Random bits of life....

The hustle and bustle of Christmas is in full swing here in Cincinnati.  A visit to the Post Office has been made with my trusty and strong helper Josh.   It took both of us (with Zach in my arms) to get all those packages in to get mailed.   170 Christmas cards have been stuffed, addressed, licked (yuck!) and dropped in the mailbox.  Wrapping paper is strewn across the floor by Zach every chance he can get his hands on a roll (which seems to be often).  The Christmas tree is twinkling bright and I have been pleasantly surprised that a little 16 month old has decided to leave it alone, most of the time.  Egg Juice (egg nog) is in the fridge, pine scented candles fill our home and Christmas carols are heard from our three budding pianists every day.  I find myself humming Christmas tunes all day and the girls love to do their actions to We Wish you a Merry Christmas that include major arm swings that could knock out a tooth if you got in the way.  The girls' preschool Christmas program was a delight. Brynn class party was a lot of fun (I volunteered to help) and the teacher and neighborhood gifts are slowly getting passed out.  Last Sunday the ward choir sang Christmas hymns while a narrator spoke of our Savior Jesus Christ.  I got Rich's mom's wassail recipe and the ingredients have been purchased. We have eaten no less than 4 boxes of Candy Canes and too many bags to count of Christmas wrapped Hershey Kisses (mainly eaten by Trey).  We watched Mr. Kruger's Christmas on YouTube for Family Home Evening.  Elf, Dora's Christmas, The Grinch who Stole Christmas, Santa Claus is Coming to Town and It's a Wonderful Life have been viewed.  Our birthday gift for the Savior is under the tree and we all are finding good deeds to do so they can be written down and placed in the box as a gift for Jesus' birthday.  Toys, hats, gloves and gift cards have been purchased and donated helping the kids recognize the need to help others less fortunate, especially this time of year.  Spare change has been dropped into the Salvation Army bucket by the girls and their eyes shine bright as the bell ringers wishes them well as they walk away.  The girls and Zach have visited with Santa at the mall three times.  Brynn feels like he's a really buddy.  In fact, the last time we popped in (no line at 2 PM) she began to fill Santa in on Matt's need to share his toys a bit more often.  I cringed and then told Brynn to tell Santa what to bring her big brother.  I think we got him covered.

The world is a beautiful scene of white.  The boys had a two hour delay on Monday after 5 inches of snow fell on Sunday night.  How nice to have the kids actually in school when snow is on the ground.  We were pounded by a second storm yesterday (nearly 6 inches with ice in Northern Kentucky) which shut the schools down.  450 schools in the area were closed, the Today Show was preempted to allow the local stations to track the weather and a Level 2 snow advisory (no cars on the road unless absolutely necessary) in a few counties (thankfully not ours) was in effect all morning.  After ten years of snow woes and school closings, I still laugh at the hysteria snow and ice can bring, but Rich told me last night that yesterday morning's drive downtown was the most dangerous snow conditions he had ever driven in, which is saying a lot.  The freeways were snow packed, the plows could not keep up, especially during the morning rush hour commute and tiny cars skidded and slid off the road.  Everything was smooth sailing by late afternoon, but it's been the snowiest December that I can remember.  Our winter snow season usually starts after the holidays.

It's not all been perfect.  After a booming crash late one night we discovered the next morning that the garage door spring had broken.  We had to haul the garbage through the house last Sunday night and it has still yet to be fixed.  I also accidentally locked the kids out of the house after school when I forgot to leave the house unlocked.  They usually use the key less entry to get in.  The reason I wasn't home when they got out of school is because the day before I went to Kroger to get groceries and exchange the propane tank.  It was only later that night when I saw the old propane label that I realized that I forgot to get the new tank.  Whoops!  I had to pop in the next day after I picked the girls up for school and grab it.  Yes, I lost my mind long ago and this proves the point.

Then after the garage incident, I discovered late Saturday night that the sink in the basement next to the washing machine, which is used for the washing machine water to drain, was totally back up.  Rich and I scooped up the water and poured in down a drain in the floor.  We tried to plunge the thing, but ended up cracking the pipe below.  Nice.  The next day we found out that the same pipe was connected to the garbage disposal when food showed up downstairs in the sink.  Yippee.  We had a family over for dinner on Sunday and after I left for a Primary meeting Kaitlyn rushed upstairs and declared "Dad, there is HUGE disaster in the basement!"  I had started the dishwasher before I left and that water had made the sink fill up and then spill out like a waterfall.  Desperate we pour Liquid Plumber down the drain (well, into the sink of water) and later remember the bucket below catching the water leaking from the pipe was overflowing, which meant this caustic cleaner was all over the floor.  Wow.  Seriously problem now.  The next day I didn't know what to do.  It's great to be a renter because the problems are not yours to pay for, but on the flip side, you can't call and get it all fixed.  It was a waiting game.  By Monday morning I had serious laundry to do and dishwasher full of dirty dishes so I decided to run the washing machine and the dishwasher at the same time and then pour the back up water into the drain in the floor.  After an hour of constant watching the sink and many bucket fulls of water, the drain suddenly cleared.  I am not sure if it was the pressure from both machine mixed with the Liquid Plumber, but it worked.  HUGE blessing.  Yes, the pipe is still broken and needs repair, but at least we can wash our clothes, dishes and use the kitchen sink.

Our other headache is our house in Lexington.  It's still for sale.  We had a showing this week, but the buyer said they need something bigger.  My water bill for the past two months has stated that 3000 gallons of water has been used at the house, which seems impossible unless there is some invisible leak somewhere we have never seen.  We are paying to heat a house that is vacant too, but you can't turn it off and think it would show well or have perfect pipes in the spring.  The housing market is rough, but we count our blessings are are confident  that it will sell in the spring.  I have no doubt that it will.

Today is the first day where I can sit and not feel totally uneasy about not doing some Christmas project or crossing something on the to-do list.  We are hoping Rich gets home early enough to go to Macy's and mail the Christmas lists.  Life certainly doesn't slow down at Christmas, but I do feel that we have tried make time for our holiday traditions, focus on the real reason for the season and be a bit kinder to each other. 

The major difference this Christmas is after nine years of traveling home to Utah and hauling toys back from Santa we decided to stay put this year.  After all it's our last one until we move to Utah and we need to go home over spring break to look for a place to live.  Two weeks after we informed our families that we would not be coming home, I got a phone call from my mom.  My brothers Jeff and Brad are staying in Wisconsin with their families for Christmas.  Since Jeff is a third year medical student, he has a break from school.  He called and told my Mom that they should send Kurt up to Milwaukee to spend Christmas with them.  Kurt had never been up to visit, so the idea sounded great to him. I mean who can pass up a trip to Chicago at Christmas!  My parents got thinking and asked if they could fly out and spend Christmas with us.  It's a direct flight and they'll arrive the afternoon on the 22nd and leave on Monday the 27th.  We are thrilled to have family with us, especially since Santa can finally bring some bigger sized items now that we won't have to pack them back into suitcases to get them home.  We will dearly miss all our loved ones in Utah, but March isn't too far away and then we'll be there for good this summer.

We look forward to a wonderful Christmas holiday, give thanks for our children, our good health and Rich's new job and appreciate the true gift of the Season- the Life of our Savior Jesus Christ.