Light Refreshments Served

I find New Year’s Resolutions exciting and refreshing.  I get the feeling that most people don’t.  I think as a modern society we’ve taken the hope and wonder and imagination out of it all.  If you make resolutions that you think you should be making, instead of the ones you are giddy with anticipation in actually doing, then of course you would face the idea with dread.  I like to think of resolutions like cleaning out the cobwebs (and the sorrow), and taking a deep breath to get back on track.  What track?  Whichever one you want.  Are you sensing the anticipation of it all?  

I have been systematically, but casually cleaning out little corners of my house.  I started by clearing out Hugh’s train table and under his bed.  I threw out all the junk toys, broken bits and pieces, and collected garbage, and organized his toys.  We found lost treasures and forgotten favorite action figures.  Surprise!  After I was done he played in his room for hours.  Bigger surprise!  The next day (See, I’m not totally cleaning crazy.  I space it all out.) I took all the appliances off the kitchen counter and scrubbed them down and wiped the counters and sink with Comet.  It’s amazing how having a clean toaster and polished sink makes the whole house feel clean.  Fifteen minutes of work and my old house feels clean.   And then today I went through my books, dusted them all off, threw out the ones I don’t want to keep, and organized them.  Everything had a place, and it reminded me of two books I’m dying to read and are now there, just waiting for me.  

Cleaning gives me a hopeful perspective:  a task completed start to finish, and so do resolutions.  Even when I break them.  My 2008 Resolution was to become more mysterious and I failed at it miserably, but it was fun to think that maybe, possibly, I could change my “I-wear-my-heart-on-my-sleeve” attitude and transform into someone a little more intriguing or alluring.  What’s funny is I started writing this blog (not mysterious), which explores how I feel (really not mysterious) and I joined Facebook (everyone is doing it=hardly mysterious).  But Topher’s Resolution was to wink more, and he failed miserably at that as well (I don’t think I saw him wink once, even ironically, this entire year), so at least we’re not progressing, in regards to winking and being mysterious, together.  That’s gotta count for something.  What I’m saying is that I count it.  

I will never forget 2008.  I had some extreme highs and extreme lows:  Margaret was born, she is amazing, she went to the hospital with RSV, I had a little dance with some post-pardum, we had some incredible family-bonding moments, great mini vacations close to home, a family tragedy, hope, despair, loneliness, great comfort, miracles prayed for and received, miracles not anticipated but showed up anyway, life lessons learned, funny spontaneous moments, great unanticipated improv’d performances, good meals, and all the rest.  There was a lot of personal growth in 2008.  I’m hoping for more “riding the wave of my comfortable routine” in 2009.  

My resolutions for 2009?  (Thank you for asking. . . )  Less crying, for one.  I fully admit that “less crying” is the new “be mysterious”, but I’ll write it down anyway.   More writing and more painting are my obtainable resolutions.  Whereas 2008 had the fog of “just keep it together,” paring down the details and extras, 2009 is “carefully add some details” based on what I want to do, not what others expect me to, including myself.  Out with the broken, cheap-o McDonald’s toys, in with the always vivacious laughing Elmo doll!  Out with the boring emotional crumbs stuck in the toaster, in with the new, polished, easily- controlled panini maker!  Out with the dusty old books I think I should read, in with the ones I really want to read! 

I wonder what resolution I’ll come up with if I clean out the hall closet?

This picture pretty much sums up our holiday break.  It is wonderful and magical, like Indiana Jones (1 through 3 at least).  All the kids had a happy ending:  everyone was pleased Christmas morning (even Miles, who wanted an iphone, but he’s ten + his dad and I don’t have one = no way he’s getting one.)  I had some problems and upsets, much like Indy himself, like having some sort of stomach bug from Christmas Eve through Christmas Day to the next afternoon (which is tragic mostly because I had the most decadent breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert and snacks all planned out, weeks in advance, to eat on Christmas Day, and I ate nothing), and Hugh spilling red creme soda on the carpet, drawing on the couch, and stealing his brothers and sisters’ toys, but it’s not like Christmas sucks you through a vortex of time and space into a parallel universe where everyone is the same, only perfect.  But we always hope a little, don’t we?  It was a soft, quiet family day and although I hate surprises myself, I love giving them out.  It felt good to get all the presents, wrapping, and secrets stuffed under my bed, in my closet, and in any crook and cranny I could find out in the open.  Giving out presents + de-cluttering my closets and crannies = de-light-ful.  

I find that all Christmas break, while the kids are at home, I keep following around room to room picking things up, dropping a load of laundry in, wiping things down–general scurrying about.  It’s never-ending.  But I’m making a concerted effort to relax and let it all go. Just kidding!  I totally pick up and then relax.  But overall, the past few days have been simple and relaxing (relatively) and nice.  The  kids were happy, Topher and I were happy, and the kids played with their new toys under the soft glow of the tree (really), and I will take those moments where I can and collect them and save them for the long, grey, cold winter ahead of us when we’re all stir crazy.

Kacy, Kristy, and I met together in Utah for cheese fries and ultimate dipping sauce.  It’s totally the ultimate. We missed having Emily and Chelsea.  We, of course, each ordered our own plate of cheese fries.  (These are the details that hold this blog together.)  These are women I respect immensely.  

Hey, who is that cute kid in the back?  Hmmm, looks familiar.  

Oh wait. . . that guy looks familiar, too.  Oh yeah:  that’s Kristy’s family!  How nice of them to sit at a different table while we could have our “business lunch.”  It was very professional, so it was nice of them to respect that.  (Did I mention there were cheese fries?)  For this LRS meeting, I didn’t change my baby’s diaper under the table or nurse under a tent.  I really felt more professional.  

We talked about food, friends, kids, raising daughters, soda, Christmas, family, blogging, publishing, writing, laying around, napping, cleaning, Utah, homes, landscaping, and traveling.  All things we can look forward to blogging about in the new year.

. . . twelve verses:

Luke Chapter 2

. . . eleven great talks about Christmas:

#1-10 HERE

#11 HERE

. . . ten Christmas gifts I’ll always remember receiving:

1.  Barbie Dream House.  My dad pulled me aside Christmas morning and lovingly explained that we didn’t have a lot of money this year, so I shouldn’t get my hopes up for anything big.  He explained that he wanted to get me the Dream House, but couldn’t, and that he didn’t want me to be disappointed in front of the other kids when I didn’t get it.  Being a mature child, I assured him that I would be happy with whatever, and that he could count on me to put on a happy face.  I went downstairs after the obligatory family picture on the staircase, to the Barbie Dream House with a big red bow.  I was so surprised and I’ll never forget the smug look on my dad’s face as I jumped up and down.

2.  Homemade Cabbage Patch Doll.  I really wanted one, and so my thrifty mom made one.  It looked close, but not exactly like the “real ones,” but even at a young age, I remember being so touched that she made it exactly like I wanted:  purplish eyes with long brown hair, and I knew it took her a lot of time and she was so excited that I liked it.  She also made a bunch of outfits to go with it.  It’s been my favorite doll.  I named her Kristin, after my cousin, and I still have her.

3.  Awesome 80’s pink sweatshirt with lots of white bears and one black bear in the corner.  My big brother bought it for me with his paper route money because he knew it was awesome and cool and I would like it.  And I did.  A lot.

4.  Acid wash jeans with zippers up the back of the leg with a denim bow at the top of the zipper.  I remember I really wanted them.  I got them.  I loved them.  I will always remember them.  

5.  A size 4 dress.  I’ve never been a size 4.  I’ll never be a size 4 and I’m really okay with that.  On our first Christmas together Topher got me a dress that was a size 4 because, as he said, “I just held it up and it looked like it would fit you!”  Bless his heart.  Bless.  His.  Heart.  

6.  A dreadlock.  My boyfriend in high school cut off one of his dreadlocks and gave it to me with a note.  At the time I thought it was so meaningful and romantic and then, years later, I found it in my old high school stuff in a ziplock bag with some letters and I screamed and threw it because I thought it was a dead mouse.  Christopher and I laughed and laughed because, how gross is that?  And, kinda cheap, too.  Seriously, don’t give your girlfriend a piece of your matted hair.  Buy her a book or some perfume.  

7.  Plane Ticket.  Gina and her husband surprised me with a ticket to visit Christopher in London.  I can’t believe they did it and that Gina was able to keep it a surprise.  It was unsolicited and truly generous and one of the few times I’ve ever been speechless.  They treated it like it was no big deal, but it really was.

8.  Gift Certificate to Target.  I love Target, and I can get anything I need in the world there, but the reason this gift stands out so much is because my little brother got us all one as a cute reminder of this weird, fun time we had in Target, hanging out.  It’s an inside joke/memory including improper use of motorized carts, hot chocolate, and the music department, but that’s neither here nor there.

9.  Framed pictures of my parents and grandparents.  I had mentioned to Topher that I wanted to do a wall that acts as a pictorial family tree.  I had gathered a couple pictures and had far to go.  I wanted everyone to be in their early 20’s, all the pictures to be the same size, etc.  He and my brother, Christopher, worked together to complete my set.  I was really surprised, and I look at this gift everyday. 

10.  Minerva Teichert artist’s print of Christ in the Red Robe.  I have always loved this rendition of Christ the most and early in our marriage wanted this print to be “our family picture” of Christ.  It was expensive, even as a print, and so Christopher, over the months before Christmas, sold his plasma to buy it for me and surprise me with it on Christmas.  Yes, the symbolism isn’t lost on me.

. . .nine random photos of my day:

 When the kids get dressed up, I have to take a picture really quick–to document the occasion and to prove that it really happened:  they were all clean and matchy and cute at the same moment in time!  Auntie Pandy came to visit (formerly known as Peter Pandy, now known as Kung Fu Pandy)  from Tennessee!

. . . eight things I think are really neat:

1.  Ben Stein.  He’s neat. (Have you read this?)

2.  Ugg Boots.  Even though they’re trendy and ugly, they’re so soft and warm and delicious it’s a little ridiculous.  

3.  The art form that is the personal essay.  

4.  This Youtube video Sweet Carol Line (Look for my cute family at the end. . . I know, I’m shameless.)

5.  New, thick, blank sketchbooks.

6.  Hugh.  Even though he argues with me, it’s kind of cute.  Like when he yelled “Whining isn’t the same thing as POUTING!  Whining isn’t the same thing as POUTING!”  We’ll let Santa sort that all out.  

7.  Robots.

8.  Stalking Santa!  BUY IT TODAY!  (I promise, that was the last time. . . )

. . . seven favorite holiday foods I enjoy:

1.  Dark chocolate mint truffles.  Growing up my mother always had chocolate covered cherries on Christmas, so they always remind me of her.  She rarely indulges in things like that, so that was “her treat.”  A couple of years ago I explicitly told Topher that I should have dark chocolate mint truffles every Christmas as “my treat.”  I do indulge more than once a year, however.

2.  Butter.  Real butter is one life’s greatest treasures, don’t you think?  On rolls, in potatoes, on everything.  You can’t have margarine or “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter” spray (a Valentine family favorite) on Christmas.  It’s not right.  The only thing better is clotted cream (which is a mixture of butter and cream dancing on a magical cloud), but that’s too hard to make.  

3.  Christmas casserole.  This is that recipe that has bread, sausage, cheese, eggs, milk, etc and you bake it all up nice and gooey.  Topher and I have tried to enforce this foody tradition on our kids, but they hate it.  I gave it up last year in an emotional 9 month pregnant desperate outburst  (There may or may not have been a fight about it.  There may or may not have been tears. . .over eggs, sausage and cheese, people.  Don’t underestimate the power of food to a pregnant woman.), but it still reminds me of Christmas and I still love it.  I might try it again in a few years as my children’s palate becomes a little more sophisticated, or, then again, I’ll probably just set out some cinnamon rolls and call it good.  (It’s like this recipe here)

4.  Trifle.  It’s so Christmasy and English and reminds me of our lovely Christmas in England.  If I could just get my hands on some Bird’s custard, it would be perfect.  Using vanilla pudding instead of the real custard (I know, I know I could make it, but it takes so many eggs. . .and time and tempering and stuff like that) is like using generic butter spray (see #2) instead of real butter.  I might try this lemony one.

5.  Warm breads.  This is the time to bake.  Or thaw that pre-made, frozen dough.  That’s what Christmas is all about, Suzi.

6.  Toffee.  I don’t think I have toffee (covered in chocolate, of course) at any other time of the year.  I’m going to have to really rethink that.

7.  Cran-Raspberry juice with Diet Sprite.  I love this combination.  Trust me on it, even the diet soda part.  Combine it with a lot of pebble ice and well, you’re welcome.  We had it all the time growing up and that’s what I want to drink on Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I’m not even getting paid by Sprite to say that (although I would gladly take their money.  Or a six pack.  Or seven.)

. . . six AWESOME Christmas movies:

1.   STALKING SANTA!  Go out and buy it NOW!  I realize this is a shameless plug, but I don’t care.  I had the best time making this movie with my husband and Daryn Tufts and Greg Kiefer and the Cosmic crew, (and William Shatner) so it will always hold warm, fuzzy, special memories in my heart.  And, I think it’s the new Christmas classic.  Flipping burgers at Burger Supreme while 7 months pregnant will always remind me of Christmas. . . 

2.   Charlie Brown’s Christmas Special.  I love this movie because even though it’s kind of sad, Linus shows a lot of wisdom.  It’s a Christmas special that actually mentions the birth of Christ.  

3.   Elf.  Funny, funny movie.  Very quotable.  

4.   A Christmas Carol with George C. Scott.  I love this version of the tale everyone from the Muppets to Spongebob to Mr. Magoo has tried to successfully tell.  This particular version is the one that has good acting, dramatic lighting, and appropriate music that leads the viewer along a journey that leaves them wanting to throw all their gold coins down from the second story bedroom window to the poor neighborhood boy down below with enthusiastic instructions to buy the fattest Christmas goose they can find!  Well, or at least leaves them thinking that they could be a little better.  Do a little more.  This is the real deal.

5.   Little Women.  We watch this every year sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I saw it in the theaters when I was dating Topher.  We took his two little sisters which was cute and romantic.  This movie reminds me to be extra thankful for oranges and butter (”Isn’t it divinity?”).  Oh, and also vaccines.  

6.   Pee Wee’s Christmas.  It’s funny that Topher and I, having grown up hundreds of miles apart, share this childhood love of Pee-Wee Herman and his crazy fruitcake-filled Christmas.  It’s full of awesome 80’s styles and celebrities (Grace Jones?  K.D. Lang?  Whoopie?)  And now our children, thanks to an old VHS tape Topher stole from his mom’s house, have the same wonderful childhood memory (which has affected them in unforeseen ways. . .)

(Don’t forget to buy Stalking Santa for everyone on your list!)

. . . Five golden questions.  Remember when Kacy wrote “This, or That?” where she listed a bunch of questions by which she would judge you forever (or something like that)?  I’ve been thinking about what my questions are, Christmas related-wise, and here they are:

1.  If you could get an ordinary, practical present every week for an entire year or a wildly fantastic, original, yet impractical present on Christmas, which would you choose?

2.  Which Santa do you prefer:  The one in Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, or The Santa Clause?

3.  List the following Christmas elements in order of importance from greatest to least importance:  music, decorations, presents, food, family, friends, giving.

4.  Are you for or against re-gifting?  Would your answer change if you knew you would get caught?  Does it matter if you’re the giver or the receiver?

5.  Would you rather spend all day baking treats for the neighborhood/friends/family and not be able to eat any, or do all your Christmas shopping on Black Friday?