Second Christmas

Well as I mentioned before, Brett worked on Christmas. Not only Christmas, but Christmas eve, the day after Christmas, and basically every other day he could convince his coworkers to give him a shift. It was looking to be a lonely holiday. Until, inspiration! Brett shipped me off to California for the Holidays. I felt a little guilty leaving him home alone, but I think his new video game was a more than adequate consolation prize.
This photo doesn't really look too much like sunny California, but it is! We went to Tahoe and stayed in this fun cabin for the week. We had a great time.

It seemed like Christmas would never end! I had already celebrated Christmas the week before with Brett, and now it was Christmas all over again! We had a great time. Juliet had a blast with her uncles and aunties, and got loved to death by grandma and grandpa Foutz. It would have been the perfect Christmas if only Juliet would sleep. And if only Brett had been there.
This is the fun tree Carlie created for the cabin. It was a lot cuter before Juliet got to it.

She absolutely hated being outside. I couldn't get 1 single good picture out of her. I guess snow isn't her thing.

Tis the season!

Is it cliche to say that Christmas is my favorite time of the year? Well I don't care because I love it. And it just goes to show how awesome it is by how many other people love it too.

One of the most exciting things about Christmas this year was being able to decorate our own house. The last two years we have purchased Christmas goodies in January, and this year all that saving paid off. Our first Christmas tree! It almost turned out that we would have no tree for the third year running, but as luck would have it (and a few fervent prayers) a sister in our ward replaced her tree this year, and gave away her old one. I expected it to be one of those really old annoying 'you must fluff and add every branch yourself and are probably missing a couple' trees -- but it was BEAUTIFUL! It was a true blessing, and we love love love having a tree in our home!

Since Brett is working this Christmas we had our own family Christmas early. It was exciting to stay up and play Santa!



This was a definite Christmas favorite. It is on loan from my sister but Juliet doesn't know or care. She loves it!!


My husband knows me very well. And I love hot chocolate!!

Juliet couldn't even wait to finish unwrapping her new little chair before she had to sit down in it!

I sent Brett outside on a photo scavenger hunt so I could get his present out. I wasn't about to wrap that huge box. For those of you who can't tell by the cut off box at the bottom of the picture or the silly school boy grin on Brett's face, he got Guitar Hero World Tour for Christmas.
Delicious pancake Christmas breakfast, with egg nog of course. And orange juice. And milk. And eggs and bacon . . . mmmmmmm......


It was a great Christmas. After opening presents we ran to the doctor's office for my first visit. We were secretly hoping to get an unofficial ultrasound but we didn't even get to meet the doctor. Too bad!! Our big ultrasound is scheduled for Jan. 8th so we have to wait EVEN longer. Having a baby in Texas is a mess!!!
We hope everyone else's Holiday season has turned out to be as fulfilling as ours. We love you all so much. Merry Christmas!

Gifts.

There haven't been many things I've had stewardship over. Actually, before Juliet came along there were a couple cats and that was it. "The cat" was my last animal. I think Charles originally named him Joseph - but that could have been a different cat I can't remember. Carlee named him Bagheera, and some of the guys from our ward called him Thriftshop. But around the house we just referred to him as the cat. That didn't mean he went unloved, he had free range of the house and was king of our two acres (and plenty of the neighbor's lots as well). But he was never too proud to show his appreciation to me by bringing me gifts and offerings. It wasn't uncommon to find a dead mouse in one of my shoes. Actually once I found a live mouse in one of my shoes. That wasn't so pleasant, but not so bad as the night he proudly dropped a nice moist mouse in my slumbering hand. I often wondered, 'What kind of behaviour do I demonstrate that makes the cat think I would want a dead mouse?' I suppose in cat logic that was a surpreme gift.

Now there is Juliet. Her gifts are anything from half chewed bananas to cups of juice, a box of matches, various dvds or books, any clothing she can find in drawers or laundry baskets. I accept them all. But today, Juliet gave me the gift to top all gifts.

She has had a little bit of a diaper rash recently, and in hopes of helping it heal a little faster I've been letting her run around bum in the air. She promptly took off for her room for a little solo play (which I encourage!). A few minutes later she returned with an unidentifiable object in her hand.
"What have you got there Juliet?"
She smiles and laughs, walks over to me and proudly deposits her gift in my proferred hand.
Yesterday I could honestly say no one had ever handed me poop before.
Today I cannot make such a claim.

What kind of behaviour do I demonstrate that makes Juliet think I would want a piece of poop? I suppose in 1-year-old logic it was a supreme gift.