time in a bottle: Christmas Day

It wouldn't be Christmas morning without Hot Punch and homemade Caramel-Pecan rolls!

Fortunately, I remembered to snap this photo before they were all gone.

We were all glad to see that Moosey was in fact on Santa's "Nice" list, and that he didn't forget to leave her something--a new bed and a few toys in her stocking.

After my parents arrived around 9 a.m., we took our time opening gifts. I love unwrapping presents one at a time so we can see what everyone gets. Here, Emily displays the cupcake apron she received from Aunt Susan.

In addition to a long-wished for Nintendo DS, Sarah received some much-needed clothing.

The only gift I made this year was a dress coat in charcoal grey wool for Charlotte. This picture is somewhat blurry, but nevertheless captures her excitement upon opening her gift. Rewarding for me to see!

John was happy to get Guitar Hero World Tour. Here, he is excited to open a thoughtful gift from Charlotte--a guitar music book of one of his favorite bands.

After the gifts were opened, we opted to stay in our pajamas--far more conducive to lounging, watching television, and napping--which was all we did. Later, we enjoyed leftovers from the previous night's buffet. Moosey, unaccustomed to having round-the-clock attention, basked in the plethora of laps and eager would-be scratchers.

Biggest surprise of the day? Mark venturing into the world of self-portraiture.

A day of many treats, surprises, smiles, laughs, and good memories. *sigh* Good times.

time in a bottle: Christmas Eve

It's hard to believe that one week ago it was Christmas Eve. What is it about time that makes it seem to go both super fast and surrealistically slow at the same time? How is this possible? In some ways it seems like Christmas Eve--the baking, entertaining, anticipating--was forever ago, but at the same time I feel the days slipping away far too quickly with Real Life nipping dangerously at my heels.

Before the moment is too far gone, however, I want to recap our Christmas celebrations in the hope that by capturing a few moments of "time in a bottle" I can convince myself that it wasn't just a dream.

We had our traditional Christmas Eve buffet of smoked turkey and salmon, beef tenderloin, crabbed-stuffed twice-baked potatoes, three different salads, homemade rolls, and cooked carrots (the mother in me always hopes that, since my kids won't eat the spinach salad, they'll meet their vegetable quota another way).

We seated eleven for dinner; our friend Melissa and the missionaries came. Later, our friends the Namiaches stopped by with their two children (one of whom is Sarah's good friend) for dessert. They arrived just in time for our annual Christmas Eve program of music and stories, which Sarah organized this year.

I love watching the kids perform together. Though you can't see it in this photo, Emily was accompanying Charlotte and Sarah.

My mom and I have sung Pinecones and Hollyberries/It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas together every Christmas Eve for as long as I can remember. We didn't have accompaniment this year, so it was a little rocky, but I will always treasure this memory.

Sarah invited her friend Danielle to read How the Grinch Stole Christmas with her. They read with such expression!

We had invited the missionaries to contribute to our program. Elder Welch brought his guitar and he and Elder Hixon sang a couple of Christmas carols. They did a nice job!

No matter how old the kids get, they still look forward to opening their *surprise!* pajamas on Christmas Eve. Here they are modeling their new sleep/lounge wear.

When the kids were ready for bed and the cookies and milk had been left out for Santa, they gathered in the girls' room for a game of electronic Life. The kids' tradition of playing a Christmas Eve game together in one of their bedrooms started a few years ago, and as one of Santa's helpers, I am a fan.

By midnight or so, not a creature was stirring and we slept undisturbed until 7:45 a.m. Christmas morning, when Sarah and John came downstairs to wake us.

relax to the max!

After thoroughly enjoying Michelle's and Jill's detailed accounts of Christmas Day, I'm anxious to post my own. Tomorrow. Or maybe the next day.

For now, suffice it to say that we're logging some serious relaxation hours at the Wood house--and loving every minute of it.

let vacation commence!

It's official now. I'm on vacation!

After spending a few hours at work yesterday, I went to my mom's house with the kids for a baking afternoon. Sadly, I didn't bring my camera, but we had a productive--if undocumented--afternoon. We made crab-stuffed twice-baked potatoes, roll dough, and a molded salad for tonight's dinner, as well as homemade sugar cookies and fabulous fudge. We enjoyed working together and taste-testing along the way.

The best part of the day was having popcorn and M&Ms for dinner in the family room while watching my favorite Christmas movie: It's a Wonderful Life.

No--I take it back. The BEST part was not setting my alarm for this morning and sleeping in a bit.

Ahh--vacation!

'tis the season!

Wow. Two weeks ago I was just getting home from PA and it was Mark's birthday. Fourteen days, three programs, two parties, one concert, our first big snow storm, and eight rolls of wrapping paper later, it's four days before Christmas and all I've posted about is my one very lovely and long-awaited nap.

So, lest I neglect to document the events of the season, here's a not-so-brief synopsis:

• December 10th: Relief Society Christmas party. Martissa, April, and I put together a program of stories and songs--about 50 minutes worth--that we performed for our ward's sisters. I love singing with these two because they can both read music and hold their own parts. It's so much fun to sing harmony!

Three divas, with our accompanist Julia.

• December 11th: Sarah's Fourth Grade Holiday Program. I bought Sarah a pretty Christmas dress that I found at Macy's in Pennsylvania, but it was too big. We squeezed in a trip to the local Macy's in the afternoon to exchange it. Even though we couldn't find the identical dress, we found another that we liked and Sarah wore it to her elementary school program that night. With her hair done in hot rollers and in her new dress, she was definitely the cutest one in the recorder ensemble! I enjoyed her program, even though the gym was full and I had to stand the entire time.

• December 12th: John's high school choir concert. This was a delightful evening--the best concert at WRHS since my favorite choir teacher left seven or eight years ago.
  

You know, I just don't get tired of seeing that boy in a tux! (Shown here with his friend Devin.)

• December 13th: Ward Christmas Party. I was on the committee for this one, so it took up large part of my day. We had a chili supper and program which I was again a part of (due to the fact that my mother was also on the planning committee). No photos of this event, which is just as well, as the program is best left a memory.

• December 14th: Major snow storm blows into town! (Thankfully, after my car was unloaded from the previous night's party.) I talked Sarah and John into shoveling the driveway and walk after church--not their favorite task, to say the least.
  

• December 15th-20th: Power shopping to the max! My feet are eternally grateful for early Christmas present of new Dansko clogs. Lots of late-night wrapping.

• December 16th: After an early-morning stop at my parents' house to help my Dad upload the Christmas card photo I took the day before, I find that my car won't start. Will. Not. Start. Bad start to a long day. Their photo turned out cute, though.

• December 18th: Charlotte and Emily catch an early flight from SLC! Home for 2+ weeks!

• December 20th: BYU bowl game. Our friends, the Buehler's came over to watch (sad outcome for Cougar fans). We had enchiladas for dinner, and we all enjoyed playing with their darling one-year-old baby girl.

• December 21st: Christmas Sunday. I love the Sunday before Christmas! Today's Sacrament Meeting was especially meaningful to me because my parents were the speakers and Charlotte and Emily played a beautiful violin/piano duet. I was reminded that the real reason we celebrate Christmas has very little--if anything--to do with concerts, parties, shopping, or wrapping. I am so grateful for the birth of the Savior and for His love for me. I feel more motivated to reach out to others, to be more loving at home, and to drop the stress that so often accompanies the holiday season.

And I even managed to get our neighbor Nick to get this family photo before everyone changed out of their Sunday clothes!

Life is good.

glad tidings of comfort and joy

After church yesterday I had a three hour nap!

better late than never

Since returning from Susan's late Sunday night, I've been running fast trying to play "catch-up," with seemingly little success. It feels like having to jump onto a treadmill that is already moving at an alarmingly rapid pace and having to just start running as fast as I can without really stopping to think, in an effort to merely keep from falling off and hurting myself. And wouldn't you know that this week is one of those with commitments every night! They're all enjoyable things I've been looking forward to, but I confess I'm rather tired to face such a hectic week on the heels of a tiring, albeit fun, one.

Blogging, of course, has been on my list. Mark's forty-seventh birthday was on Monday. Thankfully, Mark is easy to please. We celebrated by having a simple steak dinner at home with just the kids and my parents. It was quieter than most Wood birthday celebrations, but I rather enjoyed the change of pace. His cake of choice was homemade banana cake, courtesy of my mom--the Master Cake Maker.

Thank goodness I had planned ahead and started his "10 Things" album a few weeks ago. At least I had one gift to wrap. I also gave him a coupon for a date with his own personal shopper--me--to buy new clothes for his new size (he has lost over forty pounds in the last year--woo hoo! Way to go!).

Here he is with his album, which was is in a 6x6 format, black and cream with accents of red. One of my favorites of his Ten Things is number 10:

• "I love you for loving me the way I am, and for who I am. I love feeling that your love for me is wholly unrelated to the state or condition of my hair, my weight, or even my mood. When at times I see only the glaring flaws within myself, you see something better. Thank you."

And here he is with me, his wife of 23 years. Happy birthday, honey! I love you.

working girl

I'm pretty sure Diet Coke tastes better when served over ice in a lead crystal goblet. Just one of the perks of working for Susan's wealthy clients.

over the river and through the woods

After a fun-filled holiday week with the girls at home and my brother and his family for Thanksgiving, I hastily packed and fly off to Pennsylvania to help Susan with Christmas set-ups for her wealthy interior design clients. I arrived in the City of Brotherly Love late Sunday night. Poor Susan and Fred had been driving all day in heavy traffic, returning from Jessie's house in North Carolina. As they pulled into the airport to pick me up, however, Fred's car--which had just had a new battery installed last week--died. Wouldn't move. Couldn't roll up the window. Made everyone behind him in the parking garage irritated and inclined to use lewd gestures.

It was 11 p.m. and we were stranded at the airport. This is our sad-airport-face picture.

Approximately three-and-a-half hours later we made it to Susan's house--she and I via taxi, and poor Fred with the tow-truck driver for whom he had waited three hours. Great start to a very busy week.

For a recap of our daily adventures, see Susan's blog. We're attempting to post about our decorating adventures, but thus far have been so exhausted every night that we fall into bed for our 4-5 hours of sleep with nary a moment to post.

Stay tuned.

Gratitude