Happy New Year!

I wrote a song:

Our weather was so great today that we decided to bbq our dinner. It inspired me to write a song--sung to the tune of "Let It Snow".

Oh the weather outside's delightful

We've decided to bbq a biteful

Burgers and onion rings

This is the stuff of winter dreams!

Sunrise

Red Lodge Mountain Sunrise

12-24-11

Christmas Cookies

My mom used to make dozens of Christmas cookies that we would decorate. The kitchen was a disaster when we were done. Libby is carrying one the tradition (yes, this was taken before Christmas). I wonder why Sparky needs to have his shirt off to do this? Must really be working up a sweat! :)

Grandma's Christmas

Grandma spent Christmas with the Meltons. Lucky Meltons! It looks like they had a great time, and took some really good photos!

"The 12 Days After Christmas"

At the prince's concert and feast this year the all-girl choir sang this song about what happened AFTER her true love gave her all those nifty gifts in "The 12 Days of Christmas". Grandma and I got a good giggle out of it, so I found the lyrics online for your enjoyment. I'm sure you could Youtube the song and hear how it sounds. Pay close attention to what happens to one of the drummers drumming. :)

The first day after Christmas My true love and I had a fight
And so I chopped the pear tree down
And burnt it, just for spite
Then with a single cartridge I shot that blasted partridge
My true love, my true love, my true love gave to me.

The second day after Christmas I pulled on the old rubber gloves
And very gently wrung the necks
Of both the turtle doves
My true love, my true love, my true love gave to me.

On the third day after Christmas My mother caught the croup
I had to use the three French hens
To make some chicken soup

The four calling birds were a big mistake
For their language was obscene

The five golden rings were completely fake and turned my fingers green.

The sixth day after Christmas
The six laying geese wouldn't lay
So I sent the whole darn gaggle to the A.S.P.C.A.

On the seventh day, what a mess I found
The seven swans-a-swimming all had drowned
My true love, my true love, my true love gave to me.

The eighth day after Christmas
Before they could suspect
I bundled up the Eight maids-a-milking
Nine ladies dancing
Ten lords-a-leaping
Eleven pipers piping
Twelve drummers drumming - well, actually I kept one of the drummers for myself
And sent them back collect

I wrote my true love
"We are through, love!"
And I said in so many words
"Furthermore your Christmas gifts were for the Birds!"

Christmas Morning

The Loot.

The person who cleans up.
The mess always bothers one person more than other.
That's the person who cleans it up.
This year it wasn't me.

The Ipod Touch

I know. There are a lot of photos here, but it's necessary for the story. The princess wanted an Ipod Touch for Christmas. After much thinking about it, the king and I agreed that--with lots of restrictions--she could have one. She has been hoping and hoping for weeks. I decided that the best way to drag out the agony for her (hey, that's how I roll) was to wrap it mightily and also wrap another gift with the message, "Open me last." That really threw her off because that gift was obviously a book (Ipod Touch For Dummies). So here she is, opening, and opening, and opening the Touch. Good times!

Look. A big bag.

Inside the bag is a box wrapped in green paper.

And red paper.

And blue paper.

Inside the box...

is a Target bag (it came from Target)

Inside the Target bag is...

another bag!

Inside that bag is...

something wrapped in blue,

and then green,

and finally in red.

Phew!

It was worth it.

Just ask her!

The Letterman's Jacket

Pie Update

The pie is excellent. The baker doesn't think it's sweet enough (Grandma's is much sweeter, she thinks), but we thought it was good and pumpkin-y. Perhaps Grandma uses more sugar or sweetened condensed milk. Our recipe called for evaporated milk, but I saw recipes for both. At any rate it's 1/2 gone and there was pumpkin pie, cherry pie, or apple crisp to choose from. Good eats!

Merry Christmas

Oh no! They are almost as tall as the tree.

Note to self: next year have them sit on the floor.

Christmas Eve

Cousins!

Bad Timing!

Our Tree 2011

She bakes too!

The princess was quite sad when she figured out that Grandma going to see Mark and Amanda's for Christmas meant no Grandma here for Christmas. She became down-right alarmed though when she considered who would bring the pumpkin pie to dinner--that's Grandma's job. I told her we were having apple crisp. She was having none of that. I suggested that if she wanted pumpkin pie, she should make one. Mind you, no one who lives in this house has ever made a pumpkin pie, but what the heck? A search on the internet, a trip to the store, a bit of time in the kitchen and VOILA! It looks absolutely beautiful. We'll try it out tomorrow night! Who knew Betty Crocker was living under our roof!

Isn't it pretty?

Harry and David

Year two of the Harry and David gift box.

Tasty deliciousness in a box!

Thanks Mom and Chuck!

Santa's Got Moves

Here's Santa on the Flow Rider on one of Royal Caribbean's cruise ships. It must be quite the workout because look at how skinny he's gotten!

I'm a Killer

This photo is a little washed out, but don't worry. It's not a red poinsettia--it's a pink one. And it doesn't look nearly this full now. I'm in the process of killing it. I don't mean to, but that's the way it goes with me and poinsettias. Every few years I try to have one around for the holidays, and by Christmas it's usually dead. This year is looking like no exception. I think they are temperamental about the amount of water they get. I am temperamental about the amount of care they require. It's not a good combination. Before I buy another one in a few years will someone out there please remind me that me + healthy poinsettia = sure death for the plant!

About Stories I Only Tell My Friends

I gave Stories I Only Tell My Friends by Rob Lowe 3 stars. I had to think about it because in some respects this isn't a GREAT book, but it's always a GOOD book. It was fascinating to hear him tell of the famous people he met along the way. He never bashes anyone. He glosses over the Dukakis Scandal, but this could be because he knows his sons will read the book--he seems very family-oriented at this stage in his life. In the end I gave it 3 stars for the portion of the book that deals with auditioning for and making The Outsiders. It was FASCINATING. I had dreams about this book while I was reading it--and not the kind where Rob carries me off into the sunset--so it must be good. I strongly recommend it. By the way, he's signed a deal to write a second book about love, family... I'm not sure I'll read that one. The end of this book deals with that too, and it was anticlimactic for me.

The True Meaning of Christmas

Last year the 6th grade reading teacher at our school had her students write a letter to Santa. The catch was that they could not ask for something for themselves but had to ask for something for someone else. The letters ranged from cute to heart-breaking. Out of those letters she identified a family in need and started a collection to help this family. It exploded and more than $1000 was raised in a short period of time.

Understand that it is nothing to find families in need at our school where over 50% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced lunches. But this family was unique because, were it not for the letter, no one would have known of the need in this family.

The teacher decided last January that this year she would not have the kids write the letters this year as it had been so sad. But 2 weeks ago she changed her mind and again identified a family in need. This family with 4 kids is homeless and living in a motel (that qualifies as homeless), all 6 of them in one room. We had no idea. So this family has been adopted this year. There is a coin drive going on and other events like paying a dollar to wear a hat.

On Friday one of the teachers asked her class if anyone had any money for the bucket. Who stood up with a dollar to drop in the bucket? The homeless boy. He doesn't know his family is the adopted family, but he had a dollar to donate. It was all the teacher could do not to burst out crying as she watched him proudly walked to the front of the room to drop his dollar in the bucket.

May the spirit of Christmas be with you this year also.

Grammar Matters!

You will see in the next post why this note was written. What my English degree will tell you now is that it's written incorrectly. His intent was to ask Santa for help. What he has done is ask if we can help Santa. Commas matter, people! (Let's eat Grandma. Let's eat, Grandma.)

Santa, Please Help!

The conversation went like this:
King: Do you think Santa will bring me some new socks this year? (He often does.)
Me: No, I don't think so, why?
King: Because this one has a hole in it.
Me: Maybe you could ask Santa to darn your sock.
King: Santa darns socks????

Next thing I know the hole is significantly bigger, he's added a hole to the second sock, hung them by his stocking, and left a note for Santa.

I hope Santa brings him some socks!

The Holiday Musical Feast

Last night we attended the Holiday Musical Feast put on by the prince's choir. Our thanks to Grandma, Kathi, and Leann for attending with us. It was a great night of music and excellent food (we weren't sure how the mass serving of food would go, but it was great!). The kids were our servers, and the prince was assigned to our table. He did a good job, in between singing, to fill our cups and plates. My photos aren't all that great this time. I don't know if it was the lighting, where we were sitting, the camera, or me, but they are mostly going to be deleted. I don't have any of the larger groups that were worth putting on here. Bummer. There was music from all the choirs as well as solos, duets, and small groups. There were two MCs. There was a number that only the seniors sing that had almost everyone in tears. And there was the tip jar on each table. The choirs choose 3 charities to donate to, and all tips go to those charities. Friday night they made $800, and I'm sure they did equally well last night. It was an awesome holiday cheer starter!

The prince was asked (at the last minute), to help bring the MC (kid with the mic) onto stage at the show. They had to sing a harmony part, and he was quite flattered that they asked him to help because, "There are way better singers in the choir than me." Silly boy!

This is one of my favorites of him singing ever.

I don't know why, but I really like it!

At one point, several of them wear ugly sweaters...

I got this beauty at Good Will. He added the tie.

Yep, that's a good one.

And scratchy too!

For Our Mormon Family Members...

Every once in awhile the prince needs to wear a tie. He counts on his dad to tie it for him. When his dad isn't around, he goes to youtube for help. He needed to tie his tie the other night and gave it a shot on his own. His dad was at work, and he felt confident he could do it w/o the aid of youtube. He came out of his bedroom and asked me how it looked. I thought it was a little long so he went back and tried again. He came out looking like this, which I thought was fine. He told me, "If it's not, one of the Mormons in choir will fix it." So true! :)

This is his outfit for the Musical Feast. I told him all he needed was a fedora and then he could be one of the Godfathers...or change the tie to black and be Johnny Cash. Lookin' Good!

It's Hard

Sometimes it's hard to be a cheerleader when you really want to watch the game!
Skyview boys are 4 and 0!
Go Falcons!

Hoss-tastic

Here's that hoss-tastic beard mentioned in a previous post!

Christmas Concerts

The kids both had Christmas concerts this week. The prince's concert featured several of the choirs, bands and orchestras and was great! The princess' concert was yesterday and featured all the middle school choirs. It was wonderful. Thanks to Grandma for being able to attend both! (We love that she's retired!)

The prince is back row, right, 4th in.

At the end of the show they combined all choirs, band, and orchestra for a medley.

It was amazing.

The princess is middle row, right, 3rd in.

At the end they combined all 3 choirs.

Their director is leading us all in Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

And don't they all look awesome in their tie-dye t's?