This Holiday Season:

Before I get started, I just wanna say that I've had so many little daily things I've been wanting to tell you about these last couple of weeks, blog friends. But our internet's been out! Like how we ordered a nebulizer for Scarlett's nasty cough she's developed and how when the technician delivered it to our house and pulled it out to show us how it works, Lucy happily said right in front of him, I think that man brought that machine for your boobies, mom! and then how I awkwardly stuttered and stammered and luckily managed to say, She thinks it's a breast pump. haha! and gave the guy a good hard slap on the back. Or how I've been wanting to tell you about a conversation Jason and I had about how I used to be a "cool" wife and be all into BYU football and the Jazz and how it just sucks I'm not that way anymore because he used to think it was awesome and now I'm just all consumed with our "kids". (Those last quotations don't really belong, but I thought I'd throw them in anyway.) Because, ya see, I missed the first part of the BYU bowl game this morning being all selfish with my time, taking Scarlett to the doctor and picking up her prescriptions afterwards. Umm... Yeah. See how behind we are? These two incidents are just from today! But like I said, we've had an internet issue and my husband and I have been wasting a lot of time the last couple of weeks involved in a very important battle of wills, pushing whose responsibility it is to get it resolved back and forth, back and forth between the two of us. (I won, btw. Which is actually much more important than getting the issue itself resolved.) Anyway, I just feel like we've missed out on a lot because now I can't remember a lot of the little things I wanted to tell you or they just don't seem relevant anymore. Sigh. I just wanted to get that off my chest. I hope we never let a technological difficulty get in between us again. Maybe next time we have an internet issue at our house, you should take some personal responsibility for it and not let it just hover between hubby and me. You should write me an email and tell me, It's been 2.5 weeks since your last post and I can't go on like this much longer... what can I do to resolve this and restore peace and happiness back to my life? I won't be creeped out, I'll just be excited you're being proactive about problem solving.

Now, back to my title. Ahem!

This Holiday Season...

We experienced our first snowfall of the year. Which sadly lasted 2.7 seconds before melting. No white Christmas for us. :(

Scarlett was still pretty elated by the skimpy stuff. She's no high maintenance dame.

We told Santa what we wanted for Christmas. Lucy said, "I want a unicorn," with a smile and then Scarlett said, "I wanna get the hell away from you, Santa."

And Lucy didn't mind copping a feel of that red velvety lusciousness while Scarlett was distracting Mr. Clause. Didn't mind at all. I think they may have conspired about this beforehand, Okay Scarlett, you throw a big fit... and while you do, I'm gonna go ahead and do some belly fondling... and solve this mystery once and for all...

Grammy and Papa came down for a weekend and we got to have a sleepover with one of our favorite cousins... I think it might be getting close to the time we tell Lucy she can't marry Carson. She'd spoon him 24-7 if he'd let her. Luckily, he plays a little hard to get.

We also made ginger bread houses with said cousin.

We met Santa for the 2nd time on the Polar Express... and 3 year old Lucy immediately noted that the other Santa we met wasn't wearing glasses and this one was wearing them. Hmm. I'm gonna have to be more sneaky than I thought. Starting now, not 5 years from now. Dang it.

This holiday season we also scored a lead role in the family manger scene on Christmas eve. Well, Lucy did at least. And she has told me several times since with a contemplative look in her eye, "Ya know what, mom? I was the best Mary."

I started to cry when she walked out holding that little baby doll.

That's Joseph sitting there behind her. She has a thing for older men. Just like her mama. And look at those wee little angels.

Here are all of our nieces and nephews on Jason's side sporting their new Grandma made aprons (accompanied by a collection of the best family recipes. YUM!) Minus Jacob, on his mission. We can say that the baby Lucy is holding is standing proxy for Jacob. I mean, it's an anatomically correct baby doll, which is all Lucy will stand for these days.

Actually, she went and grabbed that baby after Grandma said, "Okay big kids, grab a baby for the picture!" and then Lucy said in a hurry, "I gotta go get my baby Jesus."

-We got new Christmas pajamas:

Scrumptious little sissies. Indeed.

Despite my best efforts to revolutionize ugly-face making, some of us still want to pretend we're just too dang cute to make a truly heinous face when told to... No creativity whatsoever in that face pulling. So easy a 3 and a 4 year old can do it. You think Lucy could pull off what I'm doing?? Not a chance. She'd burst several blood vessels in her face just trying.

And then there's Steve. He always comes through for me. That means more than you know, brother. I think that we will have to feature you in every Christmas post. And I actually think this was the, "make a sexy face" picture. Even better.

This Holiday Season, I finally got my cruiser!!!! There is a rich history behind getting this bike in my possession, and if you'd like to know something about it, read here. If not, just look at how cute that bike is! It has a bell. And check that basket out. I'll be delivering warm loaves of bread around the neighborhood on that thing come this summer. And maybe I'll have a carton of eggs to throw at the kids I don't like too. I cried when I saw it. I really did. And I hugged my husband. A lot.

Jason finally got his batman snuggie blanket!! He cried when he opened it, too.

And modeling it back home...

And he may have shed a tear opening his new wand. That's right, a bonafide Harry Potter wand. It happens to be the coolest universal remote on earth. And you swoosh it around and jab it in the air and stuff to control your TV and other electronics. And, as a bonus you can dress yourself with it and set people's hair on fire and stuff. So I guess giving this gift makes me the coolest wife on earth.

Santa may or may not have brought us even more matching pajamas! And I'm not lying, at all actually when I tell you I wore this for the 6 days following Christmas. Which means I changed for the first time today. Not lying. I can't express how comfortable these are! And they've got our names on them and footies! How could I not wear them for 6 days straight?!

Phew. It's been a hectic season. And wonderful! And to close it off, this week we got hit with the stomach flu with sent Lucy and I into violent vomiting hysterics for an entire night. What would this time of year be without vomit and diarrhea?? It's part of the season! I'm trying to talk lightly about it so I don't start ugly-face crying. Because it was one of the top 5 worst nights of my life. But being this far along in the pregnancy, I had a little friend kicking my insides and doing acrobatics in between my retching sessions, which were every half hour from 11 pm to 5 am. Not good. Not good at all. Lucy seemed to fare better with it than I did, and recovered more quickly as well, so that was good.

Happy New Year! And Merry Christmas! I'll try to write something thought provoking and spiritual next post about this time of year. I just can't muster the mental energy today for it, but there are some deep thoughts swimming around in this head for next time. Like how Dad always thought laughter was the best medicine, which I guess was why several of us died of tuberculosis. Love to all! God bless us, every one!