The Magic of Christmas is Alive and Well

As kids, Mitch and I had great Christmases. Each of our families had their own traditions: Mitch's family would set out cookie tins by the fireplace so that Santa could fill them with treats, and they had their own personal Christmas trees in their bedrooms where Santa would leave little presents (books, games, etc.) that they could open and play with as soon as they woke up. My family would wake up at the crack of dawn, look at the tree but NOT step onto the carpeting of the living room, then have a breakfast of cinnamon rolls and open presents, followed by a mad rush to get everyone ready and at Grama and Grapa's by lunchtime.

Last year we spent Christmas at my parents house, and since Gizmo was so small we really didn't buy her anything. In fact, we took the money we would have spent on her and spent it on the Adopt-a-Family at my school.

This year is a different story, as Gizmo is very aware of our Christmas tree, the presents under it, and the fact that Santa is coming tonight. Mitch and I started our wrapping festivities last night and will finish shortly after posting this blog. Mitch has already become his father and declared that we have bought too much stuff. The joy of wrapping gifts has now officially become a job, as I have never wrapped so many things in my entire life. The last two days have been filled with errands, cooking, wrapping, and general preparing for the next week. I am exhausted. And completely filled with the Christmas spirit.

This will be our first Christmas together in our own house, Mitch, Gizmo and I, the first of many together. We are incorporating many traditions from both of our families - the cookie tins are filled, the cinnamon rolls are ready for the oven - and look forward to finding some of our own traditions. The magic of Santa and the entire season is almost overwhelming, as I am emotional just writing this post. (Those damn pregnancy hormones!) I can't wait for Gizmo to wake up (at a decent hour) tomorrow morning and see her face as she marvels at the sight of the tree, the stockings, and the presents.

May you and your family have a very Merry Christmas.

Apparently, They Don't Get Much Love

Mitch: Hey, I need one of Gizmo's Christmas cards so I can take it to work and show it off at tomorrow's potluck.

Tina: Do you have a place that you put all your Christmas cards that you get at work? You could put it up there.

Mitch: (look of disbelief) Yeah..........we don't get too many Christmas cards from our "clients" where I work.

Tina: (Hysterical laughter)

Holiday Portraits

Over Thanksgiving break, we took Gizmo to have her portraits taken. I had been meaning to do this since her first birthday, but honestly, who has the time? (Or the money - man, are pictures expensive!)

We were worried that she wouldn't be her normal, happy self for the pictures considering she was in a new environment and it was close to her nap time. She proved us wrong, as you can see:











What a big girl she is! When did this happen?

A Marshmallow World

Here are the long-overdue pictures from last Saturday's blizzard. It goes on record as one of the biggest storms in history - over 16 inches in 24 hour. The worst part is that we will not be warm enough to melt this snow until, oh, April.

This is the shot of our backyard, and our fire pit. It stands a good two feet up from the ground.


Our mailboxes were almost buried, and when the snow plow came through on the street there was so much snow that it pushed our mailbox over a little. It will need a new post.


This is our garden - at least the top of it.


The morning the storm began, this is what our deck looked like -


You can see the ridge in the middle of the snow where the new snow had fallen - about six inches.

Here is what it looked like by the end of the day -


And the next morning, our door looked like this -


This is our street during the storm -


Mitch had to go out and brave the snow in order to snowblow the driveway. It had to be done twice - once during the storm, once after - so that way the snowblower would still be taller than the snow piles. In the end, there were drifts at the end of the driveway that were taller than 40 inches.


What did Gizmo and I do while Mitch was snowblowing? Stayed inside, of course. We enjoyed the fire -


Played with our stuffed animals -


And looked fashionable while staying warm -


I spent a couple of hours in the kitchen making comfort food.

And yes, I am aware that my cute baby bump is turning into a giant basketball. I am on track to be as big as a barn....again. Still a few months to go!

They are predicting more snow this weekend, and I think even into Monday. It can snow all it wants, as long as we can get out for the holidays!

A Marshmallow World

Mitch and I had planned to do our Christmas shopping today. We had secured Al to come babysit Gizmo and were excited to spend a few hours on the town and go to lunch. But, on Friday the weatherman predicted a whopper of a blizzard to hit the Twin Cities, and so plans changed. I ran to the grocery store last night with the rest of our town (it was by far the busiest I have ever seen it - even busier than the day before Thanksgiving!), and we hunkered down for a long, snowy winter day in the house.

This morning the weatherman was correct - we had about seven inches on the ground by 7am. It blew and drifted, creating a drift of about 40 inches at the end of our driveway when Mitch went out to snowblow at 3pm. In total, we've received about 15 inches. Everything was canceled here - EVERYTHING. Interstates were closed. The mail didn't come. They had 220 snow plows working in the metro area alone. At one point they pulled the plows off the road because it was too dangerous for them to be out. The Mall of America closed early. The airport was shut down for hours.

It was truly wonderful. I took some great pictures that I will post tomorrow (as it is a real pain to download them to my broken Mac, then save and import them into this dreadful PC). Mitch, Gizmo and I had a great day indoors playing, cooking, listening to Christmas music, and watching the fire in our fireplace all day. I worked on holiday gifts (any day that I get to use my glue gun is a good one!), and am now sitting down to watch "A Christmas Story" with my cup of hot chocolate and banana bread.

My only complaint about the day and the blizzard? The fact that it wasn't a weekday. I could have really used a snow day. Maybe next time....

It's a Very Special Day

Do you know whose birthday it is today? Britney Spears. Happy 29th, Britney!

More importantly, the Mrs. is celebrating a (slightly older) birthday, too. Happy birthday, Mrs.!! I hope you have had a wonderful, stress-free day. I miss you.

Did you know you share your birthday with Brit-Brit? You're so lucky....