A Few Favorite Things

For the last few years at the end of December I reflect back and come up with some things that I discovered during the last twelve months that I love.  Here is my list of things for 2012...

City Creek-Whenever I go there I feel like I am stepping out of Utah.  There is an energy there (and in all of downtown) that I love.

Daily Closer to Christ Blog- Reading this blog lifts my spirits and inspires me to be better.

Spilling the Beans-A super healthy cookbook I bought at Costco.  It has made me a believer that you can make most anything with beans in it.

Quinoa-It's hard to describe, but I feel so healthy when I use it in a recipe.

Greek Yogurt-Another food I feel healthy eating and it's yummy!  Not the plain though, it needs honey or something to sweeten it up.

Clinique Chubby Sticks-Color and moisturizer all-in-one. Make-up usually doesn't excite me, but I have several of these. One in my purse, makeup bag, church bag, etc.

Downton Abbey-I don't remember how I heard about this show, but it's addicting.  I have even gotten Ray hooked.

Stone Ground Bakery- My friend told me about this bread store.  They sell overruns of the bread they make for restaurants for $2 a loaf!  In my opinion the best is their rustic sourdough, but you have to get there as soon as they open to get a loaf or it's gone.

Memory Grove-Being right in the city, yet not. A morning walk there is my favorite way to start the day.

Sur la table Cooking Classes (the ones taught by Lesli)-One of the best things I did all year!  Can't wait to do it again and take Heather or a friend.

Amazon Prime-Free two-day shipping! What's not to love?

Blue Lemon-Simple, but yummy.  It is our go to restaurant when we are in the city.

Steals and Deals

Years ago I prided myself on being a bargain shopper.  It was when we lived in Salt Lake, the land of good shopping.  I bought the kids' clothing out of season, when it was on clearance, and always got a good deal.  There was something satisfying about buying their clothes at Gymboree or Z.C.M.I. and paying so little.  Then we moved to Roosevelt, the land of no shopping, and I had to resign myself to the idea of having to pay full price for things when we were out in the city.  When I got a good deal on something it was mostly because I got lucky.

Things have changed a little for the better with online shopping and all, and occasionally I still find a good deal, but not like I used to.  Until last week...

I was in Macy's making a return from Christmas and while I was there I walked by the Christmas decorations.  As I slowed to see if there was something I couldn't live without, a clerk mentioned to me that everything was 90% off!  That caught my attention.  I had been planning to buy another tree, but didn't get around to it and really didn't want to spend hundreds of dollars on one before Christmas.  Seeing that they still had trees I decided to check it out.  Of course if you buy a tree you are going to need a tree skirt, decorations, etc.  About 20 minutes later I was headed out of the store with not one, but two (because Grandpa could really use a new one too), 7 1/2 foot prelit trees (originally priced $595), a tree skirt, and a ton of ornaments for a TOTAL of $121.  Not only were the decorations 90% off, but the morning I was there everything was another 15% off!  The bottom of my receipt showed this..

Can you say, "Almost free?"

Apparently, like mother like daughter.  A couple of days later I received an email from Heather with this picture of her purchase at Old Navy.

Score!!!

Why oh why?

There are days (usually in January) when I wonder why we live where we do.  Today was one of them...

People who live in warm places, like California, really have no idea...

Then I remember we live here because of the great people.  Otherwise no one in their right mind would want to live in a "Basin".

December in a Nutshell

I am proud to say I was more successful than ever in not getting stressed out during December, but the month was still a bit of a blur for us. Perhaps it was because we tried to squeeze so much into it, and so many things happened.  It was busy, it was crazy, but it was so much fun!

For starters Ray and I made a quick trip to Mexico.  Funny thing about Mexico is that there are not many Christmas trees or decorations up in early December, although we noticed a few more by the end of our trip.  We were able to find a few nativities (which made me happy), but one thing we were curious about is that in each nativity, baby Jesus was missing.  Upon further investigation we discovered that it is tradition there for the baby Jesus not to be placed in the manger until December 24th.

After we returned home, I had a lump removed from my face that I discovered about a year ago.  In my mind it should have simply been able to be excised, like a mole.  But after an ultrasound, three CT scans (long story), and a biopsy, it was determined it needed to be removed.  So mid December I had a partial parotidectomy, which involved a stay in the hospital and cost way more than you could ever imagine.

Because that resulted in a drain coming out of my face/neck, we were required to stay in SLC until Christmas Eve.  Despite the drain, I felt great, so while we were there we took full advantage of the events of the season...

We all went shopping :)

Took our family to The Forgotten Carols,

Kept our long running tradition of going to The Spoken Word,

Had brunch at Little America,

Went to see all of the lights downtown,

Then on Christmas Eve we traveled back home in a winter snowstorm.

 That evening we went to our neighborhood Christmas carol sing-along.

After that we had our Christmas Eve dinner and enjoyed sitting around and visiting.  As part of our dinner we played a little game that was a gift to us a year or two ago.  It is the Christmas Box of Questions, which are basically conversation starters.  We took turns drawing a question then went around the table hearing everyone's answer.  My question was, "What is your favorite Christmas candy?"  Easy, it's this pecan log that my neighbor brings each year.   I love, love, love it!

Christmas would not be complete without this!

When it got to Ray we all knew what he would say. He enjoys orange sticks so much at Christmas that when he gets a box in his stocking he opens it immediately and the entire box is usually gone (with just a little help from the rest of us) by the time the rest of the gifts are unwrapped. Apparently we don't know Ray as well as we thought though. When it got to him he very matter of factly replied, cherry cordials. With a shocked look on their faces, both Heather and Tyler in perfect unison replied, "WHAT? Not orange sticks???"  It was so funny. Then the next day, when we were able to Skpe with Mitch, he started talking about orange sticks, and carried on about how hard he had tried to find some to send to Ray and how disappointed he was that he could not find them anywhere in New York. When he finished telling this, Tyler said, "Guess what Mitch? We've been living a lie for 20 years. Dad's favorite candies are cherry cordials." Mitch's response was identical to the other kids the night before. Same puzzled face, same intonation, same words.

"WHAT, not orange sticks???"

 I have a feeling Ray might be getting something different in his stocking next year.

In the spirit of saving the best for last, imagine our surprise when we unwrapped this gift!



The best Christmas gift ever!

It really was a wonderful December!

Christmas is...

 

At our house the very first Christmas decoration to come out, and the very last to be put away each year is my collection of nativities.  This is my favorite tradition.  I have a porcelin nativity, one made of rocks, one from Peru, one made of popcicle sticks, a stained glass set, and many more.  They never come out before Thanksgiving, but one year I left them out until Valentine's Day.  It brings great joy each time I walk down our hall and see this cabinet.

 

December can be crazy.  Some years I have let the craziness get the most of me and haven't enjoyed the journey to Christmas quite as much as I should.  This year I am determined not to let that happen.  There is a Christmas campaign our church is doing in New York City and it has made me stop and reflect on what Christmas really should be about...

 

This Christmas initiative includes billboards (like this one at Time Square) and advertising on buses and taxi cabs reminding people what Christmas really is. Christmas is family, Christmas is service, Christmas is love, Christmas is Jesus Christ. 

 

It's not only people in New York City that need to be reminded of that.  Thanks to this campaign I am making sure each day to take the time to ponder the meaning and message of this sacred season.

 

There is also a sweet video of the nativity that is unlisted on youtube, so I haven't been able to upload it,  but can be found here http://mormon.org/christmas

Breaking Tradition

Needless to say, Thanksgiving just wasn't going to be the same this year without Mitch, Heather, Nick, and Grandpa around.  Add in the fact that our anniversary just happened to fall on Thanksgiving , and it felt so wrong.   Nothing against Thanksgiving, because it really is one of my favorite holidays, I just didn't like the idea of spending it without so many of the people I love and having to slave away in the kitchen on my anniversary.  Thanksgiving is a holiday to be spent with people-lots of people.

So, instead of getting all depressed about it, I decided to solve the problem.  I figured if we didn't do all of the traditional things we usually do on Thanksgiving, then it wouldn't feel so lonely.

In that spirit of breaking tradition, Ray and I decided rather than cooking Thanksgiving dinner, we ought to just go out to eat.   So sometime in October I picked up the phone and made ourselves a reservation at one of the yummiest places I know.  Then I decided to look into a little holiday fun run/jog/walk, and before anyone had the chance to tell me no, I registered us for a Turkey Trot.   I justified it because it was a fundraiser for a good cause and I kind of liked the idea of getting moving before we stuffed ourselves later.

 

 

Apparantly I wasn't the only one with either of those ideas. There were close to 1000 people at the race and about the same at The Grand America.   Later in the day we headed to the movie theater and watched Lincoln.  So we did end up spending Thanksgiving with lots and lots of people.

It really was a wonderful day.  I think we should start a new tradition and break tradition by doing something out of the ordinary whenever our anniversary lands on Thanksgiving.

I voted, I really did

I did not go to the polls today.  Instead I cast my ballot by mail a few weeks ago and it feels kind of strange.  Our county changed to mail only voting this election.  What is really strange about this is that it seems out here in the Basin we are usually a little behind the times.  Not this time.  Duchesne County is the FIRST in Utah to implement mail-in voting for all voters.  It's really strange to be first.

They say it will save our county thousands of dollars.  They say voter turn out will be much higher.  I say that's great. 

I didn't mind not voting in person because marking my ballot at home gave me a chance to look at the ballot a little more closely rather than getting to the booth and finding things on the ballot that I didn't even know we were voting for.  It happens.  I also didn't mind because it saved me some time that I would have spent standing in what probably would have been a very long line.

I am a little embarrassed to admit that I am sort of missing getting an "I Voted" sticker.  Maybe the county should enclose an "I Voted by Mail" sticker with the ballot when they mail them out next time.