The Mysterious Disappearence of the Christmas Candy

When we go to Christmas @ Jim's parents, there is A LOT of Christmas candy made by Roberta, Amy, and Katie. Caramels (my personal favorite), divinity, fudge, peanut butter balls, oreo balls, pretzel/chocolate/pecan things, bon-bon things with hugs inside, cookies, I can't even begin to name them all, but they are all of course delicious and calorie-free (because it's Christmas).

When we left, Jim's mom gave us a little Gladware container of leftover candy that we put in the fridge when we got home. A few nights later, I got the container out of the fridge and set it on the counter because I was going to have some and wanted it to soften up a little. : ) I did some other stuff around the house and then it was time to put Cade to bed, so I went up and read books with him.

I came back down, looking forward to my treat, and noticed that the container was no longer on the counter. I thought Jim had put it back in the fridge and when I didn't find it there, I checked the freezer...nope, so then I thought he must have it with him on the couch. Before I could ask, he said," what did you do with the Christmas candy?" So then we were both confused, wondering what happened to the Christmas candy!

We went to bed and I was still just baffled by it. I even got out of bed and did a walk through of the house, mainly because I knew if it didn't get put in the fridge, part of them would be ruined. (Did I mention I really love this Christmas candy?) I even glanced around Cade's room and found nothing.

The next morning I was still determined to figure out what happened. So I asked Cade if he had taken the container of Grandma's Christmas candy somewhere. And he nonchalantly says, "oh yeah it's up in my bedroom in my drawer, not the drawers where my clothes are, but the other drawers where my hats are. I wanted to have some when I woke up."

The sneaky little Christmas candy thief!

Our Snowy Christmas!

Merry Christmas! Some things I wanted to jot down so as to not forget!

1. Christmas Cookies! We spent some quality time making, frosting, and candy-coating cookies for Santa. It was hard for the kids to stop eating the cookie dough – memories of my childhood w/ Mom and Grandma Morse…

2. The snow! Yes, we always seem to want a white Christmas until it does 5-16 inches across the state (along with some pre-party ice/sleet)
3. Christmas Eve Mass – we got there early (45 minutes early) and got some pretty good seats. The kids did well throughout thanks to some good distractions packed by Mommy.

4. Christmas Eve Dinner – for the past three years we have made Grandma Swenson’s ham balls – delish.
5. Cade making sure we cleared the way for Santa to get in the house by moving any objects obstructing the fireplace.
6. Decals…not fun to put on!
7. The kids slept in until 7:45/8:00! Cade actually was up at 6:04, but went back to sleep in a make-shift bed next to ours! Good rest for mom and dad!
8. Excitement over all gifts from Santa

9. Glad to see cookies ate, Cade’s card was taken by Santa, and evidence left by Santa (a boot print) by the fireplace.
10. Breakfast – eggs, sausage and doughnuts. The kids ate great…I think mostly because we made them wait until after breakfast to open gifts from us!
11. Scooping the snow! We had to get out and clean the snow off for the four-wheelers. We managed to hold off until Noon, but these four-wheelers are not made for snow!
12. Lunch – we made ham-salad from remaining hamball meat…then started eating them only to find out the ham (we think) was not cooked… The nurse at Mercy thinks we will be ok…just watching for “turning stomachs”.
13. The barking dog (to the tune of jingle bells) – a gift from my boss is the most popular toy in the house…and the most annoying… ;-)
14. Breck wanting to put on her new elmo & zoe underwear…we put them on over her pants – pretty funny.

15. Trying to figure out plans for trying to head to Minden (will it happen?) in the snow…while trying to figure out what to have for dinner as we were not planning on being home Christmas Night!

I am sure there will be more to come, but I wanted to jot down a note from our day. It has been a nice family day. The kids have had their usual battles over toys, but they also have had some good times playing together. I am thankful for our family time this holiday. Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Santa Claus Comes Tonight!

And we are soooo excited!! We baked cookies for him this morning and will frost them tonight after we go to church. Cade asked for a 4-Wheeler and a Webkin. Brecken just stared at him in awe. When later asked what Santa was going to bring her, she would reply, "a candy kind!" (Because that's what he gave her when she saw him.) We're not sure though if these two ended up on the naughty list or the nice list...stay tuned!

December

The highlights of our December...

We counted down the days until Christmas!

I attended an Advent by Candlelight at my aunt's church...she invited 10 people and then has to decorate a table and serve dessert. We were entertained by choir, a band (with a clarinet, who knew anyone played after high school?), and bells. It was a nice, relaxing way to begin the holiday season. And the dessert was awesome...Italian wedding cake. How cute is her table?!

We had pictures taken with Julia and Lauren for Christmas gifts for grandparents and Brecken had her 1-Year pictures taken.

We celebrated our niece Julia's sixth birthday at her house and then to Pizza Ranch for dinner...we were babysitting Jim's little cousin Sarah, so she went with and the kids were WILD! Thank goodness for party rooms!

I took a day off to finish up my Christmas shopping...except I didn't finish. Accomplished a lot though and got to meet Jim for lunch at P.F. Chang's. Our first meal without children in quite some time! I lost my list half way through the day...that didn't help!

Jim had a night out with his Investment Club. They went to All Play downtown...it's a Chuck E. Cheese for adults basically.

Listened to lots of Christmas music (yes, I'm one that doesn't mind that it starts playing before Thanksgiving).

I had a "night out" to go watch my cousin Ali perform in the Nutcracker Ballet at the Hoyt Sherman Theater downtown. She was an angel and had a limited part, but she was awesome. Another little girl in her group fell down when she was running out onto the stage...twice! These are second graders, felt so bad for her, she was crying afterwards. Broke my heart! Afterwards we went out to dinner at Spaghetti Works with my mom, aunts, the Cases, Ali, and her friends. Jim and the kids stayed home with Grandpa Clark.

Had an early Christmas with my Dad & Celeste. While they were here, we went and saw Santa at the Winterfest here in town. It was freezing cold, but we waited in line for Santa. Cade told him he wanted a sled and a snowblower. I don't think Santa is going to deliver on the snowblower! Brecken sat on his lap, but was pretty emotionless. I personally, thought he looked a little scary! There was someone carving ice sculptures, cookies and cocoa at the community center, and horse & wagon rides. It's a really cute little celebration, but it was soooo cold.


We also got together with my aunt and her kids for dinner. My aunt made lutefisk (fish) and lefse (like tortillas, but Norwegian I guess?) like my grandparents used to. She went to a lot of work and it brought back memories of holidays spent with my grandparents. The best was taking the leftover lefse or potato cakes and putting butter and sugar on them...yum! My four cousins all live near us, but we really only see them once or twice a year. It's fun to see all of our kids together...the older boys (Steven, Nathan, and Alec) are so good with the younger kids (Cade, Brecken, Julia, Lauren, Olivia, Danika, Cale, and Lola)and Cade had a blast playing rough and doing what little boys do. He kept calling Alec, Alex but thought it was pretty cool that they had the same Puma shoes. Cale had a toy gun so I'm pretty sure Cade thought he was the coolest kid he'd ever met. Brecken was a little overwhelmed, but was happy to wander around exploring their house and take ornaments off their tree. Our contribution to the night was Swedish Meatballs...made mainly by Jim and my dad...they were delish too!


We attempted to get a good family photo...

We celebrated Christmas with my mom and Clark, my brother and family, and Clark's kids and families. We cut back this year, can't you tell?

Thumbs up Jer!

We drove through the Jolly Holiday Lights and stopped at Santa's Village at the end and visited him again...highly recommend this for seeing Santa...not much of a line at all and they have cookies, hot cocoa, etc. Cade asked "if Santa cut his beard because the last time we saw Santa he had a long, curly one."


We spent Christmas Eve at home which was a little weird but nice. Most of the day was spent preparing food. We decided that taking Brecken to church was just not the best idea, so just Jim and Cade went to the 3:30 mass. Cade did pretty good. We had an interesting dinner at home, the food was good, the behavior was not. I think Brecken ate before us and then Cade sat in time-out while we were eating...it was really peaceful and relaxing. ; ) We opened some presents that evening and then got ready for Santa by leaving cookies, milk, and carrots...Cade fell asleep watching "Cars" on our new ipod. I think his favorite gift was the "Star Wars" t-shirt...would wear it 24/7 if we would let him.

Brecken just could not keep her little hands off of the Christmas tree...we found ornaments strung about the house...I think she ended up breaking three and by the end of the season, our tree was only decorated on the upper half because every time she took one off, it got put up a little bit higher.

We woke Christmas morning to find that Santa had visited. It was really iffy there for awhile! He brought a Cabbage Patch Kid (named Nelda), a tent and tunnel (did he think we had room for that?), a sled, a wheelbarrow, and a Wii as a "family gift." : )

After playing for a bit, we headed to my mom and Clark's to celebrate Christmas with my mom's side of the family. We stayed there for a few days which is always fun because Cade loves it there and we can relax and kind of disconnect from everything at home. We ate, played a lot of games, and ate more. Seriously, we were like on the two-hour plan for eating.

My cousin Troy is a Husker fan so every year there is at least one or two "gifts" exchanged...one year it was a mug plastered with pictures of Cade in a Husker hat, this year my mom wrapped up 5 boxes of Cyclone Crunch for him.

Brecken was up to her ornament snatching at Grandma's too...

Cade got to try out his new sled...

We also had a chance to visit our friends, the Wilsons, and have dinner with them. Kaleigh made some delicious Cornish hens and made her famous Creme Brulee. Cade thought "the torch" was pretty cool!
Jim also had a chance to visit his grandparents. Grandma Eileen had knee replacement surgery right after Christmas so Jim took them some meals that we had prepared so they could have some easy dinners while she was recovering.
Our little Rudolphs...Sue helped the kids make these at daycare...such a cute idea! The reindeer antlers are their traced hands.

What a busy month! We loved every minute of it and can't wait 'til next (or this) year!

Still Here

We're still here...planning to post some of our holiday happenings, but until then a few pictures. What have we been up to? A month of Christmases and three weekends of traveling...looking forward to doing nothing for awhile!

Cade and I had dentist appointments yesterday (his second). He did great, goes in there by himself while I'm getting my teeth cleaned. He was done before me and then came into my room, saw me lying there, and promptly gave me the sweetest little kiss on the cheek. He can be so sweet when he wants to. And no, he didn't have to get dentures...found these in the basement, Dad...had no idea you guys bought these during your trip to the candy store. I wouldn't recommend eating them!

Happy Birthday to Jim on the 2nd! We held our annual Surf-n-Turf with the Cases on New Year's Day and celebrated Jim's birthday by playing Blokus. Before they came over, Jim told me I should go out and buy the game (we had played it at Christmas and he became addicted to it.) Not knowing anything, I said, "oh Anne probably already bought it." Because she was more addicted to it than Jim I think! ; ) So Jim calls her and asks if she bought it and she says, "maybe." So we laughed about that...Jim just thought she was embarrassed that she had bought it already. Turns out she had bought it as a birthday gift for him! If you haven't played this game, you need to...so much fun! If you look closely, you may see a blood stain on Cade's shirt. About 10 minutes before the Cases arrived, he decided to yank on a stocking...and found out that stocking hangers are heavy and when one falls on your head it hurts bad and bleeds a lot! Thankfully it was just a little nick and no emergency care was needed. And he wouldn't change his shirt because, according to him, it didn't bleed.