Christmas at home

Some of the Christmas decorations at the house

Please forgive the tree...I was having technical difficulties.

Some of the yummy treats from our amazing family and friends

The angel on the tea light was Adams contribution to the decorations

Adam Favorite decoration

Holiday greetings!

The buffet..m&m's and all

 Cozy and warm

My beautiful Christmas Tree skirt that my mother made for me

Simple but cozy

The Great Snowstorm of 2010!

We had some pretty good snow this holiday season.

It sure made our house festive

Needless to say I get pretty excited about snow.

I think Adam likes it too...except for the shoveling part.

He does look pretty happy in this picture though.

As enthusiastic as I am about snow Aussie gets all sorts of ecstatic. I think even more than me, which is saying something.

The first thing she has to do is find all of her buried toys

Success!

Reaping her reward

What can I say...She's defiantly a cute snow dog

However, I may be bias.

Catching up

Seeing as the New Year is upon us (literally) I figure I would catch up on the blog.

Earlier this month the Flitton clan went to Hogel Zoo for Zoo lights.

And boy was it cold

The boys, of course, had to make a plan

Along the way was a reindeer crossing

(They were alot smaller than I expected)

There were also some pretty fun light displays

(This one was my favorite)

And of course we had to messure ourselves against the gorillas

(Brett, Bonnie, Burke, and Kamerie)

(Adam and me)

Overall it was a good time. It’s always fun when we get together.

I was disappointed that there were not many animals out.

Apparently there are not many that are night or cold weather friendly. We did see some cool tigers; sadly, those pictures did not work out to well.

The Battle for Nimh

Upon returning home one evening this summer we noticed that Aussie was concerned with something just over the fence. “Curious”, but we thought nothing of it and went inside. To our wonderment Aussie continued to be fixated at the same point in the fence. It was the first place she would check in the morning, last place at night, and where she would spend most of her time during the day patrolling. Located on the other side of the fence is our neighbor’s pear tree. Our neighbor is an elderly gentleman with a few health issues which restrict him from much of the maintenance of his yard. Unfortunately this means that his yard is more than slightly overgrown with a variety of fallen fruits strewn about under his trees. Well these living conditions were apparently ideal for something that our dog did not particularly agree with. This menace continued to torment our dog in secret and silence.
Aussie’s agitation continued to grow. Her frustrations were demonstrated by almost excessive barking after dusk, not to mention the renewed desire to dig holes in the lawn. Returning home one night after work I found Aussie sitting fixated at the fence like what had come to be some what of a normal find over the last few weeks. She did not even come to great me at the gate like her normal self. So I decided to go and great her. As I approached Aussie remained seated but turned back with a look of “do something please”, and then returned to her guard. Slowly I moved forward to try to gain a view of what our dog was watching for so intently. I had tried this on several other occasions, using the small light on my phone to see, but my reconnaissance had always come back with nothing. This time was different; as I watched and waited I heard a noise. An eerie and odd scraping sound was coming from the inner part of the pear tree. We now had proof that there was something in the neighbors. This new information came as somewhat of a relief, that our dog was not crazy. But it also created new tension and concern. Had our borders been breached by this enemy from the other side of the fence or had Aussie kept it at bay?
Now having knowledge of this unknown foreign threat, we were determined to find out who it was and its threat level. Over the past few weeks I had made efforts to see what was on the other side of the fence, but always to no avail. In knew that this enemy was cunning and evasive and in order to find out more information I would have to take action. First we checked our house for any signs of foreign activity…nothing. With no tracks or any visible signs I could not assess size or number. I determined my first action was to place a trap. My parents had a live animal trap that had already seen action in battle. It was a highly decorated veteran, having had much success against a stray cat infestation. With an unknown foe, who would not want a veteran on their side in such a battle? So I enlisted the assistance of the live animal trap.
With great anticipation Aussie and I set out the trap a few nights after confirming our threat. Our enemy was still unknown and so we did not know what would lure them into our trap. We reasoned that fruit may be the best, as our enemy did live under a fruit tree. To our dismay that was not what our foe was looking for. Apparently there was enough of that readily available. After a few other failed attempts we decided to bring out the big guns…peanut butter. With hope waning we set the trap with what we thought to be our best weapon.
After repeated failure it is common to not expect results. This was how I felt the next morning as I went to work. Aussie ran to her normal spot at the fence but I just cast a casual glance toward the trap. After a long day of work I came home late to find Aussie by the fence. As I walked up to the gate she ran over with more than her normal happiness to see me. With a look of “we got something” in her eye she turned and ran back toward the battle front. I followed with anticipation, both glad that we had caught something and worried to find out what foe we were up against. Was this a single foe, or would this be only one a larger force? In the darkness I approached the trap. To my dismay I could see nothing. The trap had been triggered and there should have been something inside. Even with the use of a flash light I could not make out an enemy in our trap. Sad, and feeling defeated we retired for the night. The next morning Aussie woke with more excitement than normal, she is actually not a morning dog. She takes her time getting up and it is usually only the sound of lunch being prepared that brings her to her feet. But not this day. So I let her outside and decided to check the trap in the daylight. Success! We had caught something it was small and well camouflaged for its nighttime activity. Its dark grey coloring hid it from my view the night before. Clearly I could see him now. A Rat! We were fighting rats.

Advent

Adam and I acquired an Advent calendar this year…Nothing fancy by any means. It’s one of those $3 ones filled with not so great chocolate in almost cool shapes.

Lovely, no? And whether or not the chocolate is good or not it has been fun.

It reminds me of those paper chain countdown garlands I made as a kid. Remember? Cheap red and green colored construction paper looped and entwined in each other to create a wondrous chain. Where with each passing day you would excitedly remove a link in anticipation of the last golden colored loop that meant Christmas was finally here!

Now that I am older I realize that there are so many ways to celebrate with advent.

Like this idea from Delia Creates

They hang 25 little stockings in their kitchen and fill them with 3 slips of paper.

The first slip of paper is a Christmas activity. Some of the examples she gave were: making ornaments, stringing popcorn, making gingerbread houses, and cutting out paper snowflakes.

The second slip is for a service project for the day. For example, shoveling the neighbor’s driveway or caroling to friends and family.

The third slip has a Christmas Hymn or Carol on it. You can also read the scripture that correlates. I love this one because if your ward is anything like mine, where they don’t seem to sing Christmas Hymns (HOW SAD IS THAT? For crying out loud, is there any better way to celebrate the birth of Christ than to sing about it?) Then at least this way you won’t miss out on those spectacular (and admittedly my favorite) songs.

Another Advent idea is to unveil a piece of the nativity and read about that particular happening in the scriptures. Do this until the Christmas Eve and the birth (or reviling) of baby Jesus.

NOW FOR MY FAVORITE IDEA! Christmas books! I confess that this idea would be a lot more fun with children (isn’t most). It will defiantly be a part of our Christmas tradition.

For this advent custom you wrap all of your Christmas books . You can use old paper grocery sacks and lasts year's leftover wrapping paper. Place a number on each wrapped book. You can stick it on, draw it on with a marker, or even get all fancy with a tags and ribbon.

Each night you get to unwrap (which, as we all know, makes everything more exciting!) a book and read it as a family.

I have a pretty good start on my book collection. This only gives me more motivation to build on it!

Traditions are fun and advents fill the whole month with family and memories.

Happy Advent-ing!