Christmas Favorites

favorite activity

getting the mail

favorite production

I love my little play actors

favorite surprise

thanks, Sweetie!

Do you Believe?

I believe in Santa. To find out why, check out my post at Segullah.

Atta Girl!

I have this fun sister-in-law who is the epitome of "girl power." (Yes, Ree...talking about you!) Maybe her independence stems from being in the middle of an 8-kid family or maybe it comes from living on her own as a single young adult. Whatever it is, I'm impressed with her determination to do anything she wants to do.

I remember one night at my mother-in-law's home: someone needed a mattress moved from the basement up the steep stairs and out to a waiting truck. I'm not sure where everyone was, but M. said to our niece (who was probably 10), "Come on! We can to it! Who needs the men anyway?" Sure enough, the two of them pushed and pulled and managed to get that thing up the steps. I was watching them and thinking "I do! I need the men! Who wants to do this kind of thing when the men are available?"

I used to be more independent, more capable (at least more mentally able), of doing hard labor. Then, I got married and quite enjoyed the luxury of always having someone around to open jars, reach high shelves and do all the lifting.

One day last month I watched the weather report on the news and noted that the last warm day was upon us. I didn't yet have Christmas lights on my house. I really, really, really wanted lights. It was a Saturday, and Chad had patients all day. The snow was expected to fly on Monday. I couldn’t bear the idea of making Chad risk his life on the slickery roof just for lights. “I can do this,” I thought, “How hard can it be?”

So, after a few trips to the hardware store for more supplies and an afternoon spent up on the roof measuring and reworking the lights to get them to fit just right, our house was officially ‘decked.’ (Okay, the 'expert at home projects' DID have to help with one small part when he got home from work, but even he'll tell you that I did the lights.) As I climbed off the roof, I thought, "M. would be so proud!"

It was pretty funny that several ward members drove by, waved to me on the roof, and left looking confused. I hope Chad didn’t feel like I ousted him from his manly decorating duties. Actually, it was kind of fun. I had faced the fear of roof walking and recovered a bit of my premarital independence.

I think Chad was kind of proud of me, too.

Oh, Come Let Us Adore Him!

I just love the way my girl sets up her Nativity.

Cold Cereal

is the best choice for breakfast. Unless, of course, you want sparkling clean walls. In which case, you should definitely give in to your 4-year-old's pleas for his MOST favorite breakfast, German pancakes. For those who don't make these on a weekly basis, you mix eggs, flour and milk in your blender, pour the mixture into a hot, butter-filled baking dish, bake til puffy, and... voila.

That is, of course, unless you want those newly scrubbed walls.

In which case, you should pour milk, flour, and eggs into your blender, start 'er up and notice that some of the flour is sticking to the sides of the blender. At this point you should not, I repeat, NOT (this is important if you want those freshly clean walls) turn off the blender. Simply take off the lid of the still blending blender, and ever so gently scrape the insides until your rubber scraper gets instantly sucked into the blade, sending an Old-Faithful-like geyser of egg, flour and milk straight into the air. If you are lucky enough to have vaulted ceilings in your kitchen, and if your trajection was accurately timed, and if the scraper gets sufficiently wedged into an adequately spinning blade, you'll now notice that you've got splattered and quickly hardening egg stuck 12 feet high, all over the floor and pretty much everywhere else in between, including your own hair and clothes as well as those of your innocent children sitting at the bar waiting for German pancakes.

So, now you get to clean those walls.

Isn't it refreshing to have a newly scrubbed kitchen?

Hot and Cold

It is definitely soup season. So, I thought I'd share one of my favorites, in case you are in the mood. Enjoy!


Minestrone Soup
1/2 c. (or less) chopped onion
1/2 c. chopped celery
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp. oil
1/4 tsp pepper
3 c. beef broth
14.5 oz can diced tomatoes + 1/4 can water
1-2 tbsp dried parsley
2 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 bay leaf
4 cups chopped veggies (potatoes, carrots, zucchini)
3/4 c. (about 1/2 can) kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1-2 oz small shell pasta
1/4 c. Parmesan cheese, grated (for garnish-optional)

Saute onion, celery and garlic in oil, in large soup pot, until tender. Add broth, tomatoes, water and spices. Bring to a boil, then simmer 20-30 minutes. Add veggies, cover, and simmer 15-20 minutes (depending on how big your pieces are chopped). Stir in bean and pasta and cook until pasta is al dente. Remove bay leaf, sprinkle with Parmesan, if desired, and serve.

Serves 4

Abraham Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation

October 3, 1863

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theater of military conflict; while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverance and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.

It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God; to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord.

May we remember Who to thank today and everyday. Have a GREAT Thanksgiving!


Thanks, Monica, for bringing this to my attention!