Christmas: Another Holiday Success!

Christmas was yet another delightful holiday. I completed all my shopping before December 1st so that I could kick back and enjoy the season. We didn't do much (there was a lot of driving around and looking at Christmas lights; Abe and I delivered cookies to a few of our favorite people; Documentary Night turned into Christmas Special Night; we briefly attended our Ward Christmas Party), but we did it calmly.

And I liked that.

Soren helped decorate the Christmas tree. He was shockingly well-behaved all season long around that tree. Aside from occasionally rearranging the ornaments (aka moving them from the tree to various locations around the house) and spending a considerable amount of time plugging in and unplugging the lights, he really didn't touch the tree very much. I had been planning on putting up fortifications around the tree (something like a four-foot-tall chain link fence with barbed wire on top), but such precautions proved unnecessary. It was a pleasant surprise.

Isn't he precious? Also, I must take a moment to brag here that I purchased that fully-lit Christmas tree, along with all the ornaments and the tree skirt, at a garage sale this summer for $7.00.

And this was our Christmas morning. Abe had to work for a couple of hours first thing in the morning, so everyone was dressed but me. (And I could have been dressed, except that I prefer to wear things without a waistband as much as possible, as I have swollen to proportions that don't lend themselves to clothing.)

Soren was particularly excited about the candy canes Santa put in his stocking. He was also excited about some of the goodies Daddy got.

It was so fun to have our little sweetie be somewhat aware of what was going on-- at least enough to enjoy getting some new toys. He even said, "Wow!" when he opened his "big" present: a 200-piece package of wooden blocks.

Abe told Quentin to look triumphant while he gloated over his Christmas spoils. ("Triumphant is double-chinned?" asked Abraham.)

Also...a few days before Christmas we received an unexpected knock on the door. My mom was standing on the doorstep. "Merry Christmas!" she said, as my dad backed his pickup truck into our driveway. "What the....?" I began, and then saw the box sitting in the back of the truck: "WASHER." My sweet mom and dad bought Abe and me a BRAND NEW washer and dryer for Christmas. I've been doing laundry at their house for the past year, hauling loads of clothing back and forth between our homes each week. Abe and I had been thinking we might start perusing Craig's List this summer for a used set after we'd recovered from being mugged by doctor and hospital following the birth of our new baby. Now we won't need to worry about it.
"It was just breaking my heart to watch you struggle around with that gigantic belly and your huge baskets of laundry," said my Mom. "And you'll really need this when the new baby comes," added my Dad. And so now we are the proud owners of a BRAND NEW Kenmore washer and dryer. I feel so fancy.

Later that evening--as he perused the contents of the package of goodies his mom had sent for Christmas-- "Lil' Smokies!" "Cabot Cheese!" "Cookies!" -- Abe proclaimed the day to be one of the best in his whole life. On Christmas morning, he declared, "I have achieved Nirvana through the attainment of material goods!"

Poet in Residence

Abe has taken to scribbling poetry in the kitchen late at night. It's always fun to stumble across a new poem by Abraham. I don't want to embarrass him by publishing his more personal works, but here is a silly (yet delightful) one I don't think he'll mind being shared:

Tender Bacon Love

When I wake
I smell watcha makin'
Breathe in flavor
Of cookin' bacon
Look quite hot
Pregnant and big
Front of that stove
Sizzlin' that pig
You've been seen by the long-legged stork
I can tell
As you flip the pork

In Which I Enter Adulthood

Nope: the marriage, the college degree, the mortgage, the baby, the second pregnancy....none of those pushed me into adulthood. What did it, instead, was preparing a Thanksgiving dinner entirely by myself.* I pulled giblets and a neck out of a turkey cavity...all by myself. I stuffed it with citrus fruit and onion quarters. I basted it every half hour. I served homemade rolls, jello salad, potatoes, several different types of pie, stuffing, and other delicious foods that I can't think of right now. I planned the menu, I executed the shopping, I scheduled all of the cooking so that everything would be ready at the same time. And I'm (obviously) pretty darn proud of myself.

For those of you who are growing bored of this post already, I will note right now that I'm really recording this only for family history purposes. I recognize that most of you will not be interested in my Thanksgiving. But I'm putting down the details here because it was a very nice holiday and I would like to remember it. So don't feel bad for stopping right here and visiting the "lol cats" website instead.)

Abe's from New Hampshire, but all of his adult siblings live out west. Abe had told his older sister, Natalya, who lives in Montana, that we would love to come visit her and her family sometime soon. She called and said, "Jacob's got time off for Thanksgiving. Why don't we come down and visit you?" That sounded like a good idea to us, so we decided to have a miniature Skousen Family Thanksgiving at our house. In addition to the Brown Family (Nat and Jacob and their three children (Hyrum (3), Lucy (2), and Heber (1)), our two LDS Busines College siblings (Quentin and Briar) also visited for the Holiday. I truly enjoyed having my house stuffed to the brim with guests.

We used to joke that Quentin could come live with us and be Soren's nanny, so we refer to him as "Nanny Q" while speaking with Soren. Soren has adapted this name to "Nan-O." They have good times together.

Briar and Hyrum spend some time getting to know each other. Or maybe Hyrum wants to play with Briar's laptop, which you can't see, due to the Thomas the Train blocking Briar's lap.

I was AMAZED at Heber's ability to nap in the middle of chaos. Soren, being a spoiled oldest child, must be laid in his bed with a white noise maker whirring in the background. This child, on the other hand, slept soundly in the rocking chair while Soren not-so-gently rocked him and his older siblings played nearby with toys. Most impressive.

(Please also note Soren's layered look. This is a cute habit that he has picked up on lately. He loves to wear short-sleeved shirts over long-sleeved shirts and shorts over long pants. In the morning he sometimes likes for me to put a second pair of pajamas on top of the jammies he slept in.)

Lucy looking very Aryan. She is an adorably sweet little cutie pants.

Jacob and Natalya were very sweet to help out around the house during their visit. Jacob fixed our dishwasher and helped Abe and Quentin repair our kitchen deck; Natalya, in addition to helping out in the kitchen, was dear enough to wipe some nasty Soren poopies out of the carpet when he experienced an out-of-this-world diaper explosion. (After dealing with similar poopies for a couple of weeks, we finally discovered that citrus fruit was at the root of Soren's bowel upset.)

And this is the spot where I would post a nice picture of Natalya and Jacob. Unfortunately, the only decent picture I got of their faces was a breastfeeding shot, which I thought Nat might not appreciate having posted on my blog. So just know that they're very cute people.

Anyway, to continue my narrative: The Browns left Friday afternoon. Natalya was sick for the duration of the 8-hour drive (I swear it wasn't my food!) and vowed never to travel that far with three small children ever again. (She also made this vow the last time she came to visit us, so I'm not terribly concerned.) Her children were also a little sick in the days following (I swear it wasn't my food!) Soren, though he enjoyed having visitors his age for the first twenty-four hours, had started to grow overwhelmed by the presence of so many other children, and was deeply relieved to have the house return to its usual quiet state, where he is the sole creator of all chaos, noise, and unpredictability.

Sunday night I took him out for a ride around Shelley so he could see the Christmas lights. These were met, that night and throughout the season, with many exclamations of "Ooooh! Lights!" and "Wooww!"

*My friend Nicholas came over the night before to help me bake pies. Also, Natalya was in charge of the Funeral Potatoes. But you get the general idea.....