Giving Thanks

I realize it has been quite some time since Thanksgiving. However, I recently discovered these photos on my sister-in-law's Facebook page. I couldn't resist sharing!

It's also worth noting that I'm so grateful that all of my families get along. Thanksgiving participants included: my parents, Mike and me, my brother and his family, plus Mike's brother and his family. One of my sister-in-law's closest friends even came along. It was great, and of course the food was fabulous.

Belated Christmas Clean-Up

I'm ashamed. We just took the tree down this morning and de-holidayed the house. That took much longer than anticipated! In my defense, I didn't want to take down decorations while I was on break. That would be tantamount to acknowledging my return to work. And then, said return to work was so stressful that I fell asleep within two hours of coming home every day this week. So there you have it.

In addition to putting the decorations away, I've also finally downloaded all of the Christmas music to my I-Tunes. Next year, we won't have to bust out the CD player! It's a very exciting thought.

But as I was redecorating the halls and taking down the boughs of holly, it occurred to me that I never put up pictures of Christmas with Mike's side of the family. Without further ado, here you go!

Denise and one of her daughters

Mike and his brothers

other family pics

I must say, I'm so grateful that our two families get along. My parents have been coming to Christmas Eve almost since Mike and I started dating (and Denise and James have been bringing their family to Thanksgiving at my parents' house).

We gave our nephew E some DS games. He's right at that age where he can't quite read the directions for himself, but he's very impatient to start playing. So Mike showed him how to play the game...

... and then the brothers got intrigued by the game and took it away from young E. Ah, well. Boys will be boys, right?


I think the most popular gifts this year had to be the musical instruments, though. As you can see, everyone wanted to play!


Once the kids had unwrapped their presents they disappeared to enjoy the loot. That meant the adults had time to play games. This year, it was all about Hand and Foot... but I was too busy losing to take any pictures!

As always, we enjoyed the holiday. I am so grateful for our family--the one I was born into, and the one I was blessed with through marriage!

Christmas with Katie's Side

I hope that everyone had a lovely Christmas!

I am in process of going through many holiday pictures. It was easier to edit down the photos from Christmas at my parents' house, so that's what you get to see first. (The kids are so active that it's hard to get them to sit still. The adults are so busy chasing kiddos that they can't exactly pose for pictures, either.)

If you click on the collage, a bigger image will pop up!


We had a lovely visit. The kids are finally old enough to rip into their presents. Of course, they were just as excited about the wrapping paper as they were about their gifts! While little R ran around swinging a gift bag like a lasso, I managed to entertain his brothers for quite some time with a bear puppet.

It was good times!

(Very) Belated Holiday Cheer

Since I just bought my first round of Christmas presents for 2009, I figured it was high time to post a collage of last year's festivities! As you can see, it was the year of the baby. For the first time ever, all of the great-grandchildren were under one roof (and that roof just so happened to belong to my Grandma G).


A good time was had by all... but I'm guessing the triplets enjoyed themselves the most. After all, it's not every day you get to strip down and play with Swiffers!


I really enjoyed getting to see my cousin Rose. She's a chef (as is her boyfriend) and they live most of the year near Yellowstone, working the big resorts. When they're not in Montana they're off traveling to an exciting new job opportunity (last time it was a stint in Las Vegas!) Needless to say, it's always a bonus when I get some face time with Rose.

Zen and the Art of Knitting

Let it be known that I am not a knitter. I am, however, a grateful recipient of all gifts involving yarn, skill, and beautiful clothing. One of the coolest Christmas presents I got this year:

Thanks, Theresa! I love my new mittens! (Does this mean I have to stop wearing my PEI pair all the time?)

Auld Lang Syne

During my adolescence I thought it quite profound to discuss the question, "If you found out that you were going to die, who would you call? What would you say? And why are you waiting?" At the time, my answers (not surprisingly) always involved confronting the object of my latest heartbreak and/or secret crush. He would, of course, be moved to tears by my eminent demise and tragic love scenes would ensue.

Then I moved out on my own, and I was a bit too busy paying for electricity to worry myself with such matters. But now I have a husband, a house, and (gasp) steady access to health care. This is all wonderful. But I've discovered that with great security comes great complacency.

Don't get me wrong. I love my life. I love my husband. And I'm no longer gaining perverse satisfaction from imagining dire deathbed scenes. But it recently occurred to me that we've put off having kids specifically so that we can experience certain things and accomplish certain goals before we put our energy into parenthood. Sounds smart, right? And maybe it would be, if we didn't spend so much of our time (a) engrossed in the banality of everyday tasks or (b) whining about our lack of energy and lazing about the house.

So this year, I'm not making a virtuous new year's resolution. I'm not going to try to exercise more, or lose weight, or (heaven forfend) quit whining about things that annoy me. Instead, my resolution is to quit waiting. Quit waiting for the perfect circumstances. Quit plodding away at the daily to-do list and instead start crossing off things on a list I actually care about. Here are the top five things I'll quit waiting to do:

(1) Travel more. Mike and I want to take interesting vacations, but he keeps saying that we don't have the time or the money. To break us out of that mindset, I'm determined to orchestrate four mini-breaks to local destinations (one mini-break per season). In winter 2009, we will take the train to Portland, OR for two nights at the Benson Hotel. I've already made reservations!

(2) Spend more time with family. My grandmothers are getting older and my nephews and nieces are growing fast! Why guilt-trip over our lack of contact when I could reinvest that time in actual visits?

(3) Take classes. As a Christmas gift, Mike signed me up for an online writing class with Patricia Kay. I'm so excited! I'd also love to study some non-writing things. At some point (I don't know if it will be 2009), I would like to take Latin again.

(4) Finish Revising Mr. Right and submit it to at least four agents. This one's self-explanatory!

(5) Read five non-romance novels. (Aside from Water for Elephants, which many people have recommended to me, these are all books that I've started before and long to finish.)

• Dracula (Bram Stoker)
• Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
• Water for Elephants (Sara Gruen)
  
• Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945 (David Kennedy)
  
• King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa (Adam Hochschild)
  

Whew! This turned out to be quite a long post (to say nothing for a long list). I'll wrap up with that most interesting of questions: what is your new year's resolution? Best wishes to you in 2009!

O, Tannenbaum

Not to steal a line from Mariah Carey or anything, but I look at Mike and I think, "All I want for Christmas is you!" Just look at how adorable he is, sawing down our Christmas tree! Who wouldn't feel lucky to cozy up to such a husband all through the Christmas season?

This past weekend we went to a tree farm out on Yelm Highway to find ourselves a tree. It's the same one I used to go to growing up, and I couldn't help but feel a little nostalgic for the days when Dan and I used to run through the rows of Douglas Fir together, pointing out the ugliest possible trees to our parents and/or holding back wet tree branches to slingshot rain at each other.

Of course, now Mike and I have started our own traditions. Thus far, these involve (1) matching Christmas stockings (Mike's made by yours truly in a VERY rare bit of sewing and (2) bickering as we try to get the Christmas tree level and secure in its rickety stand.

On a totally different note: thanks, Tara, for the recommendation about Picasa! As you can see from the photo collage, I'm enjoying it very much.