Our Christmas

This year is going to be a very small Christmas in some ways, and very large in others.

We don't have a lot of money, hardly any in fact. So we spent very little in way of gifts, but still did our best to make sure we and the rest of our family and friends will enjoy the holidays. We thought a lot about what gifts we were going to give people and got things that we knew they would like, instead of buying something expensive that we thought they might. We didn't go overboard.

We also couldn't spend a lot in the way of decorations. Our windows are decorated with paper snowflakes I cut out. We had a little village we started last year and set up a little table with that. (This being the last year we can for a while as by next year Piper will be able to reach it.) We got a tree from Fred Meyer for 20 bucks. It's not uber fabulous, but it's a tree and brings the Christmas feeling into our home. We got a few ornaments for very little to augment my small collection and for under 50 dollars we have a fully decorated tree(including the cost of the tree). And my biggest woe, we don't have a fireplace in this house. Or, at least, we didn't. Not wanting to try to have the Christmas spirit without a fireplace, which I find essential, I built us one. There is now a lovely paper fire crackling in a paper fireplace. It cost less than a dollar, but it still warms my spirit.

We may be having a small Christmas, but our love, imagination, and hearts grow large enough to make it feel not very small at all.

There have been many times during this season that I have seen people spend huge quantities of money on gifts and decorations and parties. And I've seen them and the end of the season, never any happier. And I feel richer than any of them because not only do I have a loving family and wonderful friends, but I have the truth about the gospel in my life and the knowledge that no matter how bad things can get here, at the end of our season on earth, our joy will be unparralleled, and our gifts ever increasing.

So if anybody else ot there is feeling the strain of the season, just keep a smile on your face and remember what the season is really about. Money isn't important, love is.

Merry Christmas

Snow

I've seen snow before. We go up to the cabin at least once a year to see it and play in it. I've gone out in the cold and the slush. I've built snowmen and forts and had snowball fights. I've gone sledding and skiing and trudged through it.

So why oh why do people act like it's something I have never experienced that I should be happy about?

I don't like the cold. I love heat. I love laying out in 100 degree weather and feeling my skin heat up. I love t-shirts and shorts and sandals. I love summer dresses and open toed heels. I love ice cream and rootbeer floats. I love swimming. I love having ripe fruit and veggies. I like heat.

But I chose to move to a place right before 20 degree weather sets in. So the car doors freeze shut. The roads are covered in ice. I can't stop shivering in our house that my husband insists is tropical in its clime. I wear turtlenecks and I'm still freezing.

I hate this.

A Bigger update

So here's the news. *Deep breath*

Piper's not crawling yet, but she sits up all one her own and she's strong enough to stand, she would just rather dive to anything that looks tasty, and everything looks tasty to her. She eats everything in sight, and even if she decides she doesn't like the taste of something she will continually put it into her mouth and make faces until you take it away from her. She loves bouncing, and though we have a ball we bounce her to sleep on, and a bouncer that she can bounce herself in, her favorite thing is to sit on your knee and bounce like she's riding a horsey. She still hates the car, which wasn't so fun on the drive to and from california, but thankfully sleeps wonderfully in then, so long as it's night. She hates plane rides more and does not sleep at all on those. The only good thing about those is that she doesn't scream during the flights, though she will shriek excitedly whenever she sees someone new.

I'm settling in well and amusing myself with cleaning and knitting and writing. I also might have made a friend, but I'm not sure yet because I haven't really spent too much time here, and the christmas season makes it difficult to make friends with people when they're busy with family and shopping and whatnot. But I'm hoping. Keep your fingers crossed and maybe in a few weeks I'll be writing how awesome my new friend is.

Logan is doing well, though business is dragging, and so he has started working for a realty company hauling trash, which may or may not offer a sort of stable future. There are some venues he's pursuing (a job for a month in california, and a hauling job with his uncle a few months out), but thus far we're living on savings and the goodwill of our families. Pray for us, if you have a spare secnd or two in your prayers, because we're nearing a point of desperation and could use all the help we can get.

Thanksgiving was fabulous, we went down and spent it with my folks and even thought the girls weren't there a good time was had by all. We'll be going down the day after Christmas too, and though the drive is daunting and dreadful, we are looking forward to it. Well, I am at least. I think Logan is too.

Anywhoodles, if there's anything else that you all would like to know about our stupendous lives, let me know!! I'll try to be better about posting. :)

She loves herself some santa!!! Look she's just finishing him off!! :)

Silly little update, don't you know words are for reading?

One word Answers

1. Where is your cell phone? Pocket
2. Your significant other? Stubbly
3. Your hair? Short
4. Your mother? Fabulous
5. Your father? Amazing
6. Your favorite thing? Piper
7. Your dream last night? Unremarkable
8. Your favorite drink? Water!
9. Your dream/goal? Happiness
10. The room you’re in? Office
11. Your hobby? Knitting
12. Your fear? Poverty
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Home
14. What you’re not? Warm
15. Muffins? Lemon
16. One of your wish list items? Books!!!
17. Where you grew up? Gilroy
18. The last thing you did? Typed
9. What are you wearing? Earrings
20. Favorite gadget? cell
21. Your pets? kitties
22. Your computer? Dell
23. Your mood? Sleepy
24. Missing someone? Tamara
25. Your car? Chevy
26. Something you’re not wearing? Makeup
27. Favorite store? Borders
28. Like someone? NEVER!!!
29. Your favorite color? Green
30. When is the last time you laughed? 12:02:2008:13:35:23
31. Last time you cried? 11:28:2008:18:57:11

Silly-ness. But I can be silly. That's just the sort of girl I am. :)

Lots has been happening. Too cold and tired to tell you about it. Tomorrow will bear another post from me, so until then just know that nothing is ever easy.

Farewell, oh readers of mine.

Hiya!

Sorry I haven't updated in awhile. I know you all are probably anxious to hear what's up with me. Or just a few of you. ;)

Anyways, Piper is growing like a weed. She is six months old today. She is wearing 9 month clothes. Except for one little onsie that's really cute that my mama bought for her. It's pink with puffy sleeves and little strawberries all over it. IT's a 0-3 month. It fits her perfectly. It's a phenomenon. I dunno how that works, but it does. She's been wearing it for alittle over 3 months and it fits her just as well now as it did then. But we have just discovered that the 6-9 month clothes we bought for her two weeks ago are too small now.

There are fairies skipping around our house making things impossible. Or, to be more precise, making impossible things happen. The clothes are only the beginning. She hasn't started crawling yet. But she's about a month away from standing on her own. And instead of eating people's chins (as I remember my brother doing) she wants to eat your nose. Or your cheek. It tickles no little bit as well.

Maybe it's not the impossible. Maybe the fairies are just making things happen backwards. Logan cooks. I take out the trash. Logan shops and I stay home.

The world as I know is .... distinctly different than I thought it would be.

I blame the fairies.

To laugh or not to laugh-what a sad question

So, I don't know if you've noticed, but I tend to be a little silly and whimsical. Don't know rightly why, but there doesn't seem to be a cure. I am forever the weird one. :) Not that I object overmuch. I rather like being the odd one in a bunch. And boy am I.

In some places, I actually fit in. Me and my sisters get along famously. Even my brother, who we tormented mercilessly. We are alike in many ways, though that is to be expected with the whole growing up together that we were doing. And our silliness is definitely due to the fabulousness of our parents. With burping contests at the dinner table, movie quotes tossed out at random, a dad who was more likely to tease and joke than anything else, and a mom who wasn't afraid to sing silly songs, participate in camp pranks, and taught with laughter, how could we be any different?

And the extended family gets me, mostly. Some more than others, but they love me and accept that I'm just an odd duck.

California gave me my wonderful sense of humor and I was allowed to be silly and sarcastic. I was allowed to make puns and be outrageous. I could pop out of a closet and scare the pants off someone (usually my mother) and then laugh with them. I could dance around and generally make a fool of myself and have a grand ole time doing it. I could scream songs at the top of my lungs and hear my sisters answering with the next line from the other end of the house. I told jokes, I giggled. I laughed uproariously. I teased.

Apparently Idaho is a state without humor.

Nobody here gets me. I'm met with blank stares and complete incomprehension. I'm not that smart, and I know they aren't all stupid. But anything other than the most obvious jokes are just overlooked as a silly Californian being weird. And the jokes they find humorous...well I may just be too politically correct, but they all seem to be mildly offensive at best.

I don't laugh anymore. No giggles. I don't tell jokes. I don't tease - except my husband, but that's to be expected. I don't sing except to my daguhter. I don't dance at all. Sarcasm is too subtle. Silliness is looked at as immaturity.

That icky greenish stuff

You know, that stuff that everyone says is so important. The stuff you have to have in this country. That stuff that wars are faught over. That stuff that people are killed for. That icky ole stuff that's just so gosh darn important that if you don't have it you are a nobody. Sometimes worse than a nobody. Sometimes the lack of that icky-ness renders you invisible. Or it can even send you to prison.

I'm not talking lima beans here people.

Now, there are many way of obtaining that darn green stuff. You can trade your time and efforts for it. You can trade something you already have for it. You can take it from somebody who has some. You can wait for someone who loves you to die and get it from their lawyer. You can ask someboy for some. Someone could give it to you. There are even more ways than that. But all the rest are less and less likely ways to obtain it.

The bad part is, there are far more ways to lose it. If you plan to have a house, you'll lose some. If you plan to have a baby, you'll lose some. If you want to have a car or truck you'll lose some. Even if you ride the bus or take a taxi you still lose some. If you want some else to cut your hair you lose some. If you plan on eating you lose some. If you want to have lights on in your house, heat or a/c, water, TV, Internet, phones, and someone to take away your garbage, you lose some. If you want to take those cars or trucks anywhere you lose some. If you get bad habits and try to make more in an unreliable way you could lose a lot. If someone else pretend to be you they could take all of yours. There are too many ways to count.

It's so much easier to find places for it to go, than to find ways to get more of it.

It's probably the leading cause of worry in the average household.

I don't like it. I wish it wasn't a necessity. But it is. And so life goes on and the endless pursuit for that dumb stuff that people obsess over continues on. Whether I like it or not.