Top Ten--December 2010

Without further ado:
10—Cravings I had this month: huckleberry pie, pickles, water, water, water, Pringles, orange juice, oranges, clementines, and sour patch kids. Fortunately I don’t actually follow with every craving I experience. I do always follow through with water and you would think that’s a good thing, except I never have it until after 8 p.m. 5 glasses of water after 8 p.m. makes for a lot of night waking. 3 ½ more months. Sigh.

9—Wherein Adam gives new meaning to traditional Christmas carols:
“Scar of wonder, scar of night. Scar with royal beauty bright.”
“Oh what fun it is to ride in a one-more slopin’ sleigh.”
“Harry, harry, hallelujah. Harry, harry, hallelujah!”

8—Christmas prep = actually enjoyable. Not being much of a shopper, I decided to get it done early this year. It was a good choice. We had time for other fun things, like the kids drawing names and making gifts. Lucy made Adam some bean bags, Kye made Lucy some sparkly book marks, Isaac made Kye a Pokemon coloring book, and Adam (didn’t) helped make Isaac a bowling game. I hope this is a tradition that sticks. It was fun. (So was sleeping downstairs under the Christmas tree. Another keeper.)

7—The Elf Project: we participated by becoming elves for a couple of families in our ward. The kids got the thrill of dropping off gifts and running away at top speed, terrified they were going to get caught. Made me laugh every time.

6—The Elf Project II-in which the children became a herd of elephants every time the doorbell rang. Should it not be a fun treat left by our elves, the kids abandoned whoever was at the door with a sigh and a “Dang it!” We had a little talk about door manners, but I don’t think it worked b/c it happened every single time.

5—Z: It’s time to lay down.
A: But I want to sleep in the living room.
Z: Nope—you need to lay in your bed.
A (sobbing): But my room is a dangerous place!

4—Christmas concert anxieties exhibit themselves: Kye gets a little nervous before every choir concert and refused to go to school the morning the choir was to sing for the school. An hour of weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth didn’t move me in the least. I still made him go (mean mom alert!) and he did just fine. The family concert was also a success and he didn’t even remember he had been nervous.

3—Isaac’s only Christmas wish goes unfulfilled. Fortunately, he is so incredibly distractible, I don’t think he even remembers. (Though I’m sure I’ll be hearing about it 25 years from now. “Remember that one Christmas when all I wanted was to see Santa Clause and you never took me to visit him?” Guess he’ll have to save it for therapy.)

2—Our first ever snow day. Growing up where I did, I wasn’t really surprised the snow storms here don’t warrant snow days. It’s not a blizzard if the snow falls straight down. But we did get about 2 feet overnight, so our school district called a snow day—the first in 20 years. Outside play for 3 hours, soup for lunch, sledding, guzzling hot chocolate, working on our homemade Christmas gifts=good, good day.

1—Christmas with the family. My parents came out for Christmas and we got to spend the holiday with them for the first time in 8 years. Lots of food, singing, playing games, and dancing. You just can’t beat a Fesler family gathering for a busy, fun time. Love to all the family—and thanks to mom and dad for making the 17 hour drive to be here with us.