12 Days of Christmas

Alixa and Jarom are leaving me to head for Delaware for the next 12 days, so I have to write an early Merry Christmas to all of you. You see, they lock me up whenever they leave, lest we have a repeat of the summer of ’07 when I disappeared for 2 weeks. So an early happy holidays to everyone.

The Winn’s are very excited for their trip, which will include seeing a new niece and a new brother-in-law. Jarom finished up school last week, and managed to get straight A’s on his report card, something that hasn’t happened since 1999, unless you count that one spring semester at BYU when he only had one class-Tennis. So he is mildly proud of himself, although not nearly as proud as Alixa is.

This doesn't have anything to do with today's entry, but it's funny

At work, Alixa recently told her boss that she would be needing time off for Christmas. She was told that this was not a possibility. After consulting with her parents and her husband, she thanked her employer for hiring her, and informed them that she would be taking time off for Christmas and if they had to let her go, she would understand. Fortunately, she is so indispensable that her boss told her that they would like her to stay. We are all very grateful for this blessing, as it will allow us to continue to eat for a few more months.

On the church front, Lix and Jarom are still teaching the 6 year olds, and enjoy being with them. On Sunday, upon arriving at sharing time, the Primary president told Alixa that there was a teacher meeting to talk about the new class assignments after the new year and that she should come with her. Lix asked if Jarom should come as well, to which the president replied “Oh no, he’s being released so we don’t need him.” This was the first that any of the Winn’s had heard about it, which made the president feel bad and made for a funny situation. Jarom isn’t really surprised, though. The bishop keeps asking him things about his schedule and the likes, asking if he has free time, so he thinks he will probably be an executive secretary or ward clerk, something that will take up lots of time and force him to call people he doesn’t know. He’s thrilled.



On Sunday we watched Dear Zachary, a documentary about a man who was killed by his ex-girlfriend. She fled to Canada, and while the legal system was working to extradite her, she had his baby. The story focuses on the parents of the deceased, and their relationship with their grandson and the woman who shot their son. As you might imagine, it is one of the most heart-wrenching stories you will ever hear. The documentary was well made, and I recommend it to anyone who needs to cry.

I probably won’t get a chance to write again until next year, so I hope everyone enjoys their presents from Santa, and get working on your New Year’s Resolutions!

Walking in Memphis

The Winns continued their road-tripping ways again this weekend, traveling all the way across the state to Memphis. Jarom’s cousin Melissa was to be wed, and she is one of Alixa’s favorite people in the entire world. It is only about a five-hour drive, which was countered by eating out in nice restaurants on Mom and Dad’s dime. It was great to see Jarom’s parents and other relatives. Alixa was also stoked to meet Michael Oher, the subject of The Blind Side, a previous Mitch Book Club selection. They were unable to find him, but they did see his high school, and some incredibly huge estates that could belong to his adoptive parents.



This week the fantasy football season ended for our house. Both Jarom and Alixa suffered some tough luck this year. They had good teams, ranking 2 and 4 in total scoring, but Alixa ended up in last place and Jarom just barely snuck into the playoffs. Both Jarom and his brother were sitting on 20+ point leads going into Monday night’s game, where Deangelo Williams ran for 186 yards and 2 touchdowns, and Antonio Bryant had 200 yards receiving and 2 touchdowns (the second of which was the best catch of the year), ending both of their seasons. All in all, a very disappointing season, but they will both be back strong next year.

I made some new friends this week, Addison and Riley Grose. They are cute little kids who were thrilled to meet me, Riley more than Addison. Usually people are a little nervous when they meet me, because I don’t blink and because of terrible movies like Anaconda. But Riley (4 years old) was about as afraid of me as you would be a puppy. Her mom took some good pictures.

Addison is the boy and Riley is the girl. Their parents are a little gender confused, but nice people

See how terrified she is!

This is my good side

Lixi and the baby continue to grow. Her pants and bras are now all much snugger than they used to be. Today a belly band came in the mail, which will enable her to wear all of her old jeans without buttoning them up. She is extremely excited about that.

Cleveland Rocks!

Alixa's favorite shirt in the world.  Go JMU!

Jarom and Alixa just spent a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday in Cleveland visiting the Hegewalds. It was nice for them to get out of Tennessee for a few days. They left on Wednesday as soon as Lix got off work, and only had to sit in traffic for about 40 minutes before they got out of Knoxville and the roads cleared up. They arrived at about 2:00 am. About 5 hours later, much to everyone’s surprise, Jarom arose to go play football with his father-in-law and assorted other Ohioanites. It was a pretty low-key game, but Jarom enjoyed it. He has really been missing intramural sports, particularly football. Thanksgiving afternoon was spent cooking and eating. The dinner was wonderful, and afterwards they got to have Christmas, since this is the Hegewald in-law holiday and nobody will be visiting in December. Alixa got some maternity stuffs and a neat little package-opening tool that is sold on TV infomercials. Jarom got a Bluetooth headset, some golf clubs (wedges), a new jacket, and some slippers.

Jarom winning a game of Settlers, while Zak watches squirrels in the backyard

Coming home was a huge pain in the butt, because it was pouring rain the whole way and there were lots of accidents. They made the 8-hour trip in just less than 11 hours. Once back in town, presents continued via UPS. The Adidas stuff that Jarom ordered is arriving piece by piece, so the past week has been a little like Chanukah. In one interesting mix up, the wedges that Jarom was supposed to receive were accidentally replaced with a purple skateboard with skulls all over it. He thought about just keeping it, but isn’t sure how much use he will get from it.

This guy should improve any one's short game, right?

Over Thanksgiving, in order to prepare myself for the movie, I read Twilight. I thought the story was actually entertaining, although there was definitely too much yapping about Edward. I did realize why all women love him so much: Although the book constantly tells us how beautiful he is, it never actually describes much about him, allowing each reader to implant her perfect man in his place. I am now about halfway through New Moon, and imagine that I will read the whole series within the next few weeks.

The latest in a tragic line of Alixa's Thanksgiving roll debacles

In other exciting news, Jarom bought gas for $1.36/gal today. Somehow he stumbled upon a fold in the space-time continuum that led him to a gas station in 1999. It was great.

I can't think of a good title

Apparently the election of Mr. Obama has in fact caused Hell to freeze over, or at least East Tennessee. Alixa has begun to put a towel on her windshield to avoid the awful chore of scraping ice off in the morning. For that little trick we owe a thanks to the Ericksons, and we also recommend it to anyone who doesn’t like cold mornings. But I suppose winter has to arrive everywhere, even here. The good news is that along with cold weather comes trips to Cleveland for Thanksgiving (next week), a trip to Memphis for a long awaited wedding (the next week), and a trip back to Delaware for Christmas/another wedding (more weeks later). For now Jarom is busy wrapping up school and Lix is busy trying to not throw up.



One of the cool things about being a sport management major here at UT is that Jarom gets to see some world-class facilities. This week he had the chance to tour the football stadium and basketball arena, both of which are top tier according to just about any rating system. He was able to see how the media was set up for TV production, got to see some of the areas beneath the stadium that are used for recruiting, and toured the skyboxes.




There is a new book for my book club this week: Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell. Jarom has already read it and Lix is working on it now, although I am not sure she is enjoying it that much. It is sort of a thinking person’s book, not a novel, and she needs a story to keep her interest. Speaking of books, one that did catch her interest was the Twilight series, which is now in movie form. I read an amusing review of it today, and thought I would include a few tidbits. The whole thing is here-

Look, I know the drill. If any element of the Twilight movie varies even slightly from the way you pictured it in your head, then it is the worst film ever made and you hate it and Catherine Hardwicke has ruined your childhood. Or, alternatively, you've built up so much anticipation for the movie that you're going to love love LOVE it no matter what, even if it's bad, you don't care, you refuse to listen to any criticisms LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU. I know how it goes.
…
This is not a vampire movie. This is a somber teen romance that happens to have some vampires in it. Little attempt is made to establish the mythology of the bloodsuckers, and the supernatural elements are downplayed. All of which is in keeping with the tone of Stephenie Meyer's book, which is eight parts romance and two parts action/fantasy. That's why it's been such a phenomenal success with women, and why the male-dominated geek industry -- the Nerderati, if you will -- has been so skeptical of that success. "What?" they scoff. "A super-popular vampire book that we, as men, AREN'T interested in? Inconceivable! It must be terrible, and its popularity is probably being over-reported!"
…
One of the reasons I only liked Meyer's novel rather than loving it was that it felt bogged down by endless descriptions of how beautiful Edward was. Don't get me wrong -- I love hearing about hot 17-year-old boys as much as the next person. But the continual mooning and swooning made me impatient.
…
In the film, of course, this is mostly eliminated. There is no need to tell us about Edward's beauty when he's right here in front of us and we can see for ourselves (assuming we are not distracted by his tall, disorderly hair, that is). There are other problems, too, mostly with the Cullens, who always appear to be practicing their Zoolander Blue Steel faces. The vampires' pale skin is represented by too much powdery face makeup, which makes Dr. Cullen in particular look like a mime. The crucial baseball scene, with the Cullens whacking one homer after another out in a forest clearing, is underwhelming. (In a game of vampire baseball, do they use vampire bats? Get it? Vampire bats? I got a million of 'em!)



Unfortunately, Lix will have to wait until it comes to Redbox, but she is OK with that. I think she knows that she won’t like it that much, as is usually the case with a book that she likes turned into a movie (see-Harry Potter, The Devil Wears Prada). However, that isn’t all bad news because when she watches it on DVD she will be watching it on her very own 42” plasma TV!!! That’s right ladies and gentlemen, the Winns have finally befriended someone who just happened to be giving away a big ol’ flatscreen TV. It is a few years old, but in good condition. It was replaced by a newer model because of a problem with the VGA connection (used for computers) which doesn’t matter to us. To add to their good fortune, Jarom got paid this week for his work with Adidas during the past few months. That means $1000 at shopadidas.com! I make no promises, but if you ask nicely and quickly you might be able to get a Christmas present from him. Soon there will be lots of very nice exercise apparel sitting in the closets not being used. I can’t wait.

This is not the actual TV, but is the same model.  I'll put up a picture of the new living room setup as soon as Jarom takes one.

Room for Expansion

As I am sure you are all aware, there was a week filled with big news in the Winn home: I finally got a bigger half log that fits me! For this I owe a debt of gratitude to Lixi’s mom, who graciously funded the improvement after seeing me in my impoverished state last month. Thanks PJ!

Old and new homes. Quite an improvement.

Also, Jarom and Alixa went public with the news of their pregnancy. My last blog post set a new record for comments with 11, and that number keeps growing. It is nice to see that there are lots of people out there who have nothing better to do at work or school than surf the internet and read about our lives. Since the announcement, Jarom feels as though a weight has been lifted off his shoulders. He was very worried that he would say something to someone and give it away, as he is not very good at keeping secrets. Both Jarom and Lix are very excited about the growth of their family, and their lives are already starting to change. Jarom is now getting a life insurance policy that will make him worth 10 times more dead than alive, Alixa has stopped drinking diet coke and eating grapes to protect her pea sized child, and they are currently trying to change some vacation plans that might interfere with the due date next June. I am not immune from the effects of the pregnancy either. You probably noticed the alien bouncing around in a snowglobe at the top right corner of my blog. Alixa put it there and told me she would step on my noggin if I took it off. Alixa had her first doctor visit this week and came home with her first ultrasound images of the kid. She maintains that it is already a very cute baby, although if you ask Jarom it looks vaguely like a mouse. At any rate, those pics are up on the fridge, the first of what will surely be millions of photos throughout its life.

Jarom and Alixa continue to meet new friends here in Tennessee, and are enjoying themselves more and more with each passing week. This week they went out to dinner with the Groses (see last week’s entry) and the Branners, who played on the softball team with Alixa. It is a little strange to hang out with them, because they are a little bit older, have kids, and are not flat broke like us. But they are great people and it is nice to have something to do on weekends.



In honor of all the craziness surrounding Prop 8 in California I will mention something Jarom saw recently. It was a bumper sticker for Gatlinburg, TN, which is the home of Dollywood and other fun country attractions. Unfortunately, at least in Jarom’s eyes, they chose to represent themselves on this bumper sticker with the same three letters used to refer to Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexuals. He thought it was pretty funny.