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We got some free tickets to the MN zoo from a church friend, and took the opportunity of going the day before the Christmas celebration with Mark’s parents and grandmas. We had such a fun time. I think Alisa and Dylan probably enjoyed it the most, but Reese loved seeing the animals (that she names with ease now.) The older kids had fun too. Unfortunately the dophin pods aren’t up to shows right now, so we watched them swim around, but no tricks. A few are older, one is pregnant, and no word on the fourth.

I love the MN trails and the Tropics trail the best. I missed those on my trip to the zoo in August, so it was good to visit them this time around! Here is the family in front of the shark tank.

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We had a wonderful Christmas!  It was really simple, present-wise.  We pretty much stuck to the ‘3 gifts just like Jesus got from the Wise Men’ philosophy, and it made for a peaceful Christmas morning.  Last minute Zach asked for a cell phone and a mouse for his laptop, so we got him a Cars cell phone and a mouse TOY (which went to the cat) and let him open them.  I hoped for a better sense of humor, but he smiled when the actual mouse was opened!  Dylan got his ‘Scooper’ (mini-excavator ride on toy) that he wanted so badly.  Reese likes it too, and commandeers it often!

For the first time we had Christmas Eve. to ourselves.  We’ve always done Christmas morning alone.  We open gifts one at a time and eat monkey bread and egg strata.  But Christmas Eve. alone was odd to us.  We made a ham and read the Christmas story right out of the scriptures.  It was beautiful outside with the fresh snow.  A very spiritual day, which was nice.  Lots of reflection and kindness and joy and anticipation.  We let Alisa and Dylan check out NORAD’s Santa radar, and then sent the little ones off to bed.  The older kids are members of ‘The Christmas Club’ (they’ve been told that Santa is the ideal of unconditional and anonymous giving) and they stayed to help wrap and set up for the morning. It was Ethan’s first year in the club, and he enjoyed it!

I won’t waste space writing down every gift we recieved this year.  I just hope everyone had a joyful time! And I hope you read both sides of our Christmas letter, elsewise you may have missed the joke!

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On Friday I was downstairs when I heard “Mom, Alisa fell off her Barbie box.  It’s really, really bad.”  I ran upstairs and she was holding a washcloth against her lips.  When I removed it to inspect it I the split lip made me dizzy and I had to sit down, or faint.  I am going to put a picture of it up.  Most people who see it say it isn’t that bad.  But I never got hurt growing up.  No broken bones, no stitches.  Zach’s broken tooth is the only other big ouch we’ve experienced.  And there isn’t much blood with one of those.  I called the clinic and talked to the triage nurse, who said that really unless the tooth goes right through, it’s up to us to give it a stitch or 2,  or not, and no guarantee that one scar will be worse then the other.  We did finally get it to stop bleeding, and I was able to pull it shut with a butterfly bandage.  We decided to stick with that until Mark got home to see if it was staying closed because the clinic was full, so our normal copay of $20 would escalate to $75 by using the emergency room (and I am a big believer that ER’s should be for, well…emergencies.  By the time Mark got home, it was still closed.  Alisa ate some supper and it opened a bit and bled more, so I bought some Liquid Bandaid at the store.  We butterfly bandaged it closed and added the liquid stuff, and it worked like a charm.  Four days later it’s healing pretty good.  If there is going to be a scar, it will be fairly small.  And much better than the screaming that happened every time I said “Alisa, I really think a doctor should look at this!”  Now hopefully she can make wiser, safer choices while still retaining the small amount of bravery she added when she got her glasses.

The snow storm that came through Princeton left a lot of beautiful landscape, but has also left horrible roads.  We lived right on the cusp of snow and ice, so we have lots of each.   Probably 5-6 inches of snow, and ice underneath and on top to make scary driving conditions.  And it’s snowing more as we speak.  So pretty though!

Did I mention that our neighbors had their house foreclosed on?  They were ’squatting’ on the land illegally for 3 months (this being in addition to the 6 months given to a person to leave once it is foreclosed.) The sherriff finally made an appearance the day before Thanksgiving and kicked them out.  They packed all night, and at first we saw them living in the Coborns parking lot (his semi-truck and the family van.) We don’t see them any more.  They had asked to have a boat and a truck parked on our land and I told Mark to tell them only until the snow falls, but it stayed and they never contacted us.  Well after they left a clean up company came and took everything.  They came over to see if the boat/truck was ours and we told them to take it, since they had illegally asked us to store it for them.  They told us it was really bad in the house.  Animal vomit and droppings.  Messes, junk, garbage.  They did a good job cleaning it up, but I am torn between feeling bad for them or being angry at not finding a new place to live, letting their children (including a newborn) live in such conditions, and leaving animals behind.  Poor does not have to equal clutter and filth such as they had.  yep, I’m really torn between it all.

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Of course the time around the holidays always go to quickly.  And if I were better at simply writing more often, and having shorter posts, I wouldn’t dread the updating so much.  Trying to remember all the details is a headache.  “Hmm, did I write yet that Reese’s eye-teeth are coming in?” Or that funny thing she said? And of course they all say such funny things that one day I’ll regret not keeping better track of it all!

So, we hosted Thanksgiving.  I think I’ll appreciate the time and money that go into hosting a holiday that isn’t readily apparent to the visitors.  Even the freedom to sit and chat is taken away as you do the dishes. But we had fun!  I didn’t get many pictures though! All eating ones, which of course are always attractive.

We put our tree on Black Friday.  Mark and I were actually so exhausted that we slept through all the door buster deals, went shopping for a few things, and came home and did the rest. (And as an aside, the gift we are giving this year is pictures, and I don’t think they are going to be ready in time for Christmas! And it’s more expensive then you think to do it without a DSLR. You have to develop them.  And scan them in.  And re-scan using a company that uses a better machine.  And edit.  And order.  I told Mark that we might as well have just gotten a camera. He said “Yeah, X amount of dollars versus at least $1,500.  That is fiscally smart!”

Anyway, the tree and decorations thing went well.  I uploaded my pictures onto Facebook.  If you don’t have Facebook, or I am not a friend, please sign up!  I hate to upload pictures in so many different spots.  It took a while to find a place for all the decorations, but we managed.  Mark even got the outside of the house done before Thanksgiving.  Last year we made the mistake of waiting until after, and it was cold, snowy, and miserable.

The kids went to see Santa yesterday.  He and Mrs. Claus were at the library.  They read them stories and sang songs, colored pictures, and then finally sat on laps.  Everyone had fun.  I will put a couple pictures here, and the rest will go to Facebook.

 Gabby was in a play at church based on the story of the 10 virgins.  She and all the girls (including her BFF Emma and her cousin Aimee) did a wonderful job.  We can’t wait to see the pictures Terrie got, and the video, but for now here are the ones from my failing camera.

And lastly, we took some fun pictures of Reese and decided to put them on our Christmas card.  I am not entirely happy with the card.  When you get it, come back and compare it to the picture here.  The company I used either did a color adjustment or something, because it is more yellow then the original, and the colors are stronger.  For example, each kid’s face is in an ornament, and Gabby’s was designed as a light aqua, but on the card is a very strong turquoise.  I may complain to the company, but won’t ask for a re-do.  They are in the mail as of today. Hopefully I will get a credit for next year! And the letter is VERY tongue-in-cheek.  It’s supposed to make you smile, so do it!

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