New Year's at the Ranch

I don't think that New Year's has ever been a major holiday for me.  When I was a kid my folks always hosted a party for several other families...I remember lots of Chex mix and giggling (we were girls), running from the boys (our brothers and their friends), and watching "The Sound of Music".  One year in middle school or high school I had strep throat and mom asked the doctor if we should cancel the party.  His reaction was "as long as she doesn't kiss anyone".  I thought, "I don't think this will be a problem".  The Chex mix was a bit hard to swallow that year though.

When I was a junior in high school I wanted to go to a friend's house for New Years...my dad went out and bought our first color tv and a VCR (and a couple movies) so all my friends could come to our house instead.  In college I spent New Years at my friend P's a couple times--we played Euchure, watched movies, exciting stuff.

Once we lived in Denver we hosted a couple New Year's parties and went to a few at good friends house--usually lots of snacks and a few movies.  The year The Girl was a baby (and maybe a couple other years around that time) we spent New Year's at some friends "up north"--I think The Girl and I went to bed in the guest room about 10pm while the rest of the house was a madhouse.

When the kids were little we started celebrating "New Year's France time"....once it was dark we passed out the hats and noise makers, let them do their thing...including a glass of sprite or sparking apple juice and then put them to bed by 7.  We were very proud of our sneakiness...then they learned to tell time...D'oh...


So this picture is from 2010..might be the first year we let them "stay up"...looks like we are deep in our new tradition--a movie marathon!  This might be the year we let them watch all the Star Wars movies (skipping #3, perhaps...).

And this one, from last year looks like Star Wars again...or something.  Hmm.









So you might ask, what are our plans for this year?  Mr Ranch and The Girl are skiing today--The Boy is staying home, watching a Muppet show marathon. When they get home, I think we will have some "Unrolled Egg rolls" (isn't there a New Year's Tradition about eating cabbage being good luck?)  The family (surprisingly?) likes this recipe.  Then a movie marathon...not Star Wars...Lord of the Rings has been suggested, as has Despicable Me....and then bed at 12:01.  Happy New Year everyone!

Unrolled Egg Rolls recipe
1 1/2 to 2 pounds lean ground beef or turkey

1 tablespoon oil

1 large onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 small cabbage, chopped

2 cans (14.5 ounces each) diced tomatoes

1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce

1/2 cup water

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon sea salt

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the ground beef and onion and cook, stirring, until ground beef is no longer pink and onion is tender.

Add the garlic and continue cooking for 1 minute.

Add the chopped cabbage, tomatoes, tomato sauce, pepper, and salt. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, or until cabbage is tender.

Yield: Serves 6 to 8

Cute food....or " are we really posting pictures of food"?

You know how people post things on Pinterest and on Facebook and you think, "oh, that's cute, I'll never make it".  A few years ago we made penguins and sledding Veggies, based on a Veggie Tales instructional video--they were fun to make, and looked adorable, but not super tasty...Still, we've made them a few times (and added Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber and sleds made of carrots)

A few weeks ago someone posted pictures of a fruit Santa....and I thought, "I might make that".  Well, actually, I'll let the kids make that. These are actually tasty--and easy...unlike the prep intensive penguins, these little Santas take literally seconds to assemble.

Directions?  Take a grape, stick it on a toothpick, slide on a banana slice, a piece of strawberry, and a mini marshmallow if you want to.  The most time intensive part was cutting the strawberries...at first I was bummed, because it looked like maybe only the tops would work as hats... but I don't think it matters...they were cute and tasty with anything shaped anything like a hat!
Yum!

Free hotel rooms and other fun

Two summers ago when we went on our Great Midwestern Trip one of the hotel chains I have an account with was running a promotion that if you stay two nights you get a 3rd free, but can't use it until a certain date range.  Turns out the date range ends on this December 31.  D'oh.  So we tried to use it to stay somewhere when the family was skiing..didn't have enough points.  Tried to buy something else with it (like a gift card) didn't have enough points.  Hmm...So I started trying different cities and times...turns out, that although I can't buy a $25 Target gift card with my hotel points, I can use them for a free night at our local branch of the chain.  Interesting.  This actually turns out well, though...because we don't need a dog kennel reservation if we are just down the road!  Mr Ranch volunteered to stay at the house and it turns out that his dad arrived in time for them to have a guys (and dogs) night!

The kids enjoyed a little tv (literally, a little tv according to The Boy, who said, "Ha!  This tv is so tiny!")  They quickly discovered that even with cable there is "nothing on".

After a dinner at Jimmy Johns, we retired to the hotel and the kids played in the pool for hours...followed by movies on the kindles, bed and our free breakfast (might have been the best deal ever...since Mr. Ranch, who was technically staying with us, according to the hotel, and Grandude joined us).

Maybe next summer we'll earn another free night :)

The Grinch, Krampus, and other office fun...

Before winter break most of my office like to decorate a little...ok, it is a little over the top sometimes.  One of my office suite mates is famous for not wanting to decorate and for being kind of Grinch-y when the rest of us do.  (Not mean...just doesn't participate).  A couple years ago we provided his office door with a life size Grinch cut out--wish I had a picture of that!
This year, he "retaliated" by posting, instead of Christmas/Holiday/Winter decor...a Wikipedia article about Krampus.  Who is Krampus, you might ask?  According to Wikipedia, s "Krampus is a beast-like creature from the folklore of Alpine countries thought to punish children during the Yule season who had misbehaved, in contrast with Saint Nicholas, who rewards well-behaved ones with gifts. Krampus is said to capture particularly naughty children in his sack and carry them away to his lair." Delightful.  Feel free to google him for more...it only gets better.  Also, if you are so inclined, google "Krampus Sweater"...be prepared to laugh or be horrified, or both. 
So...we had to do something, right?  I happened to have some leftover Hannah Montana Christmas paper from a couple years ago...so I took it to work and with the assistance of some office elves, we wrapped up our co-worker's office.
Lovely, don't you think? We left him a note from Krampus...I guess we'll have to do even better next year....The best part is that he (the co-worker) saved the Hannah Montana paper--his college freshman daughter used to love Hannah and he is going to wrap her Christmas gifts in the Hannah paper.  Giggle.

Merry Christmas from our (Sub)Urban Ranch!

Merry Christmas from all of us!

May your day be filled with friends, family, and the Joy of Christmas!

Christmas, AC (After Children)

Before the kids were born we decided that we would try to be home for Christmas Day as much as possible, at least while they were little.  Sometimes that means we have family or friends here, and other years it means we get to eat Christmas dinner in our PJ's and hang out.  I think we've been home every year on Christmas morning since the Girl was born.  Lots of times we've traveled before and after Christmas day, even gone to someone's house for Christmas dinner, but it is nice to be home on Christmas morning.  I don't know if our philosophy would be different if any of our parents still lived in our childhood homes, but it is nice to wake up in my own bed, even if it is before dawn.

One of our family traditions is that kids can open their stockings as soon as they get up, but that grown ups don't get up until daylight and that the gifts under the tree are not to be touched until the grownups are up.  And Santa is really good about making sure that there is a box of Captain Crunch "in" each stocking.  When the kids were really little we had to make sure there was a small container of milk so they could get themselves breakfast.  One year, when he was about two, The Boy ate all the tangerines out of everyone's stocking before we were up--about fifteen total. He was very sticky...These days the kids not only eat their cereal, but can turn on the oven and make eggs, too...Maybe I should leave a coffee cake for them to pop in and remind them to start the coffee.  If they are up before us, that is. We also take turns opening gifts--no crazy, paper flying chaos (well, not usually)  

2001  was our first Christmas with a child.  The Girl was about four months old.  I kept propping her up to try to get pictures and she just wasn't interested.  We called this the "angry baby" face.  Maybe she is angry because she is dressed head to toe in "Santa barf".  She actually looks pretty worn out--this might have been a day of multiple outfits and pictures.  I loved that hat...I'd still make her wear it if it would fit on her head.

 In 2002, we went to my parents' house right after Christmas, but we were lucky enough to spend some time with Mr. Ranch's grandparents before we went north.  The Girl did not want her picture taken though.  Mr. Ranch actually has a cousin about the same age as our daughter, so I'm guessing she was trying to escape to go play with her cousin and her cousin's giant stuffed pony.

2003--I tried to convince The Girl to look at the camera, she seems more interested in her mittens...This is actually a Christmas Eve picture. We went up to a ski resort for the day.  The Girl and I tubed while Mr. Ranch and his Dad skied. She also used a tiny pair of LLBean cross country skis--somewhere there are adorable pictures of that...well, pictures at least...I think she screamed a good deal of the time. It was a very fun day!

2004--you get to see two pictures...I know there were pictures of the two of them together, but who can refuse a baby in a Christmas stocking? Or a 3 year old napping with her kitties in her adorable Christmas dress?

2005--Shortly after Christmas I broke my foot and was on crutches for a week.  The Boy had to learn how to walk quickly...This is actually a New Year's Day 2006 picture, but you get the idea.  We had a lot of stuff crammed in that 1600 square foot house by this point...Alice the Cat still likes to sleep in that Pooh chair, it is like a kitty hammock.

2006

The Girl brought home reindeer food that she made in kindergarten and sprinkled it on the front lawn--look at all the snow!

 This was the year that The Boy got a lot of cool stuff--here he is with his tool belt on--he wore it with everything for months!

2007.  This was a fun year.  The first one at the new house and my parents as well as my brother and sister-in-law came for Christmas.  My parents actually flew in on Christmas day and rented a car.  They had a long, snowy drive from the airport and when they arrived announced that  we "lived in the middle of nowhere".  Ironic, since at that time our town had a population of about 45,000 and their's a population of 500.  It was a long snowy drive, though ...This was also the only year that we've had the tree in the living room of this house--every year since we've put it in the family room, where it doesn't show up from the street, but we get to enjoy it more.  And get to sit on the couch, rather than dining room chairs, when we open gifts.

2008...kind of blurry, but all of them from that day seem to be..don't know why...it's like there was Vaseline on the camera lens or something.

2009--I don't know how I managed to get downstairs before them!  Apparently the "no adults before daylight" was broken this year, too!

2010 This is a very exhausted group of children and Grandude--we had friends over for Christmas dinner--their kids wore their jammies over.  It looks like there are Christmas gifts strewn about and the children are half-heartedly playing wii...they must be tired...The Boy seems to be wearing a homemade mask of some kind...ironic..it is Christmas night, there are toys all over, and he created a mask out of an old box.  Seems about right.

2011--ok, not really a great picture of anyone, but you can see the family immersed in gifts.  The pile seems to be engulfing the children.

2012  We tried to get Mr. Ranch in this photo.  Really.  You get a nice view of some of the ten million ornaments on our tree though.  Maybe that will be a post..."ornaments I have loved and broken".

 The Girl saw reindeer food at a store and had to buy it (with her own money) for The Boy to spread for Santa's reindeer.  She got lots of "points" for that.

Last year was also a very cool holiday season--one of Mr Ranch's uncles decided to fly out and surprise the Uncle who lives here.  We spent several fun days after Christmas in a condo, at a ski area, surrounded by extended family.  Two of the relatives own condos in the same building and the third was able to rent a unit. I think there are three generations represented here. The kids and Mr. Ranch skied (snowboarded, in The Boy's case) and I read books and walked around the village--The Girl created a rule for one of Mr Ranch's twenty-something cousins, that every time he cursed he owed her a dollar...I think the running total was up to fifty-some dollars at one point.

We're quite a group, aren't we?

This year's plans are much simpler...Grandude will be here for a few days before and for Christmas with his buddy, Maggie (the dog).  There will probably be some skiing (snowboarding for The Boy).  The Girl is scheduled to be an altar server for Christmas Eve mass and I hope to read a couple books...I'm looking forward to some "nothing" time.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

The Tree

The first Christmas she could walk, we told The Girl she could pick out the family Christmas tree at the tree farm.  She chose a tree that was shorter than her and had no needles.  We said, "um, no..."  Eventually we found a good tree.  This year she asked if she could choose, that she had been "eyeing" a tree at the Boy Scout Lot for WEEKS every morning when they drove by on the way to school and that it would be PERFECT!...with some trepidation we said, "um, ok?"

 There aren't any photos from the tree lot, but this look about sums up our reaction to the tree...But it was actually the best one on the lot...I guess that's what I get for my "rule" about the tree and The Boy's birthday, right?

This is decorated with about 2 levels from only 2 of the ornament boxes...we need a much taller tree to get them all on, but this way it will take less time to put them all away, right?

So far the pets haven't messed with the tree, not even our visiting friend (cousin? Aunt?), Maggie the Dog.  Maybe that is because Liberty thinks it is her personal duty to guard the tree....

Christmas, BC

The BC at our house stands for either Before Children or Before The Girl (since her name starts with a C)...works the same.  I'm sure I have pictures somewhere, I may add them later..

Mr. Ranch and I met the fall of my Senior year at Purdue, which was the fall of his freshman year.  That first Christmas, our group of friends had a nice Christmas dinner at my apartment before Mr Ranch headed home--he bought me a pretty pair of gold heart ear rings when he was home over Thanksgiving and gave them to me at our party.  If I remember right, we even cooked a turkey in the world's smallest oven. For Christmas we both went to our parents and after Christmas I flew out to New Hampshire to meet his family and spend New Year's.  We did a lot of tourist things in the Lakes Region and even made it up to Maine to meet his Grandparents.  The airline lost my luggage (they did eventually deliver it) but the first night Mr. Ranch's 15 year old sister offered to loan me sweat pants...um, even then I couldn't wear her clothes...I think she was a foot shorter than me at the time...Mr Ranch's uncle (who now lives only a few miles from us) gave me a copy of The Bodyguard soundtrack, saying "I hear chicks like this stuff".  I realized the other day that this was probably the year Mr. Ranch's parents gave me an LL Bean sweater that I still wear. Hmm...That would make it, um 21 years old? My sweater could legally buy beer.  Interesting.

We spent at least one Christmas with Mr Ranch's relatives in Michigan and lots with my parents, who only lived about 30 minutes from Purdue, where Mr. Ranch was finishing his undergrad degrees.  Mr Ranch's aunt's house has three bedrooms that intersect/connect upstairs.  One memorable year, Mr Ranch's dad and sister had cots in one of the rooms, while one of his cousins and his wife had bedroom #2, and we had bedroom #3.  The cousin's wife was convinced that there was a ghost...based on the rustling noise she heard all night...she refused to believe it was simply Mr. Ranch's sister's running pants that she was wearing because she was cold in the unheated upstairs. That Christmas Mr Ranch's aunt made a never ending pot of what the family now calls "Tortilla Soup".  She must have just added bits to it every day to keep her three kids, their spouses/girlfriends, kids,and us fed!  It is my go-to recipe for big groups--if unexpected people show up, you can always just add more "stuff".

After we moved to Colorado, Mr Ranch's mom lived near-by and his dad and sister came out a few times.  We have great pictures of Mr. Ranch's sister in short sleeves feeding the ducks on our front porch on a warm Christmas day.

One very memorable Christmas, the last official Christmas before kids, we had five house guests (and us and two cats and a dog) in our 1600 square foot townhouse.  My brother, one of his college roommates (from the UK), Mr Ranch's mom and dad, and his sister all stayed with us.  AH (the roommate) introduced us all to Christmas crackers.  We had a Christmas grab bag exchange-AH brought us all key chains with pictures of Henry VIII's wives on them.  Several of the key chains seem to have made it onto our Christmas tree that year and continue to appear year after year.  This was the year that we announced that The Girl  would join the family before the next year.  After Christmas, Mr Ranch and I and our siblings piled into our car and drove to California to see Purdue play in the Rose Bowl.  We met Mr Ranch's dad in Phoenix and had a really great time.  We saw a giant hole in the ground in Arizona, Talisen West (my brother was  huge Frank Lloyd Wright fan at the time), then traveled on to California and saw the Rose Bowl, including lots of Alumni events and seafood. On the way back we made a Vegas stop...where I not only got to tour a replica of King Tut's tomb, but was introduced to Krispy Kreme donuts by my brother. (He says, "Come on, I want to show you something..."  I said, "Aw, gee, I'm kind of tired...what is it?"...He says, "Don't worry, it will be great..."  He was right...mmm..donuts...)

Stay tuned for Christmas after Children...lots of fun, but very different...

Guest Post from Tigger the Cat

Greetings from the (Sub)urban ranch!
I've heard through the grapevine that many people are disappointed that  did not write a Christmas letter this year...let me assure you that I am alive and well...just banned from the computer temporarily.  Mrs. Ranch says if I stop yacking up hairballs on her desk chair, she might consider letting me back on the computer. In the meantime she is letting me dictate this letter to her.
Mr Ranch's law practice continues to do well.  He keeps busy with work and as a team captain for the Team in Training for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  He was able to take some time off last summer to go camping with the rest of the family.  Mr Ranch and the other dads set up a zip line, archery range, shooting range, fishing, hiking, and a bunch of other activities.
Mrs. Ranch started her 11th year at her current high school and her 21st year of teaching this year...meaning she has spent more than half her teaching career in one place--crazy.  She finds herself spending more and more time chauffeuring the children from place to place, but still makes time to read and even cross stitched a Christmas stocking for Liberty to match everyone else's this year.  I guess Liberty complained that her stocking last year was labeled with a sticky note.
The Girl is a 7th grader this year.  The people are starting to feel the pressure to choose a high school.  I don't know what this is all about...The Girl still enjoys drum lessons (most of the time).  She spent two weeks last summer participating in a rock band camp at the local music school.  She had a good time and wants to do it again, but with a gig in a real place, like a coffee shop or bar instead of at the music school.  The Girl was a big help to Mrs Ranch last spring when they helped with a virtual baby shower for Mrs Pretzel (Mr Ranch's sister).  The Girl and the Boy and both looking forward to meeting their new cousin sometime next spring.  The Girl participated in volleyball last spring and cross country this fall--enjoyed both.  She also participates in youth group at church and yearbook at school.  I'm sure I'm forgetting something she does, but I'm an elderly cat...so whatever.
The Boy is a 3rd grader this year.  He loves telling us stories about school, his classmates, and his teacher's kids.  He has allowed Mrs. Ranch topics for several blogs about "Boy-isms".  He still enjoys Cub Scouts, rose to the rank of Wolf this year (I think that is right) and is working to become a Weeblo next year. He states that he no longer enjoys the Pack meetings though, because, "those other kids just run around and stuff".  According to Mrs Ranch this is ironic, because he doesn't really sit much himself, but she's not complaining about having one less activity. The Boy started guitar lessons this year and is well on his way to learning every Beatles song ever written. He celebrated his birthday at home this year with a screening of Despicable Me 2 and some friends.  It was a very calm party...very different from some of his previous parties.
The people tell me that I'll be 16 in the spring, but that I can't get my driver's license because I'm a cat.  I'm ok with that...I pretty much sleep either on the chair in the kitchen or in Mrs. Ranch's closet.  I do like to sing "the song of my people" at 5 am if Mrs. Ranch doesn't get up to give me fresh water.  She threw her pillow at me last weekend...I told her it wasn't very nice by moving a little further away and singing louder.  Alice the Cat is 5 in the spring.  She is not slowing down, but is getting a bit tubby from eating my geriatric cat food.  She still doesn't like the dogs (which is weird, since they are afraid of her) and quite often will hide if the family has overnight house guests, leading people to say things like "she doesn't seem that bad".  Indy Dog will be 14 in February.  She is slowing down a little, has learned to turn on the tv, and gets grumpy if the youngsters want to play and she is sleeping.  However, she is not above chasing Alice or smacking Liberty so they will entertain her.  The youngest family member, Liberty, is probably about 3 this year.  She continues to prove all stereotypes about Saint Bernards wrong, by leaping through the house at a fast rate of speed and running from me, even when I'm sleeping.
The people's extended families are all well, Mrs Ranch's parents are busier in retirement than they were before they retired.  Her younger brother and his family keep busy, her nephew will be four in the spring and provides the Ranch with lots of videos and photos to make us laugh.  Mr. Ranch's dad will spend Christmas at the Ranch before returning home to attend a bowl game.  His traveling companion, Maggie the Dog, is a lot of fun for Indy and Liberty but is way too interested in me for my comfort.  Mr. Ranch's mom will spend Christmas day with his sister, brother-in-law, and nephew in the Seattle area.
We hope this letter finds you all well and wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from our (Sub)urban Ranch!

Childhood Christmas memories

After my mom read my Thanksgiving post she laughed about all the stories that I didn't/can't/won't print and said she can't wait to read my "Christmas post".  I told her I don't really have any funny memories of Christmas, but then I thought about it and maybe I do...or maybe, like Thanksgiving, they are only funny to those of you who were there.  So, here it goes, Mom...

A couple weeks ago I went to an Advent preparation program with my friend, T.  One of the things the speaker brought up was what we remembered from our "magical childhood Christmases" (what is the plural of Christmas? ) was tied to memories, not to gifts, and that most of us couldn't name ten gifts we received for Christmas as children. T started giggling, because I said I probably could name ten and they would all be homemade--so probably tied to memory and to the gift.  I'll make a list and then see if I can find pictures later..
1.  Wooden slide.  Ok, I don't remember receiving it, I think I was eleven months old, but I remember the slide and have seen pictures of me on it.
2.  Wooden play stove.  See above.  I also received an orange plastic skillet, with a face on it, and on the back the words "not intended for heated surfaces".  Still makes me laugh.
3.  Wooden play cabinet for my toy kitchen.  I actually used it as a bookshelf and sweater holder in high school, it fit really well in my closet.
4.  Dollhouse--this one I do remember receiving.  It was (is) awesome!  My dad built it for the Sunshine Family dolls--now there is a classic American Family.  Mine included not only the hippie parents and "Sweets" the baby, but the hippie grandparents and the really cool car.  The dollhouse actually had a garage for the car.  It later became a Barbie house, they had to walk around with their knees bent because of the low ceilings.  The dollhouse came with lots of furniture (made by my dad) and doll clothes (in their own bag) made by my mom and every year it seems like the furniture and clothes were added to.  Later still the dollhouse became a handy set of shelves for my sweaters, before being moved up to the attic for a couple years. Both pieces of the toy kitchen were sold/given away when my folks moved away from my childhood home, but mom actually took pictures of the dollhouse being loaded on the truck to reassure me that it "made the move". A few years ago mom and dad snuck it into my house and The Boy and I redecorated it for the new millennium for The Girl.  It now lives in her room and is headed for use as a sweater holder rather quickly, I think.
5.  Clothespin doll furniture--made by my Grandfather.  I think I was "almost too old" to enjoy this for the dolls, but this also means it wasn't as abused by me.
6.  Not homemade, but had a homemade connection:  Gerber Baby doll and bag of homemade clothes.  Grandma and Grandpa bought the doll and mom made the clothes.  Grandma and Grandpa came for Christmas, so that was fun.  somewhere there is a great picture of my Grandma holding the baby doll like a baby and smiling at it.
7.  Also not homemade, but my blue bike with training wheels.  Somewhere there are pictures of me riding it in the kitchen because it was "too cold" outside.  I don't know why they didn't make me go to the garage.
8.  Twin Barbie dolls--my grandmother was famous for buying gifts early.  The November she passed away she had all our gifts purchased and wrapped and stored in the "gift closet".  No one wanted to unwrap and re-wrap and Grandpa knew there was one Barbie I wanted...so he bought one, too.  I remember seeing the first real smile on his face when I opened the second one. He stayed with us for what seemed like a long time that winter--it was a lot of fun for us, although I'm sure not as much fun for him.
9. Captain Crunch and shampoo in my stocking.  Santa always brought my brother and I a box of Captain Crunch (peanut butter) for Christmas.  I used to try to make mine last until my birthday in January. We were allowed to open our stockings (and the Captain Crunch) before mom and dad were up, but the gifts under the tree had to wait for everyone to be ready--on the years Christmas fell on a Sunday they had to wait until after church.  The shampoo was when I was older--high school or college, and it did make me roll my eyes, but was much appreciated because it was "fancy" (maybe Suave instead of White Rain?)
10.  Two different Christmases, two "big" walking dolls.  One when I was pretty young and played with it a lot and one later, when I was maybe 9 or 10 and felt like I was "too old for that kind of doll".  It did live in my room for years though, she had pretty hair and a beautiful dress.

Other years I also received a record player (two different ones, actually in two different years) and a couple sewing machines. All of these are long gone, but my records are in a box in my living room, under the circa 2010 turntable that serves us well these days and the replacement sewing machine is living on my desk.

When we were little, Santa actually visited our house every Christmas Eve, usually posing for a picture with the still awake me and my younger brother who was allowed to fall asleep on the bottom bunk of my downstairs bunk bed.  A very memorable Christmas, the parishioners of the church gave my folks a "money tree"--a styrofoam tree with money attached--astounding to the "little me".

Our neighbor and her friend used to come over for dinner, maybe on Christmas Eve, but sometime during the season.  The friend's son had left for World War II just before Christmas, I suppose in 1942, I'm sorry now I never asked.  Before he left he played "Silent Night" for her on the piano, because it was her favorite song.  Every year she asked me to play it and gushed over what a wonderful piano player I was becoming.  The two "old ladies" always brought us gifts--one year a nightgown for me with a Shirt Tales critter on it.

Christmas Eve usually meant church--not at midnight, but usually after dark (so after 4:30 in the winter, right?).  The services I remember best/most were at a small church where my dad usually did the Christmas Eve service for a friend who traveled for Christmas.  The last activity of the evening was always by individual candlelight and was always Silent Night.  I can't believe they used to give all us kids real candles?  Now on Christmas Eve they give the kids glow sticks.  Hmm. Not quite the same.

So there, mom, no funny stories (well, other than the shampoo), but maybe I'll think of something funny later!
Merry Christmas!

The other nativity

There is one more nativity that was mentioned in the last post, but not pictured...because it is only fair that it get it's own post--because it is so cool...no really.

The centerpiece, and original set, is Veggie Tales--complete with a singing Laura the Carrot angel, Baby Carrot Baby Jesus, Squash Mary and Joseph, Wise Men (Larry, Mr Lunt, and Pa Grape), Cow (Jerry and his bother Gourd...what is his name?), two hay bales, a palm tree, and Junior Asparagus and his sheep (The French Peas).  Ok, you can't see all of them, but they are there.  Added to them is the Little Drummer Boy (Junior again), with his sheep, camel and donkey.  Finally (in this picture), are three Little People Camels (the Wise Men need camels, duh), a Little People cow and chicken, and a Little People lion (lying down with the sheep...very Biblical).  Mr Ranch doesn't even (usually) object to this portion of this nativity. It is child proof (mostly, there was an incident with the legs to Baby Jee's manager a few years ago, but it was easily repaired with some superglue) and must taste good--there are lots of pictures (somewhere) of The Boy tasting each piece when he was about two.  We even have a picture book that tells the story of the Veggies performing the pageant.

Now this would be the portion that gets interesting...the other half of the nativity...we have the rest of the Little People animals, left from various sets (zoo, farm, other things).  I think we have three horses, an elephant, three kangaroos, a leopard (my favorite), a seal, three zebras, a parrot, a polar bear....Then there are some little gifts that used to be ornaments, but don't hang well on the tree, a Veggie Tales action figure from a set we don't even own (Sumo of the Opera?), a wooden nutcracker (from Saint Nicholas this year)...and here is possibly my favorite, a Christmas/Santa train that I bought at Goodwill years ago.  It is missing Santa (stop laughing) but has an elf, a Christmas tree, a puppy (with a box you can put over it, so it is like the cat in Christmas Vacation), and a fireman and his fire dog.  I'm looking forward to next Christmas, when it looks like the Pirates Who Don't Do Anything might be able to join the group (this year they are still living in The Boy's toy box). Maybe they will bring their tv and ping pong table. Very Christmas-y, right?  Some day I'll get a Santa...they show up at Goodwill once in awhile, right?

Advent at the Ranch

Mr Ranch says it is a dumb "rule", but I don't like to get a Christmas tree until after The Boy's birthday and his party...partially because I don't want the party guests messing with the tree.  But I do like to start decorating when Advent begins.  We try to light our advent wreath every night and read from an Advent calendar.  Several years ago I couldn't find one that we really liked so I created our own compilation-

complete with family pictures and drawings by the kids!

I also put out the nativities--The Veggie-Little People hybrid and the others--

 This one, from Mr. Ranch's mom--she bought one piece a year for years and gave it to us to use when she moved into a smaller apartment.  I added the stable, I bought it several years ago to use with a nativity I bought at a garage sale.

 My "naughty angels"--made by and a favorite of my Grandmothers--the one on the left is holding a sling shot behind her back, the one on the right has a dolly tucked in her belt, and the one in front has "lost" her halo.  They are becoming more delicate each year, so some years I don't put them out.  You can also see a gold angel candle holder made by the same grandmother and an angel playing a violin that belonged to my other grandmother.

 My grandmother also made the last two nativities--the one on the left she had at her house for many years.
The nativity below is using the stable that Mr. Ranch's mom bought for her set (above)...I switched them because they just seem to fit better this way.
A few years ago I found a nativity identical to this one, although not missing as much paint, and not as well made, at a garage sale.  Two years ago, my mom gave the original to me for Christmas. My mom used to say that all the paint is rubbed off because I liked to (from a young age) move all the participants around so they were in the "right" places.  The garage sale one is now in a box, waiting for one of the children to want it, I suppose.








I did add the donkey on the far right--he usually lives in my china cabinet, but I thought he should have a chance to see daylight.  He is stamped with "West Point", so he also came from my grandparent's house.

 This sheep is in the right location--facing Baby Jesus--you can see he is missing a lot of paint from being moved (and petted).

Books I read in November 2013

I was a slacker in November.  I only "read" 8 books and three of them were actually listened to in the car...let's start with those :)
1, 2, 3  39 Clues, Books 6, 7, 8: I'm (we're ) still enjoying this series--the kids and I are wondering if the "2nd series" about the same kids will be as good..at the rate the authors are cranking these out, listening to these could keep us busy until the kids leave for college.
4.  Double Crossed (Ally Carter) Again I think this is probably cheating, this was actually a novella, linking the two series Ally Carter writes (Gallager Girls and Heist Society).  It was entertaining, took about an hour to read.  Probably not very interesting to anyone who hasn't read the other two series.
5.   Revealed (Cast and Cast)Ugh.  This is the long awaited, next to last book in the House of Night series...you know, the one I hated, then couldn't put down.  It was fine...not sure it was worth the wait, but interesting, I guess.  Now we have to wait until next October to read the last one...then I can be done with them.  Forever.
6.  House of Hades (Rick Riordan)Of the three sequels I read this month, this was probably the best.  I do still find it entertaining that Riordan told everyone that he wasn't going to write about Percy Jackson anymore and this book was primarily about Percy (and Annabeth).  If you're a fan of Percy and his friends this one was worth the wait.
7.  Allegiant (Veronica Roth)I can't decide how I feel about this book.  There are lots of spoilers on the internet if you don't want to read it and want to know what happened.  I'm glad I read it, but was disappointed in how the author chose to end the series.  Oh well.
8.   The Lincoln Deception (David O Stewart).I borrowed this from the school district lending library for my Kindle. It was a mystery set around the idea that Lincoln's assassination might have been a conspiracy.  Set in 1900, a small town doctor starts trying to find out what happened 40 years previously--I'd recommend this one, pretty entertaining.

December isn't shaping up to be a big reading month...So far I've re-read Catching Fire (Collins) for about the 10th time and that is it.  Guess all that decorating is putting a damper on my reading time!

Jealous much?

One thing we've noticed about Liberty Dog is that she doesn't tolerate attention given to others very well.  She is never mean, but she does become quite needy when the children or other pets are receiving attention...classic youngest child?  Here she is trying to climb under the blankie with Mr Ranch and the Girl...

 She just looks pathetic, doesn't she?

 The stare....








The creep...









 and in she goes...









 Cozy, right?

I don't think she would have done well when the kids were babies--although the pose above, where she is wrapped around The Girl, is very similar to how the cats used to sleep above her when she was a baby, so maybe she would have done ok after all...she probably wouldn't fit in the crib though. Or under it, either, I guess...

Happy Birthday, dinner recap...

We seem to inadvertently created a family tradition...a few years ago we went to the local Hibachi place for dinner and now it is a "must".  For the Boy's birthday we left school, ran a couple errands, took the Girl to drum lessons, and then to dinner.  The staff claim to remember us (I don't know if should be flattered or horrified).

 Chug that Japanese soda, buddy...

 A Mickey Mouse rice patty!

 A repeat of last year's show--our cook (what is the correct name for these guys?) was very funny.  I even got a shot of the "fireman"...

 Do you all recognize this facial expression from yesterday's post? :)

 The staff even gave him a special dessert--tempura bananas--very tasty, as he would say...

 Then home to open gifts...a set of 39 clues books from Grandude

 A box of books and other goodies from Grandma and Grandpa...Legos from Grandma and lots of other fun stuff from mom, dad, and The Girl.  Make sure you check out all the chaos happening at the Veggie Nativity in the background...is that a train and elves with Baby Jee?  (or Baby Jesus, as the rest of the world knows him...)

Then it was time for some Minion inspired brownies..












And then bed for the children :)