Christmastime Quote

Years ago I sent out a darling Mary Englebreit card for Christmas with the following on the front:

"I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year."

- Charles Dickens

It instantaneously became one of my all-time favorite holiday quotes.  I love it so much that I keep it up in my kitchen year-round as a friendly, heart-warming reminder.  Besides, it lets me keep at least a little bit of Christmas up in my house the other 11 months of the year.

Rewind: NOVEMBER IN A NUTSHELL

Time to play catch up on the month of November...

During the months of October and November, I put Hudson in a 6 week instructional basketball league.  Around here it's called "Jr. Jazz".  I feel like a total weirdo saying this but...this was his first time in any kind of organized sport or instruction outside of P.E. at school.  Thankfully my boy didn't care one bit.  He was just thrilled to learn and play basketball every Tuesday.  He's definitely taller than most kids his age, he's a touch on the lanky/gawky side and there were kids there who had obviously played ball quite a bit in the past but he had a grand time every week.  I guess his excitement and enthusiasm made up for any lack of experience.

As I do every year, I put up a "Thankful Tree" on our dining room mirror for the month of November.  In the past I had made the tree out of paper but this year I decided to give acrylic paint a try.  It was fabulously easy - took me only 15 minutes or so to brush on - and the paint cost me $1.39...heck of a lot easier and cheaper than the $10+ I spent on paper in past years!    As for the leaves, we used to cut our leaves out by hand or crank them through my small manual die cut machine one-by-one.  It took hours every year.  This time a dear friend of mine saved the day when she took my colored card stock and had her Cricut machine do all the work of cutting out the leaves.   She just pushed some buttons, stuck the paper into her little magic box and let it do the work.  Brilliant!!  We all wrote things that we're thankful for on the leaves over the course of the days leading up to (and including) Thanksgiving.  My only complaint about this year's tree is how time consuming the removal of the acrylic paint was.  However, it's not enough to stop me from doing paint every year from here on out...it was our best looking tree yet!

Thanksgiving was spent here at our home this year.  My parents flew in for the holiday and with the two of them, the four in our family, two of my brothers and their families and my dad's sister, we hosted a total of 18 people here to join in the holiday feast.  We had a huge bird with homemade stuffing (with sausage in it...the best!) , sweet potato souffle, mashed potatoes, green salad, homemade rolls, two kinds of cranberry sauce/relish and my aunt's amazing turkey gravy.  Top it all off with homemade pecan pie and pumpkin pie squares (both with fresh whipped cream, of course) or dessert and what do you have?  Way too much food!  I stopped before I felt full and I still ended up feeling sick to my stomach for a spell that evening.  I guess it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without overeating now, would it?

Lastly we have our little family excursion up on the roof for the sunset a couple of days after Thanksgiving.  I fairly comfortable once I'm up there but the steps onto the roof from the ladder and onto the ladder from the roof seriously freak me out.  I'm getting the heebie jeebies just thinking about it.  Anyway, it started with Max taking the kids up to see the sunset and before I knew it, I was coaxed into joining them.  Claire was positively petrified at first but gradually got her courage up and while sticking close to us in general, she wandered around a bit.  Hudson, on the other hand, is too comfortable (like his dad) and his strutting around and wandering too close to the edge just about gave me a heart attack.   All I could think while standing up there with my kids was that one of them was going to slip or trip, roll down the side and fall down to the concrete below.  They'd crack their head open or break their neck and we'd end up calling 911.  Then my precious little person would spend weeks (if not months) in the hospital while I spent the rest of my life feeling guilty because I shouldn't have allowed them up on the roof.  Over anxious and paranoid?  Perhaps...but it could totally happen!  Anyway, while up on top of the house I snapped a few pics of the kids, of the sunset (trying to hide in the trees) and of the views to the North (picture with the temple) and the East (Great Salt Lake...the pine tree to the left in that shot is now gone thanks to our wind storm).  It really was beautiful up there and I'm glad I took the risk and spent the time with my family.

Well, I think that's about it for November...now to kick it into gear and stay on top of December!

Rewind: 1ST REAL SNOW OF THE YEAR/WINTER

So I know that the year started way back in January and winter doesn't officially begin for a couple more weeks but I still consider what we had at the beginning of November to be the 1st snowfall of the year and of this winter.  Mother Nature was kind enough to have the white stuff come down over a Friday night so that the kids could play Saturday morning.  They were beyond happy to get in their marshmallow-esque gear and head outside.  I joined them to help with the sledding down our little back hill and gave both kids "rides" as I pulled the sled around the backyard.  Then Max joined us and the real fun started.  He ran around the yard with the kids clinging onto the sled as he whipped them around the lawn and tried to make them fall off on the corners.  My two favorite moments were: 1) when Claire fell off the sled on one of the turns and got a face, nose, and mouthful of snow and 2) watching Max try to take a corner extra sharp to throw Hudson into the snow and slipped in the process...both he and Hudson took a good spill and we all had a good laugh.

Since that 1st storm we haven't had much of the white stuff.  Just a few inches here and there, much of it conveniently melting off and allowing us to spruce up the yard a couple more times before the real winter weather hits.  As much as I don't care for snow, I'm ready for it to stick around now that December is here....

Next up: highlights from the rest of November.

Wind Storm Cleanup

Early Friday afternoon a few of a friend's landscaping work crew showed up to start cleaning up the prickly and sappy mess that was our front yard.  I wasn't expecting them and had to run out front and make sure that they knew that our phone line was stretched tight over the roots and trunk (it's the black piping and line that can be seen in the pictures on last night's post) and that we really didn't want it getting cut in the cleanup process.  I also asked them to be careful of the viburnum bushes that we were hoping to salvage on the side and to leave behind some of the thicker branches and part of the trunk so that our firewood supply could be bulked up.  They were very kind to listen to the bossy lady of the house and then got to work.  And boy, did they ever work!

I couldn't believe how fast they had that trunk stripped of branches.  Then they removed the three tops of the tree (the trunk started as one, split into two, and then topped off at three) which were collectively HUGE.  It took 3 guys yanking and pulling on the pieces to get each hauled away from against the house.  By the time they called it quits in the late afternoon much of the tree had been cut up and hauled away.  All that was left was the ginormous base of the trunk (to be removed sometime this week), a pile of branches and a few thick chunks of trunk.

After a period of windy-ness on Saturday morning and early afternoon, Max ventured out to take care of as much of the remaining tree as he could and to clean up the rest of the yard.  Can I just say now that I'm a lucky girl?  He seriously slaves away in the yard and NEVER complains about it.  Anyway, he sawed off some more of the trunk, got the aforementioned pile of branches and the big trunk pieces out into the road, filled several bags with pine cones, dirt, branches and leaves, and pretty much had our yard looking perfect again by the time he called it quits that night.  All except for that pesky tipped-over tree trunk.  As we went to bed last night we read online that a new storm with high winds (not as high as Thursday's) was due to arrive Sunday evening.

Yesterday morning we got to church a little bit late and sat down just in time to hear the bishop saying something about only holding the first/main meeting and the rest of church was cancelled.  I quietly confirmed with the people sitting behind me (happened to be our landscaper friend) that this was indeed the case.  They said that they didn't want to be alarmists but wanted to be prepared for the new storm.  All of our church's congregations in the area (a number of cities involved) were asking that all able bodied men and teenaged young men/boys  go out and help clear all loose debris from the neighborhood and the surrounding area in preparation for the forecasted storm.  Anything that could be blown away in strong winds needed to be secured to removed...everything from plant matter to vinyl siding to trampolines and swamp coolers.  After the meeting was over we all got into good work clothes and headed out to get some things done.  The kids and I helped our neighbors move a pile of roof shingles to a sheltered area where it won't blow away and picked up pieces that hadn't been collected yet.  Max, on the other hand, geared up and went to the church to join the brigade of men, women and teens that were heading out to clean up.  They had a number of open-bed trucks, SUV's and trucks with trailers, and other hauling vehicles to take away everything they could over the course of the day.  A crew of 5 or 6 men and teenagers showed up here and took everything but the heavy trunk pieces away from our place.  In driving around with the kids later, I saw crews of 10+ people working on bigger piles and jobs.  I can't tell you how impressed I was with all of these people and what they did for their neighbors, friends and even complete strangers.  Fallen trees were cut up and hauled away, trees that weren't down but were in danger of coming down oin the new storm were felled and removed and after every single job, these people jumped up and headed to the next house that needed help.  And all of this while it snowed a bit off and on and in freezing temperatures.  Max came home in the late afternoon soaked, dirty and covered in sawdust (as I'm sure many other men did, too).  Ah, the bond of a man and his chainsaw.

I learned on the news in the afternoon that the national guard had been called to aid in the cleanup effort.  The line to get into the local landfill (normally closed on Sunday but open all day for free yesterday) was literally miles long and people had to wait for hours to empty their loads.  Due to the huge number of people and vehicles involved in the cleanup effort, other landfills in the area opened for free and the city started designating other places as temporary dumping grounds...the high school, parks, church parking lots.  Once left there, crews from the city and national guard were using tractors to load up side-dumping trailers which in turn took the debris to the landfills.

As yesterday's light turned to evening and then night, I started doubting the forecastedwe live amongst amazing people who will put their plans and lives on hold at a moment's notice and step up to help each other out should anything happen.  In the end, last night's "storm" wasn't all that bad.  As a matter of fact, I think it was downright good as the preparation for it it brought people together and left us all with a great feeling of love, concern and appreciation for each other.

DECEMBER: IN LIKE A LION...

Wait...isn't that supposed to be March's thing?  Well, this year December most definitely took that title.

Disclaimer: This is going to be long and wordy.  Don't feel like you have to read all of it.  Just know that I will know if you don't and I will surely be offended.

In the wee small hours of this past Thursday, a much anticipated wind storm blew through the area.  A little bit before 4:00 a.m. Hudson came and crawled into bed with us after having a bad dream.  The three of us were lying there listening to the wind when and extra strong gust of wind came through and the whole house shook.  I commented that it was certainly a strong one and Max then shot of out bed and ran to one of our front windows.  He hollered back, "It came down!"  I had zero inkling as to what he was talking about so I asked him just what it was that came down.  His response?  The giant pine tree in our front yard.

The pine tree...much happier and alive back in May 2009.

It landed across the front lawn and came to rest right against the house next to my office window.  No wonder the house rattled!  Amazingly enough, Claire slept through everything, including being moved to our room for safety (her bedroom window is on the windy side).  She gradually woke up and joined the rest of us and our rapidly beating hearts.

Max headed out front at about 4:30 a.m. in the scary winds to assess the damage.  Incredibly enough, the only damage to the house was a bent gutter.  No broken window(s), no siding gone or problems with the roof.  In the process of checking things out, Max slipped on some ice and put a nice hole in one of his shins (not kidding...missing a lovely chunk - stitches not a possibility).  I also joined the ranks of the injured (though far inferior to the aforementioned impressive leg) when I was holding open one of our side gates for Max to bring the garbage cans in.  The wind blasted said gate, throwing me back and sandwiching my lower leg and ankle in between it and a low brick wall.  Ouch.  After our fun outside, the rest of the morning was spent trying very unsuccessfully to go back to sleep.  The kids were pretty wound up - especially Hudson who asked, "Why is Mother Nature doing this?!"  Finally around 6:00 Max took the kids downstairs to play a video game while I slept a bit off and on.  That lasted until the power went out around 8:00...it stayed out the whole day.

We had already determined that we were keeping Hudson home from school and later found out that they cancelled shortly after class started anyway.  It's crazy...I know people here who have never seen the schools close for snow, even when huge storms hit.  But Thursday the whole district was closed due to wind.  The day was filled with building Legos, doing a few chores, hand washing Wednesday night's dinner dishes, forgetting that the power was out and trying to turn lights on when entering dark rooms, making phone and receiving phone calls (thank goodness for our land line...our cell phones were sketchy at best most of the day), folding a bit of laundry and keeping the fridge and freezer closed as much as possible.  I also ventured outside with Max and Hudson on separate occasions to snaps some pictures of the tree and our yard.  When I took Hudson out the winds had calmed a bit but were still strong enough to make it hard for him to keep his footing.  You should be able to click on the collage below to get a closer look...

I could hardly believe my eyes looking at that monstrous tree lying in our front yard (we measured last night...it was 45 feet tall without the tops that snapped off when it fell).  As you can see in the pictures, he roots that were ripped up easily stick up 12 feet in the air.  There were aspen tree branches all over the place and some were tangled in the branches of the pine tree.  We also had PILES of dirt, aspen and pine branches, and pine cones on both sides of our backyard (it's basically split by the living room addition that sits in the middle).  We feel so fortunate and blessed that greater damage wasn't done.

When the winds died down even more later in the day, I took the kiddies out on a ride to see what had happened around our neighborhood.  I couldn't believe how many pine trees and fences were down, how many roofs were missing shingles and how much debris was littering the streets and yards.  As far as damage goes, we got off pretty easy.

One of the phone calls I made over the course of the day was to my parents in California.  While we were on the phone, my mom hopped on the internet to our local news page and read a couple of articles to me.  One of them stated that there were 100+ mph winds not far from our area (= to a category 2 hurricane) at various times.  A tanker train carrying cold asphalt had been derailed by the wind, several semi trucks had blown over on I-15 and trampolines, trees, and trash cans were all over the place.  Later in the afternoon I was told by my sister-in-law that she had driven through Centerville (hardest hit) and that it literally looked like a war zone.  No wonder our mighty tree gave out!

As previously mentioned, the power went out in the morning and stayed off the entire day.  The news stations and emergency management were advising that everyone should be prepared for 48 hours without power.  Our heater had been on at times for about an hour before the outage so we were glad to have started the day around 65 in the house.  However, with the cold and wind outside, our inside temperature didn't stay warm for long.    By afternoon we were down to 57 or so...a touch too chilly even for this warm blooded California girl!  I built a fire in the kitchen fireplace and turned on the gas fireplace in the living room.  Between the two of them, the center section of the house stayed quite comfortable.  Come later afternoon I pulled out candles and flashlights and made sure we were set up for the evening and night.  My brother was fortunate enough to get power back on at his place by dinner time so the kids and I joined them for dinner and a good defrosting.  We then enjoyed our lights-out time...Hudson built Legos by the light of a battery-powered lantern, Claire went into the darkest portions of the house over and over with a flashlight, and I read by the fire and kept taking Claire's flashlight away when she wouldn't stop playing with it.  When I tucked the kids in that night (Claire in her room and Hudson in ours) it was 54 back here...a little too far down the hall from the fires to keep warm.  Brrrrrrr!  Fortunately we didn't have to pull out every blanket in the house to stay warm for the night.  Thanks to the city and emergency management crews, our power was restored around 10:00.  The heater immediately kicked on and we were downright cozy.  That was only when we were inside, though.  Within a few minutes of the power kicking on, Max was up on the roof to fix the Christmas lights that had been hurt by the tree and I was out there with him, standing below to toss new lights up to him (and to monitor his craziness and attempt to catch him if needed).

I think it goes without saying (and yet I'll say it anyway) that Thursday was one heck of a day.  And a long one at that.

P.S.  As was forecasted for tonight, the wind is blowing again as I have been typing this.  I can feel a cold draft under my desk and my window is closed tight.  It's kind of freaking me out.