Baking Christmas Cheer.

The girls and I spent the whole day baking in the kitchen with our aprons on.
We made dozens of double chocolate chip cookies for our friends and neighbors.
I re-used Oliver's formula tins, (cleaned them up of course),

 and wrapped them in festive wrapping paper: TA-DA!
It was pretty unfortunate that Jimmy had a few cookies
 (I am estimating around 10-11) because he threw up
about five times near the door.
 A great learning experience for the girls because I could say:

"See what happens when you eat too many cookies!?"

Merry Christmas, love the Mantis family (all 100 jagillion of them)

I was reading a book to Jane the other day when laughing caused

me to tilt my head back only to discover on my ceiling three little dots.

 Since it was the morning, obviously, I didn’t have my glasses or my contacts 

on, so I couldn't see what they were.

I stopped the book and squinted toward the ceiling to get a better look.

They were too skinny to be flies and too long to be mosquitoes.

So I stood on top of my couch and saw they were baby praying mantises!

Then I made this big huge deal in front of Jane about these

 creepy creatures because they are kinda rare.

I ran into the kitchen to grab a little jar and briskly caught all three.

Jane and I examined them in the glass jar then a very 

curious Claire ran into the living room to see what all the commotion was about.

As we admired these three small bugs, I happened to look near  

the window where our newly cut Christmas tree from the

 mountains of Virginia stood and noticed

 another little praying mantis on the window. 

"Oh look, girls!  Oh my goodness, here is another one!".

 I walked to the window to catch him, and that’s when it happened;

a little bad word slipped out of my mouth.

Behind the tree and on my window were thousands of baby

 mantises squirming all over each other like maggots. 

 I felt a little breakfast oatmeal come zooming up my throat.

And just like a horror film, the little mantises' beady eyes

 and long bodies made a mantis chain from our Christmas tree to the window.

My eyes followed this bug chain to the top of the 

tree, where they swarmed my vintage tree topper.

From the topper to the ceiling, where now hundreds of mantises were

 invading our air conditioning vent.

I looked down and felt the crunch of more mantis bodies under my feet.

 I would be lying if I told you I was OK with this disaster; I was NOT OK.

I told the girls to go into my bedroom and shut the door, and not come out

until I said so.  I considered calling the police, but called Christian instead

and, in a panic, told him the situation and begged him to come home.

He came home around lunch, and we spent the rest of the day and well into the 

night with our vacuum sucking the little babies up.

“Here’s one here, honey!" 

I'd yell to Christian, who was a pro now with the vacuum attachment.

Then I swear I heard little mantises screaming at me:

“You scrooge, look what you are doing to me!!

This is supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year!"

Later in bed that night, after the mantises were sucked up and disposed of

 Christian and I started talking about possible motives for this crime.

 We figured an innocent praying mantis mama 

laid her eggs in the tree before we cut her down on

that beautiful day in November.

And because of our cozy warm house, her eggs hatched 

in the tree unleashing free 400-1200 little baby mantises,

 (yeah, I did a little research online).

We seriously considered throwing the tree out altogether,

but the kids would die, and I did spend so much time decorating 

her; so cute and festive in case I get a surprise visit from Martha Stewart.

(She's from New Jersey, you know).

But on Christmas day, after the presents are unwrapped 

we are throwing her out to the curb.

I don't care.

For now, I put a roll of toilet paper under the tree so if I happen

to spot a few stragglers, I can take care of them with one pinch.

Merry Christmas, ya filthy mantises!

Here's to five more.

Christian and I ventured into the city last Friday to celebrate our 5th anniversary.

  Christmastime in NYC is so magical!

 After we checked into our stylish hotel on the eastside,

we walked around the city looking for a place where we could eat and

get out of the cold.

All the stores were decorated for Christmas with glowing lights 

and magical window displays.

 Our hotel room looked out to the majestic Empire State building.

 It was glowing red and green for Christmas.

Christian and I discussed the last five years of marriage.

They have been very rewarding and hard, but mostly amazing. 

While we waited for our dinner to come out,

we jotted down on a napkin a timeline of our last five years together.

-We've moved three times.

-Lived in and bought three houses.

-Had three children.

-Christian graduated from BYU.

-We got a dog (Jimmy!).

-We've bought three cars and sold one. 

-We've both worked with the youth in The Church.

  -Said goodbye to a sister after a long struggle with cancer.

-Said goodbye to two siblings on missions.

-Visited Hawaii and drove cross-country from Utah to New Jersey.

We probably wrote down more, but that's all I can remember right now.

The next morning when we woke up at 10:00!

Did you hear me!?  I said 10:00!!!!

 We drove to SoHo for brunch and ended our anniversary trip

with a little Christmas shopping.

It was nice getting home to our three monkeys and officially 

starting our Christmas celebrations!

Once a bride, always a bride.

This photo of me and Christian was taken on September 30th, 2000 

in Mesa Arizona by Christian, himself who had just moments 

earlier asked me to marry him.

Five years ago today I was busy making last-minute preparations
 for my wedding which was the following day.
 I’ll never forget waking up early and running over to my neighbor
Vanessa’s house in my pajamas in the snow (barefoot, too)

while she sewed last-minute details on the
 Vera Wang replica (added sleeves).

I remember having lunch with Lucy one last time as her single sister.
 We went to Rubios which was next to Provo High School where she was a Junior,

and where we attended together for a few years.
Rubios was where we would go to lunch together often on our super short lunch breaks.

Sometimes--most times it was just the two of us.

I told Kurt, our florist and friend that I wanted my wedding flowers to be

 vibrant, deep, rich jewel colors.

He nailed that!  They were so beautiful!

He delivered the flowers to the house that evening

 just as all of Christian's family arrived in town from Arizona.

Three Suburbans pulled up to my house with Christian’s

parents, siblings, and their children.

As our families met and chatted, Christian and I

 held hands on the couch listening to Christmas music eating

 cider and donuts from Allred's orchard.

I’ll never forget driving in the car with Christian and our new pup, Jimmy

to the dog-sitters.  Jimmy needed a place to go during the wedding and 

our week-long honeymoon in the Bahamas.

It was cold and blustery Friday and we were so SO excited!

I remember a week before the wedding spending all day sewing
 little purses for my nieces to have at the wedding.
I used the left-over fabric from the pillows I was making for

the couch that we had bought at Deseret Industries.

In early October, mom helped me pick out our wedding

 announcements/invitations.

I wanted them to be engraved because mom's announcements were engraved

 and because her mother, Aurora's were engraved. 

In fact, Page and Courtney both had engraved wedding announcements, too. 

It's just a tradition. (A very expensive one).

The announcements I picked out had a beautiful silver rounded edge

 and gorgeous ornate cursive type.

After trying on my dress one last time that morning,

mom and I went to the post office and dropped

 nearly a hundred announcements off to be mailed out.

(Our wedding invitations went out in November, obviously).

The evening before my wedding, I went with Christian to 

his parent's hotel room where his dad gave him a very beautiful

Priesthood blessing with promises of protection as he chooses to be a worthy

husband, father, protector, and provider.

It was emotional and spiritual.

To end the night before we got married, (and to this day, I am not sure why
we waited until the night before, but....)
together we packed up my room, loaded everything in my brothers truck,
and unloaded it in our new future home.

We left the house a mess.

It was the most exciting mess I had ever seen.
I didn't get to bed until around 1:30.
I was too excited to sleep anyway.

Mrs. Santa Goose

We love the neighbor's goose 
dressed up as Mrs. Santa (Goose) for Christmas!

I told the kids that she is watching them

and tells the real Santa if they are being naughty or nice.

It's been a real lifesaver.

Once a year.

We create and make gingerbread men once a year.

It's a favorite Christmas tradition.

Just like you have to carve a pumpkin at Halloween, 

eat a hard-boiled egg at Easter, 

let off a firecracker on 4th of July, 

eat a spoon full of surprise Jell-o at Thanksgiving, 

smooch someone at New Years, 

pinch someone at St. Paddy's Day, and make a Valentine:

you have to make a gingerbread at Christmastime. 

Silver Bells!

Silver bells, silver bells, it's Christmas time at the Nielsons.

Ring-a-ling, hear them break; how many will there be on Christmas day?

Partridge in a pine tree (without a head)

This year I adorned our Christmas tree with darling, 

little birds in all colors and sizes. 

The girls have strategically placed a few of their favorite

 birds on different spots on the tree at eye level since

they are short and can only reach so high. 

Jimmy has attempted to eat them a thousand times during the day

since the birds are at eye level for him, too.

The girls get so mad at him, and I hear about 500 times a day

"Oh no, Clairey, look, he's got another one!"

Enter Claire, the enforcer:

"No, Jim! You are a bad boy. Don't eat our birds."

 I'll give you a bird count on Christmas and let you know how many are left.

All I want for Christmas

I've been very hesitant to take the girls to see Santa

 at our local mall since last year

Claire told Santa that he had "very stinky breath"

when he so kindly asked her if she had been a good girl.

But I do want to tell the jolly man our Christmas wishes

which include:

-Christian wants a water distiller. (Me too!)

  -I want a vintage charm bracelet or some new cooking knives.

-Claire wants a stroller for her doll.

 -Jane wants something different every day

and will probably just get whatever Claire is getting 

(since I treat them like twins). 

-Oliver could care less what he gets for Christmas, 

but is getting a classic spinning top that I saw at a flea market.

What does Jimmy want?

 He sits day after day, hour after hour, minute after minute,

staring out the window.  I am sure if you asked him, he would reply:

"All I want for Christmas is to get that dang squirrel in the tree."