You be the judge

They say it is better to give than to receive. We’ve been running some pretty extensive tests on that adage lately, and while the results aren’t conclusive yet, the data indicates that receiving can be pretty awesome too.

Xzibit 1:

Alixa had her annual gift exchange party, with an attendance of about 20 friends. This year included better seating with the new couch and kitchen table, upgraded countertops for serving the many delicious treats that were made by Alixa and others, and a jolly good time had by all the ladies as they repeatedly stole gift cards and candles and soaps and other such goodies. Alixa kept ending up with good stuff, which inevitably got stolen from her, so she (with Jenna’s help) got to open up lots of presents. In the end she landed a Scentsy-style house aroma-er, and now the kitchen smells of spiced apple. She was also glad to be able to see that all of her friends from the old ward still enjoy hanging out with her.

Xzibit 2:

On Monday we were told to make sure someone was going to be home between the hours of 3-5 to receive a package that contained the household Christmas present from Grandpa and Grandma. Between 3-5 turned into 6-8, which turned into 9, but eventually there was a truck outside and a knock on the door. The surprise was a little ruined when Alixa got a call to apologize for running late and the man identified himself as Checker’s Piano Movers. But they were still a little floored when the two guys rolled a beautiful polished black Yamaha into the front room. It is already a fan favorite with everyone. Alixa is relearning all the things she knew from her days as the ward organist, Jarom is reminding himself why he quit taking piano lessons so many years ago, and Bo and Jenna love the fact that they now have not 1 but 2 pianos to play with. I suppose that Lix will now have to do her best Tiger Mom impression so that we can have a concert pianist around. Jarom optimistically suggested that someday Lix could make some side money teaching piano lessons. She just laughed at him. He didn’t think it was overly absurd, what with her knowledge of how to play the piano and the 5 years that she spent at an institute of higher learning studying the art of teaching, but what does he know?

Xzibit 3:

One of Jarom’s coworkers is named Daniella. She has a few kids who are older than Jenna and Bo, which means they have moved on to a different set of toys and entertainment. There is a dollhouse that she got for her daughters some time ago that is no longer getting the attention that every toy deserves and yearns for. So a while back she asked Jarom if he might be interested in it. He was, but it took a while to make the exchange due to some logistical problems. The problem was that they live kind of far apart and the dollhouse is huge, and won’t fit into a regular sized car. So Jarom had to switch cars with Alixa one day and Dani had to switch for her husband’s truck. Carlotta was due for a thorough vacuuming, especially around and underneath the car seats, so it was probably a good thing. The dollhouse barely fit in the SUV, but it made it home and is now happily parked in the corner of Jenna’s room. It has become the primary residence of about three dozen Disney princesses and assorted other characters. It gets played with daily by Jenna and Bo and whatever friends they have over. It was very nice of Dani to let us have it, and we are glad that it has found a good home.

We are fond of not promoting society's arbitrary gender stereotypes, 

so Bo gets to play with the dolls and the house too.

 

Xzibit 4:

This particular data point doesn’t support our hypothesis that receiving is better than giving. Let me first state that this incident is indisputably, unequivocally, 100 percent Jarom’s fault. When he switched cars with Lix for the day he was very careful to specify that Alixa was not to get a speeding ticket that day. He said this because Lix is what Jarom lovingly refers to as a “stomper” and when she gets into the Infiniti she likes to take advantage of the additional horsepower that she doesn’t have when driving the wimpy, 4-cylinder SUV. It should be noted that Jarom thinks that Alixa drives too fast, and I don’t think there are many people who would categorize Jarom as a slow driver. In her defense, Jenna says that Mommy is a better driver than Daddy because Lix will look at Jenna in the back seat while they talk but Jarom says things like “I’m trying to watch the road right now.” Anyway, after a visit to the gym this week Lix was all hopped up on endorphins and took off down the road towards home. The speed limit is 45, but she was cruising at 60 and got nabbed. There were tears, but they didn’t come until after the cop left and she was on the phone with Jarom. A whole lot of good they did then. I thought the whole point of being a girl was that you could get out of tickets by batting your eyes and/or sobbing like a little baby. But the main point is that Jarom while Jarom did tell her the day before to avoid a ticket, he did not tell her that morning. I guess that is going to have to become part of their morning routine from now on if Jarom expects to avoid these in the future.

This isn't related to the ticket, but it is our first snowfall. Neither kid was impressed.

Xzibit 5:

It is playoff time in fantasy football and Jarom and Alixa are matched up in the semifinals of their league. One of them will be giving up the ghost on this season while the other will be receiving a spot in the league championship. I think we all know which end of that stick we would like to have.

So this is Christmas?

Tis the season. I guess. I will say that I have mixed feelings about Christmas in Texas. Jarom went through this while living in the southern hemisphere when the Navidad falls in the middle of summer. That’s not too far off from where we are now. It’s still up in the 70’s most days, with the 80’s making an occasional appearance. It cools off at night, and the forecast claims that there is a high of 44 on Monday, so we’ll see. But despite the warmth, it’s hard to avoid feeling Christmassy around this house. The tree went up the day before Thanksgiving and the kids love it. Bo gets very upset when the lights aren’t on and Jenna will hurry and plug them in for him. There are nutcrackers and Santas and nativities and manger pictures all over the mantle. There is garland on the banisters, an advent calendar on the kitchen ledge and a countdown to Santa that is rarely accurate, but always there. The best part of the Christmas decorations happened yesterday when Jenna was talking about the mantle and called the stockings “goodybag socks”. We aren’t sure if she hears this stuff somewhere or just comes up with it on her own, but it is pretty hilarious. And the Winns are trying to capture the Christmas spirit in other ways too. They channeled their inner “no-room-in-the-inn”keepers and sent Mario and PJ across the country to visit other relatives, although Mario came back a week later because he “wanted to keep his job” or some other lame excuse. It’s nice to have fewer people around, but we do miss them already. The kids were especially happy to get Opa back today. Even the raccoon up in the attic seems to have abandoned ship.

 Bo hasn't earned his goodybag sock yet

Alixa's preschool class

Because the calendar says that it is December we scheduled some bonfires to take advantage of the firepit and clear out some of the branches and stumps that have been trimmed around the yard. But that night it was almost 80 degrees and nobody really wanted to stand next to a fire, so instead we just grilled hot dogs and cooked smores over the stove and hung out with friends. The most memorable part of that night was probably the fact that Jenna stumbled upon a fireant nest that had sprung up in the backyard. She was playing with her friends when all of a sudden she started screaming and ran to the back door complaining about some itches on her feet. Jarom took off her shoes and found a dozen or so little ants crawling on and biting her little piggies. Fortunately Wowawee was here and knew to make a little baking soda concoction to put on the bites, which seemed to neutralize them, because 15 minutes later she was back in action, digging and running and jumping around. She actually felt very remorseful about destroying the ants’ home, which is why they got mad at her, and repeatedly asked if Jarom or Nate would help her fix it later. Jarom “fixed it” the next day with some fireant killer, but there will surely be many more encounters with the little insects here in the land of fire.

Alixa is staying super busy with a jam-packed social calendar that includes a slew of Christmas parties and park days and recipe clubs and activities for two wards. She is trying to integrate herself into the new one but also wants to hang out with her friends from the old one, so she is double-dipping. Jarom continues to play basketball a few nights a week, making enemies and alienating people with his general obnoxiousness. He also managed to install Mario and PJ’s thank you present, a sleek new microwave. It took several hours and for the first day or so he was nervous that it was going to fall off and destroy the stove, the microwave, and the countertop, but here we are two weeks later and it is still there. Lix says she loves it, but also says that now she really needs a new oven and stovetop to match the rest of the stainless appliances. Great.

 Cowgirl Jenna

 Lix did some reorganizing in the kitchen because Bo kept getting his treats out of the cabinets. Now the lower cabinets are empty so he uses them as a hiding spot.

Baby girl Everzoomius seems to be doing well, plugging along towards her April arrival. Lix is still working out regularly, although her running pace is slowing and her classes are getting harder to finish. She recently took the kids out for a run with their stroller on a windy day, covering 3 miles in 46 minutes. At one point while pushing into the wind Jenna hollered out to her “Mom, why did you stop running?” She hadn’t, but I suppose sometimes it is nice to have a heckler. There was a pretty significant event this morning when Alixa joined team mentally weak by barfing in a non-illness situation. It was a good run, but it had to end sometime. At least she wasn’t in the car when it happened.