Christmas Decorating!

A few years ago, Doug convinced me that a fake tree was the right choice for our family.

I grew up enjoying the tradition of going with my dad to pick out the biggest real tree we could convince my mom to get - so it seemed like a huge betrayal of all things Christmas. What about the rich, outdoorsy smell of the fresh pine boughs? What about the scratchy branches and slightly tilted tree (despite the adjusting and turning and cutting off the bottom)? What about having to fill in the empty spots with extra ornaments and having one side that definitely went in the back? What about crawling under the tree every day to see how much water it needed (or finding out too late that it needed more - the signal of dropping all its needles was never clear enough.)

Plastic just seemed so ..... plastic.

But... maybe I have lost some Christmas spirit. Maybe I have given into the instant gratification culture. Or maybe I just like my Christmas with a little less work these days. I must admit the joys of a pre - lit tree are extensive. It always took forever to get the lights on, and that could only happen after the strands had been untangled (because I only managed to store one or two correctly the year before, tossing the rest into the box willy-nilly with a tired, oh well). Now the tree comes out of the attic in three pieces, goes together like a large simple puzzle, gets some branch fluffing and is plugged in. Ta Dah!

We have much more time to put on all the ornaments, from hand made snowmen to the golden Wright Flyer and space shuttle the boys chose in DC last year. More time to have hot cocoa and watch Food Network Christmas specials. More time to set up the Nativity set and talk about what our favorite Christmas carols mean. I have found Christmas songs one of the best ways to begin discussions of faith - Hark the Herald Angles Sing is one of Andrew's favorites and clearly lays out the gospel.

And it is still exciting to put the star on top:

Thanksgiving 2007

For Thanksgiving this year we went to Nana and Papa's house with Aunt Jeannette and our friend Elizabeth (who generously opened her home to us during the recent fires).

Mom and Dad's house renovations weren't done yet, but the kitchen was functional and worked great! (though Papa did need to look up the manual for the oven on the internet, and I had to bring my meat thermometer because theirs was still in a box.) The boys loved making crescent rolls (a perennial favorite) with Aunt Jeannette.


After dinner Andrew and Aunt Jeannette played Scrabble and Zach and Andrew played a game of giant Pick Up Sticks with Dad. (that was very loud on the new tile floor!) Then there was the pie...


We were thankful for the yummy food and the good time together!

I need some good titles...

So this is clearly not a creative writing blog - pure autobiography...if I wait to be inspired to be clever, it will be 2009 before I post again, so ...nothing fancy. But great photos, right? :-)

In November my cousin Kristen got married so we drove up to Sacramento for the festivities. We had some time in old Scramento where we found at least 5 candy shops within three square blocks! So of course we had to sample - here is Andrew's "jawlipop" I am not sure he ever finished it, but he did get to the center, many rainbow layers later.


Here we are with my sister at the reception. It was in a beautiful winery outside of Sacramento. Poor Zach was just exhausted - he rarely wants to miss the action, but he couldn't keep his eyes open. We took turns holding him and then took him back to the hotel.

The wedding was just beautiful and we all love Alex. There were some interesting adventures that evening, including a tipsy limo driver getting the limo stuck in the mud, the bride and groom riding back to the hotel in the truck of reception venue employees, and... the groom's pants catching on fire. Yes, they pretty much melted. He was not in them at the time, but the happy couple did have to air out the hotel room for a few hours - rental tux polyester doesn't smell so good! But they were laughing the next morning. They honeymooned in Africa - a dream trip.

2007 recap continues

Okay, I will get caught up one of these days... maybe even today!

So here is the first day of school for most of the Summerhill Gang - it is very fun to have great neighbors!


Halloween brought us a meerkat (recognize the costume?) and an American Indian. (his favorite was the real mohawk....and yes, it was mostly warm enough to be shirtless for trick or treating. Or at least he wouldn't admit to needing a jacket.) We projected It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown onto the garage door and had a firepit in the driveway for trick or treating. We were a very popular house! It has proven to be a great night to spend time with the neighbors!



And we went on the All Church Retreat at Forest Home (a great camp in the San Bernadino mountains). This is mini golf with some of the kids of our small group. (notice that Andrew still has his mohawk...)

What we did on Summer vacation (part 3)

Oregon for GG's 101st Birthday!

We picked blackberries...

... rode bikes, played cards, read good books, stayed up late, slept in tents, ate birthday cake, played disc golf, and climbed trees.


It is such a great time to spend with family. Andrew and cousin Hayley and I took a great bike ride along the Rogue River bike path. This year the boys had their own tent right next to ours (independence for them and more room for us!). And we we started most mornings with fresh Belgian waffles, whipped cream and blackberries right off the bush. So it really isn't roughing it - car camping with electricity. And Aunt Judy and Uncle Merle bring their trailer full of extra bikes, coffee maker, industrial waffle iron...next year we may have the kitchen sink!