And the winner is.....

Every year for Christmas, Miriam and I go on at least one drive to see Christmas lights. Miriam gets in her pj's and makes some hot chocolate. We take a blanket for her to cuddle in, turn on some Christmas music, and drive around town to see all of the decorations people have done to their homes. It's one of our favorite things to do to celebrate the season. This year, it's fun because we are in a new town, and don't know where the best ones are. It's an adventure to drive around, and Miriam hopes that I can get us home.

This is a house in our ward:




The best part is when we decide which house is the Grizwald family Christmas house. I couldn't get everything in one picture, but here is this year's winner so far:



If you look closely, you can see Santa in the living room window. It's always fun when you find a house that is so involved in the process that they alter their living quarters just to carry out the look. I think we need to do it again next week so there is some snow to make it more fun. We like to do this after the first big snow storm, or sometimes during the downfall because it is so pretty. It just isn't Christmas without our trips together.

The longest week ever......

This week has lasted forever, yet I am always a day behind. I realized today that I missed my Webelos class yesterday. I have been confused about what day it is since Tuesday afternoon. Just when I think I am on top of things, I realize I am wrong again. Miriam thinks it is hilarious. I remember my Mom doing that, and thinking she was funny. Now I realize she has passed the torch on to me. What else do I need to be prepared for?

I received an email from my sister-in-law, Melissa, about a baby sitting schedule for her 2 children while she went with my brother to Tokyo for a week. I opened the file, only to find it had been damaged and couldn't be read. I tried all sorts of options, but still couldn't open it. My thinking was that I would phone her and ask her to send it again, but it was late, and I was tired. It could wait until the next morning. I promptly forgot all about it. Last Friday, I was on Facebook, and realized her status said, "Melissa is walking the streets of Tokyo!" (There was a half second that I considered the walking the streets comment, and laughed.) I thought, "Hmmmm. I better ask around and see if I am supposed to help out at all. One of my little sisters was kind enough to inform me that I was taking the youngest, Atlee, for the weekend. I had a couple of hours to be ready, and to clean out the boxes in our spare room.

She was really fun. I am amazed at how well behaved she was. Miriam LOVED having her with us. Then little Atlee got homesick. She didn't want to be left alone. She was by my side for days. Over the weekend, I had Doug and Miriam to entertain her, and help out when I needed to fix meals, or do laundry, but mostly to clean up the floor after she had eaten. We ended up keeping her until Wednesday night, and I could tell that she really wanted Mom and Dad. I couldn't walk 2 steps without her getting upset that I wasn't holding her. Let's just say that I read more books to her than I could count, and saw several movies I haven't watched in years. Now I am trying to get caught up on all the things I didn't get done. My to-do list is getting longer every day.

On Friday night, we had picked up Atlee from Melissa's friend, Crystal's house. She lives in Provo, and was nice enough to lend us a pack-n-play for Atlee to sleep in, and a car seat. I didn't think about needing one until Miriam and I were on our way to pick her up. What a life saver Crystal was. Here is the reason: On our way home, we stopped at Costco, and then drove down University Ave to see the lights. There was an accident on the side of the road with an officer taking care of the incident. Traffic was suddenly backing up, so we stopped just a bit faster than normal, but not fast enough that it was a problem. We sat there for about 15 seconds, when I heard a car screeeeeeeeeeaching to a stop behind me, and looked in my rear view mirror in time to see the car behind me skid a bit to the right, and slam into the back of my car. I checked Miriam and Atlee, and they were both fine. We pulled over to the side of the road, and all I could think was, "My car is totally smashed." The driver of the car got out, and walked to the back of my car and stared at it for a minute. As she stood there, I thought it must be really bad. I knew how hard she hit, I could feel my head whip forward when she crashed into us. (I know what you are thinking: whiplash. Well, I already have it, and have been dealing with it for 20 years now. I did check us all, and we seem to be OK. Only time will tell.)



When I got out, I was amazed. No noticeable damage, except for a few scratches. The frame is bent into the trunk just a bit, you can only see it from the inside so it's not even noticeable unless you know it's there. The bumper had just popped back out, and you couldn't even see where it had smashed in. (I am suddenly a huge fan of impact resistant panels. What a wonderful invention!) We both stared in amazement at both our cars. Hardly any serious damage, and all either of us could say was, "I can't believe it's not that bad." It was her first accident, and she was scared to death. I actually had to ask her if she was going to be OK, and she said yes. I wasn't sure if I believed her or not. When we reported it to her insurance company on Monday, we found out that she hadn't called her parents to tell them about it. (She is a college student.) Doug said her father was a really nice guy, and we felt bad for him; his wife had an accident the week before. I thought maybe we should warn him. Don't they say bad things happen in three's?

Our family tree.

This year, Doug and I have been working on being more grateful for the things we have, and I was thinking as we put up our tree, that some of the things I am most grateful for are things that I remember every year when we put up our tree. First of all would be the tree itself. It isn't the greatest artificial tree, and every year I think I want to trade it in on a pre-lit tree so I don't have to deal with putting on or taking off the lights, but I just can't bring myself to do it. I got this tree when I was taking my neice to get a pair of snow pants at Walmart. We wandered through all the after Christmas stuff, and I found it for $17. I couldn't resist, so I brought it home. It has been a good tree, but now it takes up practically our whole living room. The table next to it is shoved up against the couches so I could get a good picture. I don't know what we are going to do about that.



This ornament is the first one we ever owned. My mother-in-law gave it to us. Doug and I agreed that this is one of our favorite ornaments. It has a porch light that is on, and then it goes out and you can see a couple through the window. Miriam thinks it is funny, but cute.


Miriam put most of the ornaments on the tree herself this year. In years past, I had to supervise a bit more, because all of my ornaments are extremely fragile. I guess that's what happens when you just have you and your hubby for 10 years. This year, she was so cute. She was so gentle and worried that she might break some precious ornament that she loved. She made this one, and said it was her favorite when she picked it up. (It's a melted snowman.) When I asked her later on which one was her fav, she couldn't decide.

These are lights that I bought in 1991 for our tree in our first house. I can't believe that they have lasted all these years, but I love them. They are great when the living room lights are off. The apples light up a brilliant red, and the little candles are amazingly bright. What will I do if they ever stop working? I guess that's what brilliant husbands are for.




These are this year's new additions. Every year, Miriam and I buy a new ornament or two. The angel is from our trip to Gardner Village on witches night out. Miriam found a twisty glass spiral that you can see in the corner of the Santa picture. Doug thinks it looks like DNA. We decided to call it that, and figured it fit Doug 'n' Amber's tree just right. I think we need a few more, though. The Santa and Snowflake are also from my mother-in-law last year at Christmas. Doug has a whole collection of planes that have been given to him over the years. We forgot to put them on. Maybe I'll get around to it in a few days.

This one was made for me by my Beehives in 1999, the year that we were waiting to get Miriam. It was our last Christmas as just the two of us. I'm glad we have a little one of our own. Ok, so she's not so little, but she was back then.

These are the other 2 on our favorite list. The fishing vest and kreel are from the tree that was made for the Festival Of The Trees by the Young Women in my mother-in-law's ward when my Father-in-law passed away. They took the extra ornaments and made a wreath that hung in her house for several years. When she got remarried, she took the ornaments off and divided them between the kids. Every year when we take these out, I feel like he is celebrating our Christmas with us. They are always put in a place where we can see them every time we walk by. There are many memories on our tree, and every day I have a new favorite ornament. What a wonderful thing to remind me of what is most important this time of year. Thanks for sharing my tree with me.

Thanksgiving has come and gone.

We had a blast on Thanksgiving. The pies all turned out great, and yes, I remembered the sugar. We went to my brother, Justin's condo. He and his wife did a great job. Ok, his wife, Tori did a great job. It was her first time hosting a Thanksgiving, I believe, and it was perfect. I think Justin just did what he was told, and showed up.

I took the funniest picture. My little sister is due to have her first baby on the 16th. She was standing next to Doug, so he stuck out his stomach to see who was bigger. We all got a big chuckle out of it, and then they decided that my dad should get in the picture, too. Then we really laughed.


Small, medium, and large. I don't think Dad is very amused. I think I'm getting coal from him for Christmas.

We stopped by Doug's sister's house on our way home. I don't think that they had very much fun without us.

This is Brian, Tammy, and Sydney. Don't they just look happy to be alive? Too much turkey, I think.



This is the after shot, when they realized their favorite aunt had arrived. Much better. Now the party can start. I just love my neices and nephews. Wish I could have gotten a picture of all of them. Maybe at Christmas.

We went home, and were relieved the day was over. I love Thanksgiving, it's my favorite holiday. This year, we had so much going on, I was just happy to be in my own home after all the craziness. That gave me time to work on my talk, which went well. At least now I don't have to speak for a year or so. At least, that's my consolation thought.

Every year, Doug and I cook our own Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday after the big day. I guess I cook it, Doug helps set the table. It's always been nice to have our own, and then have leftovers. This year, we invited my parents, and my sister and her husband and their 4 kids, and their one son-in-law... We had tons of food. After church, I found out that nobody could come, except my sister and her husband, and one of their children. We had a great time, but lots and lots of food leftover. We planned on 13, and went down to 6. Stuffing, anyone?