Bucket list #39 Ride a train

CHECK!

In Early December on a Monday afternoon we got a call from our cousins in Heber....

Did we want to ride the Heber Creeper Christmas train that night with them for Family Home Evening?

They had some extra tickets for us. There was a promotional evening ride and they were able to get free tickets for both families.

Yes!!!!!!!

Mark and I had always wanted to see what it was all about. The sad thing was he came home from work so sick that he couldn't manage anything other than sitting in his chair that night trying to recuperate for the next day. He told us to go on without him so we did.

However... we felt REALLY bad about it!

Samantha and her cousin Ava enjoyed sitting together

as did Carly and Rachel-

who were feeling very, VERY silly

In fact, they were all feeling pretty silly once they got together with their cousins.

Little elves brought around name-tags, hot chocolate and cookies for everyone after the train started moving.

It was slower than I thought it would be....

but the chairs were big and comfortable.

She's a fan of delicious flavor...

All of us agreed that the cocoa was the perfect temperature. yum.

Nothing worse than cold cocoa....

unless it's cocoa so hot it burns your tongue-

(then you're stuck with those annoying little bumpy things on the end of your tongue for the next week reminding you of your impatience!)

Mason left me behind to go sit with his cousin Grayson but Poor Jacob was stuck sitting with mom.

To compensate for that embarrassment he decided to be as goofy and silly as possible as if to prove he could embarrass me more than I could embarrass him.

The staff on the train encouraged us to sing carols and tell christmas jokes that they passed out. They read us a Christmas story and some advanced choir groups from one of the local High schools came in and sang us some carols. They were pretty good.

There was lots of laughing and joking and happiness all around-

Especially when Santa came. He boarded the train at the halfway point.

I think Samantha asked for Cheese....

Mason, who is still young and innocent, was eating up the santa visit and loved every minute of it.

He was a great Santa. He looked good and took time with each child who wanted it and talked to them and hugged them and gave them a bell.

Then we arrived back at the station and it was time to go home.

Thanks Matt and Abby for giving us this experience.

Carried away by paper crafts...

I had way too much fun folding and cutting paper this Christmas season.

I needed something to liven up this space on my bannister. I couldn't find the lights I usually put there and thought the garland looked a little sparse. We made these poinsettias at school with one of our classes and I thought they looked pretty so I bought some tissue paper and made a bunch!

I also needed something for this space between my clock and my stockings. It's not a very deep ledge and I have the star stocking holders and a garland. Any ideas on what else I could put there?

These paper stars were fun to make this year and filled the space but still if you have any ideas.....

I'd love to hear them.

Bethlehem Dinner 2010

For the last 3 years we have had a "Bethlehem dinner" on Christmas eve. Our goal is not to be super authentic to the region or time period of Christ's birth but to try to think a little bit about how things might have been different for Mary & Joseph as travelers than we normally do things.

We have simple foods that can be eaten without silverware. We use wooden kabob skewers to select our food from the buffet and continue to use them to eat with or our fingers. We try to use as many wooden dishes as possible. I try to pick up a couple new ones every year that we can use. I found 3 large square wooden plates at DI several months ago and I think I'll look for some more of those. We just use paper plates to eat from as the theme is simple. After we fill our plates, we take them to the family room and sit together on a big blanket on the floor and just enjoy eating and talking. We don't really have a program at that point but just eat and have fun together.

We did do a couple things differently this year which we really enjoyed. We invited 8 more Boca's to join the party. Since they live a little ways away we started dinner a little earlier than we have in the past.

We had been given a sugar cured smoked Turkey as a Christmas gift from a friend so we served that in stead of our usual marinated chicken kabobs

Most of the kids decided that it tasted like ham instead of turkey. Whatever it tasted like it tasted really good!

Cucumbers and olives are always on our menu but the spinach dip was new. Carly requested it and made it as mine never seems to turn out right. She has the gift. It was terrific.

Cheese cubes are also another staple but we had pomegranates from my parent's trees in Southern Utah so that was a fun addition.

The last couple of years I have just purchased french bread but wanted to try something different this year so I found a recipe for Jewish Challah bread and it was wonderful. I made it earlier in the week to try it out and our family gobbled up 2 big loaves in about 30 minutes with a pot of soup. It is definitely a permanent addition.

Aunt Abby brought Salmon bites to bring in a little fishy flair. She got a lot of "what's thaaat" from the children but there were several who were willing to try it before spitting it in the trash. However, the ones who like Salmon were very happy. She also brought some Red velvet cookies... not so authentic but oh... so good. And while we're talking so good.. The piece de resistance was the baked brie with nuts and dried fruit. It was so good it made you want to cry.

serious tears.

buckets of tears.

Really. It was that good.

and we can't forget the grapes, always on the menu and in the category of

"so expensive in December you want to cry"

but it's once a year as Mark says, and we like to try to have some things that are sorta authentic...

Now that you've seen the spread here's a little peek at what they do with it!

The grape and cheese Kabob was big this year

Some favored the simpler grape only Kabob.

There was one propeller kabob.

I thought Ava's cuke/grape/bread kabob was the most interesting

hmmmm or maybe the grape/olive/cheese kabob

or it could be Samantha's "I'm just happy to be here kabob"

Whatever the kabob...

This year was the best ever, most versatile, loudest, funnest Bethlehem dinner ever!

p.s. I have no idea why 1/2 the text in this post is underlined and some is not. I tried to get it to stop and it wouldn't!!!!!!!

I know it's January but we're Decorating the tree anyway

We planned to decorate the tree the first Monday night in December for Family Home Evening. Since Mark wasn't going to be home until 8pm we wanted to have as much done as possible. Mark's job is putting on the lights so we lugged in the Christmas boxes from the garage and set up the tree so it would be ready for him.

The kids then concocted a fabulous plan to trick dad. They locked the door to the garage so they'd have a little warning as he ALWAYS comes in the back door. As soon as they heard him fiddling with the doorknob Mason would jump in the tree box and lay inside holding the STAR across his chest.

As luck would have it Dad changed his routine and walked right in the front door which we keep locked as a rule. He surprised them. The kids did not want to give up their plan so they made up some story of something he needed to look at outside. Mark looked a little confused but seemed to sense that something was afoot and let them lead him outside and talk his ear off about nonsense while Mason got in place.....

Mark, being Mark- so incredibly hard to trick, looked at the Christmas box where we told him he needed to get the lights out of and whispered to me "Mason's in here isn't he?!"

I didn't say anything but my smile was hard to control so he knew he was right.

However he played along beautifully.

Lifting the lid and looking surprised

and delighting the children

completely!

I think they really would have had him if he'd come in the back door.

They lost their element of surprise

but all's well that ends well.

They'll have to come up with a new plan next year to trick the big guy.

a random evening in december

It feels a little "small" at our house tonight. At dinner we were down to 5 with Carly singing with her high school choir at Temple Square and Mark still at work.

Eating our Top Ramen stir fry was an adventure. The kids alternated between arguing and being silly. I had to get after Mason several times for not staying in his seat. He was jumping around, crawling under the table. I finally posed the question: Do you want to sit at the table and stay here until you're finished or go up to bed right now. He responded with a little smirk and a "hmmm..... I'm thinking" I proceeded to let him know I was counting to 3 and then I would make his decision for him if he hadn't made it yet. He quickly decided to stay in his seat and finish eating.

Because of this silliness I was surprised at what came later.

I sent Jacob to put away the dishes on the towel by the sink. Lo & behold it was already done.

Mason said "I did it for you Jacob!" I was happily surprised at this since I had already asked Jacob and Mason to set the table while I ran dinner to Mark even though it was Carly's job. Then Samantha started washing dishes and I instructed Jacob to put away the dishes that were in the dishwasher. He grumbled that he needed to do his homework and Mason who is clearing the table which is his job says "I will do it for you Jacob so you can do your homework"

Next Samantha and I got into an argument because she thinks I am picking on her and NOBODY ELSE!!!! because I got after her for getting offended YET AGAIN this evening by something somebody said that was not a very big deal she stormed at

*************************************************

I was looking at my "edit posts" option and found this post written to this point on December 9th.

I don't know what's wrong with me lately but I can't seem to get a thought or a post finished. I have many posts that I have begun but never finished. It is indicative of how I feel lately. Starts and stops and not a lot of finishes. I am hopeful that the New year will bring some momentum of change for me, some consistency. There's been some upheaval with Mark's new job and some distrust on my part of how things will go there. I feel like I've been holding my breath and I need to let it out and make plans with life as it is not as it was or because of worry of what might be.

It is what it is.

Ahhh...

I remember how this night ended up. I originally entitled the post "Mason's christmas Soliloquy" as he launched into a speech about how

"Christmas is not about getting things but about being kind and giving gifts and doing nice things for other people and how he didn't care if he got any presents at all he was just going to do nice things for other people all the time"

That philosophy came and went during the season but I'm grateful it made an appearance at all.

My Goal is to get all my Christmas happenings posted this weekend before it really gets ridiculous to be posting about Christmas so stay tuned... if you have the slightest interest in our Christmas that is.....

If not, then wait til next week when I'm on to bigger and better topics like Mason getting busted in the school bathroom by a 4th grade teacher. That's a good one!

Be-boppin' Blitzen

The music teacher shares a trailer with my Academy classroom.

A few weeks ago she came into our half of the trailer and told me that the 2nd Grade was singing a song about Blitzen and she needed a child to dance out in front of the group during parts of the song.

She was thinking about Mason.....

and Did I think he would do it?????

I told her that I was pretty sure she was about to make his wildest dreams come true!

Hope you enjoy my uninhibited little Blitzen Boy.

My Favorite Gift....

This year I was so excited about one present in particular.  

It was a present I made.  It wasn't even one of the "big" presents.  

It was just something I decided to try on a whim.

I knew it would either be a huge hit or a megafailure.

It was for Samantha and I NEVER know how she is going to respond, especially at gift-recieving time.  

A little Background:

Samantha is a infomercial sucker! She takes after her father....

We are the proud owners of a Ronco Food dehydrator, a magic bullett, a steam machine, The abdoer and WOULD own so much more if I didn't absolutely FREAK out when he gets one of these things in the mail.  

She comes to me routinely with comments such as this:  "Momma do you know what we really need?  The aquaglobes! We have plants and they are for plants! You know how hard it is to remember to water them all the time and how sometimes water can spill all over??? well the aquaglobes will make it so much better.  You don't even have to remember momma.  You just fill them up and stick them in the pot.  They are fantastic! Don't you think we need them?  They are only a little bit of money... something with a 9 in it. They are like blue and green.  I think you can choose which color you want"  (Imagine the most earnest little face and a voice filled with awe and wonder)

In early December it was the Snuggy that had her infomercially twitterpated. She even got Jacob sucked in. "Momma look at this blanket!!! It's so good for watching TV and eating!!!!"  But we dont eat in the TV room....   "Well, you could read a book too and stay warm."   Jacob: "Yeah mom! It would be so great for Saturday mornings when we watch cartoons.  Samantha and I always come down before anyone else gets up and we're always cold!"  Samantha: " We wouldn't waste money by turning on the heater..... You can choose between red and blue and green!  I want blue."  Jacob: "I want green"

They were so cute in their desire for a "snuggy" so I did a little research.  It would cost $19.99 for a snuggy.  BUT WAIT! you get a second one free.  so... 2 snuggys for $19.99 plus 2 free booklights.  But you have to pay $8. shipping on both snuggys.  So it comes to $36 for 2 fleece blankets with sleeves.  I did a little more research and found a pattern online for a "slanket" a blanket with sleeves.  It looked the same as a snuggy.  I saw a 50% off fleece sale at a local fabric store and I was all over it.  

For $15 I bought 2 1/2 yards of yellow fleece with monkeys all over it for Samantha Grace and 21/2 yards of green/brown camouflage fleece for Jacob. The original pattern called for 3 yards but that seemed so large for kids so I cut it down some and made a couple size alterations to the sleeve holes.  They went together pretty quickly.  

I was SOOO excited.  There's something about giving a gift you've had a hand in creating.  It feels different.  I couldn't wait to see them open their snuggy's.  I knew it was a bigger deal to Samantha than Jacob so my hopes were resting on her.  She has a little perverse streak in her, however, that keeps me from being able to anticipate her reactions.  You just NEVER know what you're going to get.... 

SHE LOVED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She wore it all day.  She wears it backwards like a blanket robe most of the time but she LOVES it and thinks it is better than the real snuggy's because they are only plain colors.  

Ahhh....Success!

Jacob likes his too.  I was sick Christmas day so he let me borrow it and you know it is rather nice to have sleeves in your blanket for handling that remote control, reading a book or just giving someone the 'ol Thumb's up!  They're also GREAT for late night blogging... you're sitting at the computer, the house is chilly because you have your thermostat set to a low temp at night when you SHOULD be in bed sleeping.   I may like them just as much as the kids!