Christmas 2007

So much that is blogworthy and no time to do it. Now I am about three or more blogs behind and it is almost New Years. I'm jumping in!!

Christmas Eve

This holiday season was a bit different from most others. No Kirk...no Jordin...and we didn't even know if my mom would be in town. Jordi's due date was the day after Christmas and so my mom was ready to jet out of town at a moments notice. That left the rest of us to our own devices. It was weird. Since Stac had a newborn she and her family stayed at home for Christmas Eve, Tyler and the kids and I did our own thing, Kirk stayed in Utah and celebrated with the in-laws, Jordi was in Kansas City and she and Aaron spent time with friends, Kelley was working, and my mom ended up still being in town but was packing and getting ready to leave town...not the typical McClellan Christmas Eve Extravaganza.


I'm not that adaptable to change. I like tradition. I like BIG family fun. But I turned my frown upside down and ended up having a fun Christmas Eve with my own family...all by ourselves...the first time EVER! You who live far from family I just don't know how you do it. I am way too co-dependent.

We had a Fondue Party on Christmas Eve. It was fabulous. We did cheese and chocolate fondues with all kinds of things to dip. The kids gave me my Christmas gift from them early...an ELECTRIC fondue pot! I was ecstatic!!

See my cute new red fondue pot?

After dinner the kids put on a Christmas Pageant according to Reilly's direction. It was hysterical...and very sweet. Ailey took her role as Mary very seriously...but Kameron was one WILD Joseph!!







Reilly did a great job of planning the program. She played the piano and we sang Christmas carols. Then it was jammie time!!

Then we started having a little too much fun with the tripod and camera.

We have finally gotten a picture of Kameron doing his "George W. Bush" face!!

We started a new tradition last year with our kids that I really love. Tyler reads the Christmas Story from the scriptures by candlelight. Last year we were at my mom's and since my family isn't religious we bundled our kids up and took them outside onto the deck, lit a bunch of votive candles, and read the scriptures outside under a sky full of stars. It was so beautiful and such a special experience. This year we wanted to do something similar but since we had a ton of snow out on our deck we decided to stay inside. We unplugged all the Christmas lights, unplugged all the lights on both Christmas trees, and turned off every light. We then lit about ten candles and put them on our coffee table and Tyler read from the scriptures. It was the perfect thing to calm everyone down, to get quiet, and to think about another night long long ago in Bethlehem. Our kids LOVED IT! It was a great way to get them to focus on the Savior and not just the imminent arrival of Santa. After we were done the kids were yawning and ready for bed...FABULOUS!!

My other new favorite Christmas tradition that we started last year was even better this year. My friend,KariAnn, gave me the idea of wrapping Christmas books and putting them under the tree and using this as an "advent" calendar to count down the days until Christmas. Every night the kids take turns picking out a "present" from under the tree and we read a christmas story together. It has been wonderful!! Thanks KariAnn!! :)

Then it was time to set out cookies and eggnog for Santa...Santa prefers eggnog to milk at our house and he has been known to request diet coke!!



Finally it was bedtime!! It was actually quite a fun Christmas Eve. Tyler and I didn't get to bed though until after 3am. Santa's helpers don't get much sleep do they? ;)



Christmas Day

Christmas Morning was wonderful!! We took lots of pictures but I will spare you all the pictures of us in our early morning glory!! We had a fantastic Christmas Breakfast and then we got dressed and headed down to Stacey and John's house.

We have had a very "Stacey" holiday season with both Thanksgiving and Christmas at their place. Jordi still wasn't going into labor so my mom was still here but with bags packed. Jordi's doctor said that if she didn't go into labor naturally they would induce her on her due date so my mom was scheduled to fly to Kansas City the day after Christmas. It was strange not to have my mom as the "Grand dame" of Christmas. But Stacey did a fantastic job hostessing especially with a newborn in the house.



Christmas was WILD and their house was packed with people. It was so fun to see Jason, Starlee and their little boy Jack. Jason and Starlee moved from Houston to England about a year ago. They both work in the oil industry and Starlee got transferred to London. It was fun to hear all about their English Adventures. Jack, Dane and Ailey are all the same age and it was fun to see them all together. Starlee's friend Sam was there too. Sam is originally from England but lives in Houston. She and Starlee work for the same company. Sam was wonderful and so much fun. We ate amazingly well...King Crab Legs and Prime Rib not to mention tons of other amazing dishes. Sam brought tons of European Cheeses and gourmet foods. It was awesome!

My Uncle Steve was there too as my Aunt Margaret is still in Indonesia and their daughter Tania flew to Indonesia to join her there for the holidays. Uncle Steve is always the life of the party!!

Starlee and Steve

Then it was present time!! It was a MAD HOUSE with all the kids and wrapping paper flying!!

The calm before the storm... literally!!

Jason and John

Then we sent out all the kids to watch a movie and it was the adults turn to open presents. As you all know our family draws names to fill stockings for each other. There is a $75 limit. This is the best part of the night!! ;) Tyler drew John's name, I had Jordi's and had to ship her package off to KC...not nearly as fun as watching her open everything. I swear I get more excited watching the people I bought for open all their things than I do opening all my gifts. Stacey had Tyler this year and my mom had me. She spoiled me rotten!! It was a very Vintage Christmas for me!! A darling vintage black and white purse and overnight bag plus lots more. She made me an awesome chalkboard for my kitchen out of an old window frame. I'll have to take picture later. Thanks Mom!!

Kristin...very tired!!

The most hilarious gift of the night was from Starlee and Jason to Tyler, John, and Steve. They have been traveling all over Europe and when they went to the Czech Republic they were hiking and found a spring that is known for it's "magical" water. Legend says that the men who drink the water from the spring are blessed with AMAZING VIRILITY!! Star had wrapped up bottles of water for all the men. Tyler, John, and Steve toasted each other and chugged down their bottles of water. I wish I got a picture of this but I was laughing too hard. I'll have to let you know if this "magic" water does the trick as it is time to start trying to get pregnant again. Tyler has more of this water stashed in our fridge!!

Tyler feeling VERY Virile!! Too bad I'm SO TIRED!

Sam, Steve and my Mom

Cute little River enjoying her first Christmas hanging out with Aunt Kelley.

That night we headed home late and ended up driving in a HUGE BLIZZARD!! The roads were TERRIBLE! There was no worry of falling asleep while driving. We were white knuckling it the whole way home.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!! We had a GREAT one...different but fun!!

The Ugly Sweater Christmas Party

I know you've all been on pins and needles awaiting these pictures!! So here they are for your viewing enjoyment.

Last Saturday our friends Carolyn and Andrew hosted an "Ugly Sweater" Christmas Party...what Andrew didn't know was that it was actually a surprise birthday party for him!! We had a marvelous time finding sufficiently ugly sweaters to wear to this party.

These pictures were nearly gone forever. I blame Tyler's sweater...it was so ugly that taking pictures of it literally broke our camera. Seriously. While snapping pictures at the party my camera started acting funny. By the time we got home it had a complete meltdown...all the pictures were gone. Luckily my husband is very computer savvy--hard to believe huh? Especially after looking at these pictures. Anyway he was able to download some "recovery" software and save a few of the pictures but the coloring on some is weird, some of the pictures are cropped funny, and some are long gone. I am sad that we weren't able to recover any of the pictures of Jason and Andrea (who looked fabulous), Sara and Dan, Julie and Tim, and the birthday boy himself, Andrew.




For those of you who know me well...you know I cannot stand turtlenecks of any kind!! They are BANNED from our house. I could barely stand to look at Tyler all night. This picture doesn't represent well the "true" coloring of the sweater complete with the bright aqua stripe running through it. I tried to find a lovely "candy cane" turtleneck for Tyler to wear with this hideous thing but all they had at Value Village (thrift store) were "ladies" holiday turtlenecks and they didn't come that large. Tyler ended up buying a new white turtleneck...luckily the camera breakage saved you all from seeing the picture of Tyler sporting the turtleneck without the sweater. With his ruddy complexion it looked like he had just emerged from the birth canal!!

He also wanted to wear nerd glasses and gel his hair in the style Kirk has nicknamed "Sonic Hedgehog"...I had to remind him that it was an "ugly sweater"party NOT a costume party. He's come along way from how uptight he used to be. Tiffany...remember the time when we made Tyler and Oliver dress up as women and wanted them to buy tampons for us at Smith's (this was our "creative" way of asking them to Preference) and they both threw total fits and refused to leave our apartment. (I wonder why?) FYI--they did go to Smith's and bought us tampons and found our notes asking them to Preference but they were NOT dressed as women--and they even ended up marrying us!! But that night they were pretty surly. Now look how far our little Tyler has come!! I'm so proud.



Not to be outdone by Tyler's nerdy Ward Cleaver look...I think I was channeling my mom's friend from the 80's Libby D. I could almost hear her say "Oh Victoria you MUST try the pate...it is FABULOUS!!" and so was my sweater...tassels, ice skates, and all. Don't you LOVE Goodwill?

Here are some of our "oh so sexy" friends:

KariAnn and Chad

Rebecca and Devin

Blake and Jodi

Chris and Valynn

Lara and Chris

Carolyn in a lovely "golden" sweater with the birthday cake. You'll have to imagine Andrew's stunned expression.


We had a great time!! Except for the fact that Tyler has grown fond of his sweater and is now blackmailing me with showing up somewhere/sometime when I least expect it in his turtleneck!



And yes Kirk...he was "Smokin' Hot"!!

The Memory Keeper





What do you do when you find out that your high school boyfriend has passed away? I have no idea either. I guess in my case... you blog. Sometimes the Internet is your friend and sometimes you find out things you never wanted to know. Aaron actually passed away awhile ago but I just found out yesterday.



Aaron was my boyfriend for nearly two years. Most of my memories of high school either revolve around him or my best friend, Mary, or better yet the four of us: me, Aaron, Mary, and Mary's boyfriend, Jimmy, wrecking havoc on good ol' KC. He was there for all the highlights. It just doesn't seem like it was that long ago that he was taking me to Mario's on the Plaza for dinner before Homecoming, looking snazzy wearing an electric blue tie and cummerbund to match my bright blue prom dress, pulling up in front of my house in his big red truck with the American flags flapping in the breeze on the sides, driving me and Stacey to early morning seminary every day senior year, dreaming of how we were going to get the heck out of Kansas City and never come back, spending every waking moment possible together (much to the dismay of his father who was our bishop), Aaron screaming my name as I walked across the stage at graduation.



I remember we filled out our college applications full of hopes and dreams for the future. Where were we going to live? What were we going to become? But as it turned out I got into BYU and Aaron didn't. He went to Ricks and I headed to Provo. Our paths separated. We stayed in touch and Aaron even came to Provo for a visit. Then he left for his mission and I had fun at BYU. We wrote occasionally but by then we each were on new paths. I have always known for the most part how Aaron was and where he was and he knew the same about me. Marriages, children, divorce (on his part)...An email here and there... updates from mutual friends or an online posting. I knew he had some health issues a few years ago but he seemed to be on the mend. It's funny how fast time flies...years just whipping by...when I realized last night that I hadn't heard anything from or about Aaron in quite awhile. It didn't take long to learn why. Living far from KC and Utah...his family moving to Chicago and mine moving up here... the news just didn't reach me.



Sad. What happens to the thousands of inside jokes, memories, promises, secrets, and special events known only to the two of us once one of us is gone? Do they cease to exist? What happens when I am the only person in the world who understands the significance of "clammy claws and Penner paws", "Faron Chanute", a mangled gum wrapper, a "stolen" napkin from Gojo's? I become the memory keeper. But for what and for whom? It is this thought that breaks my heart tonight.



I should eat at Taco Bell tonight in his honor and order a "coke so big I can SWIM in it" and think of a cute blond boy with mischievous eyes and a big ol' grin who used to make me laugh.



"If a man die shall he live again?" Job 14:14



Jesus said... "I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live...And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die" (John 11:25-26).



I am so grateful for this knowledge.



To: "N"...Love: "P"

Happy Birthday Mom

Today is my mom's birthday...I won't divulge her age but I will list a "random" (wink wink) number of things that my brother and sisters, our spouses and our kids love about our mom. (Mom...make sure that you have the speakers on so you can hear the music on my blog!!)

That would be...

Stacey's....AND Kristin,Kelley, Kirkland and Jordin's mom has got it goin' on!! :)

There are so many things we love about our mom but here are just a few of them:

-She is the oldest of five very different siblings.













-Her real name is Vicki but she changed it to Victoria because she felt it was more professional. This bugs the heck out of my grandma who has been known to mutter: "I don't know what was wrong with the name Vicki!!"











-Two of her granddaughters are named after her: Reilly Victoria and River Victoria (what can I say... Stacey and John aren't very original!! They informed me that "family names" are fair game. What can you do?)



-My kids call her "Grandma Vic".



-She is the world's most fantastic mother!! I am totally in awe of her.



-She is the "Alpha Grandma" aka the "favorite".



-She is gorgeous!! She has the most amazing cheekbones I have ever seen. When I was growing up I used to love to have her come to my school so I could introduce her to my friends. I thought she was the most beautiful, smart and stylish mom anyone one could ever have. I was so proud to be her daughter. Even now I love to introduce her to people. She came to church a few weeks ago for the primary rehearsal to hear my kids do their parts and when she breezed on in I was blown away by how beautiful and amazing she is and couldn't wait to introduce her to people.









-She is smart. Amazingly...fantastically...brillant.



-She is one of the most generous people I know. She gives and gives and gives. One of my earliest memories is of her taking a Christmas box of food and toys to a family in need and ringing the door bell, picking me up, and running to the car.



-She grew up in a small town in Northern Idaho. She has since moved back to that town to "give back" to the little community that gave her so much growing up. I love that about her.



-She was voted "Most Likely to Succeed" in high school. She did!!



-She was a contestant in the "Miss (insert the name of her town) Pageant". She came in second to a girl that my mom and her friends later found out had false teeth...she is still bitter!! ;)



-She played in the band in high school and loved it. She played the baritone and sousaphone before she became the drum majorette. (How I wish I could get my hands on that picture!!)



-She attended BYU on scholarship and got a Nursing Degree.



-She was a BYU rebel.



-She and her best friend, Kathy, used to go on road trips to California in Kathy's VW bug and would hang out with the hippies on Haight-Ashbury in the 60's.



-She nearly got kicked out of BYU her Senior year. She had a religion professor who she couldn't stand and thought he was a chauvinist pig. So to tick him off she showed up for her final in a long trench coat. When her professor handed out her final she took off her coat and she was sitting there in a yellow bikini!! (This was BEYOND DARING even in my day at BYU...when knee length shorts were finally allowed...heaven help you if they were above your knees...In my mom's day they couldn't even wear pants...they had to wear skirts!!). Due to her fabulous grades and her otherwise stellar reputation she was able to graduate...barely!












-She went on to get her Masters Degree in Nursing Administration from the University of Utah. She did this while married, working full-time, with four kids and one on the way. Unbelievable!!



-It's a good thing she went into hospital administration because even with a nursing degree she failed to "diagnose"the broken bones of me and my siblings. She felt an ace bandage could cure anything!!



-She is truly a pioneer in Women's Health. She forged ahead things like "Women's Hospitals", "Women's Health Centers", Birthing Rooms etc. She is well-known in the health care world.



-She has slammed through many glass ceilings and rocked the "old boys club" of the health care industry.



-For years she has been brought in to "clean up" and "fix" struggling health care systems. She is tough but fair. She is beloved by her employees but heaven help you if you aren't doing your job. She earned the nickname "Barracuda B*@$!" after having to get rid of some lazy Texas "Good Ol' Boys" in Houston. My siblings and I are insanely proud of that nickname!!









-She is a raging liberal Democrat. She has her "Utah Democrat" (isn't that an oxymoron) hat on display in her house even though she no longer lives in Utah.



-She utterly loathes and despises George W. Bush who she derisively refers to as "Dub-ya".



-She "threatens" to burn her bra at the drop of a hat over political/women's issues. Kelley said that my mom actually did burn her bra in the 60's on the steps of the Salt Lake Capital Building but I've never hear that story so...who knows? Care to clarify Mom? :)



-She is an amazing artist and creative genius. She sews, quilts, paints, crafts and decorates.





-She is a fabulous cook and hostess. Her dinner parties are spectacular and my parents Halloween Parties and New Years Eve Parties were LEGENDARY!!



-She did not teach any of her daughters to sew or to cook. When we complain about this she claims we never had any "interest" in either one. Hmmm...suspicious. But I do get it now. I practically need to be medicated doing a craft with my kids...it's hard to be a perfectionist!! ;)



-She is an early riser and is BUSY BUSY BUSY all day long. She thrives on it. She likes to declare "I have never been bored a day in my life!!"



-She is musical. She plays the tuba, baritone, sousaphone, piano and guitar. One of her fondest dreams is to learn to play the flute. She even bought herself a beautiful antique flute that Kelley hocked in high school for some "quick" cash!! My mom is still bitter!! (Kelley also hocked my electric keyboard while I was away at college...think of the musical GENIUS I could've been if I still had that electric keyboard!! )







-She is strong emotionally. She has been through some extremely difficult trials and experiences and yet she remains an unfailing optimist.



-She is strong physically. If you need someone to help you move call my mom. She is extremely strong. When I do help her move furniture and heavy things it usually goes something like this:



Me: Hey mom...let me help you with that.



Mom: Ok thanks.



Hefting...heaving...lifting



Mom: Kristin!! Are you even LIFTING your end??



Me: I'm trying! But it's REALLY heavy!



Mom: Oh just let go and I'll do it myself!!



(This is usually a good idea as I suffer from a rare yet serious disease called "Laughter Weakness Syndrome". It can be extremely dangerous and debilitating. There are only two known "sufferers"...me and Kelley. Laughter = complete muscle failure = dropped furniture = mom nearly killed by large furniture pieces crashing down stairs and careening down moving van ramps.



-She often moves furniture by herself...see above...this has caused her to actually be trapped in a stairwell for quite awhile wedged between a wall and a large armoire. The good news was that she had her cell-phone. The bad news was that none of her adoring children were answering. The good news was that she was finally rescued by her brother Steve. The bad news was that she was extremely pissed off!!



-She is the QUEEN of flip-flops and has passed this on to all of her daughters. I have fond memories of a pair of blue flip-flops with rainbow trim that my mom wore all through the 70's.









-Once at the lake while chopping wood my mom cut her toe in half with an axe...see above...she calmly hobbled over to where my dad was and told him that she thought she "might" need to go to the hospital.



-She is often attacked by animals. This causes her children no end of amusement. She has been butted by a goat at a public farm while trying to protect her grandchild from a crazy goat. Luckily her son-in-law, John, came to her rescue while her two daughters collapsed on the ground laughing until they were crying!!



-She has been attacked by a gigantic parrot. My mom loves parrots. We have had three growing up. "Maxwell Alexander Ferdinand the Bird" now resides in Kansas City with my dad. We were a "foster family" to "Willie" who belonged to a friend of my mom's who was getting out of an abusive marriage and my mom had "Kiwi" for many years. Back to my story...once my mom was at a pet store in Kansas City and was holding a huge red macaw when it started chewing on her necklace and then her earrings and then was pecking heck out of her!! She had to be rescued by the store manager.



-She was once kicked by a crazy horse and hospitalized for a week. This was not funny but extremely scary.



-She loves to play the world's DULLEST game...Scrabble!! She gets crazy maniacal glee from kicking her children's butts!!



-She hates Jello and cold cereal. I would've starved to death in college without these two food items.



-She eats revolting things like mayo and butter on a turkey sandwich or worse on a spam sandwich...GAG!!



-Spam and liver and onions were commonly on the menu at our house growing up. I hate both!!



-She has the face of an angel and swears like a sailor.



-She likes to wink. She frequently winks at her children and grandchildren when in a large group. We LOVE this!!





-When I was growing up she was frequently stopped in stores and on the street and asked if she was a TV News Anchor.





-She is extremely stylish. She has incredible taste. My sisters and I eagerly take any cast-offs be it jewelry, clothing, furniture, or decorative items...and thus our business of "Sisters Creed" was born. The Sister's Creed is "reuse, revitalize, revamp".




-She has taught all her children to appreciate the simple pleasures in life.



-She has an "interesting" way of pronouncing "pleasures". She says "play-zures". Kelley and I have made bets on who could get her to say "play-zures" first!! It is surprisingly easy!! :)



-She is a workaholic and her children have had to have an intervention to tell her to not work so hard. She is still extremely annoyed that we did that.



-She raised 5 very opinionated children...she regrets it!! She told us this year that we are no longer allowed to "comment" on her life. Um...good luck with that!!



-She was a strict parent. I was once grounded for 4 months (no going anywhere, no tv, no telephone, no nothing) because our nanny asked me to babysit Kirk and Jordi and I snottily said "Isn't that what YOU'RE paid to do!!" I KNOW!! I was such a brat!! That kind of attitude was not tolerated at my house!!





-Her biggest pet peeve is people who sleep in. She HATES that!!



-She doesn't take herself seriously. She loves to laugh and has a great sense of humor. She allows her children to tease her mercilessly.






-She is always up for an adventure. She has taught all her children to view life this way.





-She is a blast to travel with, shop with, and hang out with...we are SO LUCKY!!



-She loves the lake and bought herself a gorgeous bright red ski boat that she cruises around in.






-I don't think she has ever seen a movie all the way though in her life. She falls asleep within minutes of the opening credits.



-She calls her children a lot but never leaves a message. Hmmm... this is puzzling to us.



-She is full of energy and is always on the go. If she didn't have a cell-phone we would never be able to get a hold of her!!



Here's one extra: She is the most supportive, giving, loving, caring, accepting, forgiving, amazing, generous, talented and kind person in the world. My siblings and I hope to be just like her. Thanks for all you have done for us...and continue to do for us. I didn't compile this list all on my own...it was a "group" effort.










MOM...WE LOVE YOU LIKE CRAZY!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! HERE'S TO MANY MANY MORE!!



My mom's grandchildren who can talk had this to say about why they love "Grandma Vic":



Reilly: " I love absolutely everything about her--I just LOVE HER!!"



Kameron: "I love Grandma Vic's kindness".



Ailey: "I love that she reads books to me and loves me all the time".



Dane: "I love Grandma's big red boat!!"