Holiday baking & traditions

When I had time to sit down and take a breath I realized that December is flying by. It's already the 9th and there is so much to do! I have not yet done ANY holiday baking. We don't have our Christmas tree yet. But that is partly due to the fact that Andreas and I had to meet in the middle (he wouldn't put the tree up until Christmas Eve if i let him have his way, and I would put it up the day after Thanksgiving if he'd let me have my way).

So today, I'm going through all our favorite holiday recipes and making a game plan. I usually have all my favorites tucked away and he has a lot of his favorites in a couple of awesome books I have gotten from my sweet mother-in-law




They have so many cool traditions and I want to make sure that Andreas isn't deprived of any, if we can help it. Being he is always so far from home on Christmas, I want him to have a piece of his country and his family with him so it's not totally Americanized. We don't have any really cool traditions anyway. I can't really think of anything that really stands out.

For instance, in Sweden, they have a "Christmas Goat". It's the funniest thing when you first hear about it. Emma has a children's book by a Scandinavian author, that incorporates the Christmas Goat in the story. It's pretty cool.


See in this picture, on the floor behind the chair, there is a goat made from straw (try not to notice my child's ungroomed finger nails)


We have one too!


Of course, there are many other interesting things I could point out but that is blog post (or 10) in itself. This month I want to try and blog about all the wonderful things I've come to love about a Swedish Christmas. From Andreas' thirst for Julmust & Glögg to Lucia buns and rice porridge. But now, I'm off to start some Christmas cookies!

Whew, that last post was a doozy

FYI - I'm feeling much better now. I got to shower (yippee!), that's always good. And I have absolutely NOTHING pressing that I need to do by the end of the day. Ahhhhh, what a good feeling!

So, since my bbg has been hounding me for ice cream and there hasn't been any in the house as of late, I took her to DQ and got her a chocolate extreme blizzard and french fries. She is one happy girl!! I owed it to her to since I've been too busy to pay any attention to her :( I had to go to the pharmacy anyway, my one errand of the day. I think Pappa bear will be jealous when he finds out! Maybe she'll share her leftovers?

Now, Emma and I are going to snuggle up next to the fireplace (which doesn't seem to want to work at the moment) and watch a good Christmas movie! Yay! It will either be Elf, Home Alone or National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

Shiny happy blog post......NOT!

Do you ever get tired of all the happy/perfect lives you read about in blog after blog? Does all that happy perfection just make you want to puke sometimes? Well, LUCKY YOU, to have stumbled across this blog today!

You don't need me ranting about how perfect my life is so as to make you feel inferior about your less than perfect life. NO! You want to hear how much my life SUCKS so that you can feel better about your own, right?! Sure you do.

You probably already know that I've been miserable for the past week with very persistent headache. And to add to my misery, I've been so incredibly busy with everything, I'm lucky if I can eat sitting down. Seriously, the past two days I've had to eat my lunch from a Ziploc baggie. There's hardly time to blink between school, appointments, activities, shopping, cooking, cleaning, the DOG.

And speaking of...

Thinking back to last winter, an easier time in my life. It was a time when we were pet free in this house. Come spring 2010, our lives (mine in particular - because I get to take care of the beast daily) would change. And by change I mean become more chaotic and annoying. You know, when I complain about the dog, my husband usually says "We all enjoy the dog" - meaning, that every now and then, when she isn't jumping on the counters, chewing and destroying my possessions, and making a disaster of the house, I actually say she's cute and love her. Which is true. BUT.....(BIIIIIIG BUT) on a daily basis, she makes life hell. I'm not even exaggerating.

We can't sit down for more than 30 seconds at a time because she's always getting into stuff, which requires us to chase her down and pry her jaws open to save whatever it is she's about to obliterate. And, now and then, I'm too preoccupied with my busy life to notice that she's gotten a hold of something and so now there is a giant mess to clean up.

I'm living in a house where everything has to be barricaded or put on top of high cupboards. We can't eat or prepare food without being on constant guard because at any moment that food could be snatched up. I find hair in EVERYTHING. The kids are always leaving stuff lay around so the dog gets it and then they can't get it away. "MOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!!!!!" is the word most said (or screamed) in this house.

She has all but destroyed my large foyer rug. Three out of the four corners are now chewed up. I'm thinking one of these days we're going to take her to the vet to remove 8 feet of carpeting just like my brother's dog. And today, while I'm vacuuming up her carpet chewing mess, she's geeking out and spills her food bowl so now there's food spread to all four corners of the kitchen. I mean, it never ends! I would say that 50% of my day consists of pushing her off counters, letting her in and out 1000 times, chasing after her to retrieve something she isn't supposed to have and cleaning up her messes. Where's the fun in having a dog like that??

I'm so fed up, stressed out and just plain exhausted that I don't know which end is up anymore. I hate to be such a whiny, complaining downer around the holidays, when I should be saying how thankful I am for everything but it's just too much. I never wanted a dog. Yet here I am, taking care of a giant, and going crazy as a result. I told my husband last night that I felt like a rubber band that was being stretched way too thin and any moment I might snap. He just shakes his head. Which is about all the conversation I can get out of him. Not sure he realizes what my days are like. But the mood I'm in nearly every day by 5:30 (or whenever he comes home) should be an indication.

I don't even know what would help at this point. Getting rid of the dog? Hiring a live in nanny/maid (basically a clone of me)? And obviously both of those options are out of the question. So do you see how I can feel as though there is no end in sight to this madness?

I need a vacation.

Frosty

It's mornings like these I wish I could just take off in the car and drive for hours taking pictures. It was gorgeous out there! Everything was so frosty.

Today

I've had a headache for about 6 days now, on and off, mostly on. This morning it was really bad. I took some pills so right now it's better. Not all gone, but tolerable.

What the heck am I doing on the computer then? Well, my husband swears that when he keeps his mind occupied by playing a computer game, it helps. I thought that was the most absurd thing ever. If I had a really bad headache, the last thing I'd want to do is stare at a computer screen. But what have I got to lose?

Pills don't always work for me. I hate taking pills anyway. It's always a last resort. Tylenol does nothing for me...ever. Advil, might work sometimes. Excedrin migraine ALWAYS took care of it. So I started using it every time I got a headache. Then one day it didn't work. I was very sad. I'd let myself rely on it too much, even for the non-migraines, and I adapted to it quickly. So I haven't taken that in a while. This morning I took Excedrin Tension Headache. That took the painful edge off, but as I said before, it's not totally gone.

Anyway, instead of not blog at all or bore you with more complaining, I'm going to share some of my favorite stories instead.

cough drop-o-holic

smoothy curse

Speaking Danish

Random

My husband gets on the scale. It reads 10 pounds lighter than the last time he weighed himself. Really? You do nothing but shove sugar in your pie hole and you lose 10 pounds? Something is wrong with the universe.

I get a call from Hanna's school counselor asking if I'm aware that she has not been eating breakfast or lunch. Yes, Hanna told me she didn't eat anything because she wasn't hungry. Then came home crabby and starving. She says it's her pills but they haven't affected her appetite since she was in 4th grade. Hmmmmm.....

While we are on the subject of food...

Every night at dinner, Emma will say "Ew, that's gross. I don't like it." No matter what I put in front of her. Every. Night. I'm starting to get a complex. I know I'm no Julia Child, but I can cook, dang it! And, inevitably, she will get the same warning, "Emma, you know the rules. You have to TRY everything once. Or you go up to your room." Then she tries it and says, "Mom! I like this!". Yes, every night.

One would think this girl is a picky eater. And one would be correct in that assumption. Still, among her favorite things to eat are avocados, Swedish Krispbread swimming in a bowl of warm milk, and salmon (also referred to as chicken - as is every other meat). Maybe it's just me, but I think a lot of children would turn up their noses to that sort of stuff.

Hanna practically lived on hot dogs when she was about preschool age. Emma won't touch them with a ten foot pole.

I think Eden is slowly becoming a vegetarian. But, that would mean she ate veggies, wouldn't it. Ok, is there a word for "person who only likes food in cracker form"? Chicken in a biscuit? Well, it's chicken....in a cracker....therefore I'm eating chicken. Right?

My nephew

has the cutest little family. Here they are. His wife, Rana, and two adorable boys, Isaac and Ethan. AND they have another little one on the way! Due in April.





They live in Rapid City so I don't get to see them very often. But they were here for Thanksgiving. I love when they visit. It's so hard to believe that we are so grown up, with families of our own. I still remember playing peoples and barbies and restaurant and whatever else I made Gregg play when we were kids. He loved it, by the way. Except for when we played hospital and I sprayed Chloreseptic in his mouth after promising that I wouldn't. Tee hee.