christmas has come and gone.
it's hard to believe how quickly time flies! i don't think our christmas could have been any more perfect. little buddy loved his gifts, hubby loved his gifts (he got the die hard movies and we watched the first on christmas, the second last night, and i'm pretty sure #3 will be tonight), i loved my gifts, and although little princess had no clue what was going on she sure was stinkin' adorable. the kids got felt reindeer antlers in their stockings and they were soooo cute wearing them. (if you know us then you should definitely check out our private blog or my facebook to see the pics, it's worth it, i promise.)
i got new clothes using gift cards to fit my post-baby body. i've been pretty disgusted with the way i look. i'm going to be trying out a local gym for a bit to see if i like it. i really need to start exercising again. i also need to stop eating junk and drinking soda. this i say as i sit here with a ginger ale and a box (yes, i said box, as in LARGE box) full of christmas candy. i know it is totally and completely unrealistic for me to decide to stop eating junk right smack in the middle of the holidays, so i'm not even going to attempt.
yesterday my little sister got married. i can't believe i have two little sisters who are married now. it was a long day, and freezing cold, and we got lost on our way from the ceremony to the luncheon which was about 40 miles away. tonight is the reception. i hope the weather is okay, it takes about 40 minutes to get there in perfect weather....snow may be a problem.
oh, did i mention today is my birthday? well it is! i'm getting old. i'm 24 now. hubby put a candle on my cake that was an over the hill candle, said too old to count on it. i guess it's because i don't have enough fingers and toes to count up to 24. hubby gave me a $50 gift card to get some clothes which was awesome, and i got a watch, and my in-laws gave me a gift card to olive garden (yummmmm) and it's been a pretty good day so far. slept in a bit, took a short nap, watched most of monty python and the quest for the holy grail, cuddled with my baby, and got two cakes. wooo! (remember that whole not cutting the junk out until after the holidays? yep.)
i hope you all have a great new year's. any fun resolutions? i refuse to make resolutions because i always fail. it's jinxed with me...like setting myself up for failure. but i know it works for other people. i'll be chowing down and going to bed early. yay for 2010!
Showing posts with label christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label christmas. Show all posts
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Friday, December 25, 2009
christmas carol for december 25th
merry christmas! have a wonderful holiday!
have yourself a merry little christmas, performed by judy garland
have yourself a merry little christmas, performed by judy garland
Thursday, December 24, 2009
christmas carol for december 24th
this one is one of my all-time favorites. please take the time to really listen to the words of this one. it is based on a true story, which you can read about here.
have a very merry christmas. hold your family close and thank god for each other.
christmas truce, performed by collin raye
have a very merry christmas. hold your family close and thank god for each other.
christmas truce, performed by collin raye
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
best christmas movies of all time
Welcome, Christmas, bring your cheer. Cheer to all Whos far and near. Christmas Day is in our grasp so long as we have hands to clasp. Christmas Day will always be just as long as we have we. Welcome Christmas while we stand, heart to heart and hand in hand.
top ten christmas movies ever (in no particular order):
1. white christmas: i cannot even tell you how much i love this movie. i adore bing crosby. his christmas music has been a staple every year that i can remember. i always end up with the song "sisters" stuck in my head, and a warm fuzzy feeling in my heart.
2. a charlie brown christmas: i have already talked about my love for this movie.
3. a christmas story: do i really need to say anything about the joy this movie brings? the red ryder bb gun. ("you'll shoot your eye out!") the leg lamp. (his major award....careful, it's frag-eeeee-lay....) the pink bunny suit. the tongue on the pole. i just love that movie.
4. home alone: just watched this one the other day, in fact. it's funny how my view of this movie has changed now that i'm a mom. i still love the ingenuity of kevin.
5. christmas vacation: i remember watching this movie as a kid and only understanding about half of it. now i'm an adult and i fully understand everything in the movie and laugh my rear off every time i see it. when we were younger my sisters used to LOVE quoting the dinner scene, mostly aunt bethany and uncle lewis.
(you know, this one:
Clark: Since this is Aunt Bethany's 80th Christmas, I think she should lead us in the saying of Grace.
Aunt Bethany: [turns to Lewis] What, dear?
Nora: Grace!
Aunt Bethany: Grace? She passed away thirty years ago.
Uncle Lewis: They want you to say Grace.
[Bethany shakes her head in confusion]
Uncle Lewis: The BLESSING!
Aunt Bethany: [they all pose for prayer] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands/ One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Clark: Amen.)
6. the santa clause: one of disney's best. tim allen does a fantastic job as santa. and the way they portrayed the reindeer, the elves, the north pole, the list checking: it's all spot-on. i suppose one of my favorite things about this movie is seeing the transformation tim allen's character makes. i love the change of heart movies.
7. the preacher's wife: i have never seen the bishop's wife, which is the original. i remember seeing the preacher's wife, however, and falling in love with it. we taped it (on VHS, remember those?) and i watched the grainy tape over and over again. i love the romance in it, the restoring of a beautiful marriage, the music (oh how i love that christmas gospel music!), and the christmas spirit. i mean, come on, denzel washington and whitney houston are in it. could it possibly be anything less than awesome?
8. mickey's christmas carol: this is one i watched over and over again, every year as a kid. with a million versions, adaptations, spoofs, and retellings of dickens' "a christmas carol," from serious films to "the flintstone's christmas carol," it's hard to pick just one. i think this one is my favorite because it's so nostalgic to me. and who better to play scrooge than scrooge mcduck?
9. it's a wonderful life: see my post about this beautiful movie from last year.
10. how the grinch stole christmas: another christmas movie staple. this book is amazing and so is the movie. what a great story. it teaches us that "Maybe Christmas (...) doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas... perhaps... means a little bit more!"
christmas movies i don't really care for:
jack frost--weird. weird animation.
jingle all the way--arnie at his most obnoxious. and sinbad, to boot. ugh.
little drummer boy--i've never liked the little drummer boy song. that pa-rum-pa-pum-pum stuff just rubs me wrong...it's a great story, but i don't care for the movie.
polar express--i was a bit disappointed in this one. could have been so much better. one of the best christmas books ever...i wasn't surprised that i was disappointed.
beauty and the beast: the enchanted christmas--beauty and the beast is my favorite disney movie of all time. i didn't like this one, it just wasn't the original and i'm sure that's why. besides...a villain that is an organ chained to a wall? weird.
how the grinch stole christmas (with jim carrey)--again, not the original. and i'm a rather picky carrey fan. some of his movies i love and some i hate.
more recent christmas movies i liked:
four christmases--funny. i liked both reese witherspoon and vince vaughan in this movie. add on top of that tim mcgraw, robert duvall, sissy spacek, jon voigt, jon favreau, dwight yoakam and kristin chenoweth? great.
muppet's letters to santa--this was on tv last week and i loved it. of course, anything with the muppets is just fantastic. i loved rizzo and pepe, as usual, and fozzie bear told stupid jokes, and kermit and miss piggy argued and made up, and gonzo was as weird and lovable as ever.
christmas movies i loved as a kid:
the muppets' christmas carol--again, love anything with the muppets.
santa claus is coming to town--this one is my favorite of the "classic" rankin-bass movies. i always loved "knowing" where santa claus came from, how he came to be who he is--at least from the rankin-bass perspective.
emmett otter's jug band christmas
mickey and co. christmas cartoons--my favorite? the one where mickey chops down his tree with chip and dale still living in it. pluto didn't care for a couple of chipmunks in his house too much! i also loved the one where donald duck builds a snow fort to have a snowball war with huey, dewey, and louie, complete with flaming snowballs. these were on the tape before
mickey's christmas carol so they hold the same sentiment for me.
rudolph the red nosed reindeer--another good rankin bass movie.
ernest saves christmas--used to watch this one a ton. i remember being intrigued by santa's bag in this movie.
winnie the pooh and christmas too--that lovable bear and friends, especially tigger. pooh bear tries to save christmas when their letter to santa doesn't make it. so cute.
christopher and holly--ever seen this one? obnoxious teddy bears that come to life. but i loved it.
other notable christmas movies:
the nightmare before christmas--tim burton...i know i've talked about this one before. (i loved it before it became trendy! so there!) i usually refer to it as my halloween movie but it is a great christmas movie, too.
edward scissorhands--tim burton. i ADORE tim burton. and johnny depp is fabulous as edward.
elf--i normally don't care for will ferrell, but this movie is just hilarious.
LDS christmas movies i love:
luke 2--a very short film, only about five minutes, but extremely powerful. it leaves me in tears every single time. i would HIGHLY recommend taking the few minutes to watch this.
mr. kreuger's christmas--another great movie starring jimmy stewart. about 25 minutes.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Monday, December 21, 2009
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Saturday, December 19, 2009
portable north pole
this is awesome. create a personalized video for your kids, where santa talks just to them. santa knows his/her name, age, where they live, their hair and eye color, what they asked for for christmas, and what they have done to be good. how great!
you can also personalize it for an adult who has been naughty or nice. i did one for hubby, in which he was naughty for leaving his underwear on the floor and peeing in the shower. HILARIOUS. (the ones for adults is a bit longer.)
check it out--it's great for an adult or a child!
see hubby's video here.
you can also personalize it for an adult who has been naughty or nice. i did one for hubby, in which he was naughty for leaving his underwear on the floor and peeing in the shower. HILARIOUS. (the ones for adults is a bit longer.)
check it out--it's great for an adult or a child!
see hubby's video here.
Lakewood police officer says little boy's kindness restores hope
by DREW MIKKELSEN / KING5 News
Posted on December 16, 2009 at 5:47 PM
LAKEWOOD, Wash. - A Lakewood police officer, who wishes to remain anonymous, said he was inspired to write the following Christmas letter earlier this week.
The officer credits one small boy's donation of support to the Lakewood Police Department as the big reason he has regained hope for this holiday season.
The officer sent it to friends, family members and other law enforcement officers.
A Tukwila police officer received the officer's permission to release it to the public:
I'm not much for writing Christmas letters, and in fact this year, I didn't even feel like making the effort of buying and addressing Christmas cards at all. I'm sure you all have heard of the terrible tragedy that occurred here in Lakewood two weeks ago today - four of our officers, four people that have become my friends over the past 5 years as we all worked here together, were gunned down as they sat in a coffee shop. Three fathers and a mother - all of whom were dedicated to their jobs and their families - now dead. The grief at our station and in our community has been overwhelming and we have all now just barely begun to process what this means for our department and for police departments all across our state and nation. Several times since this event happened, police agencies have responded to reports of individuals across King and Pierce Counties causing commotions and claiming to be planning to kill more officers. We do our best to maintain our composure and continue to do our jobs the best that we can.
It is hard not to remain bleak and jaded with these events so fresh in our minds. But something happened today, just 20 minutes ago, which made me want to send out a Christmas letter. I'm here at work and was just out in our secure parking lot helping another officer load collection bins into his car to take to a local Lakewood Police Independent Guild fundraiser event. I heard a woman, standing with a boy who couldn't have been more than 3 or 4 years old, calling, "Excuse me…." through our locked gate. She had apparently been trying to get to our front counter but found no one there, it being Sunday, and had just happened to see us in the parking lot. I walked over to her and saw that the little boy was holding a plastic baggy containing a dollar and some change, and was clutching a well-worn stuffed dinosaur.
The woman told me that her son, AJ, had seen the stories on tv about our 4 slain officers. She said that they had driven to our station all the way from Kingston because her son was so intent on helping the children of these officers. I opened the gate and the boy handed me the plastic baggy containing all the money from his piggybank and a note on which he had written "AJ….From me to Pleec. I Love You." And then, with tears in his eyes, he handed me his stuffed dinosaur. AJ's mom explained that he wanted to give the children of the slain officers the most precious thing that he owned, and that was his dinosaur, Bruno.
I told AJ that I would take the money that he wanted to donate, but that I thought the best thing he could do for the children of our 4 officers was to keep Bruno safe with him but to keep those kids in his heart when he hugged his dinosaur. He agreed and gratefully took Bruno back from me and held him tightly as if he never wanted to let him go again.
We have seen many, many acts of generosity and kindness over the past 2 weeks. We have hugged more friends and strangers than we could have ever imagined and have mended broken ties with people we haven't talked to for years. Yet nothing has touched me deeper, or given me more hope for the future, than AJ and his stuffed dinosaur. I gave AJ one of our department challenge coins, explaining to him that we only gave them out to the bravest and most deserving people we came across. I hope he will realize someday how much more than a dollar and some change he gave to me and to the Lakewood Police Department today.
So anyway, none of that is about Christmas, but it is about hope and love and I thought it was appropriate to share this holiday season.
I hope this letter finds all of you well and eager to spend the holidays with those you love. Squeeze everyone a little tighter and hug them a little longer today because life really is precious. Merry Christmas!
Posted on December 16, 2009 at 5:47 PM
LAKEWOOD, Wash. - A Lakewood police officer, who wishes to remain anonymous, said he was inspired to write the following Christmas letter earlier this week.
The officer credits one small boy's donation of support to the Lakewood Police Department as the big reason he has regained hope for this holiday season.
The officer sent it to friends, family members and other law enforcement officers.
A Tukwila police officer received the officer's permission to release it to the public:
I'm not much for writing Christmas letters, and in fact this year, I didn't even feel like making the effort of buying and addressing Christmas cards at all. I'm sure you all have heard of the terrible tragedy that occurred here in Lakewood two weeks ago today - four of our officers, four people that have become my friends over the past 5 years as we all worked here together, were gunned down as they sat in a coffee shop. Three fathers and a mother - all of whom were dedicated to their jobs and their families - now dead. The grief at our station and in our community has been overwhelming and we have all now just barely begun to process what this means for our department and for police departments all across our state and nation. Several times since this event happened, police agencies have responded to reports of individuals across King and Pierce Counties causing commotions and claiming to be planning to kill more officers. We do our best to maintain our composure and continue to do our jobs the best that we can.
It is hard not to remain bleak and jaded with these events so fresh in our minds. But something happened today, just 20 minutes ago, which made me want to send out a Christmas letter. I'm here at work and was just out in our secure parking lot helping another officer load collection bins into his car to take to a local Lakewood Police Independent Guild fundraiser event. I heard a woman, standing with a boy who couldn't have been more than 3 or 4 years old, calling, "Excuse me…." through our locked gate. She had apparently been trying to get to our front counter but found no one there, it being Sunday, and had just happened to see us in the parking lot. I walked over to her and saw that the little boy was holding a plastic baggy containing a dollar and some change, and was clutching a well-worn stuffed dinosaur.
The woman told me that her son, AJ, had seen the stories on tv about our 4 slain officers. She said that they had driven to our station all the way from Kingston because her son was so intent on helping the children of these officers. I opened the gate and the boy handed me the plastic baggy containing all the money from his piggybank and a note on which he had written "AJ….From me to Pleec. I Love You." And then, with tears in his eyes, he handed me his stuffed dinosaur. AJ's mom explained that he wanted to give the children of the slain officers the most precious thing that he owned, and that was his dinosaur, Bruno.
I told AJ that I would take the money that he wanted to donate, but that I thought the best thing he could do for the children of our 4 officers was to keep Bruno safe with him but to keep those kids in his heart when he hugged his dinosaur. He agreed and gratefully took Bruno back from me and held him tightly as if he never wanted to let him go again.
We have seen many, many acts of generosity and kindness over the past 2 weeks. We have hugged more friends and strangers than we could have ever imagined and have mended broken ties with people we haven't talked to for years. Yet nothing has touched me deeper, or given me more hope for the future, than AJ and his stuffed dinosaur. I gave AJ one of our department challenge coins, explaining to him that we only gave them out to the bravest and most deserving people we came across. I hope he will realize someday how much more than a dollar and some change he gave to me and to the Lakewood Police Department today.
So anyway, none of that is about Christmas, but it is about hope and love and I thought it was appropriate to share this holiday season.
I hope this letter finds all of you well and eager to spend the holidays with those you love. Squeeze everyone a little tighter and hug them a little longer today because life really is precious. Merry Christmas!
Friday, December 18, 2009
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Monday, December 14, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Friday, December 11, 2009
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