Will Ski for Cocoa!

I usually get a little weepy when it's time to take the tree down each year, but when your tree goes up before Thanksgiving the transition is a little easier.  The lights are still up outside, but the only trace of Christmas in the house is my display of cherished holiday cards from friends and family, a bit of a Christmas scented candle, and the five pounds around my middle.

The three weeks of school in December were really wonderful.  Our PTO decorated each classroom door, the hallways were full of holiday student artwork, there were wonderful student concerts, a schoolwide Ugly Sweater Day, an excellent entry in our hometown Christmas parade, and a full staff Christmas Concert.  The true magic of the season could be found within the walls of FJE
and the hearts of every Bulldog.

The weekend before break I entered into the local Ugly Sweater Run and won the women's six mile despite a nasty cold and an upset tummy resulting in not one but three vomit sessions.  The first day of break found us at Miles' Winter Dance recital and the Mt. Shasta Ski Park.  Miles learned how to ski in the morning, and stole the show in the evening.

He then went on for a repeat performance of "Marshmallow World" the next afternoon and followed that up with another day of skiing.  This was all in preparation for our short post-Christmas weekend at Mt. Bachelor.  The kid was an absolute natural.  Ski, hot cocoa, nachos, repeat.

The boys are very blessed and had a wonderful Christmas.  Letters arrived from Santa before Christmas and both boys were very happy to find out that they had made the "nice" list.  That status wavered closer to the 25th and next year I hope that Santa doesn't send out his confirmation letters quite so soon.  None the less, Carter's favorite gifts were Lego sets and Miles' favorite gifts were the Whoopie Cushions which Santa gave to both boys in their stockings.  Mom and Dad's favorite gifts were Carter's ability to put together Lego sets ALL BY HIMSELF, and when not one, but TWO Whoopie Cushions broke before Christmas dinner.

For the first time in my life, I was able to enjoy a simple Christmas Dinner.  All my years growing up, I don't really think I truly appreciated the efforts my parents went to in order to prepare a very nice and fancy Christmas dinner.  Delicious food, nice table setting, all cooked and cleaned up.  Last year I did it at my own home.  The whole shebang.  It was an enormous amount of work and was over within a few minutes.  The memories lost.  I bet NOONE in this family remembers what we ate.  This year, after a splendid Christmas Eve dinner, and weeks of feasting, I decided to work smarter and not harder.  It was homemade Mac and Cheese with (gasp) Velveeta.  In an effort to not completely fall off the wagon, they also had a side of Holiday grapes.  I did serve the Christmas dinner on real plates and the boys enjoyed their apple cider in real champagne glasses.  It was all blissfully delightful.

The next day we met up with my mom and sister in Sunriver and spent two days skiing at Mt. Bachelor.  I'm sure glad I prepped Miles with two days at Shasta before this trip.  Both boys did really, really, great.  Carter and I closed the lifts down one day and I'm pretty sure that Miles finished off the hot cocoa machine the next.  We all felt very blessed that Carter and Miles were able to ski with their grandma.  Both boys (as well as Bradley and I) think their Nene is pretty darn cool.  Even if they do love to sing to her the song about Grandma getting run over by a reindeer.

Looking back over this last month, maybe it is a little sad the tree is down and another Christmas is over.  Here's to hoping for another Christmas filled with Whoopie Cushions and Velveeta!

Fake Potatoes and Ugly Sweaters

Thanksgiving went off without a hitch.  The 10th annual Scott Valley Schools' Turkey Trot was a huge success and we had more participants than ever.  This year Carter and Bradley ran/walked the three mile together and Miles joined in with Wyatt and Finn.  Both boys took a nice pre-Thanksgiving dinner nap as a result  In an effort to work "smarter not harder" I contributed to the annual Isbell Thanksgiving with some "instant" mashed potatoes.  I doctored them up with Organic Chicken Broth and a lot of butter.  Nobody even noticed and I saved myself a lot of time and potato peelings.

It's now December 7th and the holiday season is off with a bang.  Our annual tree hunting this year actually yielded a bit of snow and sledding.  This year the boys could have cared less about the tree and were intent to go all-out on their sled runs.

We were supposed to have a full-family holiday photo shoot but I had the stomach flu and Vanessa ended up with Pneumonia.  The boys and my mom had a nice time and the photographer got some great shots.  Our old girl Maggie even managed to sneak in for a few photo ops.


The tree is up, house is decorated, and the boys mailed off their letters to Santa.  Carter wasn't too sure of my new method of letter this year.  I made them ask Santa for something to wear and something they needed.  As both of these categories do not consist of toys, it came as a bit of a shock to the boys.  However, Carter recovered quickly when he realized that he both needed and could wear a new pair of ski pants.

This weekend I hosted my staff for our 1st annual Ugly Sweater Party and it was a huge hit.  I can't wait for next year.  As we move forward with the holiday season, I hope to get less overwhelmed with the lists and must-dos and take time to enjoy each and every day.  The magic of the season is upon us, I've already weathered the stomach flu, so let's just hope no one argues with instant potatoes at Christmas Eve.