1. My dryer works.  Did you know dryers can actually dry clothes?  I didn’t!

2. My oven works.  Did you know that ovens can pre-heat in less than an hour?  And cook food quickly?  I didn’t!

3.  And this one takes the cake.  My house is clean.  Not only is everything put away, but a wonderful cleaner came in and dusted and vacuumed.  And cleaned.  The shower is sparkling (did you know glass doors are actually transparent when they are clean?).  The mudroom is less muddy.  The kitchen floor could actually be eaten off of, which I’m sure the kids have already tried. 

 

It’s really freeing to have a clean house.  It gives me time to blog!

My Bethlehem Star, a point of light on our dark hill, was falling apart in sundry ways.  Most of the lights weren’t working, the horizontal wood was bowing toward the middle, the wire was sagging and doing the same to the lights.  I carefully reassembled it and it made it back to it’s corner of the back porch before it fell apart in the biggest way yet. 

Dwayne looked at it and said, “I’m going to build you a new one.”

He was off to the hardware store and came back with materials far sturdier (and appropriate) than the scraps I used years earlier.   With better wood and metal braces, he put the whole thing together quickly.  This one (sans lights) is going to last decades, not just years.  I love how Dwayne takes care of me!

Next time you drive up the hill to see us, look up and to your right.  Through the trees, you’ll glimpse the Star up on our back porch, wishing you a Peace and Wonderment.

For those who have read this year’s Christmas letter (posted here next week), you will either get a chuckle or a chill from this little gift a neighbor sent me. 

We’ll test my perserverance by seeing how long I can handle that legless body on my blog before I delete it.

One one-thousand, two one-thousand….

We sometimes go to story time at our local library. My kids are among the oldest, but that doesn’t stop Wesley from sucking his fingers and sitting on Kyla’s lap.  Silly boy. 

Since Brian and Sandi—and Amber—were going to be up for this weekend, but not for Christmas, so we had an early family celebration.  It was so fun!

This kind of sums up the day—babies and presents! Throw in food and wine, and that would have been our day.

I’m not going to currate this very much, as I may have overused my father’s camera, which hardly ever takes a blurry picture…a concept my camera doesn’t understand, so I had less pictures to delete.

But I have to share why I love this picture.

We all had a gift to open, and the kids had two, and we went alphabetically.  Poor Wesley really had to practice patience, hugging his gifts until it was finally his turn.

Any chance Julie is tired of cranky C?

Cecily crashed on Unicorn.

We picked up the kids Saturday morning from Grandma’s, and spent our day getting ready for the rest of the weekend. 

Then I got to don the sparkle dress again, drop off the kids with Grandma (she had all 6 grandkids that night!), and Dwayne and I got to play the night away at Keith and Brian’s 40th Super Epic Birthday Party, hosted by Julie, party extraordinaire.

My kid brothers are 40!  (Their wives are not.)

 

Rochelle isn’t 40 yet either,  but she’s still pretty awesome.

 

At first, craps intimidated the you-know-what outta me.  But I jumped in, and got pretty lucky.  It helped that Julie has the best run possible.  Then I gave Dwayne all my chips so I could go off and gossip.  He lost all that beautiful money.  Oh, well, I’ll just pretend it wasn’t real.

Happy birthday, Keith and Brian!

A whirlwind weekend began with a lovely Christmas party at the Westin in downtown Bellevue.  It was Dwayne’s work party, so I knew few people and I went as the trophy wife.  Of all the people we talked with, I was the only stay-at-home spouse.  It wasn’t too depressing, as I don’t consider myself a drain on society, and I did look good in my “sparkle” dress! 

My beloved husband booked a room in the hotel so that we could shut down the party, and since the kids were at Grandma’s, sleep until we were all sleeped out!  j

Papa Jim had the nerve to move to away, far, far away, to a place called El-ins-borg, or something like that.  So on his final Sunday here, Dwayne made another amazing dinner.  No one puts together a hamburger like he does. 

 

Sadly, we didn’t get a picture of Jim, or his burger.  But here’s Wesley trying to get his head (mouth)? around his sandwich. 

Oh, darling Jim, come back and see us soon!  Love you!

After the parade, I picked up the other kids and took them back to the Island Fairgrounds. Santa must have a cabin on Whidbey Island as well, because we caught up with him in a barn.   He was pretty jolly, and we hope we see him again soon!

It was raining, it was cold, it was gray.  And it was the Langley Christmas parade.  So of course I went!  I was able to talk Wesley and Piper into coming with me, but Kyla and Aubrey stayed behind in the cozy cabin.  They missed out!

I love the exterior (and interior, if I’m to be honest) of the Saratoga Inn. 

 

 

It was a small parade—girl scouts, marital arts, and a pony.

 

Piper grabbed her Santa hat and American flag, but is probably still kicking herself for not having more and deeper pockets.  Again, for all the candy.

 

But Santa showed up, and if I say it was on the back of the ambulance, don’t feel worried about his health.  Those aren’t real raindeer and they needed the help.

 

Next to Santa, and lots and lots of candy, I loved the bagpipes the best.  I actually loved seeing our friends down at the parade best, but the bagpipes were amazing.

 

And to top off the parade, the rain ended and a rainbow appeared. 

 

See, it’s always better on the island.