True Story: Santa is Real!

I told myself that I would not do any last minute Christmas shopping. I told myself that I would have a relaxed, low stress, idyllic Christmas. I envisioned our family sitting around the fire, laughing and singing Christmas carols. We would wear matching winter sweaters, with reindeer and snowflakes.

Now all of you know that I am a liar.

I slogged through malls, shops, and traffic today with the rest of procrastinating humanity. I watched a pickup with a plow literally plow into the back of a minivan as we slogged through roads that got a foot of snow last night. I forgot to pack myself a lunch and ended up eating something that gave me an allergic reaction. Hmm. Stress free. Christmas sweaters. No.

I came home exhausted, and as drove I remembered that my driveway was still full of that same foot of snow. And that is when the magic happened.

I drove into the circle, and saw that my driveway was empty. Plowed. Beautiful. And on my door was this note:

"Merry Christmas 'N' a Happy New Year, From Santa"

I am here today to tell you that Santa is Real! And Santa, whoever you are, I love you.

And to a special somone in this picture: I am missing you this Christmas. Utah stinks.

Winter Doesn't Always Stink

We had a pretty fierce cold snap after Halloween that went on almost until Thanksgiving. We are talking -10 and snow EVERY NIGHT. Those words are capitalized because of the trauma I went throught shoveling my driveway EVERY MORNING at 7 am in the DARK and COLD. Apparently the scars run deeper than I realized.

Anyhoo, one morning in the middle of this winter mania, I was driving the boys to school and happened to look up. One half of the sky was completely filled with a pillowy bank of clouds, top to bottom, which were highlighted a delicious frosting pink by the rising sun. (Yes, frosting can be an adjective. Stop it, English majors!) The other half was clear, translucent blue. I had to will myself to pull over safely to take this picture, when I actually wanted to stop in the middle of the road and stare. This picture does not do it justice. Breathtaking.

Part of me felt relief that warmer weather was on its' way. A larger part of me knew, right then, that all of the cold, dark, and shoveling snow was worthwhile payment for this once in a lifetime sight. I was happy to pay it. Alaska's beauty far outweighs it's challenges.

Mea Culpa

So, maybe you thought this blog was just my idea of a little joke: tell you that I was actually going to post here, make you believe it, and then run away laughing!

Mea culpa. I have been naughty, and now that Christmas is actually coming again I had better get off of that list, ASAP. So I am going to try and post some highlights of this last year over the next few weeks, along with some pics, just to show my family and friends out of state that I still care. I love you so much, in fact, that I will actually get on my computer for you. (sigh)

First up: today the Christmas season officially began in the Nisonger household. Here are the boys, who actually DEMANDED that I take a picture of them in front of the tree that we decorated today. They are so bossy!

We had a lot of laughs, some Christmas carols, and now we are off to watch the Grinch. Nothing makes me happier than that pudgy, cranky old curmudgeon.

Tis the season!