Merry Christmas!

For various reasons I didn't send out cards this year. Usually I love sending them out but this Christmas it just didn't happen in time. Call me a slacker or a bum or whatever you will but know that we are thinking of all of you.

Jeremy, the kids, and I have had a crazy year and we couldn't have made it through without our friends and family. Forgive me for not staying in touch as well as I should. Please know that you are in my thoughts more than you can imagine. From your phone calls to sweet emails to drinks and poker, we've been grateful to have every one of you in our lives. We hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas and have a chance to spend time with those you love. And for those we won't see this week, we hope to see you soon!

In lieu of a card, here are goofy pics of the kids: (Olivia's newest hobby is swimming in my empty bathtub and Noah has decided to grow his hair out until it's properly shaggy)

Merry Christmas, my friends! I'm anxious to see you all soon!!!

Stalling

What do you do when it's the first official day of Christmas vacation, you're very sleepy from chatting online waaaaay too late the night before, and you're dreading hitting the grocery store because the wind chill today is a balmy -9*? Crank up the karaoke machine and belt out Hannah Montana songs in your pjs while jumping on the couch, of course. Oh, and the kids had fun, too :)

*Luckily, the temperature at noon is a tropical 11 degrees above zero when the wind dies down. Still, I think we might stall a bit longer before getting that gallon of milk...

Snow Day!

So, here's what you need to know about Athens, Ohio. It doesn't snow here. At least not very much. Oh, and not until January. At least that's what the locals like to tell you. Nope, no snow here. Maybe 10 inches total the whole winter. In fact, to listen to them talk you'd think we were still living in Virginia - the weather sounds that similar. And, it's true that we are well below the lake effect snow line (about an hour south) and we're in the foothills, not typical flat Ohio landscape. So, why oh why has it snowed at least a dozen times in the two months since we moved here? Now, granted, it hasn't snowed a lot at one time. In fact we've only been snowed in to the point I didn't want to venture out twice. School has been delayed twice, never cancelled (even though in Virginia it would've been cancelled without question - the roads were pretty bad). We did get a lovely sleet storm last Thursday which resulted in me nearly getting to know a tractor trailer way more than I wanted to (Still the kids stayed in school...I just can't get used to that!)

So, I guess the natives were right...it wasn't snowing in December - it was technically sleeting. The picture above is our street - nice and icy but not snowy!

Olivia's winter program was cancelled that night because of the weather so I was thankful for that. I'd been nervous that I'd have to drive on the hilly, curvy road toward the school again soon after my afternoon near death experience.

They rescheduled the program (very cute kindergartners singing happy little Christmas songs) for last night (Monday). Olivia insisted on dressing up:

Once we got to the school I figured out her master plan - every single one of her friends was wearing a velvet winter dress. Together they made the most adorable group of little girls you've ever seen, all hugging and giggling :)

Well, it's good that they had the program when they did because not an hour after we got home it started snowing again. And it snowed this morning and most of the afternoon. So, finally, after a dozen days of snow the kids got to stay home. Yay! We spent the day playing and making cookies (Yum - sugar cookies and some new concoction we made with Reese's peanut butter cups chopped up in the dough) and building a gingerbread train (of course!). And, this afternoon, even though I haven't figured out where the box of snowsuits is yet, we played in the snow. The crazy thing was Jeremy told me that his assistant said it was raining in Athens, not snowing. At first I was thinking that maybe THIS is why they think it doesn't snow here - they don't know that it's called "snow" not "rain" but then a neighbor told me that even though it was raining only 3 miles away we live on a little elevated pocket of Athens that often gets different weather than the rest of the city. Odd but I suppose it makes a little sense. Anyway, here are some (not-so-great) photos of the fun in the snow:

The hill in our backyard is pretty good for sledding but the very top is incredibly steep (which is hard to tell here). Poor Olivia's sled kept running away from her :)

Making the obligatory snow angels...

I don't know, I'd say we spent the afternoon in the snow not the rain! It was cold and fluffy and white. Maybe they claim it rarely snows here but it sure was fun to sled on! :)

Yes, He's Kidding. Or At Least He'd Better Be...

So, Jeremy recently let me know that a track supervisor job has opened up in Illinois. That is really, really not funny. I'm not ready to even joke about such things :0)

Quote of the Day

Noah: (imitating Jeremy talking on his work phone...) "Joe? Bill? Bob? Billy Bob Jones? I need ya'll to fix that rail!"

Who knew my darlin' boy had such a perfect southern accent along with such a fix on the countrified tone of the railroad.

(For the record, while one of Jeremy's employees is named Joe as far as I know there is no Bill, Bob or Billy Bob).

You Know You've Officially Settled Into Ohio-ness When...

You go to the Farmers Market no matter the weather. We went out this morning in blowing snow, over unplowed roads, to get our weekly market fix. Very few vendors were out and we probably didn't need the oatmeal spice cookies and apple pie but, hey, the perfect cup of hot spiced apple cider can pretty much convince us to travel anywhere...and judging by the number of cars on the road, we weren't the only ones. So, I'm thinking that driving through a couple of inches of snow just for some junk food makes us almost as crazy as the natives, don't you?

'Tis The Season

We've entered the holiday season and the hustle and bustle is upon us. We were lucky enough to have 2 days to travel to Roanoke for Thanksgiving. We arrived mid-afternoon on Thursday just in time for turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, my beloved corn pudding, and lots (and LOTS) of other wonderful food. I was so full that I didn't even eat dessert! That's got to be the first time I've ever passed up a piece of chocolate pie. Ever. We spent the rest of the evening just goofing off with family - playing Pictionary, looking through Black Friday ads, and just enjoying each other's company. Oh! and the biggest surprise of the night? My early Christmas gift from Jeremy and kids - a laptop to call my very own. I haven't named her yet but I'm open to suggestions :)

Jeremy and I headed out early Friday morning to fight the shopping masses. We don't really need to go out after Thanksgiving - we don't typically buy the big items that have everyone going nuts but we always have a good time in the early morning, when it's dark and cold, making fun of the frantic shoppers, kid-free, spending some time together. And there is always time in the afternoon for a nap to recover and leftover chocolate pie, of course!!

So, we've been back home for a full week now and we're in the Christmas spirit. We've already bought and decorated our Christmas tree and the lights are up outside. For the first time ever we're actually about 90% done with our shopping with this much time left to spare. Usually we're last minute kind of shoppers (except that one spree post-Thanksgiving). One of my favorite traditions is my homemade advent calendar. It's something we've been doing since Noah was 3. Basically, I make some sort of countdown calendar (a tree with 25 ornaments, a Santa with 25 puffs of white for his beard, etc). This year we have a paper tree and 25 presents to place beneath it. Instead of doing a traditional advent calendar where the kids get candy or gifts, we do one Christmas activity each day until Christmas. No one but me knows what we'll be doing that day. It ranges from simply reading a Christmas book to building a gingerbread house to going to look at Christmas lights around town to baking batch after batch of cookies (everyone gets to help make their favorite - even Jeremy :). It adds a little more busy-ness to our month but I love it. It helps make sure we are taking the time to enjoy every aspect of the season and it requires that we spend extra time with each other.

It might be surprising to a lot of people to know that I'm a sentimental sap when it comes to the holidays. My fondest memories of growing up revolve around being in the kitchen with my family, laughing and talking, and yes, eating! Jeremy and I watch White Christmas, Miracle on 34th Street, It's a Wonderful Life, and Christmas Vacation ever year without fail. We make sure the kids see A Charlie Brown Christmas and How the Grinch Stole Christmas and several others throughout the month of December. There's holiday music playing in the kitchen whenever I'm cooking and the house is filled with the scent of our Canaan Fir and cookies in the oven. I love sitting in the dark looking at the lights wrapped around the banister or draped over the piano. I love wrapping gifts at night when the house is quiet and everyone is asleep. I know a lot of people complain about the commercialism of it all, but I love the spirit of Christmas, the peace and joy and hope of it all. I love the sparkle in the kids' eyes and the excitement in their voices. And I love that this year the 4 of us will be together for the entire season. That is what I'm most grateful for - our chance to return to our traditions, old and new, together.