Fairy Tales

Thank God Sofie went to France! She had her consult, met with her new doctor, and had her facial transplant. I'm so proud of her and the courage it took her to undergo this life altering procedure. She now can go out in public and not be ashamed any longer. And I love her new hair do!

Sofie has also met someone. Someone who understands the hurt and pain she went through. He was also at the same hospital. Another coincidence? I think not. Meet Gerard:

And they lived happily everafter. The end.

Peace on Earth

Goodwill towards man

Christmas traditions: Cutting the Tree

One more of our Christmas traditions that we introduced Sammy to was cutting down the family Christmas tree. When Daddy and Auntie Kenna were young, we would travel to northern California with our close friends "The B's" to their family ranch. We would spend a weekend with the "B" clan eating and playing and of course cutting the tree. After acquiring the necessary permits and clearances from neighboring ranches (**ahem**) off we went in search of the perfect tree. We made a day of it out in the forest. Here is a picture of Daddy and Auntie Kenna with their good pals, Jimmy and Mandy B. These four were a BIG HELP in the scouting and locating of said trees. We would point to a thicket of trees and say, "Go there, look there, it might be THERE!", or "Go Fetch!" while we parents would stay at the trucks talking it up. When they found something they liked, we would set off to give our approval or not.

Yesterday, after acquiring the necessary permits, TWICE, off we went to a national forest nearby. I have to mention permits in this post because apparently I've been purchasing permits for a forest that would pretty much cover the family ranch area BUT NOT IN THE AREA WE'VE BEEN CUTTING FOR THE PAST THREE YEARS. Obviously, I've been confused.

Permits + tree cutting = always illegal.

So here is the current version of Christmas tree cutting:

And guess who we saw while we were in the forest? A pretty pink bear!

Red White and Blue

Can you imagine the expression on her face if the wrapper were off this candy cane and she tasted mint for the first time? As it was, the drool was non-stop during this photo shoot.

Christmas traditions: Elves

This is our Christmas elf. It has no name; it just shows up early December and makes his last appearance on Christmas Eve. My mother bought this set of elves. It could have been three elves or two or maybe a whole herd, I don't remember. This is the only remaining elf. I do remember her setting them out each year as part of her holiday decorations. It certainly doesn't resemble Peter Jackson's idea of blondish elves now, does it? Anyway, when I got older and had children of my own, in the true spirit of Christmas I stole this from my mom's stash of decorations. This elf would appear one day in December surprising all of us and we would find him in different rooms during the day. Daddy and Auntie Kenna's eyes would get big when they would find him in either of their rooms as we had explained that this is how Santa found out about being naughty or nice. Every evening the elf would appear in the dining room making sure that dinner plates were cleaned of every broccoli spear and chicken leg. This worked for many years; it was great. Today I introduced Sammy to the Christmas elf. She was enchanted by the elf and wanted to experience the texture and flavor I believe. Sorry, Legolas, this elf has my heart.

Car Keys

I bought Sammy a little new toy to play with. Plastic car keys. Shake them and they make noise, but best of all? They're tasty! And yes, Daddy, Sammy is on her (your) blanket DAILY either sitting or laying. Get used to seeing it.

December 5 means it's time to decide if I want to spend the bazillion hours to make Lefse or not. (Lefse is a Norwegian flat bread made of mashed potatoes. When rolled out and cooked, and then slathered with butter and sugar?....oh baby)

Sleeping Beauty

When Sammy takes her naps, we have a bed for her in the guest bedroom. I keep it dark with the shades drawn for her. It's nice and quiet and she sleeps pretty well in there. What I don't get to do and haven't done for some time now is take pictures of her while she's sleeping. The flash I have would wake her up and she'd be on the ceiling holding on like a cat should I use it. However, the other day, she struggled with laying down even though she was obviously tired. I though, "Oh, well, let's just put you here on the floor and you'll either nap or not". She napped and I had the perfect opportunity to take all the pictures I wanted since it was so light in here and I didn't need the flash. And watching her sleep like this made me drowsy as ....zzzzzzzz

December 4 - now I'll start looking up all those recipes for 'comfort' food and begin cooking all those calories...

Papparazzi

"Mimi, now I know how Suri Cruise feels. That camera of yours in ALWAYS in my face!"

December 3? Um, now it's ok to start hauling out the boxes and boxes of decorations and decide when they are to go up....gah.

But what about that rubber backing?

Sammy showed up with these pants the other day. They were the softest, fuzziest pants I've ever seen. It was a good color blue for her and her eyes. The pink top carried the pink flowers that were on the front of the legs. They looked so comfy that I'm this close to going to Bed Bath and Beyond, buying some bath mats and making some for myself.

Oh, and being December 2nd and all, it's ok to start chowing down on Christmas cookies now, too.

Hypnosis

You're getting sleepy....very sleepy.....listen to my voice....sleepy.....

Happy December 1 and (my) start of the Christmas season. Now it's ok to listen to Christmas music, send cards, and eat fudge.