Oh Christmas Tree ....

We live in the heart of the tree growing capital of the western United States.  There is a lot of pressure to take advantage of the many cut-your-own tree farms. Trees at the farms are quite inexpensive and it is a unique experience to meander around a tree farm to find the perfect tree.  It kind of makes you think of sleigh rides in the snowfall and Rudolph and Santa and all that.  Well . . .. except for the fact that we generally get rain except of snow.  In 2010, when Brandon was home from college for Thanksgiving, we drove a few miles down the road to get our tree at one of these farms. Follow this link to the story.

I would have to say, though, that we are always kind of torn when it comes time to make the decision about artificial vs. real tree.

Real trees smell so good and feel very authentic and loyal to Washington/Oregon.  But, real trees tend to die quickly on us, despite our best efforts to keep them watered (and sometimes fall over and make a big mess).  And, they drop needles all over our books under the tree. And, the truth is that it's not that fun to look for a tree in the rain, trudging through the mud.  Oh, and Dan would want me to include the fact that kneeling in the mud, with rain coming down hard, trying to saw the trunk of our chosen tree is not very fun either. And then dragging it to the car in the rain.  And bringing it into the house in the rain.

On the other hand, artificial trees are consistently pretty, have branches that can be manipulated to hold ornaments better, and don't require a special trip in the rain.  Oh, and they don't topple over or dry out or drop needles on my books.  But, it does seem kind of silly to use an artificial tree when we literally live within 20 minutes of dozens of tree farms. And the Costco artificial tree we bought eons ago is looking pretty sad and has approached the end of its natural life. About half the pre-lit lights don't light anymore, and it has to be wired together at certain junctures.  Dan actually refused to put it together again this year.

So, we made the bold move to go for the real tree again. This was especially bold given the fact that Dan and I both got sick with a bad cold shortly after Thanksgiving, and we were pretty miserable during the tree acquisition process.  We decided to go for it  halfway - real fresh-cut tree purchased from a tree lot.

Near Joseph's school is a super cute store called the "Felida Red Barn."  It is an old red barn converted to a charming gift shop.  And I noticed that they had a small tree lot there.  So, the first Monday in December we loaded up the family, donned our Santa hats, and headed to the tree lot at the Red Barn.  It was perfectly charming! We stopped first to get some photos:

 

 Getting Joseph to stay serious long enough for the picture is not an easy task . . .

 The tree lot had lovely trees, all freshly cut that morning.  We had a hard time deciding.

Aubrey liked this one:

Bailey liked this one:

And Joseph couldn't decide.

With a little negotiation, we gave the tree the "smell test" (for the record - it smelled heavenly)

 And then settled on the tree that Aubrey had chosen.

Now, the very best part.  Seriously the best part.

After buying the tree (and some scrumptious homemade kettle corn from the gift shop) we found out that part of the purchase price was free delivery and set up!!  And we didn't even know that when we chose this tree lot.

Oh, we were very, very happy, and after the tree was set up we took our sniffling selves to bed.  Over the next few days we decorated the tree, and I think it looks awesome!

Les Miserables

Yesterday my sister asked me to summarize the plot of Les Mis for her because she will be going to the musical for the first time tonight.  She probably wishes she had just looked up a summary online because I waxed very long and detailed (and probably confusingly), and even got kind of emotional as I talked about my favorite parts of the play.

I just really love Les Miserables, and I have a hard time containing my enthusiasm.

When I was a sophomore in high school my honors English teacher assigned us to read the book Les Miserables by Victor Hugo.  Oh, we students whined and complained and pronounced it more miserable (get it?).  It was much longer than the book that the non-Honors English class had to read. How could our teacher expect so much of us?

But then, at some point that semester something happened to me.  I really started to understand and like the story.  And then I loved it. It changed something inside of me and made me think about many things. And I was excited to talk about it and think about it and even write essays about it because there are so many amazing themes in Les Miserables - hope, mercy, love, freedom, redemption, what makes someone "good" or "bad", and on and on.  I've read the unabridged version of the book twice since then, and I really want to read it again.

I didn't know for many years that there was a musical based on the book.  Wikipedia tells me that the musical debuted in London right about the time my teacher had us read the book (1985) and then opened on Broadway in March of 1987.  I don't remember knowing anything about the musical until I had been married for a few years.

Somehow Dan and I heard abut the musical (although we couldn't afford to buy tickets at that point).  Instead, we bought the CD and started listening.  We were entranced.  Not only is Les Mis an amazing story, but the musical adaptation is filled with beautiful music.  Drawing on my memories of the book, I explained the complicated storyline to Dan the best I could, and then we've continued to explain the story to each of our children.  They have all grown up listening to the music and they all love it.  I remember Brandon singing "Red and Black" at the top of his lungs in the car at age 2.  Joseph's favorite song at the same age was "One More Day."

In July of 2001 we drove down to Arizona from Utah to see the musical in Grady Gammage theater.  I believe the tickets were my birthday present that year.

Oh, we just loved it. The music we knew so well made even more sense when we saw it staged so beautifully.  I remember that Jean Val Jean's "Bring Him Home" and the amazing finale number both received standing ovations.  Les Mis immediately became my favorite musical of all time - and it is still is (Wicked is second).

Last year, in August of 2011 we were so excited that Les Miserables was performing in Portland, so we bought tickets for the kids to attend with us. Some of the kids . . . unfortunately Brandon wasn't there, as he had left on his mission in May.  He has never seen the musical, and I think we should rectify that when he gets home!  We also didn't take Joseph, who we decided was too young.

 The girls loved it just as much as I knew they would.

There are so many soaring, inspiring, gorgeous songs  in this musical, with lyrics rich in meaning. When I read or listen to Les Mis, I not only feel real emotion, but I feel the Spirit. There is much about the themes in the story which are very spiritual.

The last song, the finale or epilogue, is my very favorite.  It ties together all of the story and speaks clearly of hope, love, and redemption. I decided to try to find a bootleg copy of the finale from the professional production on youtube.  It's hard, or maybe impossible, to find a bootleg copy that isn't completely dark and doesn't have people hacking and coughing during the quiet moments.  But, what can you expect from an illegal copy of the play?

When I watched this a minute ago, I cried through almost the entire thing (especially from about 4 1/2 minutes to the end of the song).  In the real performance last year, tears poured down my face through the entire finale.  And when it was over I just sat there for a long time, feeling all tingly and sad and happy at the same time.  Finally we had to leave the theater because they were turning out the lights!

Click on this link if you want to see the finale of Les Mis.

Some of my favorite quotes from the play are in this final number:

To love another person is to see the face of God.

and

Do you hear the people sing?
Lost in the valley of the night
It is the music of a people who are climbing to the light
For the wretched of the earth
There is a flame that never dies
Even the darkest nights will end and the sun will rise

They will live again in freedom in the garden of the Lord
They will walk behind the ploughshare
They will put away the sword
The chain will be broken and all men will have their reward!

Will you join in our crusade?
Who will be strong and stand with me?
Somewhere beyond the barricade is there a world you long to see?
Do you hear the people sing?
Say, do you hear the distant drums?
It is the future that they bring when tomorrow comes! 

Randomness

***

You know it's a good day in Vancouver when the sun is shining so brightly that you have to adjust the sun visor and squint a little. The sun is shining today, which makes the fall colors look a million times brighter and more beautiful. One advantage to living in the land of rain, clouds, and greyness is that we seriously appreciate the sunshine.  It changes everyone's moods, and we all walk with more spring in our step when there is sun and blue skies.

 ***

Speaking of weather, we had a very strange and interesting weather pattern this year, along with the rest of the country.  We had the driest three month stretch in history - no measurable precipitation from July through September. It was wonderful for us, since we don't have to worry about drought or a high risk of fires.  Then, when the calendar changed to October the rains hit.  It rained most of the days in October, resulting in squishy, muddy grass for soccer and wet, slimy leaves to rake (Every year I point out to my kids that fallen leaves are traditionally crunchy rather than slimy.)

***

I have to admit that I like Taylor Swift almost as much as my kids do. We were all pretty excited when the new album Red came out and we all have most of the songs memorized.

These are the reasons I like Taylor's music: 1) she writes it herself, which makes her a real artist 2) her songs are clean and appropriate 3) the songs sound like songs I would have really connected to as a teenager.

Bailey is urging me to try to buy tickets to the Taylor Swift concert in Portland next year (on my birthday!) when they go on sale at midnight tonight.  If I can keep my eyes open until midnight, I just might.

***

We are finishing the Book of Mormon again as a family this week.  We were challenged to read the book of scripture in six months by our Stake President.  It has been a great experience - every time I read the Book of Mormon I love it more.

 ***

The kids rotate through three daily chores - vacuuming hardwoods, dishes, and garbage.  A week or so ago I had already done Aubrey's chore that day, so I told her she could fold laundry for me instead. She was pretty excited about the prospect - the kids like folding laundry because they can watch some of their recorded shows while folding on the floor of my bedroom.  Folding laundry used to be in the kid's chore rotation, but I removed it a few years ago because I don't mind doing laundry myself since it gives me a chance to sit down for a few minutes.

So, Aubrey sat expectantly on the floor or my room, waiting for the laundry.  I dumped out the two very full baskets in front of her.  "What???"  She exclaimed, shocked by how much there was to fold.  "Something's wrong", she said, "this is way too much laundry." 

"This," I said, "is one day's worth of laundry. I do this almost every day.  She sat shocked and folded laundry without complaining.  A good life lesson, I think!

***

I'm pretty proud of myself for finally crossing one particular chore off my to-do list . . . two years ago we had to replace the door from our family room to our back yard.  The new door came primed but not painted. I planned to get right on that painting chore, except I didn't because painting a door is really a pain, so I procrastinated for two years.  Last month I finally bit the bullet and painted the door inside and out.  And yes, it was a pain, but it sure looks great and shiny.

***

Speaking of the great outdoors, there are a few plants in our back yard which are absolute winners - they refuse to die and have been blooming since May!

First is this hardy fuschia.  I bought this a few years ago because it sounded interesting. I really like the look of fuschias, but have found them to be highly temperamental and difficult to grow. They require shade and enough water but not too much and so on.  But, this perennial promised to be trouble free, and it has more than lived up to its name!  In fact, it thrives even more when the conditions are at their worst - when it's really dry, when it's overly wet, when it's too cold for most anything else to grow.  Now, that's my kind of plant!

 

And, these wax leaf begonias in the back yard and true standouts.  They have not quit blooming since May.  This is the first year I've tried begonias, and I'm a believer!

And, I pulled out some of the dying annuals from the planter on the fence right outside my kitchen window and added in some ornamental cabbages. 

And, lastly, I just loved the look of these leaves and fading blossoms on a plant in the front yard.


That's all the randomness for today. I had a bunch more things on my list, but I need to feed these anxious kids of mine before it's bedtime!

Gratitude tree

Our trees outside, which until recently were filled with colorful leaves, gave us an idea.

We created our own tree inside, a Gratitude Tree.

To get a picture of the entire tree (which is posted in our front entry hallway) I had to take this picture from the stairs, looking down. It's hard to tell, but the tree is almost six feet tall.  I bought a big piece of butcher paper and then enlisted one of my artists in residence (Aubrey) to design the tree.  Let's just say that it turned out a LOT better than if I tried to draw a tree.  Where do these kids get their artistic talent from??

Every day in November we are each going to write something we are grateful for on a leaf, and then we'll post it on our tree.  I can't wait to see our tree at the end of the month, filled with colorful reminders of our blessings!

Holiday Decorating

Holiday decorating has changed for me over the years, particularly non-Christmas decorating.  For the first 10-12 years of our marriage I was in the "acquisition stage," meaning that I was constantly looking for cute holiday decorations and I participated in every tole-painting-holiday-craft-project at Homemaking meetings. Thus, my stock of holiday doodads grew moderately large.

And then, as our family also grew larger, I realized that my sanity requires simplicity.  Decorating is fun, but whatever goes up must come down . . . soon.  And it's hard to keep up.  So I have been simplifying and scaling back holiday decorations for the last decade.  A few Halloween and fall acknowledgements, maybe something with the Easter bunny on it in the Spring, and still plenty for Christmas (although I have edited my Christmas decorations significantly and have given away several tote boxes full of Christmas decorations also).  And I have been perfectly happy with this arrangement.

Enter Mr. Joseph who, for most of his short life, has been obsessed with having a fully decked out home for every holiday.  It just goes along with his exuberant personality.  It doesn't help that our neighborhood goes ALL OUT for every holiday and even has contests to see which home has the best holiday decorations.  Joseph is just sure that someday we will win.  Ummmmm . . . not likely, but nobody tell him that.

So, for the last few years I have tried to accommodate his desire for holiday festiveness, especially in regards to Halloween/fall, for which my decorations had become very minimal over the years.  He insists that we decorate for Halloween no later than October 1st - so we do.  Last year I took him to the store and let him pick out $25 worth of tacky decorations which made him happy.  And we put them all up, including the tacky window clings.  This year we added to spooky festiveness with a collection of spiders and spiderwebs inside and outside the house, including one that is motion activated and drops down on you when you come to our door.  Super cool, right?  Joseph's absolutely dream is a big blowup decoration we saw at Home Depot - a huge black spider with beady yellow eyes that turns its head.  It also cost $59, so I put him off and told him I would check it out post-Halloween to see if it goes on clearance . . .

 

 Nice photo bomb, Bailey!

Carving vs. Painting. . . Carving wins

After we retrieved our perfect pumpkins from the muddy pumpkin patch, it was time to carve them. Joseph was very excited about the process, and prepared  the floor with newspapers while I was busy doing other things.  And then the fun began.

 Dan has always been and still is the official pumpkin gut remover.  But, we insisted that Joseph do his best to help. Which he did, with the help of gloves.

 Joseph custom designed his pumpkin and decided to carve both sides. 

 And this was his first year to carve the pumpkin all by himself.  Which made it even more fun. 

 

 

 Ta-da!  One side of the carved pumpkin

 and the other side.  Awesome!

 The girls had other plans. Bailey saw this super cute pumpkin on Pinterest:

So, she decided to be all Pinterest-y and copy it.  Except that she got the pumpkin painted black but then decided it was too much work to carve the face.  So, we had an awesome black pumpkin to put on our front doorstep.

 And Aubrey found this pumpkin on Pinterest:

And decided to recreate it.

Except she lost interest in the process after painting the pumpkin a beautiful shade of blue.  So the blue pumpkin joined the black one on our front steps.

So, in the battle of carving vs. painting, carving definitely won, due to the fact that the painters never reached the finish line!

Happy Halloween!

It was another wild and crazy Halloween night in our neighborhood.  People come to our area from many miles away.  I seriously saw several large buses pull up and discharge huge groups of kids.  What can I say - we know how to do it right here!

We were so lucky that the incessant rain paused long enough for trick or treating. Hooray!  We had five families join us this year for trick or treating.  Dan and the other Dads stayed back at the house and handed out candy.  Actually, Dan handed out candy while simultaneously preparing the next day's seminary lesson.  Don't you think it's pretty cruel to have early morning seminary the day after Halloween?

This year Bailey attended a Halloween party at her friend Laura's house (a few blocks away in our neighborhood).  Joseph and Aubrey were our trick or treaters.
 
Aubrey and her good friend decided to go as opposites - an angel and a devil.  They said that they decided to be "opposites of themselves" - thereby proving that Aubrey is generally angelic!

Aubrey was the only one of our kids who was able to wear her costume to school.  At her school of Arts and Academics they make their own rules (you can do that when you are an artist), and they somehow justify it.  No one else in the district is allowed to wear costumes, especially the elementary kids.  I think that's sad - I used to love watching the kids parade through the school in their costumes!  At least it's less pressure on Moms like me who don't go all out on costumes.  In fact, Costco is my favorite source for Halloween wear.  I say to Joseph . . . "Look!  Costco has Iron Man, Spiderman, or Incredible Hulk. Which of these three choices are you going to be for Halloween?"  No discussion, no crazy talk about homemade costumes.

Aubrey's costume was a little bit of a challenge.  Have you seen the costumes that are marketed to teenagers?  Let's just say that they are incredibly inappropriate and involve very little fabric.  And a devil costume?  That's an invitation for a really skimpy costume. And, I already established that I am not going to make any costumes . . .

But, eagle eye Dan noticed a devil costume in the Walmart ad which looked cute and totally appropriate.  He headed to Walmart the next day to pick it up because I have a thing about avoiding Walmart if at all possible (Target all the way for me).  The cost of Aubrey's costume, which included a headpiece and a pitchfork?  $8.40.  Wow.  Way to go, Shopper Dan!

 

Joseph debated between Captain America, which would have been a rerun from last year, and the Amazing Spiderman. Spidey won out at the last minute, and what a good choice it was.

 

While waiting for friends to arrive, both kids trick-or-treated at our own door.  That way they got their pick of our candy before the hordes of people descended.

What a fun Halloween.  They only thing that could have made it better would have been for it to be on a Friday night.  I think we should start a petition to change Halloween to the last Friday in October, no matter the date.  Who's with me?