Today is December 25, 2008. In most of the world it is Christmas. At my parents' house in California it is just Thursday. Grandpa is in the hospital so we are not celebrating until he gets home. We visited with him in his hospital room for a few hours this morning, and will go back again later tonight.

So instead of a wonderful blog about Christmas and the mounds of presents that I have received, I am making a list of things that I enjoy at my parents' house.

1. 400 thread count sheets (I also like to sneak in to my parents bed to nap on their 600 thread counts!)
2. No snow!
3. Cookies...everywhere you look. Trifle dish on the counter? Check! Bag on the island? Of course! Stashed in between the boxes and boxes of crackers in the pantry? Giddy up!
4. My mom's new Christmas tree...as she says, it is dripping with ornaments.
5. Don't want to get up to turn the lights (fan, Christmas tree, driveway lights, you name it) on or off? No worries...they are all on REMOTE CONTROL!!!
6. Gloriously fluffy pillows
7. Dad's A-Maze-ing cooking. I have been here for a day and have gained 30 lbs.
8. Going through the stacks of Christmas cards that mom receives from old friends and family
9. Snuggling on the couch and having mom tickle my back/arm/feet/whatever area of my body that I can trick her into touching
10. Getting to visit with Grandma and Grandpa for maybe the last time (though we've been saying that for 5 years now)
11. Books, books and more books
12. Love

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Winter has finally arrived in Utah. Perhaps finally is not the right word. Finally is a word that has the sound of Joyous expectation ie Christmas is finally here! I should change it to say Winter has arrived in Utah, damn it! (sorry Mom...and Emily).

We had a big snow storm this weekend, and temps dropped to the 30's and 20's. The low on Wednesday is 14. Last night I went to my car to deliver dinner to my friend that had surgery, and my back door wouldn't open. Why you ask? It was frozen shut. Yep, FROZEN SHUT! Come on people! We live in Utah, not Alaska! It's not like we can see Russia from our back yards!

I was tempted to force the door open, but suddenly I was reminded of when I lived in Connecticut (another state in the Arctic Tundra) and the front door to my car was frozen shut. I forced it open (because I was late to work as usual). Then when I went to close it, it would not latch. I had forced the lock open and it was still frozen! So I had to make the 40 minute drive to work, holding the door shut with my left hand (crying the whole time) and driving with my right hand. I should probably mention that my car was a stick shift. Yeah, hard to drive that with one hand. It was TERRIBLE. So after this painful memory, I decided to just walk around to the other side of the car and open the passenger side door. It worked! Yay! Crisis averted!

Instead of being crabby about the cold, I am trying to think of the good things about winter. Christmas is the most obvious. Not only does it bring Joy and reflection on Jesus' birth...it also brings the opportunity to decorate our yards! Woo Hoo! On one side of our walkway we have a penguin playground surrounded by snowflake lights. On the other side we have a snowman conga line (no they are not really doing the conga, but wouldn't that be cool!). Delicious goodies are also a plus for winter. I LOVE the hot cocoa at 7-11. This probably sounds white trashy, but it is delicious! They have flavor shots that you can add, plus mini marshmallows and creamers! I usually just add cinnamon and the mini marshmallows. On a good day they have chocolate marshmallows! MMMMMMMMMMMM!

Winter also brings cute sweaters (perfect for hiding the pudge from a fore mentioned goodies) and fuzzy hats. Mittens and Christmas lights at the Temple....sing alongs, parties with friends, and vacation days from work. Things are looking up! I can see the bright side of winter. This should keep me happy for a while....or at least until the next time I have to shovel the back deck so the dogs will go potty (which unfortunately will be tomorrow).

Stupid Socks

I hate socks. They make my feet feel dry and confined. I am a toe wiggler. Socks makes it difficult to do so, especially in shoes. Why can't I wear flip flops all year long? Yes, they make my back hurt, but they are so comfy!

I try to trick myself in to liking socks by buying cute ones. Stripes, flowers, polka dots (though no crazy halloween socks or those things that are like gloves that you put each toe in it's own space...GROSS!). Today I am wearing some very cute and soft yellow socks with tan, blue and white stripes. You would think the socks would want to do their job...keep my feet warm and dry. But no! They are revolting...perhaps going on strike? Wanting for a better job than to protect my smelly tootsies?

My cute yellow socks are actually rejecting my feet. The reason that I know this is because they are trying to escape. When I put them on this morning they seemed calm and relaxed. Eager to please. Comforting even. However, as I walked to my office, the plan was executed. The socks immediately began creeping down my ankles, to my heels, and then to the middle of my foot! I think they knew that my shoes were not in on the plan, because there they stayed. In the middle of my foot, hiding beneath my arch, like little cottony cowards.

So I gave them some reprieve. I took my shoes off and am now working in just my sock feet. But soon I'm going to have to go to the bathroom, and sadly it will all begin again.

Confession
Ok, so I have a confession. I ate 4 1/2 donuts on Tuesday at work. What you can't read that? FINE! I ate 4 1/2 donuts on Tuesday at work! Now it's out in the open. You all know my secret. I am a donut hog.

I just couldn't resist. The first one was a plain with chocolate glaze and Christmas sprinkles. As festive as this sounds, it wasn't really that good. So I couldn't end on a bad note. My 2nd donut was a bismark...you know...cream filled with chocolate glaze. Oh my goodness it was heavenly. This ended my craving and I knew i could make it the rest of the day without another one.

But then for some strange reason, the box was left in my office, right behind my desk...tempting me with their chocolatey deliciousness. So around 3:30 I had a chocolate bar. I'm not sure where chocolate bars have been all my life, but this was perhaps donut perfection. It had a plain glaze, and THEN a chocolate glaze on top of that! Yummmmmmmmm! Then at 5 Micci left to go home. She came in and ate a 1/2 of a maple bar. ( I was really impressed with her will power to only eat 1/2. You have to know that Micci is obsessed with maple bars. She dreams about them at night. I'm thinking she might even love them more than her husband, and she really loves him ALLOT!). Naturally after she left, I ate the other 1/2. It too was wonderful.

Wait, if I did my math correctly, that means I only ate 3 1/2 donuts! Woo Hoo! While I know this is nothing to be proud of, I now feel like I can take the scarlet letter off my chest (duh...that would be a D for donut) and not be shunned from society! Oh happy day!!

My Thanksgiving was awesome. Jen and I slept in until 10! Woo Hoo! We had reservations at a restaurant at the Snowbird Resort at 1:30, so we got up and headed out. The food was fabulous. We had sushi and other appetizers, which were just ok. But then we headed over to the hot food section. The turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravy were To. Die. For. I ate my body weight and then went back for seconds. Then it was off to the dessert table. No, this does not describe it well enough. It was 6 feet of candy coated, chocolate dipped, cheesecake deliciousness. Pumpkin pie, pecan pie, mouse cups with little cookies and candies, cobblers, cookies, cakes....sorry I just salivated on my desk. The best part though was the Bananas Foster station. A lovely young man in a tall white chef hat scoops a mound of compound butter with cinnamon into a hot pan. Then he slices bananas and tenderly drops them in. He heats these together until the butter melts...if that wasn't enough, he then squirts some rum into the concoction...which bursts in to flames!! Step back! Call the fire department! This competent young man however puts out the flames quickly, as is supposed to happen. He serves up a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream topped with the now slightly crispy coated bananas and you have a bowl of heaven.

Jen and I then headed home and took a nap. I mean we had been up for 3 hours after all. But we needed to gear up for Black Friday....which started this year at 8Pm on Thanksgiving night. We went to Michaels Crafts and got some Christmas decor for the yard. We then went to a movie at 10:00. After that we were off to Fashion Place Mall and then South Towne Mall. We shopped around for a couple hours, got pedicures at 3 a.m. (FUN!). I fought the crowd at Pennys at 4 a.m. Next stop was Shopko which was a zoo, so we exited pronto. Then off to Smith's Marketplace at 6 for free donuts and apple cider. We shopped there until about 7:30 a.m. One more stop to drop some donuts off to Todd at his store Axis Sports in Draper, and then home at 8:25 a.m. We slept for about 3 hours, then headed back out! It was insane. We didn't really have anything we needed to buy, and didn't spend much money, but it was such a fun experience.

Saturday was the Winona Christmas concert in Wendover with Jen and Kristi. I've always been a fan of Winona and was really excited to see her live. Man can she belt out a tune! She was fantastic. The mood was a little mellow however..she's become a holy roller! We headed over to the casino to find Paul (Kristi's husband). He was stuck in gamblers la la land. After trying unsuccessfully for 10 minutes to get him to go home, Kristi and I headed over to the bar to watch the show. It was 3 black men in their 60's singing old Motown favorites. This was the highlight of my night! They were great! Finally, with an extra $2.50 in my pocket (thanks to the penny slots), we headed home.

It was a crazy weekend and I'm glad it's over. Today I am falling asleep at my desk. But I loved it! I am so glad I live with my sister and that she's up for such fun!