Welcome Back! Thanks for visiting!
Congratulations to Christina for submitting the link to “Star Wars According to a 3-year-old!” She won the Chrismas Cheer Contest!
Thanks for everyone who sent in videos and voted! I hope the videos brought a little cheer to your holidays!
Have a safe and happy Christmas as we celebrate Christ’s birth!
Greetings from the Ski Lodge!
We just sat down and watched all the video we recorded yesterday of the kids sledding and making snowmen. FUN!! Church was cancelled, and we will probably be snowed in for a few days. I called my mom in sunny SC to see if she would finish my shopping for me.
A BIG thank you goes out to all the readers who entered the Christmas Cheer contest!!!!!
It was great fun watching all of the videos. I am a little concerned about what some of you are doing in your free time, but I would do almost anything for free Chik-fil-a, so I don’t blame you.
Eat More Chikin!
In fact, here is a picture of me dressed up like a cow to get some free Chik-fil-a. I take my chicken seriously. I also have no pride.
Please vote by leaving a comment with the entry # you think is the most FUN. ANYONE can vote, so get all your friends to vote for yours. Chik-fil-a and Starbucks are at stake. (One vote per email address.Voting will end at 12:00 PM on Monday, Dec.21. At that time votes will be counted, and the winner will be announced.)
Thanks again for playing along. I know it is not for lottery-proportion-winnings, but laughing during the holiday stress IS priceless.
Have a VERY Merry Christmas!
Entry #1 Monks singin Hallelujah Chorus http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCFCeJTEzNU
Entry #2 Surprised Kitteh http://www.viddler.com/explore/cheezburger/videos/244/
Entry #3 Lawnmower taking out snowman http://abc.go.com/primetime/afv/index?pn=player&itemId=1461323
Entry #4 Girl on Carriage http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZZ3Hv93q1Y
Entry #5 Laughing Baby http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P6UU6m3cqk
Entry #6 Evolution of Dance http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMH0bHeiRNg
Entry #7 Evolutuion of Dance 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inLBPVG8oEU
Entry #8 Star Wars acc. to 3 yr. old http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBM854BTGL0&feature=player_embedded
Entry #9 Sneezing Baby Panda http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzRH3iTQPrk
Entry #10 Baby Dancing http://s196.photobucket.com/albums/aa103/samjsmom/?action=view¤t=Shake20whatcha20mama20gave20ya.flv
Entry #11 Doggies Decorating http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUtPKbMwnRo&feature=player_embedded#
Entry #12 A Merry Microwave Christmas http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4mw_zia-Vk&feature=player_embedded#
Entry #13 Christmas Lights Gone Wild http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmgf60CI_ks&feature=player_embedded#
Entry #14 Nutcracker Christmas Lights http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJISYEbPF4E&feature=player_embedded#
Entry #15 Cookie Boy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8aprCNnecU&feature=related
Entry #16 O Holy Night http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mk4woNRD7NQ
My husband just came in from the snow and asked me if I was enjoying sitting around in my PJs all day. Of course. My Life is Good PJs are the perfect outfit for a morning with 10 inches of snow and a warm fire.
I am going to attach some snow pictures for all my relatives who live further south and may have missed out on this white Christmas we are having.
I will post other Christmas pictures later. These may be the only pictures that you will get from us because I can’t get to Sam’s to pick up the cards. We only made it this far down the driveway.
Car stuck in driveway.
Arriving home from dinner at Grandparents to discover all our tracks covered already
Aaahhhh!
School it out! It is snowing! The fire is glowing! Let the merriment begin! Right after my nap.
Please go check out all the Christmas Cheer links that have been sent to the comments on this blog. http://iblogforchocolate.com/?p=173
For those of you that have not entered the Christmas Cheer contest, it is not too late. The deadline for entries is Midnight December 19th.
Don’t forget to come back and vote for your favorite on the 20th. The prize is a Chik-fil-A Calendar plus other goodies. Starbucks anyone???
Best wishes for a wonderful Christmas vacation!
So the other day I pick up the boys from school.
Jack announces, “I was the only one in my class to make 100 on our test today.”
“Good for you, Jack!”
Brady said, “I made a 100 on a math quiz.”
“See, Brady, all your hard work paid off.”
Will gushed, “I got a thumbs up from the band director.”
“Wow, Will, I guess you are glad you switched to drums after all.”
Then George asks, “Where exactly do babies come from?”
SCREECH!!!!!!!
WHAT!!!!!!!!!
George has a future in baseball. He throws a wicked curve ball.
Brady knows his mother probably doesn’t want to discuss this now or ever and assures George that the stork brings them.
One friend says that whenever her kids throw her a curve, she says, “Oh, I see a rabbit” and points out the window.
Diversion is our friend.
Matt said that even one of his co -workers had the same suggestion if they are struggling to get some technology to work at a customer site, “Is that a bald eagle?” he says pointing out the window.
I don’t think that fast on my feet, but I think with a son like George I need learn how to hit a curve ball every once and while.
Thanks for all the funny posts for the Christmas Cheer contest. You can check them out in the comments section on Dec. 9. (http://iblogforchocolate.com/?p=173)
Feel free to add your own. The contest ends on December 20th.
My friend, Julia, called to ask me for this recipe the other day. It is one of our favorite treats to make for gifts. I found it in Family Fun magazine a few years ago. It is super easy and the kids can make them practically without my help.
Hope you enjoy them, too. Have a blessed Monday!
Holiday Pretzel Treats
Salty pretzels combine with sweet chocolate for these fun treats that make a yummy gift few can resist. (In fact, you may want to make some extras for yourself!)
Ingredients
Instructions
I have been offline for two days.
It is OK. I have joined a support group and apparently there may be government funds available to people like me.
We lost power for a little bit then it came back on and then we lost CABLE!!!
My friend, Lyssa, called to see if we needed a warm place to sleep or a warm shower. I told her I can live without those, but not my internet!!!! So right now I am typing in the library at my sons’ school.
So I missed a day of blogging. Whew. Pressure is off now. I can go back to not blogging and cleaning my house. OK, maybe this is more fun, and I am so far behind on the housework anyways. . .
Thankfully the Wall Street Journal (WSJ from now on) gave me a diversion from doing anything productive last night. I had already watched everything we had taped on Tivo, so now I had to find something else to do. I thought I would catch up on all the WSJs that pile up during the week.
I skip anything that might be super important to world markets and go straight for the personal journal.
Here is where I discover the good news. The cookies that I have been consuming non stop since 5 minutes after Thanksgiving lunch actually count as a DIET.
Well, the real cookie diet may be a little different. You are actually supposed to eat these specially prepackaged, protein rich cookies. But the idea of eating less food and consuming more cookies really appeals to me.
Of course, then they have to haul in all the “experts” to explain why this diet may work (eating less=weight loss) and won’t work forever (doesn’t “teach people better eating habits in the long run.”)
But seriously, aren’t we all on a cookie diet at Christmas?
The best diet one nutrition director recommends is the Mediterranean diet. Now that does sound fabulous. I probably should go to Greece and see just exactly how this works.
Who are they kidding, though, I saw “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” and the “Big” just didn’t refer to their hair. Does Baklava count as a cookie???
So for now I will stick to my local cookie diet that I was unwittingly already on. I may not lose weight, but I can enjoy my favorite holiday treats without any guilt.
I saw some commercials the other day for the new season of American Idol. Let the mocking begin.
I thought I would start a little contest of my own. No million dollar recording contract up for grabs here. But there is a prize.
My sister did not think my “funny” post was all that funny.
See December 6.
In fact she left me a voice mail that said, “I can find much funnier clips if you want funny.”
So I am calling her bluff and extending the challenge to anyone who reads this blog.
We need a little Christmas cheer.
To enter the contest, link your funny videos in a comment to this blog post. You don’t have to record your own family doing humiliating things. Just any funny thing from You Tube will do.
You can enter as many times as you like.
Then on December 20 I will let the readers vote on which one that they think is the funniest and the winner will be announced.
Now, what are you playing for. The winner will receive a Chik-fil-A calendar plus lots of other neat stuff.
Don’t get too excited.
The prize isn’t Chik-fil-A for a year.
But it will bring us all a little Christmas cheer.
Thank goodness my sister is not easily annoyed.
The other day I left her a voice mail like this:
Caroling, caroling now I go. Christmas Songs I’m singing. Caroling, caroling in your phone. Christmas Joy I’m bringing. Joyous tidings bringing near. Minutes aren’t as important as I am dear. Singing–songs–in–your–phone. Cell phone carols ringing.
Do you think she might be screening her calls?
You should try it. It is fun.
However, you run the risk of your calls getting screened.
But it is fun.
If you could see my house right now, you would die.
No, if you could see my house right now, I would die.
Seriously.
It is only half decorated and I am in the middle of several projects. The house is a mess.
But life is messy.
When you drag boxes of decorations up from the basement, it is messy.
When you cook a homemade meal for your family, the kitchen is messy.
When you go outside and play in the snow, mud and water and dirt are going to come into the house, and it is gonna be messy.
So I try not to get too bent out of shape when our house is not perfect. I would like for it to be, but I live in the real world not a Pottery Barn catalog.
So when I saw that someone had rearranged the manger scene, I stopped and rolled my eyes.
“So typical– people walk around this house undoing everything I do,” I complained.
I had arranged everyone in the scene as if they were on a stage and had 3/4 of their bodies facing the “audience.”
The mystery arranger moved all the people so that they were facing the baby Jesus. All the attention in the scene was turned to Jesus.
So simple. 
Looking at Jesus.
(Not the mess)
Seeing Jesus.
(Not the dirty dishes.)
Focusing on Jesus.
(Not the extra laundry.)
Turning so that Jesus is all we see.
(And not concerning ourselves about what others see.)
That is what Christmas is all about.
