I’m using the same end-of year meme I used last year. It is a good summary of the year. I can’t believe it’s almost 2009. The years get faster and faster.

1. What did you do in 2009 that you'd never done before? Played in two piano recitals.


2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I worked at my new year’s resolution all year, but I think I’ll keep it for next year too.


3. Did anyone close to you give birth? New babies in 2008? Let me count the ways. There were 4 babies on my street born. My friends Melanie and Ginger had babies. My niece Kayci had a baby. I guess 2008 was the year to have a baby, they seemed to come at me from left, right and center.
   
4. Did anyone close to you die? A couple of old acquaintances died this year. It was strange to know of people in my generation have already passed on. I felt very bad for both of these acquaintances children; it is terrible to lose a parent.
   
5. What countries did you visit? Seriously? I didn’t even leave the state this year. But I’m pretty sure I’m going to Idaho soon, so I’ll at least get to leave in 2009.
   
6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008? More vacations, but not because I lacked them. We actually had 2, which is a record for us. But I hope to ride on an airplane. Man, that makes me sound about 3 years old, doesn’t it?
   
7. What date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? September 15, the day my dad went into a rest home. Sad, sad, sad. But necessary.
   
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Um, my Costco card…the smoking deal I got on Shane’s razor for Christmas…that we went on two family vacations without any arguments. All great accomplishments in my book.
   
9. What was your biggest failure? The bangs I cut bangs in my hair for the first time in 14 years. Yeah, they’ve grown out since; it’s too much time to dry them & curl every day. I’m still a ponytail girl at heart, remember.
   
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? My sciatic nerve has been driving me nuts for months. It is the most annoying thing I’ve ever known!
    
11. What was the best thing you bought? Mascara that doesn’t smudge. Thanks, Estee Lauder!
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Thomas for learning to play the piano, and Ben for learning to write his name. Both accomplishments that rate high in my book.
    
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? We have family members that we haven’t talked to in almost 3 years. It makes me mad whenever I realize how much time has gone by without any progress in the situation, and how much both sides are losing out on. Sad, sad, sad.
14. Where did most of your money go? Groceries, I’m sure.
    
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Learning to play the piano.
    
16. What song will always remind you of 2008? Songs from Mamma Mia. I can’t hear “Lay all your love on me,” “Voulez-vous?” and “Does your mother know?” without remembering all the good runs I had listening to them during this year.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you: Much happier, richer, nicer. I hope I’m nicer (but I always TRY to be nice); pretty happy already, and, well, not much richer. But not much poorer, either.
    
18. What do you wish you'd done more of? Eating at Café Rio. But wait, we eat there 2 or 3 times a month; could I have done it???


19. What do you wish you'd done less of? McDonalds. I don’t need it, my kids don’t need it. But sometimes it’s so good!
    
20. How did you spend Christmas? Being grumpy and driving in snow. Not my favorite Christmas ever.


21. Did you fall in love in 2009? Yes, with Mamma Mia, both the movie and the soundtrack.
    
22. How many one-night stands? Only a few with my husband. ;)
    
23. What was your favorite TV program? I love Grey’s and Lost, but we started watching 30 Rock, which is one of the most clever shows I’ve ever seen.
    
24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? No. I don’t think I hate anyone.
    
25. What was the best book you read this year? Hard question. I can’t say one, so I’ll say Atonement, Hunger Games, and People of the Book. I also listened/read the whole New Testament for the first time. It taught me so much, I really enjoyed it. I listened to a lot of commentary off of the BYU website, which made a lot of it more understandable. Remember, I quite seminary in 11th grade, and I’m a jackmormon at heart, so, yeah. At least I got through it. Some of those epistles of Paul bored me to tears. Revelations was pretty cool, though.
    
26. What was your greatest musical discovery? The Mamma Mia soundtrack. I’m also really starting to like Cold Play. But I heard Chris Martin is leaving once he turns 33, so maybe I won’t like them for much longer.
    
27. What did you want and get? A new camera that fits in my pocket. It doesn’t take the best pictures, but I can take it with me wherever. You give a little, you take a little.
    
28. What was your favorite film of this year? Mamma Mia. I sound like a broken record.
    
29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? 33. Shane and I and the boys went up the canyon for a picnic and hike. It was fun!



30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008? Same as always, but I did start wearing makeup. Not doing so well on doing the hair on work days; I cut 8 inches off almost a month ago and haven’t worn it down so no one knows.
    
31. What kept you sane? Running. Which I haven’t done in weeks in hopes that my sciatic or whatever nerve it is that is hurting will stop. It’s making me feel ugly and fat and depressed. And my leg still hurts, so I guess I should go back to running. At least the rest of me felt better even if my leg hurt more!!
    
32. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? I can’t say any of them. I really like Sawyer from Lost a LOT, but that’s been true for years. He’s hotttt!
    
33. What political issue stirred you the most? I’m so not political, so I can’t say anything did. I was glad when the election was over and someone won. I didn’t care who because I didn’t like either of them.
34. Who did you miss? My dad. Especially when he’s right in front of me. At least when I’m not with him, I can pretend he’s better than he is.
    
35. Who was the best new person (people) you met? I really liked “meeting” all the people in my SDBBE book exchange. I guess technically I didn’t meet them all, but reading 1,200+ pages with the same group of people tends to make you feel like you know a person.
    
36. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008: I learned that prayers are answered. I learned that God helps you do things that you think you can’t.
    
37. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year: Can't think of any.

Books 2008

My sister Amy and I set out to blog about every book we read this year. Well, I was going over my list of books (because, you know, I have an Excel list of every book I’ve read each year since 2002. I’m anal like that!) and I realized that I haven’t blogged about most of them. So, in a manner that I 100% acknowledge as cheating, here are the books that I read that I didn’t blog about.

From SDBBE round 2

• The Birth House (my pick)
• How to be Good
• Water for Elephants
• The Bonesetters Daughter

Then in round 3:

• The Good Fairies of New York (my first pick; didn’t force others to read it out of the kindness of my heart)
• The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets (the replacement for Fairies; see above!)
• Hi Fidelity
• The other two (A Midwife’s Story and Dandelion Wine) I think I blogged about.

I also read Hunger Games, which I’m dying to write about, but probably won’t for a bit (if you are at all interested, READ IT!!) In all, I finished 28 books this year, which is about average for me. I also started an additional 7 books that sucked so I didn’t finish them (it's hard to not finish, but also hard to put the time in on some!)

Whew. Got that out of the way. I can’t say how much I’ve liked being in SDBBE. You should join! It changes the way you read forever, especially when such awesome people are involved as the people I've met in my groups. It makes reading fun. I now have to constrain myself from writing smart-alec comments in library books. I have Britt to thank for that!

Anyway, here’s to a 2009 full of more books. I hope.

Things that shouldn't mix:

Christmas and Alzheimer's.

He didn't know who I was.

I went to visit him in the TV room at my mom's house Christmas afternoon. He lay on the couch, the squeaking and commentating and clapping sounds of an NBA game playing on the television. His long skinny feet were crossed on the armrest, and his arms were folded over his chest. He would look at me, but not really; it was more of a glance, but repeated, like a nervous bird on a wire watching an unfamiliar cat. I said, "Hi Dad."

Silence.

I sat and teased him for a while. Tried to talk basketball and Koby Bryant and all that. After five minutes, when he finally realized who I was, he tried to get up, arms reaching out as if for a life line that remained out of his grasp. I leaned over to hug him, and he grabbed onto me and held me there. Finally, he knew he should know me. He might of even thought I was Her, the youngest one, the one who broke her arm in fourth grade.

Later on, at dinner, he said how he didn't know what was going on. He knew where his chair was, because it was the one he inhabited for 35 years, but, he didn't know why he was sitting there on that day. Who all those noisy people were. So he ate his food quickly and took up his post on the couch.

My kind brother-in-law took my picture with him. I don't want to look at the picture, because I know I was fighting the tears that would explode later in the car.

As my mom drove him "home" that night, he said, "Wow. The price of gas has come down." He can't say our names or understand Christmas, but he can understand gas prices.

Yet another reason Alzheimer's sucks.

Merry Christmas

It's all ahead of me now. The presents, the magic, the hurry and scurry from here to there. I both want time to freeze and to make it hurry, so I can look back and savor it.


It's a quiet night, Christmas Eve. Driving by all the houses, thinking of all the excited children within. Taking pictures of my boys in their new pajamas, their hair damp and sweet smelling from the bath. The quiet that falls on our house as we read Luke II. The excitement as we give kisses good-night, last drinks of water and repeated encouragement to fall asleep quickly. Santa has a lot of work to do.


I hope that all of your homes are peaceful and quiet. I hope you all got to enjoy this night of nights. Merry Christmas.


I want to put the words to my favorite Christmas song. Hopefully next year I can put a video of me playing it on my piano (I'll need a year to practice, trust me!)


Oh, Holy Night
The stars are brightly shining
It is the night of our dear Saviour's birth.


Long lay the world
In sin and error pining,
Til he appeared and the soul felt it's worth.


A thrill of hope,
the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.


Fall on your knees!
Oh hear the angel voices.
Oh night, divine, oh night, when Christ was born.

25 Reasons I was happy on Saturday...

These are my favorite people in the world. In this picture are:

• 2 parents
• 4 children with 2 husbands
• 13 grandchildren plus two spouses
• 3 great-grandchildren (plus one in spirit; I haven't forgotten you, Glenn!)

I love my family!

12 Days of Christmas meme

This is a meme I stole from Britt. I know, I'm terrible at doing meme's normally; sorry to anyone who has ever tagged me and I've not responded. But this one is short and fun, so here goes.

1- Most embarrassing moment…every moment is potentially embarrassing for me.
2- Best Friends…Amy, Melanie, Shelly, Shane.
3- Things I buy regularly…lightbulbs, happy meals, cafe rio grilled chicken salads, Dr. Pepper's from the gas station
4- Places I want to go… New York, Washington DC, Europe
5- Goals for the upcoming year…learn to play piano better.
6- Things people don’t know about me…I like to talk on the phone while driving; if you don't hear from me for a long time, it's because I haven't gone anywhere lately. It's been over 10 years since I've seen the ocean or been on a plane. I used to be afraid of dogs and once ran into someone's house who I didn't know when I thought a dog was chasing me on my bike (my sister loves this story).
7- Things I would never say…I'm so glad I got to get up so early this morning! I love mornings! You can go ahead and run even though it's my day. I have enough clothes. My hair looks awesome today!
8- Things I love about the Christmas season…Christmas hymns (we start listening in about September), Christmas lights, presents under the tree, red and green decorations, reminders of the Savior all over my house, being able to say "Santa only brings presents to good boys, so you should eat that."
9- Things I say to my kids…Are your ears working? Please sit down on your chair and eat that. Stop being so loud! Don't hit your brother. Well, hit him back! Go brush your teeth. Stop doing that! I could keep going on and on for a long time with this one. But I should add my favorite: I love you!
10- Things I do a lot…forget to do stuff. Read. Check my blog and my friend's blogs. Check my email. Procrastinate. Sew. Complain about my hamstring hurting. Go to the grocery store.
11- Things I’d rather not live without...My kids. Shane. Food. Dr. Pepper. My friends. My sewing machine. My sisters. My parents.
12 people to tag…anyone who wants it!!!

A catch-up post

See, I told you! In my last post (not counting the book review I guess) I jinxed myself against posting a lot during December. As soon as I say I'm going to post a lot, I go a week without anything new to say.

So here we are, 10 days before Christmas. I wish I could freeze time, because I just don't feel it this year. I usually have my Christmas cards out way early, and I just mailed them yesterday. I usually enjoy my Christmas tree, and this year I've barely turned it on. So I need to make these next days count. Somehow. How do YOU feel the Christmas spirit? Am I doing something wrong?

Anyway. I have a few things to post about today. I'm going to use bullets, because my friend Isabel often uses a label on her bullet posts entitled "Bullet points are your friend." Let's see if she's right:

• Now that Ben is 3 months away from being 4, he's decided that rocking with mom in the rocking chair is a pretty good way to fall asleep. I've spent at least one night a week this Christmas rocking my baby (3 year old, same thing!) to sleep. The glider from which I nursed, rocked, held, read to, and loved my little boys is now in my living room. I've loved sitting in it this year, rocking Ben, with the only light in the room coming from the Christmas lights in the garland on my banister. It has been precious mommy time!!
• Shane started a tradition last year where we get a Christmas movie every Sunday to watch while we eat dinner. Ben & Thomas love this tradition, and so do I. We have continued it, which has been fun up until last night when the Santa Clause 2 DVD was so scratched that we couldn't watch it. Thanks to Blockbuster for that one. Hmph.
• We went and saw the lights at the Salt Lake Temple on Friday. It was a perfect night; a storm was coming in for Saturday, so the night was warmer than usual. They had the gates to the temple open, so we walked around the entire perimeter of the temple instead of gazing at it from afar. I took the boys up so that they could touch it; everything seems a little more tangible once you've touched it. It was fun and made the visit memorable.
• I'm trying to finish up gifts I'm sewing. Can anyone tell me WHY everything I do has to pucker? I am so careful while sewing, but my fabric always moves and puckers. It makes me crazy! I hate ruining everything I work so hard on. Hopefully the recipients of my sewing projects won't feel bad that their presents aren't perfect, sigh.

And that would be all. Bullet points really are my friend.

Book Reviews

I've finished a few books lately, so here are some reviews.

The Heretics Daughter, by Kathleen Kent

I finished this book in two days. It was THAT good. It is the story of Martha Carrier, who was accused of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials in 1692. It is told from the perspective of her oldest daughter, Sarah. And the book was written by a direct descendant of the two women, which I thought was very interesting. How cool to have such a notable figure in your lineage.

This book made me very grateful that I didn't live during these times. Notwithstanding the cold miserable conditions in the winters, the heat in the summer, the lack of good transportation and plumbing, people were mean and superstitious, and that doesn't seem to be a good combination. If your neighbor's cow died after you looked at him cross-eyed, you were a witch. If you had a sharp-witted tongue and weren't afraid to use it, you were a witch. It is a scary concept, and downright shameful that so many innocent lives were lost due to the testimony of untrustworthy individuals.

But I still enjoyed the story. Sarah is a compelling character. Although she seems older than her 10 years (authors do that so often; how is it that so many youthful characters can understand adult concepts so easily?), her growth through the novel was believable. It was interesting to watch how she came to understand and love her mother, despite Martha's prickly and un-loveable nature. The book did a great job of showing that even those mothers who don't show a lot of affection still love their children fiercely, and will sacrifice themselves so their children can have more. Read it. It's good.

The Friday Night Knitting Club, by Kate Jacobs

I'm not as excited about this book as I wanted to be. I'd heard good things from it, and so I was really hoping for a lot, but I didn't feel I got it. This is the story of Georgia Walker, who is a single mom and owner of a knitting-supply store. Her store becomes the hang-out for an eclectic group of knitters who become the Friday Night Knitting club (I know, it's a far-out concept!) The book details bits of their lives, how they overcome their current problems, blah blah blah. What I discovered half way through was that it was the same story as Mamma Mia, but with far to many characters and without all the awesome music. Sad.

I thought the author tried to do too much with the book. Between the long-lost lover that suddenly comes back into the mom/daughter's life, the discovery of mutual love on all three sides (mom, dad, child), the get-back-to-your-roots-and-discover-your-life's meaning vacation to Scotland, and the life-threatening disease while remaining the heart-and-soul of the knitting club (all things that happen to the main character!), I thought I should be reading something along the lines of Gone with the Wind. But I wasn't. It was just too much stuff happening to one character for it to be believable. And the sub-plots weren't interesting enough to add to the story.

I feel so bad writing a bad review. But I just didn't enjoy this one.

writing down the bones, or why I've posted 6 times this month

Amy once lent me a book called Writing down the Bones. I don't remember everything from it, but the gist was to give techniques to improve one's writing.

That is what I'm trying to do this month of December. I want to use my blog as a place to store those things I'd never put in my journal, or tell in a story. Things that are rolling around in my memories that I want to get down. But I feel like as soon as I say, "I'm going to write a Christmas post every day this month!" I'll jinx myself and end up with far less entries. It's kind of like I'm sneaking up on my blogging ideas, hitting them over the head and saying "Aha! You've been blogged!" Kind of like a mugging, but far less violent or scary. At least I hope.

So, since I talked about decorating in my last post, I thought that my next blog/attack would be to write about what I love about decorating. I kind of don't know where to start. My personal philosophy in decorating is this: I want to immerse my house in whatever season it is, so that each main room has it's own reminder of the current season. If there is a horizontal surface in my house, I want it festive. Or at least pretty.

This translates to a few years spent wanting as much Christmas stuff as I could gather. Some years I only asked for Christmas decorations. Lately, I try each year to pick up a few more items to cover my surfaces in red, gold, purple, and green (and any other color I happen to like). Last year, I found 9' garland at Roberts for 40 cents a piece; I bought 5 so that I could finally have garland around all the tops of my cabinets. And although I love Santas and stocking holders and whatall, I love having little reminders of the Savior out, so I have 1 "official" nativity, and several others that depict Mary, Joseph and Jesus.

One year, we visited Shane's grandparents on the day after Thanksgiving. We went to Tuacahn for their live Nativity. While wandering through the gift shop after listening to Luke 2 (I love Luke 2!), I found an angel figurine. I bought her, and used her each year as an extra angel to my nativity. Then I started using her as the angel to another nativity. Because she is so pretty, and because the angel part of the Luke 2 is so amazing to me, I started collecting angels a few years ago. My sweet husband has given me a new angel for the past 3 years (I hope this tradition continues, hint hint!). So angels are a big part of my decorating as well.

(A picture of the live nativity at Tuacahn. Ah, so pretty!)

Now, my Christmas tree is a hodgepodge thing. The first year we were married, we had the smallest tree ever created, standing about 3 feet high. But that tree was also the brightest, weighing in at over 7 strands of lights, and 3 packages of icicle strands. I had a few little ornaments (which I still have) to decorate it. The next year, we were in our house, so Shane and I made ornaments by pressing circles of fabric into Styrofoam balls (I still have them as well). Then a family member gave me all her Disney ornaments, just in time for our then-18 month old to enjoy. A few years later, my mom let me the box of ornaments from what we called our "downstairs tree," which we only put up a few years while I was in elementary school. Another family member gave me ornaments that you can put a picture in, so I have a picture of each of my kids at Christmas time for every year they have been alive (Ben has an extra because I put one of my favorite infant photo of him). Each year as I decorate the tree, I put a picture from the previous year in the ornament/frame, and hang it on the tree. Thanks to a smoking deal I got the day before Christmas last year when I found a 3 pack of trees for $6, I have these picture ornaments upstairs, sprinkled between the three trees. All the ornaments and their stories combine into a mosaic of memories that I enjoy during the month of December.

This year marks the second year that I get to decorate our piano. I'm not sure what I was more excited about when we got the piano, whether it was learning to play or having it to decorate. I think it looks best at Christmas, when I can ring the top with garland and decorations. And, thanks to a very beloved friend, I have a new book of 100 Christmas carols to learn to play. The playing of carols by this friend was what made me want a piano in the first place, and so her gift is that much sweeter.

I could probably go on forever, but these are a few bones that I want to get down about my love of decorating for Christmas. It is the one time of year when everywhere I look, I see a tangible reminder of the baby that was born in Bethlehem so many years ago. Because without his spirit to fill my house with light and memories, all these objects are just so much stuff taking up space. It is that spirit I am trying to recreate and invite to lend its warmth to everyone and everything under my roof.

A new memory for the ages

When I was young, my mom had a fake white Christmas tree.

From up close, it wasn't really attractive, but from the street, all lighted up (lit up? wondering on grammar here!) it was really pretty. Some of the ornaments were gigantic, spun-silk covered globes circa 1979 my mom had made (and my sister unmade when she carefully removed every sparkly 3" needle that held other sparkly beads) (think shishkabobs, only filled with blue and yellow and glass beads that protrude from the spun-silk covered balls that are held on by bead-headed needles) (I'm really loving the parentheticals today!). Anyways, it was a pretty tree, and the tree I remember from most of my youth.

I was all about decorating when I was young. I remember one year, around December 12 or 13th when we still didn't have a tree up yet, I decorated the whole thing myself one afternoon after school. Although I have few putting-up-the-tree-while-drinking-hot-cocoa-and-laughing-cozily-cause-we're-family type memories, there aren't many, and most years it was, "Hey, that big holiday is about a week away, let's stick that tree thing up!" (Wow, I'm all about parentheses and dashes and quotation marks. Maybe I can sneak in a few bullets or something to really liven things up!)

Anyhow, this year marks 11 years since I last lived at my parents house, thus 11 years since I'd helped put up the Christmas tree at my parent's. My mom has since retired a few fake trees, included Big White, and retired the old planetary-like ornaments. And on Saturday I got to relive a littl of my youth, and make some precious new memories, by helping my mom put up her Christmas tree.

It was fun. I got up early on Saturday morning and set off by myself. At first, it was just me and my mom dragging the tree up the stairs and finding ornaments. A few minutes after we'd started getting the tree ready for ornaments however, 3 of my sweet nephews showed up with their dad to put up the lights. They pitched in to help us, and before I knew it, I was just Aunt Becky again, putting up the tree on a Saturday morning while my nephews chattered with their grandma and me. After the tree was done, my nephew Nathan helped me unbox all of my mom's Department 56 houses and figurines, which we arranged on shelves in the kitchen. All in an effort to make my mom's house feel Christmassy.

I was overcome in memories. Even though I moved out at 18, I moved back to my parents home at 21, and lived there for another 2 years. When my oldest nieces were young, many Saturdays were spent with them, playing and watching movies and having parties and even decorating. I was the Token Spinster Auntie for what seemed forever. And I now that I have kids, I don't get to spend that individual time with my nieces and nephews the way I did back in the day, nor do I often visit my parents without two blond boys in tow. So it was a little piece of Becky that came back to me that morning. There I was, decorating my mom's tree, being an aunt rather than a mom; geez, we even ate tomato macaroni soup (which I always made when the kids came over). It was fun to say hello to that Becky, to reconnect with her for an hour or two. After lunch, and once the kids left, I helped Mom clean the kitchen, scrubbed out her sink, loaded her dishwasher. We visited like we haven't for a long time.

It was precious. Sure, we hadn't drank hot cocoa or danced around the table singing Christmas carols, but it is a good Christmas memory for me to file away. A new memory of decorating my mom's house (minus the white tree and planet balls, but with the pretty pink poinsettias, the feathery fuscia fairies, and gorgeous decorated balls) has been made. I got a moment with my mom in her house, just the two of us, being mom and daughter. I got to serve her, to try to make her load a little lighter, all while brining the spirit of Christmas into her home. As it says in Alma 33:23,

"And now, my brethren, I desire that ye shall plant this word in your hearts, and as it beginneth to swell even so nourish it by your faith. And behold, it will become a tree, springing up in you unto everlasting life. And then may God grant unto you that your burdens may be light, through the joy of his Son. And even all this can ye do if ye will. Amen.

A favorite Christmas memory

When Thomas was born, he had a club foot. I knew about it before hand, thanks to 3 ultrasounds that showed a tiny, crooked foot. It wasn't completely a shock: I had had one when I was born too, and the statistics all pointed at my firstborn male son.

So, before he was even born, I researched methods of correcting clubfoot. I discovered through the internet the Ponsetti Method, which corrects clubfoot using a series of casts that gradually bring the foot into a normal position. Usually after 6 or 8 casts, a small incision is made in the achilles tendon to lengthen it and bring the foot up into the correct position.

I was overjoyed to learn that a local doctor was doing the Ponsetti Method. I had an appointment for Thomas when he was 5 days old. We showed up, all excited to spend the next 6 to 8 weeks dealing with casts, all in the hopes that my little baby would have a straight foot in the end.

Well. 5% of children don't respond to the Ponsetti Method, and we happened to be in the 5%. Thomas was born in August, and at Christmas, we were still going weekly to have cast changes. During this time, I had never given Thomas a real bath, because we always had a cast to deal with. Every outfit I picked out I had to make sure would fit over a large white chalky cast. By Christmas time, I was tired of having a baby with a cast. I hated it, and wanted

So, on Christmas Eve day that year, I took Thomas' cast off. By myself.

I armed myself with a our old green bucket, which I stuck in the kitchen sink and filled with water. I'd heard that a little bit of vinegar helps, so I poured some of that in too. I stripped Thomas down to his diaper, propped him up against me with his back to my stomach and his foot in the water, and started soaking the cast off. It took me about an hour.

In the middle of it, Shane called me and couldn't believe what I told him I was doing. I think he thought I was a little crazy, but I didn't care. All I wanted was a cast-free baby for the holiday the next day. To be able to hold him close to me and not get white plaster all over my clothes. To give him a real bath for once, and let him lie in the water, instead of being suspended over it.

It was 100% satisfying. I have pictures of his two feet that Christmas Eve. His new Christmas outfit fit a little better than it had when I tried it on him weeks before. His two legs could kick and play inside his new cozy Christmas jammies. I just loved having him be a normal baby for a few days.

I still smile a little when I remember this. I can picture myself soaking that cast off, filling and refilling that green bucket. I knew that two days after Christmas he would be right back in plaster, but I didn't care. I was going to have my first Christmas as a mom under my own terms, and nothing was going to stop me.

Taken just hours after the de-casting

So do you have a favorite Christmas memory that involves doing something you shouldn't have? When you broke the rules just to get what you wanted?

Happy Birthday!

Today I get to:

• Make a chocolate cake with vanilla frosting
• Sing happy birthday about a zillion times
• Order pizza for dinner
• Add 30+ candles to said chocolate cake
• Wrap up some "surprises" (I'm terrible at wrapping!)

All to celebrate my Shaney's birthday. Happy Birthday to my Shane, who likes to pretend he's driving a bus sometimes while driving just to make me laugh. I love you!

It's a Festivus Miracle!

Well, not really, but I love Seinfeld, and this is a funny phrase anyway. But, it was miraculous at our house last night because of the following:

• Both children fell asleep in their own beds
• Both children stayed asleep in their own beds ALL NIGHT
• Both parents stayed in their own beds the entire night.

Who knew?? It truly happened. And just because I love that particular episode, I want to included George's father's famous words,

"A festivus for the rest of us!"

Christmas Thought

Tuesdays are my day to run. They have been for years. Very few things come between me and my Tuesday run. It is sacred time.

During December, though, the 30 minutes I spend on the treadmill feel a little more cozy because I can see the glow of my Christmas tree. I loved to come downstairs and turn on the tree, then slip on my shoes and start running. I can steal glances at the tree every now and then. I don't think there are many things prettier than a brightly lit tree: the ornaments glowing softly, light sparkling off the 30-year old tinsel, which my mom gave me a few years ago, remnants of our long-ago childhood trees.

So those three or four Tuesdays during December are something I look forward to, combining two things I cherish: Christmas and running.

Book review

I am an official worry wart.  I used to lay awake at night worrying that an earthquake would come and pin my nieces and nephews under dressers and bookshelves.  An entire semester of 8^th grade science I spent worrying about a situation in which, during an earthquake, I climb into one of the built-in cabinets that line the walls of my science room in order to avoid falling debris and end up locked in the cabinet forever.  Because, you know, I should have been under my desk instead of locked in the cabinet, so who would look for me in the cabinet?  It makes me claustrophobic just thinking about it.

 

Anyway. When I found Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer, I immediately started reading it.  The premise is this: life on earth gets changed when an asteroid hits the moon, causing it to move closer to the earth.  Whole cities are buried in tidal waves.  Electricity and phone service are knocked out.  Giant volcanoes bury cities and fill the skies with ash, blocking out the sun.

 

Within all of this, a family in small-town Pennsylvania try to live in this new world.  They navigate the local grocery store during a pandemonium of panicky people buying any food they can lay their hands on. They chop down trees to stockpile wood to burn during the long cold winter.  They skip meals and fast to make their meager canned foods last longer.  Told through the eyes of a 16 year old girl, you see how limited humans still are in the face of environmental calamities.

 

This book made me realized how unprepared my family is if anything happened.  With a Wal-mart down the street, everything seems to feel safe, until I think that Wal-mart may not be open anymore, or if the shelves are empty.  Without a woodburning stove or fireplace, how would I heat my house and keep my family warm if the gas company went out?  Even if I did have a fireplace, I don’t have a forest conveniently nearby in which to chop down trees.  What to do when gas is $50 for 3 or 4 gallons? It is a frightening scenario, and, while it’s unlikely the moon is going to move, it reminds me that a cataclysmic event could find my family totally unprepared to survive.

 

Despite this gloomy outlook, I couldn’t put this book down.  I had to know what happened to both the world and the family voicing the book.  It showed me how many holes are in our best-laid plans, and how easily our civilization could fall to pieces.  Because what do computers and cell phones mean if there is no power to run them?  And what good will they do us when there isn’t anything to eat or drink?  For as far as we have come technologically, without food, water, warmth, or the ability to survive the flu, we aren’t that far ahead of the cavemen, are we?  Scary.

 

So, just in case you wondered – I bought a few extra cans of everything I needed at the grocery store the week I finished this book. Fireplace or not, I’ll do what I can to survive!