so I made them stay until early afternoon.  But, I couldn't resist letting them take advantage of the weather a little bit and hoped I could get them home to play with Shadow in the snow.  Too bad the storm didn't last.  By the time they got home, the snow was gone.  Poor Shadow puppy.   Hopefully, it will snow again.

Traditions are cool.  People, not just kids, depend on them.  They are comforting and defining.  We probably have a lot of the same traditions as everyone else.  Advent calendars (chocolate and LEGO this year!), making sugar cookies and fudge, finding the elves every morning... it doesn't feel like Christmas until you do these things.  We like to have seafood on Christmas Eve, at least shrimp, and clam chowder is also a favorite.  We make quiche for Christmas morning and have Buche de Noel for Christmas day dessert.  I was trying to decorate more quickly this year and save myself some time.  I debated about putting out the Christmas Village.  It didn't come out right away, but Harriet spotted the absence and demanded that it come out.  Whatever your traditions are, you do them and you love them, even if you forget why you love them until after you do them.  

We hope our friends and family far and near have a really Merry Christmas next week! 

Thanksgiving 2013: a trip and a truck

Over the continental divide and across the desert...
to Uncle Brian's house we went.

We swore we would not go to Salt Lake one more time this year.  We've been quite a bit for one calendar year.  Then, Brian and family decided to move there after we planned to visit them for Thanksgiving in San Diego.  So, back we went.

For me it was one of those best and worst trips ever.  Best because we got to spend a lot of time with a lot of family on both sides, best because we got to see some good friends, best because we got to do lots of great things in Salt Lake, best because we FINALLY got a new car!  Worst - because it was just too much.  Kids stayed up way too late every night and (especially Harriet) were cranky every day, all day long, including a melt down at Grandma Pearlie's house that I'd rather pretend never happened.  Worst because the kids were truly awful in the car driving up - worst they have ever been on a trip.  (I say that with full memory of a 3 hour layover I spent in Minneapolis one year with Grace having an eternal meltdown.)  Worst, because, when we got back from 8 days in Salt Lake over a late Thanksgiving holiday, it was DECEMBER SECOND.  Everyone else had their trees up and half their Christmas ready to go.  I still had to unpack, do 1000 loads of laundry, throw away the rotten pumpkins still on my fireplace, and find a tree.  I kind of feel like December punched me in the face.

Here are the highlights.  We did have a good time, and it was well worth it:

We started out on Sunday going to church with Brian's family.  They live in the Ave's in Salt Lake and go to one of the really old and cool church buildings up by the Salt Lake Cemetery.  Their whole ward was so refreshing to be around and Brian and Wendy and Clare all spoke in sacrament and gave the best talks.  Alec played an amazing piano piece too.  It was the best day I have had in church in a very long time.

Then, we went to Melissa and Randy's house for a pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving dinner with my family, including Sloan's first birthday party.  I'm so glad I got to be there to see that little dude and give him his first birthday present.

My parents gave the girls an early Christmas present.  LEGO advent calendars!  I have to say, these might be the cutest presents they've ever gotten.  They are having a blast with them.  They get to do a mini lego build every single morning as they count down to Christmas.  It may be making us late to the bus stop, but it is so exciting.

We started week on Monday by "taking the new truck out for a test drive."  We have been thinking about buying a truck pretty much since we moved to ABQ and have been looking for the right one for a long time.  We finally decided that the 2014 Nissan Frontier was the ticket when we saw the features they were going to put on it.  No one in ABQ would have any until next February, but we found one red one in Salt Lake.  We crossed our fingers that we might be able to sell our car up there and swing the whole deal in a week.  My dad is so great about helping us with cars.  He works so hard on our cars for us and I always feel like I've robbed someone when he gets us such good deals. As we walked into the dealership with the Subaru, he had his wholesale buddies there ready to bid on it.  They totally gave us a great offer and we were able to sign the papers and buy the truck that day.  It's pretty sweet.  It's the first brand new car we have bought together and definitely, the kids' first brand new car.  There is just something about driving a car that no one else has sat in or ruined or worn out.  We are having tons of fun driving it!

The kids with Grandpa Lyle and the new truck!

While we were signing papers, my dad was playing with the kids in the dealership.  They all thought this car was pretty cool.  Grace thinks she's getting one for her 16th birthday? ha!

One of the cool things we were able to do during the week was go to The Leonardo museum to see the Dead Sea Scroll exhibit.  It was really incredible to learn about how they were found and acquired and assembled.  Seeing the scrolls in person and seeing artifacts from the same region and time period was really humbling.  No photography is allowed, so I don't have any pics, but if you get a chance to see that exhibit, it is totally worth it.  The kids were even into it and very interested in most of the details.  At the end, they have an actual piece of the wailing wall from Jerusalem.  You can write your own prayer on paper and leave it in the wall.  They say when the exhibit is over, they will actually transport all of the papers back to the real wall in Jerusalem.  So neat to be able to do that.

We ate dinner on Thanksgiving with Brian's family, as planned.  Normally, they have a big crowd, but this year they chose to just keep it small with their family and ours.  It was a really nice, peaceful, Thanksgiving.  One thing that made it really great was being able to see Alec, who was home from school in Pittsburgh.  He has always been such a sweet kid and so good to my kids.  Harriet started the week kind of mad that she didn't have any cousins her age at Brian's house.  She slowly learned that Alec was a really good big cousin to have around.  He played with her and was so nice to her.  Clare was great too and Jeremiah finally warmed up to having us around and decided we weren't too bad to hang out with.  

Wendy assigned everyone a part of the meal to cook.  It was surprisingly easy and fast.  Everyone down to Harriet made one thing and it came together in a snap.  

I used to spend the month of November making "grateful" posts.  We always have a lot to be thankful for, especially when you start counting the good things in life.  But, I really liked something in Brian's talk on Sunday that made me start thinking about being thankful for the hard parts of life too.  When Velvet died, so many of my friends said "well, that's why I will never get my kids a pet, I don't want to have to go through that."  It is so short-sighted to think that way though.  Our lives have been so much better because of that dog and even her death was a really special thing in our family.  Our kids learned so much from it and have done so much thinking about things since.  Even though it was really hard, it was something I wouldn't trade.  I don't hope to go through it again anytime soon, but I think we actually can be thankful for the hard things in our lives and what they teach us, as well as all the good stuff, which is also plentiful.

Black Friday was pretty funny.  We have, in the past, done our due diligence in seeking out the great deals and door busters and standing in line.  This year, we decided we were all too tired and not in the mood for that.  So, Melissa and my mom and I, set out to a couple of small local stores that we love.  We were the only ones in the first store the whole time we were there and then barely the only ones in the second store.  It was way more fun and relaxed that way and we found some great stuff that I guarantee was NOT at the mall or Kohl's or Best Buy.

For our last day in Salt Lake, we did spend some time with Grandma Pearlie.  (I hope she will someday get over our spectacle of meltdowns.)  Then, we took everyone downtown to see the lights at Temple Square.  Grace saw them once, before we moved from Salt Lake.  She wasn't even 2 years old.  Harriet has never seen them.  I have been looking forward to being able to take them for so long.   We started the night checking out the candy windows at ZCMI.  These were probably the best part of the night for the kids.

As we walked across the street to Temple Square, Harriet was not impressed.  

(why? look at this place!)

Hattie was done with the whole thing before it started. She wanted to leave and she would rather play with her cousins one last time than "see a bunch of stupid lights on trees."  Little stinker!  I waited 7 years to show these lights to that kid!  She was not down with the field trip.  

Luckily, she likes to smile for pictures even if she is in a bad mood.

David, however, does not smile in pictures unless you specifically tell him to.  

He does not fake having a good time well. (I think he was done with the trip at this point too.)

In his defense, it was hard to walk through the 100,000 people and keep track of 3 different families who were all going at different speeds.

But, look who we found downtown?! Our long lost Merrill friends!  It was so great to see them.  Christmas Eve in ABQ will not be the same without them this year since they had to go and move to Washington last summer.   

Jamie, also does not like having a picture taken.  I was quick with my camera and grabbed this one.  

I think Grace and I enjoyed the lights at least.  Bah humbug to the rest of ya!

And somehow, we packed up everything that was in the Subaru plus a bike and a tent into the truck and went home in our new "sleigh." (Since we got the truck at Christmas time and it is a great cherry red sleigh color, I think it would suit Santa just fine for a vehicle.)   Shadow was extra happy to move up a row and get to sit with the girls all the way home.  Thankfully, no one was too terrible heading back and we got home in record time and we didn't have to drive through this storm (but we got to see what it left behind!)