Christmas Gifts to Jesus

I’m packing up the holiday stuff today. We have NEVER had the tree up this long. People who walk into our house are actually taken back to see an enormous tree still up and decorated.

 

It made me smile to reread our annual gifts to Jesus as I sorted through everything. For the coming year of 2014 we are giving:

 

Jacob: “be gooder” (not yell or hit)

Madison: “les ProBlems. (Stop! Pooshing)”

Ben: “more time in scripshers” (read daily)

Angie: “a softer voice at home”

 

Compare to last year:

 

Jacob: "Don't touch other peoples bodies. Play with friends one at a time so they feel special."

Madison: "PRAY for PeoPLe By NAMe FROM MMZ"

Ben: "be nice to Maddie and Jacob"

Angie: "Show my love by using a quiet, happy voice."

Brian: "Have more patience with my kids"

Too much whipped cream

During the christmas break we took a trip to Vietnam. The day we returned we didn't have a meal plan and didn't have a lot of groceries in the house, so we scoured the fridge to come up with an idea for dinner.  Angie found a can of whipped cream.  She had wanted to make Santa Claus pancakes for a while, so she decided that would be the perfect night to do it.

 

We sent the kids upstairs to put on their pajamas while we prepared dinner.  I jumped in to help by making the pancakes.  Angie enhanced my nice round pancakes with banana slices and chocolate chips for eyes, banana slices for ears, a whipped cream beard, and a red nose and had made from strawberry jam.  Quickly we had three masterpieces for each of the three older kids.
 

Angie called the kids to dinner.  Their first response was one of excitement at the colorful masterpiece that was at their dinner spot.  They quickly recognized the Santa Claus face sitting on their dinner plate.  However, their second response was to ask if they had to eat it or if they could just have a normal pancake without the whipped cream. 

 

Jacob's response was best.  Lately he has been very excited to be the one selected to offer the dinner prayer.  He requested the priveledge to pray that night and I was happy to oblige.  During his prayer he said, "Please don't let us have any more whipped cream because we already have way too much."

 

Apparently, the kids are not big fans of whipped cream.  In the end, the adults got to eat the delicious Santa Claus pancakes, while the kids had plain ordinary pancakes with maple syrup.

Enjoying the Wait

The doctor office has a real tree and it smells fantastic! I have to say I'm enjoying the wait just a little bit extra today.

Christmas in Cambodia

Though I always want to do good and help people, I'm skeptical by nature. Used to massive government waste in the US I raise an eyebrow when I'm asked to donate to a charitable cause, particularly one far away. I recall my junior high school raising money to buy land in the rainforest to save the world. As nice as it sounded, I couldn't make myself go out and sell magazines to raise funds because I really felt like it was a scam. Who from Bonneville Junior High School was going to hop on a plane and go verify we actually bought land and didn't just give all that money away to a scam artist? No one.

The kids school here has a very close and involved relationship with Caring for Cambodia. I liked what I saw and felt that donating items instead of funds made lots more sense to me. There is lots less chance of a scam when you are giving bars of soap and toothbrushes instead of $10 bills. Then I found out that the way they get the supplies to the people there is to ask people traveling to the area to bring along extra luggage. I loved the idea so when I put two and two together and realized we were booking our last minute Christmas holiday trip to Siem Reap Cambodia I was excited to see just what Caring for Cambodia was all about.



I contacted them and got the details, then paid the airline for two extra bags on our departing flights so we could haul 30 kg (60 lbs) of hygiene kits to the Cambodian people, all donated by the families at Singapore American School and other local community groups. This being our first true exposure to a country with poverty I took the opportunity to get the kids involved and we set up a time to serve the children at one of several of the Caring for Cambodia Schools.
 

Bright and early at 5:30 am a tuk tuk driver showed up at our hotel to take us out to serve the children breakfast. They arrive as early as 6:00 am to eat the free breakfast provided by the school.

 

Maddie with one of the cooks at CFC School. The children wash their own dish and spoon after eating so the next child can eat because they have only about 60 bowls and spoons and 500 kids though we didn't see that many come this morning so I think that number might be a total for all the kids in all the schools.

 

Jacob playing peek-a-boo with the cooks, a game that seems to cross all language barriers. This is the entire kitchen with two huge pots of rice porridge for breakfast, a gas burner to cook with and a shelf to put the full bowls on for serving.



Maddie serving the children. When the school first opened they found that the children got restless and couldn't concentrate well in school. The learned that most children didn't get breakfast before they came to school. To help the children be ready to learn, they began providing breakfast and the children did better in school.



Two rows of five or six long picnic benches for the children to eat breakfast and lunch.



Jacob loved serving breakfast. He was so wildly excited to get the next bowl and deliver it that he had to have an adult help slow him down and steady the bowl so it didn't end up all over the floor.



The entire time we were there the monks were chanting next door. The man in charge of the school that greeted us explained that they were doing a ceremony while they cremated the bodies of people who had died.

There were constant drum beats and chanting over loud speakers and traditional worship music. It set quite the authentic mood and made me feel very much immersed in Cambodian culture as I looked at the children, the school, the temple and listened to the music.



The kids were so cute. They were excited to have their pictures taken, but so shy around my older kids.



Finally some of them warmed up enough to stand near Ben though they were obviously daring each other to do it first and playfully pushing their friends close to him.



Jake, of course, had no trouble with the kids. He knows just how to play with everyone and made loads of friends easily. The kids loved his light skin, blonde hair and thought it was so funny to see glasses on such a little baby boy.




These boys were smiling and friendly from the time they arrived at breakfast. Since they are not wearing uniforms we know they weren't students attending class, but breakfast is free to any children that come. Notice how one boy has two jackets but no shirt. He didn't seem to care. He was happy to have a full belly and a swingset to share with his buddies.




This guy couldn't have been much older than Jacob, my three year old, and he was a tiny little guy. I thought he was so sweet. He had uniform shorts and short sleeved shirt with mittens that had holes in them. It is winter in Cambodia and the people feel cold, though we wore shorts, t-shirt and flip flops the entire trip. We would often see people with scarves, gloves or jackets, sometimes even coats I wouldn't have considered wearing until it had dropped at least 20 more degrees. I suppose when you aren't used to snow, their winter could feel a bit nippy.




These guys were our tuk tuk drivers. They picked us up at 5:30 and waited for us to finish before returning us to our hotel. A tuk tuk is just what you see there and they pull it with a motorcycle. It's a pretty fun way to travel and the kids loved it! The sweet guy on the left hung around our hotel the entire five days we were there hoping to be hired for any of our trips downtown or out for dinner, etc. He was really a nice guy.




After breakfast we were ready to go, but were asked to stay so as not to disrupt the morning flag ceremony. The older children lead the younger children. The manager explained simply that they teach of the history of Cambodia and the horrible death and destruction in the last 30-40 years so that the children know the history and can make sure it is never repeated. Most of the adult population lost family members that were murdered during that time.

An average home just outside the school gates. Most the children probably come from homes like this.



More average homes in the school neighborhood.



Man fishing and repairing his net to catch food for lunch or dinner that day. The fish were so small it would have taken a long time to catch enough to feed a whole family.



In October we were asked to donate supplies for hygeine kits. We sent in toothbrushes, toothpaste, washclothes and bars of soap. A week or so later I noticed as I passed the soap box in Maddie's school lobby that it smelled so strong!  I peeked into the big box and noticed the children had unwrapped all the soap. I thought it was a bit odd to spend the time to do that.

Ben's class actually did the assembly of the kits for families and he reported that his class had done the exact same thing. They unwrapped everything! When I asked why, he explained that the people just threw the wrapping on the ground and it made a big mess in their cities. My first thought was totally American, "Why would you do something so irresponsible? What a mess!"

Once in their country, I began to understand. It's so simple to think they should just throw it away. But where? There is no garbage man to haul stuff away. We feel inconvenienced and over run when the garbage man misses because of Christmas Day. Imagine if they never came at all. There is simply no where to put the trash in Cambodia. I saw a woman walk to the shallow, nearly stagnant stream behind her home and literally dump a big bucket of trash right in the water. I couldn't believe my eyes, but in her defense, the water would take it away eventually. What other good option did she see?



Next time I want to complain about laundry, I will try to remember this guy. Two buckets and a string. That's all he had.

Finally, since we knew we were going to be in Siem Reap, Cambodia on Christmas Day this year, which fell on a Sunday, I searched for a Christain church to attend for worship services. We ended up finding one or our own denomination, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We were invited to their congregation Christmas Party on Thursday afternoon. Of course we couldn't understand the language. They had a short speech/lesson then the youth group acted out the nativity story. My friend Gretel put it best, "At least we knew the plot of the story so we could follow along."

Our friends left on Saturday, Christmas Eve but apparently bought the last tickets out that day. We stayed on through Sunday evening. We forgot to ask when services began so after no success calling the empty building on Saturday decided to just show up at 9am. If it was later, we'd come back. We were greeted at the door and quickly realized the service had started at 8am. The only seats left in the building were the very front and center five seats so we attempted to sneak in an hour late. Again, we couldn't understand the language, so maybe it wasn't all bad that we didn't have a long service. We listened about seven minutes, sang a traditional Christmas song to close the meeting and then the fun began.

They had purchased a Christmas present for all the children. Each child was given a Coke and one small piece of candy. It was a fantastic treat for all the kids there and they were all smiles to have been given something so delicious. I felt bad allowing my children to get anything at all but they were so eager to make sure our kids were included that I couldn't turn them down such genuine kindness.

This is nearly the entire LDS ward primary with our kids included. Such a happy bunch on Christmas morning. Their open arms made it a Christmas to remember.

Who would have ever thought a little girl from Utah would spend Christmas in Siem Reap Cambodia? Not me but here I am living my dream of travel and sharing the world with my children. I hope they remember what they saw in this gorgeous, lush green country and felt in their hearts the difference they can make when they give and serve people who have less than they do. It was a fantastic trip.

The Christmas Miracle

My sister called today. She was just checking in to make sure everything is okay. You see, something miraculous happened. Something almost unheard of. She got my Christmas card. And it arrived BEFORE Christmas. She wanted to know if I was okay. Did something go wrong? Should she be worried about my totally weird and out of character actions? I concur. I have a horrible, terrible, rotten record. I have always mailed my cards by New Years with one exception. The year Jacob was born I mailed it in February because it was just too much to deal with in the month of December (he was born Dec 5th). But I don't think I've ever mailed them before Christmas Day. Enjoy the abnormality this year folks. I make no promises about the future.

What To Do In Fairfax - Updated for 2010

Hey Friends! Here it is again this year... Because I'm a Christmas junkie, I put together a list of fun things to do in the Fairfax area and thought you might want to know about them too. At the bottom are several other things through the year that my family enjoys. My calendar is full of post-it notes telling me to check on this or that as they come around. Hope you find something great for your family here! Merry Christmas! Angie Fairfax Station Railroad Museum http://www.fairfax-station.org/ click "News and Events" then either "Events Calendar" for schedule or "Holiday Train Show" for description of event 11200 Fairfax Station Road Fairfax Station, VA 22039 Dec 4 & 5, 2010, Sat 10-5 and Sun 12-4 Outside free, inside about $5/adult and $1/child Usually first weekend in December hosts a big train event on their property. Four or five small train towns are setup inside for viewing with all the intricate details (people, houses, trees, etc). Free outside are the larger trains (shoebox sized?). The railroaders set up track surrounding the entire building and drive their remote control trains all over the track they build. Kids can run around and follow the trains, talk to the owners, watch them hook and unhook their engines from loads. It's great fun. Also available - a caboose to climb in, santa makes an appearance each year at random times and sits in a sleigh handing out candy. We skipped in 2009 because it snowed -- BIG mistake!! The outdoor trains had snow plows on them and the show went on as scheduled!

Frying Pan Park Old Fashioned Country Christmas http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/fpp/events.htm

12:30-7pm, carolers, animals, puppet shows, hay rides with Santa. Several events require registration on the website, others are open. Bethlehem Walk http://www.parkwood.org/ 8726 Braddock Road, Annandale, VA Highlight of our Christmas season each year. Free. Usually second Sat & Sun in Dec. Dec 11 and 12, 2010 4-8pm both nights. Sunday is always more crowded than Saturday. Take your children on a walk through Bethlehem where the character towns people are in full costume and sitting at kid level to engage them in talking about the new baby and the star in the sky, walls are decorated floor to ceiling, children collect trinkets as they journey to find the baby Jesus outside in a stable with real sheep, goat and donkey. Tiny Tots Holiday Concerts At most high schools in Dec, get ticket info in Nov. About $5/ticket High school bands put on concerts geared toward young children, usually with special visitors like Frosty, Santa, Elmo, Dora, etc. Santa Train http://www.vre.org/ Burke VRE station and several others 2010 buy tickets Nov 29, ride Dec 11 - sold out this year. $5/ticket, buy in person two weeks before train date. Online sells out almost instantly. Walk in tickets last about 30 minutes before they are gone. Take a 50 minute train ride and meet Santa from several VRE stations. Festival of Lights - Washington DC Temple Visitors Center http://www.dctemplelights.lds.org/ 9900 Stoneybrook Drive, Kensington, MD 20895 Fri Dec 3 - Sat Jan 1 Free Nightly holiday musical programs, typically at 7 and 8pm. Trees decorated with 500,000 lights, international nativities collection from all over world on display inside, live nativity outside with Bible story over speaker system. Website has great info and pics for a sneak peek. Wreath Laying in Arlington Cemetery http://wreathsacrossamerica.org/ Arlington Cemetery - Metro access suggested. Usually second Saturday in December. Dec 11, 2010 at noon Free Help honor our fallen soldiers by helping lay donated wreaths at Arlington or other cemeteries nationwide. See website for where and when to go to help. Lighting of the National Christmas Tree - Pageant of Peace Between White House and Washington Monument. You can't miss it. Free tickets distributed via online lottery at beginning of November. www.recreation.gov If you don't get tickets, just go after the ceremony or on any other night to see other groups perform for free, see trains driving around National Tree and a tree from each state and territory decorated. http://www.nps.gov/whho/2010_national_christmas_tree_.htm

Botanical Gardens in DC

Free.

Daily 10-5, holiday hours Tues & Thurs until 8pm with musical performances. http://www.usbg.gov/education/events/Seasons-Greenings.cfm

The Botanical Gardens in DC has a really awesome display each Christmas, too, with small, model buildings from the Mall sculpted from leaves, bark, sticks, grass, etc. They look amazing! Be sure to go into the back room to see the train, Santa's workshop, and fairy land! Chantilly Bible Model Train Display Dec 11, 2010 10am-3pm Free 4390 Pleasant Valley Road • Chantilly, Virginia 20151 http://www.chantillybible.org/LifeatCBC/Events/ModelTrainDisplay.lsphttp://www.chantillybible.org Multiple indoor electric train displays to watch and enjoy. Have even had a kid table of wooden train tracks for the kids to play with and build. Water-Skiing Santa http://www.waterskiingsanta.com/ National Harbor in Maryland Free. Multiple days, as early as Dec 4 Lighted Boat Parades on the Potomac River (several)http://www.fairfaxchristmaslights.com/boats.php LDS Church First Presidency Devotional First Sunday night of December. Broadcast via satellite feed to 3900 Howard St, Annandale, VA. OR view online at http://www.lds.org/ Mix of stories of birth of Jesus Christ, orchestra, choir and soloists performances. BEFORE the broadcast there is a live singing of Handel's Messiah with live orchestra beginning at 6:30pm. Bring your own score or borrow one at the door. http://www.fairfaxchristmaslights.com/ --- top Xmas light displays. We have gone to the one on Shadow Lane in Fairfax Station before --- it is really neat. Lots of other fun Christmas things to do and see on her website. Bull Run Festival of Lights http://www.nvrpa.org/parks/brfestoflights/

Nov 24 - Jan 9

Drive through light display. Kids loved this. We drove it at about 1 mph so we undid seatbelts and they were in heaven with freedom to move and explore and be excited in the car about all they saw. About $12/car but if you go on a weeknight there are coupons on the bottom of the webpage for $3 off.

Postmark December 26, 2009

The Zufelt Family Christmas Letter. It's not perfection, but at least we're moving in the right direction. 2005 - mailed after New Years Day 2006 - mailed after Christmas 2007 - didn't get it done for Christmas so I told myself I would send a Valentines card to sort of "mix it up" and relieve myself of guilt...spent countless hours handmaking 50+ Valentines card and never wrote the letter...September 2008 finished the "Christmas" letter and posted it to my blog rather than mailing it because I was so ashamed...used the Valentines cards over the next two years as birthday cards to young nieces who would appreciate all the pink, red and purple hearts 2008 - Jacob was born on Dec 5...used a new baby as my excuse...mailed Christmas letter along with his birth announcements in February of the next year 2009 - Christmas Letter 2009 was postmarked December 26. It was technically done before Christmas but we didn't get it out the door on time for a December 24 so I didn't worry too much about killing myself to stuff the envelopes before the post office closed at noon. 2010 - maybe I should start writing it now and address the envelopes this week...that means no one is allowed to move!

Tree on a Box

Thanks to Jacob the monster, our tree had to be barricaded in a corner and perched on top of a huge box to be safe. We also had to move the coffee table far from the couches because he climbs up on them then suicide jumps onto the couch (sometimes bouncing backward and whacking the back of his noggin on the table before he crashes to the floor). Once on the couch he runs to the tree and tries to pull off the ornaments and lights, pull the whole tree over or climb over the armrest and into the tree. Wild man.

We also had no stockings this year so he couldn't pull them down on himself. No fancy ceramic nativity for him to break. Nothing in his reach. Merry Christmas to us.

Yehaw! Ben Christmas Morning

Happy Christmas Ben! He got a new bike from Santa this morning. It's a bit harder for him to handle than Santa thought it would be, but he'll soon learn how to handle it and be great at it! I'm thinking it will help when the ice and snow are gone and he isn't bundled in his winter boots, coat and gloves. How much longer until spring again?

What To Do In Fairfax

I found more stuff to do! I sent this as an email to friends, then they replied back with even more cool things. They are all included below: Hey Friends! Because I'm a Christmas junkie, I put together a list of fun things to do in the Fairfax area and thought you might want to know about them too. At the bottom are several other things through the year that my family enjoys. My calendar is full of post-it notes telling me to check on this or that as they come around. Hope you find something great for your family here! Merry Christmas! Angie Bethlehem Walk http://www.parkwood.org/ 8726 Braddock Road, Annandale, VA Highlight of our Christmas season each year. Free. Usually second Sat & Sun in Dec. 2009 Dec 13 and 14, 4-8pm this year. Sunday is always more crowded than Saturday. Take your children on a walk through Bethlehem where the character towns people are in full costume and sitting at kid level to engage them in talking about the new baby and the star in the sky, walls are decorated floor to ceiling, children collect trinkets as they journey to find the baby Jesus outside in a stable with real sheep, goat and donkey. Fairfax Station Railroad Museum www.fairfax-station.org 11200 Fairfax Station Road Fairfax Station, VA 22039 Dec 5 & 6, 2009, Sat 10-5 and Sun 12-4 Outside free, inside about $3/person Usually first weekend in December hosts a big train event on their property. Four or five small train towns are setup inside for viewing with all the intricate details (people, houses, trees, etc). Free outside are the larger trains (shoebox sized?). The railroaders set up track surrounding the entire building and drive their remote control trains all over the track they build. Kids can run around and follow the trains, talk to the owners, watch them hook and unhook their engines from loads. It's great fun. Also available - a caboose to climb in, santa makes an appearance each year at random times and sits in a sleigh handing out candy. Tiny Tots Holiday Concerts At most high schools in Dec, get ticket info in Nov. About $5/ticket High school bands put on concerts geared toward young children. Santa Train www.vre.org Burke VRE station and several others 2009 buy Nov 30, ride Dec 12 - sold out this year. $5/ticket, buy in person two weeks before train date. Take a 50 minute train ride and meet Santa from several VRE stations. Festival of Lights - Washington DC Temple Visitors Center www.dctemplelights.lds.org 9900 Stoneybrook Drive, Kensington, MD 20895 Dec 4 - Jan 1 Free Nightly holiday musical programs, typically at 7 and 8pm. Trees decorated with 500,000 lights, live nativity, international nativities collection from all over world on display inside, live nativity outside with Bible story over speaker system. Wreath Laying in Arlington Cemetery www.wreaths-across-america.org Arlington Cemetery - Metro access suggested. Usually second Saturday in December. Dec 12, 2009 Free Help honor our fallen soldiers by helping lay donated wreaths at Arlington or other cemeteries nationwide. See website for where and when to go to help. Lighting of the National Christmas Tree - Pageant of Peace Between White House and Washington Monument. You can't miss it. Free tickets distributed via online lottery at beginning of November. www.recreation.gov If you don't get tickets, just go after the ceremony or on any other night to see other groups perform for free, see trains driving around National Tree and a tree from each state and territory decorated. http://www.nps.gov/whho/national_christmas_tree_program.htm Chantilly Bible Model Train Display - Dec 12, 2009 10am-3pm, Free. 4390 Pleasant Valley Road • Chantilly, Virginia 20151 http://www.chantillybible.org/LifeatCBC/Events/ModelTrainDisplay.lsphttp://www.chantillybible.org Multiple indoor electric train displays to watch and enjoy. Have even had a kid table of wooden train tracks for the kids to play with and build. Water-Skiing Santahttp://www.waterskiingsanta.com/National Harbor in Maryland, Free. Dec 24 1pm sharp Lighted Boat Parades (several)http://www.fairfaxchristmaslights.com/boats.php LDS Church First Presidency DevotionalFirst Sunday night of December. Broadcast via satellite feed to 3900 Howard St, Annandale, VA. OR view online at www.lds.org Mix of stories of birth of Jesus Christ, orchestra, choir and soloists performances. http://www.fairfaxchristmaslights.com/ --- top Xmas light displays. We have gone to the one on Shadow Lane in Fairfax Station before --- it is really neat. http://www.nvrpa.org/parks/brfestoflights/ -- Bull Run Festival of Lights --- drive through light display. Kids loved this. We drove it at about 1 mph so we undid seatbelts and they were in heaven with freedom to move and explore and be excited in the car about all they saw. About $12/car? OTHER STUFF (for the rest of the year) White House Easter Egg Roll My understanding is that tickets for this will be online lottery system from now on. www.recreation.gov Check about four weeks before Easter for the lottery date to make sure you don't miss your chance. Circus Elephant Parade Barnum and Bailey Circus comes to the Patriot Center once a year, usually in April for two weeks. On the night of the last show, always a Sunday evening, they march the elephants right down Ox Road to the train station to load up and leave town. Park yourself on Ox Road between Braddock and Fairfax Station Road an hour and a half after the last show begins and you are in for a big treat (about 8pm they pass by)! Elephants, mini horses and other fun animals walk right past you! Western Roundup www.chantillybible.org/westernroundup Mid to end of October. Lots of local churches have fun free fall time festivals. This is one of our favorite. Cox Farms www.coxfarms.com End of September through first few days in November. Mega slides, fun games and hay ride for the kids. Cost is about $8/person weekdays and $15/person weekends.

Lost My Tunes

Well, I lasted a long time. Longer than usual. Record breaking I'd say. I love Christmas music and will listen to it almost year round. Brian has always teased me that it would be impossible for me to wait any longer than July to break it out and listen to it on a regular basis. Of course I always contended that I wasnt THAT bad. One summer three years ago I was driving to the church early one Friday morning and popped in a Christmas CD for the first time of the summer. I laughed so hard I had tears running down my face when I realized it was July 1. So I did make it to July, but only by about six hours.

I don't argue with him anymore. I freely admit I'm a Christmas music junkie. That's what makes this morning all the more depressing. I realized my laptop has ALL my Christmas music on it. I've got nothing now. I suppose I can go to the basement and dig out an old CD or cassette tape. Do you realize our kids certainly won't know what cassette tapes are, possibly not even CDs? Weird.

Now it's got me lamenting my loss. This is just what I have remembered so far that I lost:

• every email address I used in the last 11 years
• all of our finances for the last 10 years, (accounts, investments, budget history, plus the "finance date" data Brian made us do before he would ask to marry me so he knew he could afford me - ultimately putting my worth at $82 dollars in the red each month)
• well over 100 family home evening lessons that took countless hours of work to make
• passwords to all my accounts for EVERYTHING in the entire world
• journal of my life since I was 16 or 17 years old (including documents in Word and sent mail from my emails)
• thousands of preschool files for teaching Maddie's preschool
• my Christmas card list and every letter I've written since 2000
• address and phone numbers for anyone that matters in our lives
• every single real estate analysis tool, contract, spreadsheet and picture I've every taken

Dang. I'm depressed. I need a little Jingle Bells to cheer me up. It's off to the basement to rummage through old dusty CDs.

Advents Done for the Year

I'm sad. There is nothing left to countdown. Eleven more months of regular life before we gear up for Christmas again. I felt like I missed Christmas this year. Christmas is more than a day, it's a season. I didn't realize what that really meant. I figured if I had a baby really close to Christmas I wouldn't like it much. Who wants to be recovering from surgery on Christmas Day? I wanted to be up and around for the big day. Maybe I miscalculated. By having the baby early on the 5th, I missed every single holiday party. I felt like I missed the season completely while my family went out to event after event. I can't wait for next season. I don't plan to be absent from Christmas next year. No more December babies.

Sock Advent

For anyone out there who remembers the Fosse's from Fairfax and knows about my addiction to advent calendars...here's one for you: http://barnaclebutt.wordpress.com/2009/01/06/advent-socks-and-voodoo-bears/ I'm thinking of adding advent socks to my collection! The best part is that he did it without telling anyone. Too funny.

Cookies and Milk for Santa

We got the kids ready for bed on Christmas Eve and were heading up the stairs. Ben started getting upset that we were putting him to bed. You see, Ben has been properly instructed in Santa etiquette. He knew we should leave cookies and milk for Santa to eat to say thanks for the presents and we hadn't done that yet. Brian put Maddie in bed and I helped Ben. He was quite insistant that he write a note to Santa as well. It said, "For Senta." Then we picked out cookies to put on the plate and about that time, Maddie reappeared. Seems she had noticed she was alone in bed and was on the hunt for Ben. When she saw we were getting a glass of milk, she started saying "I need a milk" over and over. I repeatedly told her she had already brushed her teeth and it was bedtime. She got really, really upset. Finally we realized that she was so stressed out and upset because she was asking to leave a cup of milk for Santa too. It wasn't for her at all. I guess I can understand. She needed to leave him a glass of milk so she could get presents too. So we got her a cup of milk, the kids put them out on the piano bench next to the Christmas tree and our stockings and went happily to bed. Santa, of course, left a note for the kids with the empty dishes. Ben was excited he got a letter from Santa.

Christmas Present for Me or the Arveseths?

For Christmas Brian got me a new cell phone. When we got the one I currently use, we got the cheapest phone possible. It was really small and designed flat, meaning it didn't fold open and closed. Should have been perfect for our needs. I couldn't figure out how to lock the keypad out, so I kept dialing numbers without meaning too. Finally, I had my tech savy friend, Lauren, figure out how to lock the keypad. Problem solved, right?

Unfortunately, my backside is really, really talented. I would put the phone in my back pocket and my talented toosh would unlock the phone. Over the months I've had the phone, I've dialed numerous people on accident and they have listened to the muffled sounds of my pocket. I have sent numerous text messages of gibberish and a few times, retexted messages meant for one person to another person. Good thing I never said anything bad. The most lucky of such recipients was Catherine Arveseth. Arveseth comes first in my phonebook, so it was her good fortune to receive the majority of the random calls placed by my rear end. I have to say, being a Zufelt, I have often been the victim of the same crime. Many people's phones have called me over the years and left 10 minute muffled messages on my home answering machine. One person did it so often, 5 or 6 times a week, I finally asked them to change my listing in their phone book from Zufelt to Angie so it wouldn't happen as often. The bad news was that it still happened because Angie came first in her phonebook. No escaping it with that phone...

Today we got the new phone completely hooked up and it's ready to go! So, it begs the question, is this gift really for me or is it for Catherine? Cath - my backside will miss calling you.

Santa - Damage Report

The kids were pretty happy with Santa's work this year. Santa brought Maddie some dress up fancy high heel shoes. She put them on immediately and with a smile, told me, "Now I can go to church!" That made us both laugh. She enjoyed her airport too.

Jacob got some lovely rattles, a teether and a set of coins for his birth year.

Ben was extremely specific and gave Santa quite a task to find an airport that would fulfill all his expectations. It had to have a big airplane with the top that came off to put people in and the belly open up for luggage. He needed a luggage truck and trailer to pull behind, baggage claim in the airport, the truck with the stick that helps planes back out of the gate and several other VERY specific things. Luckily, Santa knows all about ebay and delivered a fantastic airport with lots of accessories.

Of course, I called it with Ben, a.k.a. Mr. Negative. It took a few minutes longer than I thought, but one of his first observations about his airport was that it was lacking the steps/conveyor belt to load the luggage into the belly of the airport. Sometimes Santa just can't do it all. Luckily, he seems to be over it now.

Both Maddie and Ben were so excited and involved in their airport and stocking stuffers from Santa that we couldn't get them focused on unwrapping presents. After a while we stopped trying and decided to let them play and enjoy for a while. Brian and I went and made a first class breakfast. We had scrambled eggs, hash browns, bacon, juice and the works. It was super yummy.

After breakfast we got them to unwrap the presents under the tree. They really loved ripping the paper and playing with all the new loot. They got several games from their cousins, baby doll stroller, movies, walkie talkies and a few other things. Thanks to Santa, friends and family for all the great stuff this year.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Santa's Coming To Town

Brian pulled up a Santa Tracker on the internet and completely captured the kids attention. After the initial fun, Maddie went on to other things. Ben was enthrawled for hours. He would just sit and watch the computer screen that never changed asking "Where is Santa now?" over and over.

I had the kids clean up the living room, including the train tracks around the Christmas tree tonight. Ben stacked all the legos in a really tall tower so I could take them to the basement in one load. Maddie wouldn't leave the stack alone and kept breaking it and scattering it all around the living room again. After a while, out of frusteration, Ben said, "I think Maddie is going to be one of the coal guys because she keeps ruining the tower." I guess he's got the basic picture about Santa bringing coal to bad kids.

As Close As They Would Get

Ben and Maddie are serious Santa fans, but don't ask them to get close to him. Neither one of them would sit on his lap at the church Christmas party where he visited. They both cried and screamed. Someday maybe they will grow up and settle down. Why is he so scary?

Poor Bruce Pilling, our trusty photographer, had a rough time getting a good shot by the pictures. Brian said he was holding Ben's body just to keep him from running out of the picture. Maddie looks a bit apprehensive but happy that she was getting a bag of candy.

Never Really Enjoyed Gift Wrapping

I'm not big on wrapping presents. Gift bags are a dream to me. Stuff it in and you're done! Of course that wont work when you have a toddler around that will just unpack the bags. Even when I was little I remember taking all my Christmas presents in to my sister, Kristie, and having her wrap them all. She more or less enjoyed it and could always get the corners to look neat and tidy, plus she put bows on them so they were cute. Yes, we were different from the start. Kristie has always been the clean and pretty one. I've always been the disorganized junk hoarder. I remember us putting down a masking tape line in our bedroom to divide what she called "the messy side from the nice clean side" of the room. She would make her bed and go play. It would be crisp and perfect. I would then go touch her bed to put the slightest of wrinkles in the middle somewhere and she would notice. Nut case. By this age though, I've just accepted it. Maybe someday I'll be as amazing as her. Anyway, Ben has been telling me that we don't have many presents under the tree and has been sort of worried about it. He and Maddie Mae have been trying to reconcile the situation as best they could by putting blankets and piles of their toys under the tree. Then Maddie comes to me and says, "Look mommy! We got some pwesents!" Yesterday I got the email from Wal-Mart saying all the gifts from the grandparents and cousins were in waiting to be picked up at the store. I got everything and spent 3 hours wrapping those things and all the others. Ben was totally happy when he came downstairs this morning and saw all the gifts. He is so excited to open them all now. There isn't anything earth shattering under the tree this year, but we got some fun stuff in some seriously big huge boxes. It does look impressive!

Busted

I always have plenty of time to do whatever I need to do behind Brian's back. This baby thing is cramping my style. I had all the Christmas stuff figured out and bought everything before Jacob was born. Or so I thought. I forgot to get anything for Brian. Now he's taking time off work and helping out around the house and letting me get naps and stuff. We are totally loving having dad around more. Problem though, when can I sneak out to get something for him? Ugh. I found the perfect thing on craigslist. When do I arrange to pick it up? Doesn't matter afterall, the seller wants me to come Sunday afternoon around 3pm. Not when I would ususally schedule something, but I'm staying home from church today anyway to rest and nap. Brian will have the kids for 3 hours at church. So I make the arrangements. I'll only be gone a few minutes and can still rest like I'm supposed to. The plans are made. I print a map to the house. Brian comes home from his morning meetings just in time to grab the kids, a sandwich I packed in a bag for him to eat on the drive and get to church. He runs to the basement to grab something and comes upstairs... "So where are you going during church today?" as he holds up my map. Busted. Oh well. He still doesn't know what he's getting...