and her heart grew three sizes that day

 I have to say that this Christmas was the best one.  Hands down.  No contest.

Here's why. . .

1.  These two were the most excited little stinkers.  They loved all the Christmas traditions and only had to be threatened a little bit to behave.  ;)

 2. As you probably know, we do not believe in Santa.  Miley had lots of questions this year about why her friends got email videos and letters and what not crap from Santa leading up to Christmas.  She couldn't understand why so much effort was put into lying.  I have to agree with her, it's too much.  We had some talks about it, but mostly we talked about Christ.  My girls loved watching The Nativity video over and over again.  They played with their nativity sets and on Christmas eve a baby in a manger was left on our doorstep.  Neither one of them could be taken away from it.  It made this Christmas season filled with the best spirit.

 3.  I like to do a little extra for holidays, and last year I hung paper snowflakes because Miley really wanted snow for Christmas.  Well, this year I hadn't planned on doing it again, until we were cutting them out for fun and Miley mentioned how she'll be so excited to see them hung up on Christmas morning.  I love that she remembered and appreciated the effort. . . . so I think it has become a new tradition.

4.  I brought back a little tradition from when I was a kid.  My mom wouldn't put our names on our Christmas presents, so if we found them, which was easy enough, we wouldn't know who they belonged to.  They would have a color or shape on them and she had the key hidden away from us until Christmas morning on our stocking.  I bought a big roll of black paper and wrapped all the gifts and then drew on them with white markers, so it looked like chalkboards.  Anyway, on Miley's I drew snowflakes and on Jovey's I drew snowmen. 

5.  Of course I didn't get a picture of these things, cause I wasn't even thinking about my camera this year.  I got a couple of pictures of them with their stockings and that's it.  I think that makes it to the 'why this was the best Christmas ever' list because I wasn't worried about taking pictures of every present, every expression.  I got to actually be there and see it for myself.  Totally worth it.

6.  I did not miss having presents under the tree AT ALL.  It was awesome actually.  I got one from my sister (we pick names in my family) which was fun and Dave's Mom sent us some more pieces for our nativity, perfect.  Other than that, our money and my parents went to a charity.  We decided to give our money to a family traveling to Peru through a great organization that helps feed children.  It's amazing.  Miley saw some commercials about hungry children on TV and asked me about it.  I was able to tell her about what we decided to do for Christmas instead of getting stuff for ourselves.  It made an impact on her.  It has been the best experience.

7.  We got thousands of THANK YOUS from our girls.  They were so good at showing gratitude.  Miley has said thank you to me every day since Christmas for something she was given.  My girls loved everything they received from all of their loved ones.  A big THANK YOU from us for loving our girls.  They were thrilled with it all!  Not even an exaggeration.

8. The weather was nice enough that the girls got to use their very own trampoline!  And then it started to snow a little, so they got to see a little snow on Christmas too.  Perfect, especially since it didn't stick around or anything.

9. We enjoyed our facetiming and phone calls with family. . . and then got to spend some quality in-real-life cousin time as well.  Not to mention a fantastic Christmas dinner, thanks to Anne.

10.  And finally, Dave pretended to be the Grinch while we took the Christmas decorations down.  Priceless.

Now I'm trying to remember all these good things as we enter my least favorite month.  Happy New Year to you all.  This one went by too fast!

wishing you

graham crackers taste better

Miley's favorite Christmas tradition finally came to pass. . . gingerbread houses, aka crackers covered in candy and frosting.  Jo was a big fan as well.

Miley got to practice her skills at school the day before.

Every kid in her class had a cough.  It was horrifying.  We escaped unscathed.  Finger's crossed, knock on wood.

Dave's house miraculously remained standing this year.  I forgot to take a picture of it.  He doesn't check the blog much anymore, so don't mention it to him and he won't know.  ;)

 Jovey put all the candy on her house and then after admiring it for a second took each piece off to eat it, and then licked the house too.

 There was not an inch of blank space left on this thing after her administrations.

I opted to make a beach, with a shark, who ate Santa.  That's the blood in the water by his hat.  He tasted delicious.

I may have too much Christmas spirit.  ;)

waiting and waiting and waiting some more

Is it Christmas yet?  Geez.

This tree, like me, is in denial that it is winter.  It's my favorite tree now, after the zombie episode and now the intense willpower to deny the season.  Impressive.

Nobody puts my baby in a corner.  She only poses for me.  ;)  She ruined everyone else's group photo.

She kept going even after she biffed it at her gymnastics showcase and tried her hardest on everything.  I was equal parts proud and concerned for her safety.  Man I love this girl!

Jovey wants to do gymnastics too. . . but she missed the part where Miley face planted on the mat and her eye swelled up.  Jo had been removed from the room for trying to get involved too often.

This is what brings a smile to my face every morning.

IMG 9915 from Mindy on Vimeo.

. . . well until now because it's Christmas break and the girls are foaming at the mouth staring at the tree. . . w.a.i.t.i.n.g. fooooorrrreeeevvvverrrr.  ;)

You're a mean one

Story time. . .

A nice little old lady scared the crap out of Jovey by bringing her to see Santa at the ward Christmas party.  Made her cry, the lady I mean.  Yeah, it was great.  Man I hate that guy.  OK not really, but seriously no more Santa Claus at a church party, it's really really stupid.  Not that that is any of your doing, just thought I'd start an anti-Santa movement, a petition or just complain really loudly.  ;)

So I made a Grinch for our yard this year.  It too scared the crap out of Jovey.  I'm thinking it's the Santa suit?  or ???? I don't know.

She was fine with me working on it in the office, she would point in there and growl cause he's a monster I guess.  As soon as I pulled it out to seal it and set it up she freaked out.  This is her sobbing on the couch after I moved it outside.

 She will not go out in the front yard now, though it does not elicit tears anymore, thankfully.  You can't even say Grinch around her or she gets the big eyes and visibly shudders.  She hasn't even seen the movie, either of them.  I don't know.

All of this happened the day before our advent calendar activity would be a GRINCH PARTY!  Miley was looking forward to it, so we decided to just try it out. . .

We started Jovey out slowly with Grinch kabobs.  Who couldn't love a guy in the form of delicious fruit on a stick?

They both ate them up.  No surprising though, my girls love fruit.  Next we had Grinch punch, aka lime sherbet in Sprite.  The sugar on the cup makes it fancy, and also may be the extra oomph the girls needed to run in circles during the watching of the movie.  The the the, The Grinch!

Jo was a little nervous at parts in the movie, but also laughed a lot too.  So overall, not really that big of a deal.

She's still scared of the guy in the front yard though.  I think I'll use him for Halloween then, because our Christmas is turning out way SCARIER by far.

My December hacks

Gifting. . .

I like to do neighbor gifts, but people are so weird about food these days that I decided not to bake for anyone this year.  It's a lot of work and it may be just thrown out, who knows.  Instead, I decided to give them the gift of smell.  ;)  Like baking, but not.  Here's what you put into a jar or bag. . .

• 2 slices of orange
• 2 slices of lemon (I put a whole one in though to fill up the space)
• 1t. allspice berries
• 1t. whole cloves (these two spices I put in a little bag inside the jar)
• 1 sprig of rosemary
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• handful of cranberries

On the tag I put the directions:  Add to water, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer.  Be careful that the pot does not boil dry.  Add more water as needed. When cool, you can store it in a jar in the refrigerator to use later.

The smell of Christmas in a jar.  And I got rid of a lot of empty jars I had on hand.  Boom.

Hack no. 2. . . Advent calendar

We have an advent calendar that has little doors to hold. . . something.  I don't think a kid should get a gift or candy every stinkin day, so in ours we decided to put pieces of paper that had an activity or something on it to do.  You can find many sites on the internet with suggestions.

I made way more than we will actually need, but didn't put them in the calendar.  I only do a couple of days at a time.  I go through my pile and decide what we have time for in the next couple of days and then put them in.  I can't plan a whole month in advance, and this way no one is stressed with completing a suggestion that doesn't work for that day.

Our list of things includes treats to make and eat, games, traditions like looking at lights and making gingerbread houses, events like the live nativity, and simple service.  Today the paper said to smile at everyone to spread Christmas cheer.  See, some days need simple ones like that.  Miley is thrilled with them all, but every time she goes to open a new door I hear her chanting, 'gingerbread houses, please be gingerbread houses.'  Soon kiddo, after I go grocery shopping.

Shipping. . .

I never have boxes that are the perfect size, and I refuse to buy boxes.  I get them in the mail all the time, so we recycle and by recycle I mean Frankenstein.  That's right, I use it as a verb.  That's what I call the boxes that I reshape to fit the gifts I need to send.  Some end up looking better than others, but it's not what's on the outside that counts anyway, right?  I like to wrap my gifts before sending them instead of shipping straight from the source, usually, so we do a lot of Frankensteining around here to get everything to it's destination.  The perk is that it throws off the recipient, because the box says it came from xyz and yet who knows what I actually put inside.

All you need is a box cutter and tape.  Have at it.  The post office loves me, I'm sure.

There you have my Christmas tips.  You can call me Martha if you'd like.  ;)  No don't, I changed my mind.

Surviving the end

October through January are far too busy for my liking.  OK, I like it a little, but the chaos in my office and giant to-do list can be exhausting.  I have far too much and too little to post all at the same time.  Sorry blog, December is sparse.

Tiff here is your update. . .

Dave took me out for Argentinian food for our anniversary.  Yeah, I went and didn't think twice about it, until Dave mentioned how I never would have done that 10 years ago.  How far we've come.  It was good too.  Weird.

Jovey's birthday was bubbletastic, except that she was sick and coughing.  Poor baby.  She loved her gifts and the bubbles.  I made cake balls and served cream puffs and grapes. . . you know, round things.   It was  theme.  ;)  On a whim I made a round layer cake too.  The cake was the only thing Jo liked.  She's a nutter.  The cake balls were divine, blackberry cream.  May be my new favorite.  Oh and the grapes, she loves fruit.  We got our girl some Cafe Rio for dinner cause it is still her all time favorite place to eat and then stayed home to keep from getting strangers sick.

Miley complained that Jovey didn't want to play with her in the days following her birthday, because she was too busy playing mommy to her new baby doll with her new baby doll stuff.  She is a very good mommy like that.

Miley came home from school and said she needed a pilgrim costume for the next day.  It was, of course, Jovey's birthday the next day, and I was a whole lot of busy.  That must have translated to Miley, cause she told her teacher that the costume 'upset her mom'.  I got an apology from the teacher.  ;)  Oops.

Thanksgiving was delicious.  I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast, last year's were a disaster so this was a big gamble for me, and they turned out just fine. . . except neither of my girls like cinnamon rolls, we found out.  Lame.  Dave and I enjoyed them immensely.  We have decided that we will have to buy a smoker, because smoked turkey is the only kind of turkey we will ever eat again.

We bought a new Christmas tree.  I saw it in Costco and I just needed a new tree.  You've heard me complain about my shedding tree, which is a tad too big for my space. . . . so I let it go, which turned out was harder than I thought.  It took me awhile to like the new one.  It fits better though, and I only picked up one needle.  Boom.  Jovey helped D put it up and the girls both loved decorating it.  So far so good.  Jovey does take a dog ornament off of it daily and plays with it, but other than that it is left undisturbed.

My star collection is growing.  So if you see any interesting stars out there and feel the need to grab one for me, I'd be more than happy.  ;)

 I didn't hang our stockings up this year.  I knew they'd get pulled down onto someone's head, and those hooks are heavy.  Miley is mildly worried about this tangent from tradition.

We've seen a number of Santa Claus's around and every time Miley tells me that she thinks he's scary and absolutely does NOT want to sit on his lap.  I don't know why she's so disturbed by them.  I tried to relate it to Halloween costumes and being in character, but she still thinks he's creepy.  We were watching Elf and I think I found why she doesn't trust the bearded guy. . . the fight scene in the store.  You're not Santa, you smell of beef and cheese.  ;)

Here's a pic of what it looks like when Miley gets home from school. . . Jo usually tackles her to give her hugs and Miley usually cries cause it hurts.  ;)

Miley just lost, or had a tooth yanked out of her cause we were tired of the whining about it, recently.  Jovey has been walking around with a tissue to her tooth all week because that is what she sees her sister doing.

Miley got a trophy from her school and a medal from the school district for her painting.  She's so proud, and is now convinced she needs a trophy case cause she's on a winning streak.  ;)

I got my Christmas cards sent out and am packing up the gifts presently.  Jovey told me that my cards stink, so sorry if that's true.

December would be easier if I hadn't caught the nasty sickness that everyone in my family is now done with.  I thought I was the lone survivor and then karma kicked my butt for bragging and gave me the same thing, maybe worse.

Don't worry, I didn't lick the envelopes on the cards, I spared no expense and got the sticky tape ones.  ;)

That's all the update I can manage right now.  Peace out.