It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like You-Know-What

It's that time of year again...that time when everything happens at once, and the holidays press down on me and my free time is either sporadic or non-existent. Just the way the blog has been lately! But at least I have time to put up a few pictures and say a few words before Christmas is upon us all.

As Burl-Ives-as-a-snowman said in the Rudolph animated special, "Ah, how I love this Christmas-y time of year." The kids are happy; the music is great; the lights on all the houses are beautiful (the picture above is just one lovely example from our neighborhood); the food is delicious. The flip-side to all this, of course, is the steadily building stress as you desperately try to check off everything on your holiday to-do list.

Luckily, I've managed to avoid getting too swamped this year. Most of our family's holiday shopping for 2014 was done by the end of Black Friday. I'm starting to actually like shopping on Black Friday (not the crazy midnight sales, just the daytime sales). True, it can be a long, tiring day, but it is a great relief to me when the presents are bought and accounted for before all the other holiday-related activities really start to accumulate. Having most (or all) of the shopping done early helps me enjoy the other events and traditions a lot more.

I spent most of the first week of December shopping, shipping, and wrapping. Luckily, everybody mostly stayed out of my way so I could accomplish these tasks with a minimum of fuss. With the girls' help, I also managed to get up most of the Christmas decorations just after Thanksgiving weekend. However, we waited another week or so to get our tree:

Lorelai (not pictured in her entirety) was able to lift it up herself; apparently, that made the tree worth purchasing.

 

In the future, I may not want to use that as our primary criteria for buying a tree; it actually ended up being a little scrawny (many of our ornaments stayed in storage, since there was no room for them on this smaller tree!). In addition, there was a large obvious bare patch on the tree that we had to endeavor to hide. Plus, a lot of the branches were already missing a bunch of needles. Can you tell this was not my favorite Christmas tree selection ever?

But the girls loved it anyway, and oohed and aahed over it as we set it up and started covering it with our lights, our ornaments, and our love.

And wouldn't you know it, once that little tree was all dressed up, it looked gorgeous after all! I guess the Christmas spirit can infuse objects with unexpected beauty and radiance.

I was reminded of Linus in The Charlie Brown Christmas Special, when he said that Charlie Brown's beleaguered little tree "just needs a little love." It's amazing what a little love can do, and how much it can beautify your living room (and the smell doesn't hurt, either!)

On December 6, we were invited to our friends the Nielsen's annual ugly sweater Christmas party. We have been attending for three years now and we always have a wonderful time. It is great to see how creative so many people can be with their wardrobes.

Here are our friends the Robinsons, with their matching "Christmas tree" sweaters; I liked the presents on their feet!

 Nathan and I didn't win any ugly sweater awards, but we had a great time anyway, visiting with friends and eating delicious food and having a white elephant gift exchange (for the record, we received a cactus-shaped pinata; I'm still trying to decide what we should do with it!).

Nathan's looking pretty fetching in his old-lady sweater, don't you think?

Here was my personal contribution to the refreshments:

This is a pumpkin pie cheesecake with a gingersnap crust and toffee bits and whipped cream on top. It was incredibly delicious, but also incredibly rich. Unfortunately, it didn't all get eaten. Fortunately, we had friends and family and missionaries help us finish it off throughout the following week.

After eating a slice (and lots of other junk besides), I had to take a late-night walk after the sweater party to work off my huge caloric intake. It had been really fun to laugh and goof off with friends, and enjoy the lighthearted side of Christmas. However, walking around the quiet neighborhood, looking at the beautiful lights and listening to soft Christmas carols on my radio, reminded me of the night in Bethlehem when the Savior of the world was born. It was nice to take some peaceful alone time and reflect on what Christmas is really celebrating, and why it is important to remember the Savior in our celebrating. I am always grateful for that reminder, no matter the occasion. Even though the rest of our holiday season is still quite hectic (as you'll see in future blog posts), my quiet walk in the night will be one of my fondest memories of the Christmas season of 2014, for the wonderful spirit I felt at the time.

Our family letter is coming up soon, as well as more December news. Wow, the year's almost done!

Thanksgiving 2014

I have just emerged from mountains of Christmas shopping, present wrapping and mailing, and bill paying (sigh). Hopefully I'll have time to get a couple of blog posts in before the holiday parties/cookie baking/musical concerts overwhelm me. I'll start with a quick recap of our family's Thanksgiving.

Here's the Thanksgiving project Aurora did in preschool; she "ate" all that stuff and is now a fat person! Hee hee.

For starters, this was not the Thanksgiving we'd expected to have this year. Our original plan was to travel to Colorado and celebrate the holiday at my parent's new home in the Heather Gardens retirement community. However, due to the death of Nathan's father-in-law, Glenn Barrett, we decided to remain home for the remainder of 2014. We wanted to spend time with Sandra, who will need family close by more than ever this holiday season. Although I was a little disappointed to miss out on Colorado (we haven't been back in a couple of years, and I still haven't seen my parents' new house!), I was happy to stay home as well. Ryan and Judy and their son Cameron were traveling to Arizona for Thanksgiving as well, so we still got to have a cozy meal with Colorado relatives.

Our charter school takes the whole week of Thanksgiving off. It's awesome, and I always wonder why more schools don't do that. On the last day of school pre-break, the school had a Thanksgiving-themed assembly, in which each class performed a holiday-appropriate song or skit. Lorelai's class involved a kid dressed as a turkey, pouring his heart out while everyone else sat behind him singing the chorus. It was a little strange.

Celeste's class all had "turkey masks" for their musical number, "Albuquerque Turkey." It was cute, but very short! I barely got a picture taken.

With the end of the recital came the beginning of Thanksgiving break. However, the fun wasn't quite over yet. The middle school students hosted a fall carnival/fundraiser that began as soon as school let out. The girls begged to stay and play some of the games, and I obliged, doling out what little cash I had in my wallet.

 

The games were all simple enough, with tiny toys as rewards. The girls all seemed to have a lot of fun trying out all the activities. Celeste even got to throw a pie at some brave adult volunteer!

The week leading up to Thanksgiving was a full one. On Saturday alone, I went to a Relief Society women's day conference, took Celeste to a birthday party, baked a ton of cookies, and went on a date with Nathan to his boss's home for their annual "pre-Thanksgiving feast," in which delicious food is served and pleasant adult conversation is had. Whew. I was tired out at the end of the day, but fat and happy.

The next several days were filled with play dates, shopping and baking. We shopped for a few clothing items for the girls, as well as all the Christmas presents for our extended family. The girls were a little hyper going from store to store, but at home they were very helpful with wrapping the presents:

At first, I had planned on hosting the Thanksgiving dinner (originally, after the funeral, Sandy had said she didn't want to deal with it). However, a few weeks later, Sandy decided she wanted to host the meal after all. I suspect that part of the reason is that she prefers her stuffing to mine (to be fair, her stuffing is very delicious)! That wasn't the only reason, though; I think Sandy likes to cook for a crowd, and she wanted her house to be full of people for the holidays. Plus, she has better television reception than we do...all the better to watch football! That was possibly the final deciding factor.

Not to be denied my delicious home-cooked turkey dinner, I whipped up a "mini-Thanksgiving" for the elders in our ward on Wednesday night. It was tiring, but oh so tasty.

 As a result of that meal, the cooking the following day was much lighter. We "only" had to make one pie (a mixed berry pie, Nathan's favorite and one of my favorites too)...

 

...corn-bread stuffing, cooked in a pumpkin..

a sweet-potato souffle...

...our delicious orange tapioca salad, and rolls. No problem! Half of those items were whipped up the night before, the other half in the early morning while we watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade on our television.

Nathan left for Green Valley earlier than I did; he ended up golfing with his brother Ryan all morning before the meal. In recent months, Nathan has started to get a lot more interested in golf, and he hopes to gradually increase his skills in the coming months and years. He and Ryan did a full 18 holes while the "women-folk" worked on the food at home.

 

The girls had fun watching TV and playing with their cousin Cameron all morning too:

The timing worked out well; just after Ryan and Nathan arrived home, it was time to eat!

Look at the undisguised greed on the kids' faces. They had been putting off their appetites for a long time, but at long last they could stuff their faces. In fact, so could we all...and so we did.

Once our stomachs had deflated a bit and most of us had taken a nap, we went back for pie:

There was a lot of pie...which is never a bad thing.

It was not an eventful day, but it was a good one. We always love spending time with Ryan and Judy, and we love Cameron too. Our evening was a quiet one (none of us are big talkers), but it was spent in pleasant companionship.

The following day was the dreaded Black Friday, a date on which I have had mixed success in the past. I decided to follow my pattern for last year of shopping on my own, at my own pace. I moseyed out the door early in the morning (but not TOO early; I'm not a glutton for punishment!), and made it back to family in the early evening. I broke up the shopping with a trip to the movie theater, so the whole day wasn't too exhausting! And I got about 80% of our family's Christmas shopping done, so I consider it a day well spent (even though I was very glad for it to be over).

Nathan and the kids had a busy Black Friday as well, and it was a lot more fun than mine: they went and played with a bunch of dogs and cats at the local animal shelter, then went out for lunch and mini golf. I'm glad they enjoyed themselves, and part of me wished to be with them! Maybe next year, I guess. However, I am starting to get into this "Black Friday warrior" thing. I am not an aggressive shopper, but it can be exhilarating to find a good deal on a product. Also, I like to get all my holiday shopping out of the way as soon as possible, so I can have more time to relax in the month of December (at least, that's the theory...who knows if it will every really be more relaxing!).

After all the eating and shopping, it was time for the present wrapping and mailing I mentioned earlier. And now the circle is complete, and it's Christmas time, with all that entails! I'll try to peek into the blog and keep it updated in the month to come, but if I don't...well, you can all probably figure out why.

What's Cooking This November

If November is known for nothing else, it's known for Thanksgiving...and by extension, lots and lots of delicious food. But the goodies aren't just consumed at Thanksgiving; in our house, it feels like I'm always working on some food-related project during this month (and December too, albeit to a somewhat lesser extent). Here are a few of my foodie highlights from the month so far:

I made my annual batch of applesauce a few weeks ago. This is probably my family's favorite home-canned treat that I make, and lucky for me, it's one of the easiest foods to can at home. Here's my recipe for applesauce, if you'd ever like to try making your own. As usual, I made the applesauce out of Jonathan apples....in my humble opinion, Jonathan apples make the best applesauce!

This time around, I had a little help...

I didn't have to pressure Aurora to be my helper; she volunteered happily! It was wonderful to have an extra pair of hands, even if they were tiny.

She especially loved washing the apples off for me, and for sticking the apple slices into my stock pot. Sure, she eventually got a bit bored and wandered off, but not before helping me with my first batch.

 

She also helped with "clean-up"...by licking off the applesauce leftovers from the pot. Aurora is a girl who doesn't normally like getting her hands dirty, so for her to eat applesauce with her bare hands is high praise indeed.

Next time I make applesauce, I'm going to have to try doing it when my girls are home from school. Sometimes, I think of canning as something to do when my kids aren't around. However, they're getting old enough that I need to start actually teaching them how it's done, and hopefully trying it out later for themselves.

On another topic, it wouldn't be November if I didn't make a ton of these...

It's the time of year when I hand out my delicious delicious pumpkin chocolate-chip bread to my piano students & friends. Here's the recipe for the bread, for those who want to try it out! (Don't be scared, it's a very easy recipe and it makes a lot of bread).

Believe it or not, I was trying to cut back on the amount of bread I made this year! I'm pretty sure I made a batch or two less than most years. Oddly enough, I felt like I had more time than usual to make them; perhaps because my kids are all in school and I'm less rushed during the day? Either way, I managed to give away most of the bread, but there are still two loaves hanging around in the freezer taunting me. We'll see how long they last.

I have also been cooking in preparation for December. Yes, in preparation for December. My friend Miranda is heading up the ward Christmas party this year, and I volunteered my services. I was promptly put on the food committee, and asked to bake 150 Christmas cookies. However, I was to freeze these cookies, because the party isn't for three more weeks!

These are "Grinch" cookies; they're green, with a heart "two sizes too small" in the middle. Cute idea! Luckily, I didn't have to make the cookie dough; it was delivered to me. But it was a long night of cooking all the same. It was hard to resist trying one out; I am curious to see what they taste like!

And of course, it wouldn't be November without a huge turkey:

Yes, I realize this is the day before Thanksgiving. We're having our actual Thanksgiving dinner at Nathan's mom's house tomorrow afternoon; however, I just couldn't let the holiday pass by without cooking a turkey! So we invited the missionaries over for dinner tonight so I would have an excuse to "host" a Thanksgiving.

 

As you might expect, I overdid it on the food. But it was no problem to send the missionaries home with a bunch of leftovers, and we still had a lot left over ourselves! Now I need to save room for the terrific feast that is awaiting us at Grandma's house tomorrow. I hope all my friends & loved ones have a wonderful Thanksgiving, eating delicious food and counting their blessings. That's what I plan on doing.

Beautiful Wedding On A Budget

This will be a short-ish blog post, mostly because I'm "tooting the horns" of others without their knowledge. But since November is the month of "thanksgiving," I thought this would be a good opportunity to express my gratitude for having so many very talented friends. That blessing was really brought home to me over the last couple of weeks, when I helped out a little bit at a friend's wedding.

My friend's name is Sandy; she's a member of my LDS congregation, and she is "getting on in years a bit," as some might say. I don't know her exact age, but as I have gotten to know her, she seemed ageless to me. She has a beautiful smile and always has a twinkle in her eye. She works at a local quilt shop and is always quick to lend a hand of service to her friends & fellow church members. I sometimes think I'd like to make her my "adopted grandmother," but I've always been too shy to ask.

Long story short, Sandy lost her husband a few years ago after a lengthy period of illness. Then, just a year ago, a neighbor and friend of hers named Andy lost his own wife after a similar long period of illness. Sandy & Andy had lived on the same street for about 40 years. They'd raised both their families alongside each other. And now both of them were left without spouses. After several months of tentative dating & courtship, Andy asked Sandy for her hand in marriage. She accepted. The news of their engagement was terrific news in our congregation. We were so happy for the both of them!

I attended a wedding shower for Sandy a week before they were to be married. It was very different than most showers I'd been to before, but it was still awesome. Sandy herself was as giddy and blushing as any first-time bride; it was adorable (if my saying so doesn't sound too condescending). Sandy and Andy had wanted their wedding to be a small, low-key affair, but our bishop's wife Susan was determined to make it a memorable occasion, even on a tiny budget as it was.

Here's where my gratitude (and my respect) starts showing up. Susan was an interior design major in college, and she has a terrific eye for design and tasteful decor. I'm not sure if she was ever formally employed as an interior designer, but she clearly has tons of practical experience in that sort of thing. She is a regular helper at ward parties and other special events; she always opens up her gorgeous home to my piano students & their families for our winter recital. Susan is a miracle worker, in my opinion; she has an incredible gift to make even small, simple things appear beautiful and precious. Case in point; the wedding of Sandy & Andy.

 I did none of the planning for the wedding, but I did show up early to help set up chairs and a few other things. There is a small covered pavilion behind the old chapel in Sahuarita; normally, this area is used for family picnics and other informal gatherings. On this day, though, it was transformed into something beautiful...

 

 

 I helped hang up some of the white curtains and the floral garnishes on the wedding "frame." I also helped arrange some of the table centerpieces...

There were fresh rosemary branches stuck everywhere, so the whole pavilion smelled lovely...and so did my hands, after handling all the plants!

There was a lot of other talent on display as well; lots of ward members contributed food and drink to the reception afterwards. There were too many helpers to name individually, but the cake deserves special mention...

The cake was made by a former professional baker in our ward named MeShell. Every time I hear that she is bringing something she's made, I have to show up and try it out! The three layers were each a different flavor of cake: chocolate (which disappeared before I could try it); white with raspberry cream filling (superb); and carrot (which was shockingly fluffy and yet still packed with flavor. This was one of the best carrot cakes I've ever had).

The bride & groom with the cake

I participated in a couple of musical numbers just before the actual wedding ceremony. I accompanied two different groups on the piano. The first was a husband and wife (Jan and Nathan) singing "I Know Heavenly Father Loves Me." The second (trickier) number was a duet of two ladies (Jani and Jenn) singing "Love At Home," with another sister (Sue) providing a flute part. I'd been nervous about this number because we had never practiced it together until literally the night before the wedding. During that rehearsal, we kept changing parts of the song and making things up as we went. And yet, it all came together and sounded great!

Here's some more gratitude: I am constantly in awe at the musical talent in our ward. Not since living at BYU have I lived in a ward in which so many people are musically gifted. In some wards I've lived in, I was one of the only piano players available; in this Sahuarita ward, there are probably close to two dozen people who are skilled at playing the piano. It's very possible I'm not even in the top ten, skill-wise. We also have a handful of music teachers and several other current or former band members. We have multiple violinists & flutists, we have a trumpet player, and we have one sister who teaches drum lessons, plays in the Green Valley band, and regularly composes & arranges musical numbers on her own.

And of course, we have many many skilled singers, some with lots of formal voice training (Jenn, who sang "Love At Home," was in one of BYU's choral ensembles, which are very competitive. She usually sings without a microphone, as she doesn't need one). One of the great blessings of being choir director in our ward (a position I've had for a little over a year now) is that so many talented people show up, and they learn the music quickly and with little coaching. What's even more amazing is that I can name at least a half-dozen more people in the ward who have amazing, solo-quality singing voices, and yet never come to ward choir due to a variety of reasons. Our ward's musical bench is just that deep (to borrow a sports analogy). It is such a great blessing to make lovely music with so many talented, enthusiastic, passionate musicians.

So anyway, even though I was nervous about performing these musical numbers, I needn't have worried...both went off almost without a hitch. The only (small) mishap was that my sheet music was blowing around a bit as I played. I am not used to playing my instrument out of doors! But I had someone come to my aid quickly, so everything turned out well after that.

As for Sandy and Andy, they both looked happy throughout the whole service. It occurred to me as I watched the bishop read out the marriage vows (it was the first wedding he'd ever performed!), that I had never before attended an LDS wedding that wasn't inside the temple. While I love the sacredness of a temple wedding, this simpler service also filled me with joy. I could feel the love everyone had for Sandy & Andy, and the love they and their families had for one another. I loved the more jovial, energetic feeling that was present there. I loved that people clapped afterward, and that Frank Sinatra music was played afterwards.

Most of all, I loved seeing two people find happiness again after losing their significant other. It was a balm to my soul, after seeing my beautiful mother-in-law suffer the loss of her beloved husband last month. I'm not saying she needs to get married again soon (or even at all, if it comes to that!), but this wedding reminded me that time can heal our most painful wounds, and I hope she will be able to find happiness and meaning in her life again to help ease her hurt. It has been a sad month for our family, but seeing this wedding reminded me of many blessings in my life I sometimes take for granted. We are surrounded by loving, amazing people.