Decorating for the Holidays

Friday, November 25

As tradition with our family, we put up our Christmas tree today. I think our cats were almost as excited as Mara was about finally bringing it out.

Saturday, November 26

While we got the tree up yesterday, we saved the ornaments for today. Jack put up a few of the ornaments but only after much coaxing since he wanted to play with them. Mara hung most of them, but I had to save a few of the ornaments to put up myself so the top third of our tree wouldn't be bare.

Sunday, November 27

We attended our church's advent workshop today where the kids made several Christmas decorations, including an advent wreath, a stained glass picture, a penguin snow globe, and a tassel angel.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our first stop for the day was at John's Uncle Charlie & Aunt Sue's. We got to meet our new cousin, Ruby, and spent a couple of hours with John's family. We also took the opportunity to take a couple of family/group pictures.

We headed over to Rob & Mindy's for lunch. On the way there, we were wondering who would put Jack to sleep for his nap – Rob or Granddad. Rob won that round, but Granddad held him most of the time he was asleep.

All in all, it was a good holiday with our families.

Cornbread Casserole

Cornbread casserole is another traditional dish in my family ever since I learned the recipe back in 1999 while still at OSU. It's a favorite for everyone in the family except for Mara. I still don't understand how I can have a daughter that doesn't like corn. :)

Cornbread Casserole

• 1 (15.25 ounce) can whole kernel corn, undrained, or frozen corn
• 1 (14.75 ounce) can cream-style corn
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup (one stick) butter or margarine, melted
• 2 eggs
• 1 (12 ounce) package corn muffin mix

Preheat oven to 350° F. Combine the whole-kernel corn, cream-style corn, sour cream, melted butter or margarine, beaten eggs and corn muffin mix. Mix well and pour into one 9x13 inch baking pan. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until nicely browned.

Giving Thanks, Part II

With today being Thanksgiving, I thought it would be good to take the time and make a list of all I am thankful for like here in 2008. I know that a lot of people have been posting things like this daily for the month of November, but I'm going to list all 30 of them here at once. I'm trying to relate each number to something of significance on the corresponding date.

1. My wonderful husband of more than 13 years. I don't know what I would do without him.
2. My beautiful daughter who is growing bigger and brighter every day.
3. My handsome son who is such a total boy and loves to give hugs.
4. Being able to witness the milestones my children reach.
5. Long-time friends who are always there even if you don't talk to each other for a while.
6. Our cats who are sometimes more of an annoyance than endearing but still an integral part of our lives.
7. Our house where we've lived for more than 10 years now. It's definitely our home, and I don't see us moving anywhere in the near future.
8. Books and our family's love for books (paper or electronic).
9. Hot soup and grilled cheese sandwiches on a cold day.
10. Mara's love of art and sea animals and how she loves to combine the two for her homework.
11. Veterans, including my dad, father-in-law, and various uncles, and people currently serving, including my nephew Robert, who put their lives on the line to ensure our freedom.
12. Re-learning CPR but hopefully never having to use it. 
13. Our health. While we might not always feel 100%, we don't have any major health issues. 
14. My job where even thought things aren't always smooth sailing I really like where I am and the people there and can't believe I've been there for over 11 years now.
15. John's new job where he's now been for five months. I feel like it's the perfect fit for him, and the people are great. Hopefully he can stay there for a long time.
16. Our marriage that has its ups and downs but is pretty solid because of that. 
17. Being able to volunteer and be a part of Mara and Jack's school lives even though we work full time.
18. For my time at OSU and all of the wonderful friends and memories I made there. And for the way that community stands by each other and pulls together in the face of tragedy, both over 10 years ago and again this week.
19. The great year Oklahoma State football is having. On the 20th anniversary of the 0-10-1 season, the Cowboys had the best start in school history at 10-0 before suffering a heartbreaking loss to Iowa State in two overtimes on an already dark day for the university. Here's hoping they can beat OU in a couple of weeks to top off the excellent season.
20. Cold, rainy weather that makes it feel like fall.
21. The color bright orange and all that it means (updated version four posts down here and another variation here). Also, that it is an "in" color this year so it's easier to buy the right color of orange to wear in remembrance of last week's tragedy even if you don't live in Stillwater. It's also nice that it becomes popular in a year when OSU is doing really well in several sports.
22. Girl Scouts and the friends both Mara and I have made because of the organization. There's nothing like a girl coming up and giving you a random hug just because you're her troop leader. 
23. Mara and Jack's daycare that we found almost by accident but feel like it's where our kids should be.
24. Both of our families. Sure things may be crazy from time to time, but they're always there when we need them.
25. Celebrating the holidays, my favorite time of the year, with family and friends and all of the things that this time of year means.
26. Being able to watch Jack grow and learn new things even if they are an annoyance, like being able to unzip and take off his PJs.
27. Technology that allows us to keep in touch with family and friends near and far.
28. The freedom that we have in the U.S. to believe and say what we want.
29. Being able to travel to see family or go on a vacation and having a husband and kids who like a good road trip just as much as I do.
30. Where I came from. My hometown has become more endearing to me as I get older even though I haven't been back in almost 12 years. And without it, I wouldn't be where I am today.

Disney on Ice

Since John has a more normal work schedule now, we were able to take the kids to Disney on Ice tonight. (We wanted to go last year but didn't buy tickets because we didn't know what time he would work, and he ended up closing the night before Thanksgiving.)

Before the show started, we got Mara a snow cone and showed off our blue mouths.

The kids loved the show. They were both enraptured the whole time. The first half included favorites like Mickey & friends, The Lion King, and The Little Mermaid as well as Lilo & Stitch. The second half featured Peter Pan.