"Christmas Vacation Rocks!"

Sam has been so busy this Christmas vacation. I'm dreading the back to school blues that are sure to come Sunday evening! He's played with friends almost every day, had the infamous all nighter sleep over, and is going to celebrate the New Year with his friend Jon tonight.

I asked him what he liked so much about this vacation and he just said, "it rocks." I guess hanging out in your pjs until noon, playing with friends, playing DJ hero (the big present of the year), and a blizzard that brought perfect sledding and fort-making conditions--well, what more can you ask for as a kid?

I wish he had more time off.

An All Nighter

Sam stayed overnight at a new/old friend's house last night. He went to preschool with this boy and has been kind of friends all through elementary school. It took a mutual love of video games that maim aliens to get them to realize that they live right around the corner from each other! This friend is a delightful boy, so polite and friendly.



Sam was so thrilled to be invited to a sleepover at his house. He's never been real good about sleeping away from home, so we were ecstatic when the phone didn't ring during the night. I didn't sleep well in anticipation of a late night trip to pick him up! Guess that was all for nothing!



He came home and quickly transitioned from the smiling, proud, happy kid that had a really good time to semi-zombie, "I'm not tired", shuffle upstairs to bed kid. Voluntarily going to bed? Hmmmm.



Seems he and his friend stayed up all night and boy did they have fun. They were laughing and giggling when Darren picked him up this morning. As they made the two minute ride home, he slowly was coming down. I met him at home just in time to see the last of the smiles and the transition to that "so tired you feel sick" feeling that I remember well from my night shift at the hospital days.



He's tucked in upstairs, sound asleep, but most likely dreaming about the bragging rights this is going to give him.



So, we both pulled all nighters. I'm sitting on the couch icing my knees. I skidded down the driveway and fell while trying to save the world. No, not really that dramatic, but I was saving the environment! I was putting newspaper in the recycling bin at the end of the driveway and ended up flailing and screaming my way all the way down the driveway to end up in the road on the ground. Both Darren and Sam were outside with me and didn't notice until I had scrambled up again. Ugh. My plans for this week have been completely waylaid. I'm battered and bruised, but hey, the blogs just might get updated! And since Sam is sound asleep and my plans involved him, I don't feel so bad.



He may have another sleepover on New Year's Eve. We'll see if he wants to try it again. It may just be an "almost a sleepover".

Christmas Morning

I just love Christmas morning. We're usually awakened well before the sun is up by a wiggling, squirming bedroom intruder. The agony of waiting is finally over!

Pull aparts for breakfast. Christmas ham for lunch. Playing with presents, relaxing. It's just the way we like it.

Hope your Christmas was Merry!

Happy Happy Merry Merry!

We're home, bracing for a big snow! 10-14 inches by Christmas Day. Yikes.

The house looks and smells like Christmas, but I'm not sure if all of our guests will be able to make it. I'd rather they stayed home than to brave dangerous roads!

We I made Spritz, Date Bars, Melting Moments, Frosted Cut Out Sugar Cookies, Lemon Bars, Pecan Pie Bars, Peanut Butter Bars (they didn't make it--the guys ate most of them and the rest succombed to a bizarre refrigerator defrosting meat debacle, don't ask), and Caramel Chex Mix. I think there's more in the freezer, but I've forgotten all that I made.

If snowed in, we certainly wouldn't starve!

Grandma's Santas on a Grandma-made table runner. Wish I remembered which Grandma made what. I love vintage and antique Christmas decorations, especially if they belonged to family.

Sam and I had a whole conversation in the car about what the season really is all about. Not the craziness of present buying and crabby people crowding the stores in pursuit of material happiness. "It's a wonderful birthday celebration," I said, feeling all warm and motherly and like THIS will be the conversation that he remembers when he has children.

He paused for a minute and then said, "Yep, it's Great-Grandma Betty's birthday too, isn't it?"

"Yes it is, son. She and Jesus were born on the same day."

"She's that old?"

I let that one lie.

Happy Happy. Merry Merry.

Forced to Watch Charlie Brown's ChristmasJust Another Olson Family Holiday Tradition

Hey, Pigpen plays the bass...cool.

The Traditional blocking o the doorway. Festive red t-shirt is required.

See, I'm really not watching this baby stuff.

We caught him peeking a few times.

Wonder where he gets his stubbornness?

Thank God the school closings are rolling across the screen. Gives him reason to look a little.

Out of the Mouths

Christmas cards are on their way!

I was remarking to Darren about as a younger woman, I would have never let a picture of me without makeup and with unshowered hair covered by an old baseball cap, be featured on a Christmas card. "It's a good picture," he replied.

"Yep, it is," I said, "that's a really happy place for us." It was taken at Two Island Campground at our very favorite campsite on the shore of the lake. "I'll be forty next year, I guess it's because I'm finally OK with who I am."

(I was having one of those I am Woman Here me Roar moments. Boys don't get this, but Darren is really good at faking interest.)

"Or crazy," muttered Sam.

That's my boy.

Christmas Decorating is Tiring

Pip, our soon to be thirteen year old Border Terrier, relaxing after a taxing day of tree trimming. Pippin was born the day after Christmas, sleeps about 20 hours a day, but still has a lot of puppy in him during those few waking hours.

His favorite spot in the evening? Snuggled up with Darren on the couch.

You Can't Hide from the Mommarazzi

So Much More Fun than Black Friday

Be The Turkey

Tis the season to be a harried.

Happy Happy Thanksgiving!

This is the holiday that we like to refer to as the one that gets forgotten. Sadly, Christmas displays went up before Halloween this year.

We have so much to be thankful for.

Thanks for all of you.

Thanks for abundance, even when we think we need more.

Thanks for wonderful memories.

Just thanks. Have a Happy Turkey Day!

Christmas Letter 2010

Merry Christmas Friends and Family!

Happiest of Holidays to you!We just started this blog as a way to keep in touch with all of our friends and family, but many of you are probably wondering what we've been up to this year. So, I thought a welcome letter might be in order.

2009 has flown by!

Sam is keeping very busy. He started middle school this year and loves his new school, hates all the homework. He started playing the upright bass (bass violin) for his school orchestra. If you're not familiar with this instrument, think a cello on steroids. It barely fits in our car. This instrument has been his goal since starting orchestra, although we do think that it's initial draw was it's size (massive) and it's volume (chandelier rattling). School, practice, Confirmation, and time with friends and family are busy enough for Sam. He still loves a lot of quiet time to just be a kid and we think that's just as important as he does. Right at this moment his career goal is to be a computer software developer and professional video game player. This is the first year that super hero doesn't figure into his career plans. He's now as tall as I am, his voice is changing, and he gets more and more independent every day.

I'm still at home and finally feel like I've recovered from being a MomPreneur. We sold all three stores in 2007 just in time for the economy to tank. My health is still a challenge (how I worked as much as I did with the business I'll never know). I'm catching up on home projects that went by the wayside, writing, and teaching Sam's Confirmation class (which is an adventure in itself). I'm officially the CEO of the Olson household, which has made all of our lives easier if I do say so myself.

Darren had an eventful year. He still enjoys working as a VP at Midwave. His company is very good to him and we've been very thankful for that. After taking a tumble off his bike into Poison Ivy while on our Father's Day trip to Itasca State Park and developing cellulitis, we discovered that he was having some heart issues. Since his grandfather died at a very young age of a heart attack, we took this very seriously. Well, I did. Darren had to step out of the Land of Denial to admit that what he was feeling was more than muscle strain. My repeated, "You look like a cardiac patient" didn't seem to faze him. Darren had two stents placed to open up 90% blockages in two of the arteries in his heart in July. When the doctor came out to tell me how the procedure went he simply said, "You were right" and then proceeded to show me the pictures of Darren's heart. I would have rather been wrong. He's been very active and made some great healthy choices prior to all of this, so making these behaviors lifelong habits has not been that difficult. Thank you to all of you for your prayers and well wishes while all of this was going on.

We took a trip to Orlando again last January to escape the winter. Turns out, we brought it with us, but braved the 40 degree temps to frolic through the parks until we OD'd on Pixie Dust. Sam even swam in our rental home's pool one day! We attempted to flee the Disney realm by hiking a nature preserve only to find that it was owned by, you guessed it, Disney! We found out that we're not really theme park people, that we enjoy nature travel more, but still enjoyed being three kids for a few days. Sam still has It's a Small World stuck in his head.

We bought a pop up camper this Spring and used it to camp at Rice Creek Chain of Lakes Campground (10 minutes from our house), Itasca State Park, and Two Island Campground for Fisherman's Picnic in Grand Marais. We also camped in Camp Driveway, an exclusive resort found in Shoreview, for Mother's Day. I think we're going to make a lot of memories in our Canvas Cottage (OK, the boys think that name is WAY dumb, but I'm sticking with it because they have no alternate that doesn't use a word for a bodily function.)

Our kitchen is slowly, but surely coming together. Darren worked very hard ripping out the hideous plastic light fixture and replacing it with drywall and can lights. What a huge improvement. We replaced the even more hideous vinyl parquet flooring with slate tile to match the backsplash Darren put up. We've finally surrendered to the fact that our house will never be all done. The improvements that we made ten years ago when we moved here now need to be redone. Ugh.

We're happy, we're (sorta) healthy, and we're thankful for all that has been given us this year.

We're looking forward to a calmer 2010 and hope that you can check in here every once in a while to see what we're up to.

Peace,
Elizabeth, Darren, and Sam