But Where Is Our Snow Day?

We've had two spectacular snow storms already this year. First, the night of Advent Workshop, it snowed enough to coat every tree, house, car, and yard in fairy-tale white. Then, on the 18th - 19th, we had a big ol' NorEaster that smacked the mid-Atlantic with 1-3 feet of snow. We only got eight inches, but that's not half bad. Now they're calling for snow on New Year's Eve.

So what's the problem with all this pretty seasonal weather?? It keeps happening on weekends and holidays! That means no snow days, and of course, getting out of school is half the fun.

Lucky 13

Could somebody please tell me where our cute little 5 year old is, and how she got replaced with a teenager? I mean, really, how rude!

This was not a year for Kairi to have a big party, but we were blessed to have Grandma and Grandpa here to celebrate with her. The six of us had breakfast and watched Kairi open her birthday presents. Mostly she got clothes and DS games, but she also got a makeup box from us and a beaded cross necklace that her great grandma had made.

Hannah, Faith, and Juli were dropped off for church, and we met up with Barry after church at Burrito Grill. Everyone had their fill of tacos and burritos and quesadillas and chips and guacamole. Barry and Hannah gave her another makeup kit, so now Kairi has enough makeup to last her entire teen years! Then we had to hurry back home in order to get to the Rave to buy tickets for Kairi's birthday movie, Sherlock Holmes.

Kairi's friend Kaitlin was visiting from Nebraska, so Kairi invited her along to the Birthday movie. We met at the Promenade Shops and had ice cream from Maggie Moos and let the girls wander around Claire's and Aeropostale while Jenn and I browsed around Barnes and Noble. It was a big step for both of us letting Kairi wander around without us. Kairi and Kaitlin had a great time, but unfortunately none of us particularly liked the movie. The girls said they didn't understand, Jenn was bored, and neither of us thought it was "Holmesian" enough.

After the movie, Kaitlin had to go home, but the rest of us had a great dinner of fettuccine alfredo, which was Kairi's pick. She also picked a red velvet cake which we had picked up at the Fresh Market. Kairi got to open one more present, a frog from Cyndy, who wasn't able to make it to lunch or dinner.

All in all, it was a happy birthday. But if it were up to me, she would be 13 again next year.

Christmas Chaos

Let's put it this way.

There were presents.

And there were hugs. And there were relatives.
And there were more presents.And more relatives.Which meant more presents.And more hugs. With kisses. And cooties.And lots and lots and lots of food.
And, of course, presents. And did we mention the food?

A merry Christmas to all. And is it time for good night yet???

A Very Special Present

I got a very special present this year from Mom. The nativity scene above (actually, there are many more pieces, that's just a close-up) was hand-painted by my grandmother. I have always loved it, and Mom decided she wanted to give us heirlooms this year. I will treasure it always!

Best of all, it reminds us that the greatest gift of Christmas can't be bought. He was already given to us all, on a quiet night in Bethlehem.

Yes, You Can Open ONE

Every year, it's the same thing.

Everyone gets to open one present early.

Why? Cause we all know what's in them, that's why! It just wouldn't be Christmas without snuggly new PJs!

Thanks, Grandma!

Nicky's First Concert

According to his quarterly writing piece in fourth grade, Nicky is "living the dream". He's wanted to play brass for years, ever since his sister started with the French Horn. But his aspirations are longer and slidy-er. He wants to play trombone.

Turns out, he's pretty darn good at it. After a slight mishap where he traded his slide with another player and neither of them could get their trombones together, Nick played "Jingle Bells" like a pro in the Holiday concert. Best of all, Grandma and Grandpa were here in time to see his very first concert.

Here's hoping he sticks with it - so far he's loving band.

Nobody messes with Santa. You know that, don't you???

This year both Jenn and I decided to do most of our shopping online. Many of our presents were ordered through Amazon.com on December 10th and December 15th.

Shopping online was supposed to be easier. Neither of us would have to brave the crowds (although we did go out for Black Friday again this year). The presents were going to come right to the house. It was going to work out perfectly.

Except now it is December 22nd and we are still expecting three shipments. We got a lot of our presents yesterday. Maybe it was because of the snow over the weekend, I'm not sure. All I know is that I think next year I am going to order online earlier, or brave the malls instead.

Must Be Santa

Who else could get away with giving out presents a week early? Only Santa. Or as our family calls him, the "REAL" Santa. See, Faith and Nick have both noticed those imitation Santas that seem to float around this time of year. But the REAL Santa goes to Daddy/Uncle Scott's work for breakfast. So we caught up with him there, and got presents and delicious breakfast.

Good thing the photographer had a nice camera. My replacement is HORRIBLE, and I was frustrated all morning trying to get semi-decent shots.

The girls were delighted, but I caught a vague hint that this may be a dying tradition for our own two. But they still love the bacon from the buffet!

But I Like a Cookie...

Christmastime in our household means it's also baking time. This year, Jenn and I had the extra challenge of dieting while making the cookies, which is no small feat. Friday night, we made the sugar cookie dough so it could be baked this morning and decorated by our kids along with Faith and Juli. We started early this morning with fudge and candy cane cookies, since both were somewhat difficult, so the little ones couldn't help us with them. Cyndy, her friend Ben, and the girls came over sometime midmorning and helped with peanut butter blossoms, reindeer cookies, and cutting out the sugar cookies.

Unfortunately, not everything went according to plan. With only one mixer and one oven, it was hard to get the cookies done in an orderly and timely fashion. By the time the sugar cookies were baked and cooled, the girls had already left, so Jenn and Kairi did most of the decorating while I replaced the thermostat in the water heater, which had broken for the second time this winter.

In the end, we made about 25 dozen of assorted types of cookies, including two new recipes (peppermint blossoms and peppermint double-decker fudge). They were all delicious. Many of them ended up going to work and church, with some left over for Christmas.

Advent Workshop

We finally got to go to Advent Workshop after several years of conflicting schedules. But it couldn't be TOO easy, so of course we had a snow storm that evening.

It was no big deal, though, as we arrived before the snow became a driving issue. And when we left, kind members of the church ran out and brushed off the cars. Cyndy brought her girls, and we all had fun making crafts, eating yummy food, and watching the talent show.

Next year, I think Drew and Nick need to work up a comic routine. They are already the church clowns, anyway!

Deck the Halls

We got our Christmas tree early this year because the marching band ran out of trees last year before we had a chance to pick ours up. It was Jenn's turn, and she got a tree that was nice and full, but unfortunately it was a little shorter than we usually get, and it turned out to be crooked. But it was the first one we saw, and it looked good enough.

Jenn and I got the lights and garland up, then all of us hung up the ornaments. It's an eclectic mix of older ornaments, gifts from Jenn's students, and things that the kids made at Advent Workshop and school over the years. They might not match, and they might not fit a particular theme, but they are definitely "Us".

Baby, It's Cold Outside

So it's been unseasonably warm since the freak snow we got on October 15th. But of course, if we're going to go stand in line at Target at 4AM, it's a great day for a cold snap.

Better yet, if we're going to go sit in town square to listen to Kairi play carols and watch them turn on the Christmas lights, it should be cold and WINDY.

Brrr..... maybe we SHOULD move to Australia!

Thanksgiving

I've been racking my brain trying to think about how to write about this Thanksgiving, but in the end I decided to go with truthful, but not rude.

This year, it was a bit hard to face this holiday. Finding things to be thankful for was a challenge. Barry and Cyndy were separated in August, causing some stress through both their family and ours. Then Cyndy spent most of Monday of this very week in the hospital, causing Jenn's Mom to come down on Tuesday, only to leave on Wednesday morning. Meanwhile, Jenn was having problems with a student in one of her classes and I had been transferred to a new department at my work in June right before vacation, after spending the past 8 years with the same team leader and group of people. My mom was having back problems, causing her have to use a walker and also to get bi-weekly steroid injections.

With all of the flux going on with family, we didn't know how many people were going to appear. We were assuming at least 9, and as many as 11, so we prepared a lot of food. It turns out the only people who actually came for dinner were my parents. Barry, Faith, and Juli stopped over for dessert and watched part of the Cowboys game. Cyndy never made it over.

The food was great (especially the stuffing and pie), and we enjoyed seeing everyone who came. But it was far from a perfect Thanksgiving. In the end, we did have things to be thankful for. We were thankful that in the tough economic times that Jenn and I both have employment, and were able to have such a nice meal. We were thankful to see my parents and Barry and the girls. And we were thankful that Cyndy was getting well after her medical emergency.

'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving

Wednesday night, there is a tradition in our house where we start getting ready for Thanksgiving. The house was cleaned, the radio was tuned to Delilah (who starts playing Christmas songs this very night) and then we started on food.

The dill dip was made (and we decided that although fresh herbs are great, dried dill works better for the dip). I did the cranberry sauce solo this year, which was a first for me. It wasn't difficult, actually, once, and I will be happy to do it from now on.

Jenn worked on the sweet potato casserole. The potatoes were thrown in the oven to bake. We learned this year that we should put a pan under the potatoes so they don't leak and mess up the bottom of the oven.

Finally, we made pies. I always make the pumpkin filling and Jenn makes the crusts and apple pie filling. We almost didn't have pumpkin pie this year due to a pumpkin shortage (bad weather in Illinois, or something). Fortunately for us, I think we found the last cans of pumpkin in the Valley. :)

Jenn's pie crusts were perhaps the best she ever made them. The apple pie filling was made with two types of apples (Golden Delicious and McIntosh). Jenn even went as far as evenly distributing the apple slices in the pie instead of just dumping them into the crust. As it turned out, this worked very well because it filled the pie and prevent slipping when the pie was cut the next day.

While hosting these types of things can be stressful (especially this year), I still enjoy getting ready when Jenn and I can do it together.

Turkey...for dessert

Jenn and I were scheduled to teach Junior Church on Thanksgiving Sunday, so she decided that the snack that we would bring in should be cupcakes.

But since it's Thanksgiving, we couldn't bring just any cupcakes. So, with the help of Kai, Nick, Faith, and Juli, we made turkey shaped chocolate cupcakes.

They were very adorable, and the decorating was done mostly with icing and candy corns. And, of course, the Boos favorite part was making sure they tasted good after we were done!

A Minor Christmas Catastrophe

We wanted to do something fun with the kids last weekend, but we weren't sure what. Then we stopped for coffee at Dunkin' Donuts and saw flyers advertising Hershey Park's Christmas Candylane. For about $40, all four of us could have access to rides and holiday fun all over the park with the exception of the roller coasters. So we hopped in the car and headed over.

We had tons of festive fun, from the train ride through lighting displays to the strolling bands playing Christmas songs. We also enjoyed some favorite rides like Scrambler, the Kissing Tower, and the Reese's Extreme Cup Challenge. The entire park was wonderfully decorated.
Unfortunately, no sooner did we arrive at the park than my digital camera, which had been dying for weeks, bit the dust. The drive for the lens is completely shot, and the shutter won't open. So I grabbed a tossaway camera with (gasp!) film.

Every picture I took after that point is, well, frankly horrible. I didn't want to spend a fortune to replace the camera right before Christmas, but we needed something. So, for the price of a tossaway film camera plus developing, I bought a digital camera on eBay. I knew it was a downgrade from my old digital. In fact, it's the same model I had for my FIRST digital camera. What I had forgotten was how lousy that camera really was! Still, it will be better than nothing for the holiday season, or until we can afford to get me the camera I really want.

Or maybe Santa will bring me the Canon PowerShot SX20IS with 20X Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.5 Inch Articulating LCD.

Or a pony.

Once More, With Feeling

Thanks to the incompetence of the football team, marching band season is over for the year. The band's final show was at the Northern States Championships. They did a great job, but I think they were more focused on going out for pizza after the show than nailing their scores. Oh, well! You win some, you lose some. And next August, you start all over again!

You Didn't Tell Me You Were Gonna Kill It!

Most of our Halloween festivities were over by the actual day of Halloween. (Thanks so much, Pennsylvania!) We actually ended up spending the day doing various Christmas-y things, like filling the shoeboxes for Operation: Christmas Child, and finding a couple of Christmas presents along the way. So by the evening, we decided we needed to do something more seasonal. Nick had the perfect suggestion - why hadn't we carved our pumpkins yet?

Kairi, on the other hand, had the perfect idea - stay back and watch and let everyone else get their hands covered in pumpkin guts.

With a little help from us...

Nick carved his pumpkin just like he wanted. It's supposed to be just like the one Lucy drew on the back of Charlie Brown's head during the Peanuts Halloween party. Yes, he's a bit obsessed this year.

We turned out the lights, enjoyed the pumpkins, and made shadow animals until bedtime. The other pumpkin? Oh, that was mine. Depending on who you ask, the reason mine was completely carved before Nicky's pumpkin was even hollowed out was either:

A) I have mad pumpkin skills.

B) It was less than 1/3 the size of Nick's.

C) I cheated.

I'll leave you to decide.