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.