Christmas in Reno

Phew!

We somehow survived the cross-country flight from Baltimore to Reno. We had two stops along the way, but first I have to say that I am never doing a 7am flight EVER again. The airport shuttle van picked us up just before 5 am, and the kids were NOT too happy to be woken up. Anyway, it all seems so long ago now. I remember we waited an hour on the tarmac to be de-iced before we even left BWI. It was no big deal though, since we were to have a 3 hour layover in Kansas City. So, that wait was a little less. But not much less. We had to wait there as well to be de-iced. All the flights were full as well- no elbow room at all. As Jim likes to call it "butt-cheek to butt-cheek". The worst part is the KC airport is so pudunk that you have to go through security just to get to your next gate. Jim hated that! Imagine having to go through that twice in one day with two wriggly toddlers. Then we stopped in Phoenix too, but we didn't have to get off, thank goodness. We finally made it to Reno after 8 pm. (11 pm our time) The kids were way too excited to go to sleep.

It was so worth it, though. We had a great two weeks in Reno.

I think the influenza virus has morphed into a bigger monster than anyone's immune system in the world has been up against. Everyone I know was sick over Christmas. We all got it in Reno. In fact, the entire ward had it right after the ward party. A lovely one-day flu. From what I hear, people across the country had to deal with stuff. A one-day epidemic! Luckily, we all took turns being sick so we could take turns taking care of each other. But nobody was sick on Christmas! What a blessing!

Christmas eve we had our traditional program, where everyone shares something, be it a story a song or whatever. Here's my dad playing the guitar. Even the little bitty ones joined in when Grandpa played twinkle, twinkle- which could be construed as a Christmas song! My bro Jason is on the left. You can't tell from the picture, but ladies- he's a hottie! (Only if you're available, of course.)



Elena wanted to sit in her carseat in its travel bag for our program. Funny kid. Probably really comfy, though...



Here are the three cousins on Christmas Eve. From left to Right is Aaron (15months), Elena (29 months) and Jackson (28 months at the time). Looking a mite sleepy, aren't we?


And here's the beautiful 16-foot high Christmas Tree. It produced many mystified oohs and aahs from the kids.

Aaron and Daddy.

This was our table setting on Christmas Eve. Sorry it's so blurry. It was so fun to have all my siblings present (there are 4 of us). And my sister's little family too. Harold and cousin Jackson. We're still waiting for my two bros to find significant others.

We woke up nice and late at 9 am on Christmas day. Yippee! We are relishing the Christmases when we can sleep in, for we know that won't last much longer! Here are a few of us opening gifts Christmas day. Doesn't Aaron look like that baby from the Labrynth? "You remind me of the babe..."


Elena got a baby doll whose eyes close when she's laying down. She thought it was so cool. She ran off to the stairs once it was open to examine it all alone where nobody could bother her.


Then she pretended to sleep too. So cute!


So much cool new stuff!
We also awoke Christmas Day to a foot or so of snow. At the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains this is not uncommon, however it has been quite some time since there has been a white Christmas. So, Jim wanted some exercise later on when all the unwrapping was done. Even though nobody had to go anywhere he wanted to shovel the snow off the driveway. Elena wanted to go out too. She LOVED the snow!



She loved grabbing handfuls of it and throwing it in the air to make it snow again. Aaron, on the other hand, HATED it.



'Nuff said.



Here's my attempt at a magical windowpane photo with the snow sticking to it. Until I have a camera that costs a million dollars, that's the best I can do. By the time we left on New Years' Day all the snow was pretty much gone and the temperature was in the high 50's. I quite enjoyed that, even thought the snow was nice.

This was pretty long so thanks for sticking with me!

To be continued....

Merry Christmas 2008!

To all of our family and friends, wherever and whoever you are....Merry Christmas 2008! This message will reach many from a variety of states and far-flung nations. We love you. We are grateful for your presence in our lives and wish the Lord's brightest blessings upon you.

The two tiniest Feagin's, known to the world as Aaron and Elena are growing and progressing well. They sure keep us busy and we are amazed at their growth. Elena (2 1/2 years) has a remarkable vocabulary, and while an introspective child is also quite active. Aaron (14 months) remains our chubby little hambone and can be found stumbling around the Feagin residence. He is a sensitive little ball of emotion and is a very expressive tike.

Known to the world as the "Mormons for Obama bumper sticker guy", James is still the Senior Writer for Huggins & Scott Auctions in Silver Spring, Maryland. I currently serve in the Elder's Quorum presidency of the Columbia Second Ward, a calling that I find challenging and rewarding. I am in good health and happy as always. My interests are always changing and I love being able to speak about a variety of topics to different people.

Brooke is doing superbly. She is the backbone of the Feagin family and is an inspiration to her family, especially her children. Mrs. Feagin currently works in Medical Billing for Central Maryland Rehabilitation Center in Columbia, Maryland. She excels at her calling as a Sunday School Teacher in the Columbia Second Ward and her greatest challenge.....she puts up with me :)

We are down to Spooky the Cat. Her comrade Smokey, turned up missing in early April and hasn't been heard from since. Despite a frantic search by James, the morbidly obese Smokey is no more.

Aside from an eventful weekend trip to Williamsburg and our annual jaunt to Reno, we stayed pretty close to home. We are grateful for all of the blessings we have been given and for our friends. Keep in touch and here is to a memorable 2009!

Love,

James, Brooke, Elena, Aaron and Spooky

Microwave Fudge

The yummiest, easiest treat ever! Make it for yourself, or your neighbors or- Heck, it's so easy! Make it for both of you. All you need is:

1/2 C Cocoa powder
1/2 C margarine or butter (1 stick)
1 lb. confectioner's sugar
1/4 C milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 C chopped nuts

Mix the cocoa powder and powdered sugar in microwave pan. Slice margarine on top. Pour on milk but do not mix. Cover and cook for 2 minutes at full power. Add vanilla and nuts; stir to mix well. Pour into greased 8x8x2-inch pan. Chill 1 hour. Cut into squares. Makes 64 pieces.

Enjoy!

Sinter Klaasje

My father served his mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Holland, and as a result my brothers and sister and I were raised with a little bit of the Dutch tradition of celebrating Christmas on December 6th. He taught us that Sinter Klaas arrives on an ancient boat and travels from door to door on his magnificent white steed, leaving goodies for all in their wooden shoes (Klompen). (In Holland he arrives from Spain and makes land at Amsterdam.) Each year we always would put treats, as did the Dutch children, like carrots, apples, celery and such for St. Nicholas' horse to eat, and hope that he would in turn give us treats back! We would all sing the song "Sinter Klaasje bona bona bona" (as you have to perform for him in order to receive a gift), and then go to sleep. The next morning we would find such treats in our shoes: traditional ribbon candy, pistachios, and clementines. (Sometimes even hershey kisses!) And then each person got a toy. Oh, boy!




Well, this year I busted out our wooden shoes. We each have a pair that actually fit us- even Aaron! They were all hand-me-downs as people's feet grew and/or bought themselves new ones with cooler painted designs. Here they are in their Klompen! Aaron didn't like to walk in his- not very comfy for little learning feet, so he took them off just as soon as they were on.





And here is what Sinter Klaas brought us!



Elena got a Hello Kitty DVD- she's a HUGE fan right now. Aaron got a farm animal toy, which you can push buttons and hear the animal sound. Oh, boy! Jim got a new Black & Decker drill. (How did Saint Nick know our old one stopped working!?) And I got a new counter-top mixer. Kinda like a Kitchen-Aid. Yippee! Oh, yeah and some really yummy treats too! He left us one of my favorite holiday treats- Stroopwafel! They are somewhat like big round wafers with caramel in between, and if you microwave them for a few seconds the inside gets all melty and gooey and SO GOOD! Especially with a mug of hot chocolate. (I despise calling it "hot cocoa". Pet peeve. Hate, HATE that word!)

Anyway, nowadays, they still celebrate over in Holland. It's a huge deal for them. They close down everything, all the shops, everything. It's kind of like Christmas and Halloween combined. Sinter Klaas wears the cardinal robes as he is a saint from Spain, and he is accompanied by Zwarte Pite (Black Pete, from Morocco). He's the enforcer, shaking a stick of switches to keep the boys and girls in line.



So kids go to the parade all dressed up as one of them, or just paint their faces.



They then have to perform for Sinter Klaasje in order to receive a gift. (This aspect was similar to what I experienced on my mission in Germany.)



Then everybody parties! Every large city has a parade with Sinter Klaas. Maybe someday we'll go over there and experience a true European Christmas. I believe I do have some Dutch heritage, so that would be cool.

Quick Trivia question:

New York City was originally called what?

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Give up?

New Amsterdam!

Back in the day, they used to celebrate Sinter Klaas European style there.

Pretty cool, no?

I have some pretty cool traditional recipes I will post later, like Ollibollen and Lefsa!

Gooi wat in mijn laarsje, Dank U Sinter Klaasje!

(By the way, adding the -je to the end of Sinter Klaas adds an air of affection to it.)

Santa Baby

I was brave and took the kids to the mall by myself the other day to see Santa Claus. Turns out it was a smart idea! There was absolutely no wait, which alleviated me having to entertain them while waiting in line- like last time. Last year it was Elena's tonsils who revealed themselves (waaaaaa), this year she couldn't have loved Santa more! She looked up at him like he was her very own Grandpa...

It was Aaron's turn to share his tonsils with the world. I had to pry his poor little fingies off my shirt and then hide around the corner. The nice lady elves thought that was pretty cute though- a classic sad baby with Santa shot. It was all surprisingly low stress since we didn't have to wait in any line and Santa and his helpers were so nice. There were even two sisters in line behind us who must have been in their 50's. They came to sit on Santa's lap too! I heard them say as we were moving away to Santa that they were naughty this year. Ha! See, you're never too old to sit on Santa's lap...

Today we celebrated the dutch Christmas- Sinter Klaasje visited our house and put some goodies in our wooden shoes. I'll talk some more about that later, once I've downloaded the pictures...

Move Over Dark Knight

My own little Joker.

We have not seen the new Batman movie yet, but I thought Aaron was doing a pretty good impression of the batman's nemesis. Yummy brownie batter!

Let the holiday baking commence!

Celebrate Good Times!

Here's a very short video of Aaron celebrating good times. Look how well he's walking now! This is a birthday card sent to his Grandma for her birthday (yesterday), and it is a very amusing toy for him. Something about harnessing the power to cause the music to play. This exercise is all after our Thanksgiving feast. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

And here's the latest fashion trend at our house. We had a community dumpster set up on our street this week, and along with adding a few of our own things to the pot, I also went dumpster diving. I know, I know. It was only to salvage something Jim had put in there that he wasn't supposed to. But then I found some brand new unused diapers, and a few playthings in some bags. Why waste? I said to myself. So, these bead necklaces were one of the finds. And the thing I was trying to retrieve, ruined in the rainwater at the bottom. Oh, well. Here's Aaron, still handsome in a necklace...And a bottle for accessories...


Oh, okay- another quick one. We were running errands the other day and I had given Elena a few chocolate covered pomegranates- tasted like tangy raisins- to keep her happy. I had brought them home from work. Anyway, it was all stuff that I could do without getting them out of the car, so when we got home it was the first chance I had to see her face. Ha! I laughed so hard I had to run and get my camera. Such a cute, gooey mess!

By the way, tonight we found out that Elena LOVES egg nog!

"Tag" Along

So, Audra has tagged me. You are to post your fourth photo from your fourth file.

This is all of us gathered for our traditional Christmas Eve program. It looks like Christmas 2006 based on Elena's small size, my nasty hair, and Lauren is holding teeny little Jackson.

Our tradition is to gather and have a program where everyone participates, whether by reading a story, singing a song, performing a song via instrument, reading a poem, etc. Infants are usually exempt. I like this tradition, as we usually rediscover through sharing our talents what Christmas is all about.

I now tag Emily, Harmony, Crystal and Stina!

Late Halloween Post

We are huge movie fans, and nothing helps get us in the right holiday mood than watching our favorite repertoire of festive movies. With Halloween being Jim's fave, of course we had to see our cheesy old school horror flicks. Pretty much all B movies. We try to branch out each year to find some new favorites, but keep on coming back to the same ones. I would like to add that none of these are that scary. Here's the list of our 2008 picks:

First, we saw "Black Dragons", with Bela Lugosi, 1942.



Then "House on Haunted Hill", with Vincent Price, 1959.



Next was "The Screaming Scull", a good one! 1958.



Then "Chamber of Horrors" (or "The Door with Seven Locks") 1940.



Then we saw one we liked a lot, "House of Dracula", with Lon Chaney, 1945.



Next was "The Mummy's Ghost", 1944.



And then "Frozen Alive" made in 1964.



Next, Bela Lugosi as "The Ape Man", 1943.



Another favorite is "Werewolf in London", 1934.



We branched out a little bit and saw more contemporary films such as "Boogeyman", 2005...



And "Hocus Pocus" with Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy, 1993.



Then one we see every year and is one of our favorites is "Horror Hotel" (AKA "The City of the Dead"), made in 1960.



And last, but certainly not least, what would Halloween be with out watching the Great Pumpkin with Snoopy and Charlie Brown?



Yep, we enjoyed ourselves. Soon it will be time to start with the Christmas movies! I know everyone has got their favorites, and so do we! Happy Holidays to all!

November Roses

We've had "unseasonably" lucky weather lately. I think it was in the high 60's today. I've been watching our roses bloom outside my kitchen window with wonder and awe at the lateness in the year. What a splendid thing to see! Just two little pink roses bursting into life. Aren't they lovely?

Also, our bushes out front are blooming uncharacteristically. I think they are amaryllis?

I just thought I would stop and smell the roses!