Some Bold Re-Gifting

I hesitate to share this with little holiday story you because the re-gifter is a really cool lady and a friend of mine from church. But, I keep cracking up thinking about it, so I have to share. No one in my "new" life knows about my blog (that I know of), but even so, I'm sure I'll be deleting this post in a few days when my conscience gets the best of me.

Last night this woman and her husband came over for a quick visit and brought us a little plate of treats (maybe it was his idea-why am I blaming her? I can totally see Guapo suggesting something like this). We chatted for a while and then they left at which point I surveyed the plate. A nice variety of homemade candies and cookies.

But hey, wait just a second-haven't I seen that chocolate covered Oreo with the cute little holly leaf and berries on it somewhere before?

And what about those chocolate covered peanuts clusters?

I know I've seen the cute little gingerbread cookie with the M&M buttons.

We had received three plates of goodies from people in our ward before this little plate; the little plate had something from each of the others on it. I still had the other plates, so I know I'm not making this stuff up.

My friend is known for being super practical and not worrying about what other people think-so it totally makes sense. It prevents her from a) eating too many sweets and b) from having to do time-consuming holiday baking, and c) spending money on those types of gifts. Win-win-win, right? She had to have assumed that I would have received a plate from at least one of the three people I did, and yet she went ahead and re-gifted anyway.

I respect her decision and may even consider the move myself- just probably not to people within the same social circle.

Those chocolate covered oreos were my favorite-so I was happy to get an extra. :)

Random Holiday Post

Holiday shopping

As of today at 4:00 pm I.am.officially.done. Everything is wrapped. Everything is shipped. I will buy nothing else.

Except, what do people generally give to the mail carrier? Money? If so, how much?

Margarita Redeemed

We had a busy week of holiday parties, concerts, and recitals. And we're not done yet. At Margarita's choir concert Tuesday night this was a sight that made me happy:

The lost and found table. Apparently Margarita's not the only middle-schooler who temporarily can't find things (they are never lost; even if we haven't seen them for months).

The Problem with Mormons

I thought it'd be fun have a casual "little" get together Sunday evening with a three other families from our church. You know- hot chocolate, snacks, some relaxed conversation.

I just added up how many kids will be here.

EIGHTEEN.

Any ideas for high-yield snacks?

Holiday Cheer

After contemplating for months about how my children would no longer have holiday celebrations being in US public schools, I have been happily surprised. Sure, Julio had "Secret Snow People" instead of "Secret Santas" in his class, but Margarita's choir concert had a couple of songs about Jesus' birth(I thought that was a huge no-no), the teachers wished us "Merry Christmas", and Pedro's class even had a special visitor today:

I know, what a crappy photo. It was bad lighting for my poor little iPhone, but I also discovered later that the lens was totally gooped up (how in the world did that happen? Pedro, I'm sure.)

Look at this one:

Santa asked the kids to be quite while he read them a story so Pedro sat like this for the next few minutes. What a little monkey.

2 Minutes of Fame

Julio's basketball team got to play for 5 minutes at the halftime of the CU game tonight. There are 10 players so they each got about 2 1/2 minutes. Julio said it felt like 23 seconds. He attempted one shot and got a rebound. His little buddy who hasn't made a basket all season (tomorrow's the last game), scored.

See? I cleaned my lens. Much better.

Hey, What About Juan Carlos?

I just realized I've talked about every kid but Juan Carlos; as I mentioned before, this week has been crazy. So on Wednesday morning as I'm walking the boys to school I realize his clothes look a little too familiar. We had gotten home from the choir concert late and they kids scurried to bed-some of them not even bothering to change into jammies. He got up and wore the same (visibly dirty) clothes the next day. Lovely.

Oh well, at least he was at school.

So, that's what we're up to. My kids finished school today. I'm not sure if things will be more hectic because they are around, or less hectic because we don't have all of their activities we have to be at. I guess I'll find out soon enough.

Happy Holidays!

Forced Holiday Decorating

About a month ago, someone from the Relief Society (women's organization of our church) asked if they could have their Christmas dinner at our house. "Sure, no problem!" I told them. Then the rest of the month everyone kept telling me how "brave" I was for hosting. I was starting to get really paranoid near the end, did they know something that I did not?

It was a lot of work to get our house ready, but it forced us to do some things we'd been putting off (like washing those windows way, way up there-requiring me to get on the roof, setting up the treadmill and hanging some pictures that had been sitting around for MONTHS) , but I didn't have to be in charge of the invitations, the food, or the program (the things that stress me out), so it worked just fine for me.

The party was a success and now my house will look great for the rest of the season. Here are some photos:

Yes, that's a real tree-isn't it perfectly shaped? Several people asked me where I got such a real looking artificial tree. And those lights? They took about 10 trips to Target and 5 years off of Guapo's life to get them just how he wanted them.

Finally, something up in that space that bugs me everyday. Watering them could be difficult. I don't think dead poinsettias will be quite as festive.

Look at those awesome pillows I found. I was so proud of myself.

My favorite room of the house-so cozy for Christmas.

Guapo's tree that took an additional 2 years off of his life.

My animal from Venezuela greeted people as they arrived.

And look at Kitty with the golden reindeer the previous owners left up in the attic.

I'm practically done with my holiday shopping and wrapping so things are good. Now, if only it would snow. We've only gotten and inch and a half here-very dissapointing to my kiddos.

I hope you're having a wonderful December.

Second Annual Christmas Eve Drama

Last Christmas Eve, if you remember, we thought Julio and Juan Carlos, then 8 and 5 years old, had been abducted for what were the longest 90 minutes of my life. Only after the local police were involved did we find them in a neighbor's basement, playing video games, totally clueless that they had all of us sick with fear.

This year's Christmas Eve drama involved my parents. They were headed up to our house in the mountains, their car loaded to the brim with presents and food. Along with our Santa Watch on Google Earth, we were also keeping a "Grandma Watch" via telephone to know how long before they arrived. My mom and I were calling back and forth, planning all the ways we could terrorize our Steeler-loving neighbors who have a real talent for blocking the entire driveway so no one can come or go.

A few minutes before they were to arrive, my mom called hyperventilating and crying; all I could make out was, "...we went off the road...send Guapo...police on their way..."

Not a good feeling.

I yelled at Guapo to go find them, and then I went and really yelled at the neighbors, whose cars were, once again, blocking us in. So annoying. Anyway, Guapo left and after a few minutes I tried to call him to see if he had found them yet, only to hear his phone ringing inside the house. Uggh!

After what seemed like forever, they finally made it up to our house and everyone was, amazingly, in one piece. They had in hand the two extension cords we had asked them to pick up on their way up so we could plug in our fondue pots-my dad had climbed back down to the car to retrieve them- how sweet (and totally unnecessary) is that?

We got bundled up and headed 2 miles down the mountain to the scene of the accident because we had to unload all the gifts (I didn't really think this was too important at this point, but my parents insisted). These pictures don't do justice to how scary it actually looked:

It was very steep where they went off. Luckily, they went straight down and some big rocks slowed the car to a halt; had they gone down sideways, they most likely would have rolled the car and things probably wouldn't have ended so happily.

The second picture shows our 4 person chain we used to get the gifts up to the top (all while it was below zero outside).

Here are a couple of pictures in daylight, to gives you a little better idea of how steep it was.

We were "lucky" once again and were able to sit down for our traditional Christmas Eve fondue dinner (extension cords and all) together as a family (albeit with red, puffy eyes). It's funny how the gifts just don't seem as important after an experience like that, I was just happy to have my parents there with us on Christmas day. In case you haven't ever gotten it from my blog, I love my parents so much, and thinking about life without them is not something that I want to do at this point in my life.

I hope you all had a wonderful day with your loved ones.

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas Photo Post

Picking the tree:

The final product:

Festive Moses:

Our naughty neighbors whom Santa surely won't be visiting:

Snow, finally:

The temp outside right now:

My Mom Is Bossing Me Around Like I'm 12

So my mom didn't like my sunbathing Santa header. You know, this one:

She's been calling me for days, begging me to change it. She's even sent me possible replacement photos. He grosses her out for some reason. Poor Santa. So, to get her off my back, I've changed to the Christmas tree on the Lagoa out in front of our house. Supposedly it is the largest floating Christmas tree in the world and who am I to doubt that? I've never even seen another floating Christmas tree before. We have a perfect view of it- Margarita lays in bed at night and looks right out at the beautiful tree.

I love Christmas, but man, it's a lot of work. I was thinking last night I need to hire a Christmas Coordinator, something akin to a wedding planner, to help me make it through the season. I'm not begrudging Christmas, I love this time of year more than any other; I love giving gifts and making cookies, listening to Christmas music, watching Christmas movies, traveling home to see loved ones. This year my lists just seem so long-maybe it's living here? I've got to prepare gifts for the maid, her sons, the driver, the guards of the building, the tennis teachers, the piano teacher, the regular teachers, assorted friends and colleagues. And then there're all the people in the States that we will be seeing this year that I need to buy for. I've got a spreadsheet going to help me keep track of all the gifts.

I'm about to start handing out "A donation has been made in your behalf to the Human Fund" cards.

Is there this much gift giving going on in the States?

I think I'm ALMOST done. A few more little things here and there. We leave on Thursday (yay!) and I want to have it all done by then so I can just relax and enjoy our vacation.

So, just a few random Christmas things:


Music Presentation

The music teacher combined the music presentations this year, so I only had to go to one (last year I had three different presentations on three different days). My boys only tolerate these presentations. About a week before they start mumbling about being sick and the day of it's like pulling teeth getting them up and dressed. Then they stand there and move their lips and kind of sway as the other kids belt it out and do their dance moves.

They definitely weren't having as much fun as this guy:

Finally, A Good Gift

At our book club Christmas party each year, we do one of those stealing present games. I have not had much success, until this year.

The first year was a disaster. If you remember, I held in my had a bag full of wonderful American goodies only to have it stolen from me from some mean lady who is no longer apart of book club. Good riddance. (I'm just joking people. Well, mostly)

I was left with these very bright Unicef place mats (that I later re-gifted to my Mom).

Last year wasn't as traumatic, but this was my gift, a little wood thing to hang in the kitchen (it now hangs in the kitchen of my maid, if she didn't re-gift it, that is):

But this year, I won't be re-gifting my gift. I scored this cute bracelet:

And while I'm taking pictures of myself, do you want to see my tennis tan? Despite using 50 SPF sports sunscreen (i.e. sweat proof), look at my arm:

I would expect the top of my arm to be tanned, but check out the bottom:

I must have some awesome moves to be getting that much sun on that part of my arm.

Looks like I need to reapply more often.

Did I mention we're going to freeze our fannies off in Colorado and Utah?

Christmas Magic

I was in the mall last week with Julio (9 yrs old) and I as we passed the Santa who was sitting there without any children on his lap, I teased him about going and telling Santa what he wants for Christmas. He said to me in his, "mom, I'm too old for that kind of stuff" voice, "Mom, I know how things work." My heart sank a little and then he said, "I know that's just a guy in a suit, the real Santa doesn't go to malls." (...and my heart rises back to it's normal position)

Hope you're all enjoying the season!

Christmas Trip: Colorado Portion

I can't believe it's already been 10 days. We've had a great time in Colorado and we are headed to Utah in about 15 minutes for the second part of our trip. Here are the highlights of our trip so far:

(This picture was taken minutes after arriving at my parent's house) Pedro, obviously feeling very comfortable in his new surroundings, got right on making a mess of my mom's bathroom:



They ended up putting up a gate to keep Pedro out of the bathroom.

We got to pick out a real tree this year (Guapo's dream):




Although we were hoping for a white Christmas, it only snowed for about 5 minutes one day. I don't even think you can see the snow falling in this picture, but I promise it was:



We went to a Nuggets game in my dad's office's fancy-shmancy box. They were giving out free reindeer webkinz to all kids and the Nuggets won-so it was pretty much a great night for all involved:



They climbed the wall at the mall:



They got to make fudge and cookies with grandma (I can't tell you what a treat it was NOT to be in charge of these activities!):



(of course, no one wanted to eat Pedro's creations).



The one bad part of the week (and it turned out ok in the end) was that on Christmas Eve day we lost Juan Carlos and Julio for about an hour and a half. Unbeknownst to any adults in the house, they had gone over to a neighbor's to play and were in the basement where no one could here our repeated knocks, so we assumed the neighbors were gone. We frantically searched the nearby park and pond; finally, worrying (well, more like hoping at that moment) that maybe they got lost and wouldn't know the address or phone number of my parents' house, we called the police and they started searching. I'm pretty sure it was the worst hour and a half of my life. I felt like I was suffocating, about to throw up, and pass out all at the same time.

Guapo kept returning to the neighbor's with no luck; then he just felt like he should go inside, so he just opened the front door and he saw their shoes by the stairs (after, the officer joked that he was going to have to charge him with trespassing). They were fine and had no idea they had caused all of us such grief. The nice policeman in charge of the search talked to them about always telling someone where they are and he gave them a sticker:



What an ordeal! I so thankful am it ended happy. The experience served as a very strong reminder of what is really important in life.

That night we did our traditional steamy fondue with the family:



...and later that night Santa visited the house:



We finally joined the 21st century and got a Wii for Christmas. I am a staunch opponent of video games-we'll see how long before I regret the decision. Speaking of the which, please let me know if you can recommend any good, ACTIVE, games for the kids.

And, Guapo and I got a "grown-up" camera. So hopefully the quality of our photos will improve (I'm still scared to use it-so I've got nothing to show you yet.).

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas holiday!

Why the Lack of Christmas Posts?

For the last two years, during the month of December, I have posted all about our daily Christmas activities.

"And this year?" you ask.

Sorry, not this year. The past two years I have activated "Plan December" to make our home feel "Christmasy" while living in places far from home where it sometime doesn't feel that "Christmasy" to me. We are south of the equator here in Brazil, so Christmas is during the summer, which is why there are decorations like this all around:



These basking Santas are all over the place, and so you can see just how big Big Bathing Santa is, here's a little perspective:


Cute? Creepy? I can't decide.

Well, this year we are going home (YAY!!!), so I don't feel quite so motivated to do so many activities.

And, besides that, I'm just tired. Three kids in school, all with different end of the year activities- I'm exhausted. Since December 1st I've had 3 different music programs, two bake sales, a field trip, a mom-given presentation on the US, a mom-led craft, not to mention the holiday parties, teacher and friend gifts, etc. etc. I don't know how many dozens of cookies I've sent to school.

I'm throwing the towel in tomorrow and sending in the last of my American candy for Margarita's and Juan Carlos's parties.

So, we've done some of the Christmas stuff like decorating, watching Christmas movies and reading Christmas books...I measured the kids for the growing tree (Pedro was the big winner, growing 4" in the last year; Julio was a close second with 3 1/2"; Margarita grew 2 1/2" and Juan Carlos grew 2"). But, no crafts or baking.

It's just not as fun to bake when it's summer out.

So, Christmas will officially start on Friday morning when we arrive in Colorado! We'll probably all freeze to death, but at least it will feel Christmasy.

In other news: Pedro is in LOVE with his big sister. It is so cute to watch him follow her around, and, it gives me a little break.

And if you're looking for a good book, I just finished this one:


Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. I loved.it.-from the first paragraph to the last. Excellent!

Because I Want to Be a Good Blogger...

...I will post. But, my heart is elsewhere.

You see, I am in Obsessive Mode. My mind is fixated on two things:

1) a photo book from our summer trip

and

2) a quilt for my sister's baby who isn't due until April.

Why do I do this to myself?

Let me explain. I want to do the photo book because the longer I wait, the more likely it will be that I will never document our 2 month trip to the States and all of our memories will be dim. And, I have a coupon for 20% off that is only good until Wednesday. My book is 56 pages and 220 photos so far, so the coupon will come in handy. But I fear that I will use it and an even better coupon will be issued... What to do?

And the quilt. My sister is having a shower in January and I will actually be able to attend and since I can't send stuff from here say at a later, post-holiday-more convenient date, I need to give it to her at her shower. "It's just a baby quilt," I tell myself, "No problem! It won't take hardly anytime at all." It really is cute, I wish I could post a picture, but she reads my blog sometimes, so it will have to wait.

Here's my thought process when I get like this, "I know I am neglecting X, Y and Z, but if I finish this soon, then my time will be completely freed up, and I'll be able to give lots of attention to X, Y and Z." Which isn't really rational thinking because of course there's always something else to obsess about...

What makes it 100X worse is that Guapo left for the week today and so it gives me an even greater push to get things done since he doesn't love it so much when I sit and quilt all night (I can't imagine why???). I stay up way to late when he's not here.

I haven't even had a shower today and now it's almost midnight here. I'm sorry if that grosses you out, but that's how I am when I'm obsessing.

Anyway, I should be focusing on Christmas (or my kids) and instead I am obsessing with a book and a quilt. I am blogging so I don't feel guilty about not blogging. Oh well, at least I'm doing it, right?

Anyway, here's a few Christmas-y shots to try to get me in the spirit:

The crew decorating the tree last night:

Pedro didn't quite get the concept of hanging the ornaments. He would grab whatever he could get his hands on, oftentimes an ornament that had already be hung with care, and just huck it up at the tree.

This year was Juan Carlos's turn to put the star on:

Saturday night, the big tree was lit on the Lagoa in front of our apartment. We had a few people over to watch the tree lighting ceremony.

I love the tree this year (it's different every year). It's got a star and angels on the top and it plays bells every hour on the hour.

And just in case you're wondering what Pedro's up to today, he's completely stopped saying, "No" and will only say "No Way". And it used to be like, "No (brain sending the message to the tongue) Way" and now it's like "NoWay". Sometimes now instead of "Yes" he will say, "Yes Way". And, good news-his hair has recovered from the vaseline incident.

now if you'll excuse me I've got to go quilt, or make my book. I'll be back when I'm done. (just wait til you see what a good blogger I am after I finish my projects...)