Christmas

I've been a real slacker in the blogging department. I wish this was more interesting and creative than just a recap of the holiday... but it's not. We didn't take as many pictures as we should have to document the festivities, so these will have to do.

Of course we didn't take many pictures on Christmas Eve, when a lot of the fun stuff happened. If we had, you would have been able to see the pine-and-berry garlands we strung up, the gingerbread cookies we made with our nieces, and the tasty Palestine dinner we ate on our living room floor. (Can you use the word tasty in a sentence that involves valu-brand fish sticks? We definitely learned our lesson about those!) The Palestine Dinner is a Christmas Eve tradition from Paul's family that includes foods that were probably eaten during the Savior's time: fish, olives, grape juice, unleavened bread (or, in our case, tortillas), etc.

Although all of our picture-worthy gingerbread cookies have long since been eaten, you can still have the recipe. It's the only one my family ever uses, and you can just file it away for next year, if you want.

Gingerbread Cookies

2 3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

Sift flour, baking soda, salt and spices onto waxed paper. Beat vegetable shortening with sugar until fluffy in a large bowl; beat in molasses, egg, and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture, a third at a time, blending well after each addition, to make a soft dough. Wrap dough in foil and chill 4 hours, or overnight. Roll out dough, one quarter at a time, to a 1/8" thickness on a lightly floured pastry board.Cut with 3" cookie cutters. Place 1" apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in moderate oven (350 degrees) 8 minutes, or until cookies are firm but not too dark. Remove to wire rack with spatula, cool.

I ignore the sifting part and just stir all the dry stuff together. I also found, thanks to my mom, that using powdered sugar instead of flour when you roll out the cookies works great!

We watched The Nativity Story, which we love. When I watched it for the first time last year at Paul's parents' house I was barely pregnant and it was very emotional for me. But even this year, although it wasn't so emotional, I was still struck by the thoughtful, if artistically embellished, depiction of that sacred story.

And here's where we did take pictures. With kids in bed we wrapped up last-minute gifts and helped Santa fill everyone's snow boots with goodies.


Christmas morning dawned with fresh white powder on the ground, and delighted squeals were heard as our nieces KristiAnne and EmmaLee saw their boots filled to the brim with treats and toys. Poor Benjamin's little boy heart was almost broken when the girls raced out for fear that they would take the precious matchbox cars Santa had left for him.


The babies chilled out on the floor while everyone else opened gifts.


Benjamin was delighted by a new set of toy kitchen pans and an apron with a Cougar "Y" on it that's just his size. Legos from Grandma Key were also a big hit.

And many giggles were heard as this awesome gift from us to Jason and Katie filled our living room:


The final gift was the doll that Paul made for me this year. It is a tradition that he has carried on from his dad, and something that we both look forward to each Christmas.

I love this doll. Paul calls it his "most abstract doll yet." I think that it's perfect for where we are living right now: It's made out of wood and pine cones from our backyard, and is carefully draped in shimmering strands of hot glue that remind me of the icy winter that we just had. I wish the picture did it justice, but it really is a creative piece of work!

Finally, who could pass up a good romp through the snow on Christmas Day? Paul and Jason (his brother, by the way) erected this "Matterhorn" of sorts with a tunnel through the bottom.


And that's (basically) it! I'll try to be better next time about documenting the details more carefully and punctually.

Discovery

Last week was one of discovery for our boys.

Benjamin discovered rainbows.

(It was reflecting off of one of his toys.)

Rhett discovered a friend in the mirror.


Benjamin discovered how fun it is to take self-portraits in front on the mirror...

(Look at those new molars!)

...kinda like his Aunt Ruth!


He also learned that Jell-O tastes like juice and is worth every last drop.


Finally (for now), Rhett learned to crawl!

(This was yesterday morning.)

I should probably go vacuum my floor...

Cranberry Orange Oatmeal Cookies

I was craving cookies with cranberries in them after I bought a big bag of Craisins from Costco the other day. So I took my favorite oatmeal raisin cookie recipe (from an old Encyclopedia Brown book I bought when I was a kid), made a couple of substitutions, and came up with these. We liked them so much I made them twice in a week.

1 c. butter or margarine, softened

1 c. brown sugar

1 c. granulated sugar

2 t. vanilla

2 eggs

grated peel of 1 orange

1 t. baking soda

1 t. salt

1 1/3 + 1/2 c. flour

3 c. uncooked oats

1 1/2 c. dried cranberries

Cream together butter and sugars. Stir in vanilla, eggs, orange peel, baking soda, and salt. Add flour and oats; stir in cranberries. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheets. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes, until slightly brown. Remove to cooling racks.

Kicking off the New Year

Paul and I were looking forward to a nice, quiet New Year's celebration as a family this year. Then we thought we'd like to spend it with the Sego family in Richland. Then Paul was assigned to head up the Boy Scout Christmas tree removal service a couple days after the New Year, so we decided it would be better to stay home. We were planning on attending a New Year's party at our friends the Youngbergs.

But why do that when you can get an appendectomy instead?

Paul started feeling sick at work on Tuesday (Dec. 30) and came home early. He was feeling pain in his stomach, he said, similar to pain he felt a couple of months before that had gone away after a few days. Back then I thought it was probably food poisoning of some sort, but this time I couldn't think of anything that I had fed him that could possibly have given him food poisoning.

Paul spent the afternoon and evening Tuesday on the couch, barely able to move. He's not one to just lay there at any given time, so it was pretty sad. As the night wore on it got worse and worse. Finally he was in such pain that he couldn't stand it anymore and said he wanted to go to the hospital. For those who know Paul, you know he's one to tough things out, so going to the ER was a big deal.

Our good friend and neighbor Cassie came over to stay with the boys around 9:30 that night while I drove Paul to the Emergency Room. A doctor, after listening to Paul's symptoms, suggested that it might be a kidney stone. Great, thought Paul. But after a urine test, a blood test, and a CAT scan (and about 4 hours after we arrived), the diagnosis was appendicitis. Yay! Although not thrilled, Paul was quite relieved that it was something rather than a mystery to be waited out at home.

They'll take it out first thing in the morning, the doctor told us. You're nowhere near rupturing, but definitely inflamed. It will need to come out since it is not going to get better.

Paul got settled in a room for the night and I drove home alone.

The next day a nurse called to tell me that Paul wouldn't have surgery till five or six that evening. Poor Paul wasn't allowed to have anything to eat or drink until after his surgery, and he had not eaten since lunch on Tuesday.

Which is why we found him looking very unthrilled when we visited him Wednesday afternoon (New Year's Eve).


Benjamin thought the hospital was pretty great. He was a little weirded out by Paul lying in the hospital bed at first, but soon began chatting about "Dada get sergry."

When the boys started getting restless I took them to run errands, then got a call from Paul telling me that they wouldn't be operating on him till 8:00pm. Bummer. At least he had pain medicine to help him, but he still couldn't eat!

We came back to see him before his surgery only to learn shortly into the visit that he had been bumped back to 10:00pm. I was hopeful that we'd still be able to ring in the new year together, even with Paul just recovering.

Nope. Another nurse told us the surgery wouldn't happen till closer to 11:00. By then Paul was pretty resigned to all the delays.

The boys and I stayed with Paul as long we could. We were with him as he was prepped for surgery. Our lingering visit at the hospital was 100% because of my need rather than Paul's. I hated leaving him there by himself, but he just rolled his eyes at me and said, "I'm fine. I'm not going to die."

So Benjamin gave him some rocks and we went home around 10:45, just before they wheeled Paul into surgery.


I spent my New Year on the phone with Paul's mom while Benjamin slept in his bed and Rhett slept in my lap post-nursing.

Shortly after the start of 2009 Paul was stitched-up and short one unnecessary body part. The doctor called me himself right after he was done to tell me how it went. He was so nice and friendly. I appreciated his kindness in calling, not sounding rushed or frustrated at all, even though he had spent all night operating on people, and still had one more patient to go! Happy New Year, Dr. Vander Griend! You're a champ!

Unfortunately we didn't get a picture of Paul's immediately post-surgery incision, but we took one after the bandages came off and it was mostly healed. The incision was 2.5 inches long. Please note that Paul does not shave his belly on a regular basis. Or ever. The doctor shaved the area for the surgery.

Happy 2009!



*****ADDENDUM TO PAUL'S APPENDIX*****
made 13 January 2009

Paul went to see Dr.Vander Griend today for a checkup to make sure Paul was feeling well and healing correctly. Thankfully Paul has been back to normal for about a week now. Dr. Vander Griend surprised Paul with the news that his appendix actually had burst! Lab study of Paul's appendix showed that it had very minorly ruptured.

We are so grateful that we were able to get to the hospital before Paul's condition became even worse. If Paul's appendix would have ruptured any more he would've most likely been in much worse condition today. The Lord was really watching out for us, and we feel greatly blessed.

Merry Christmas!

Okay, so I totally edited the time stamp on this. But I intended to post it before the New Year, so I don't think the date it actually appears on the blog really matters.

We hope you all had a joyous holiday season! In an attempt to be frugal we only sent these out to select family members, with the intent to e-mail them to the rest of you. If you didn't get the e-mail, don't feel left out. No one else did either.

So here are our family's Christmas card and letter, as well as a birth announcement we made for Rhett (which was pretty much only sent to parents and grandparents).

Dear family and friends,

As another year comes to a close and we celebrate once again the birth of our Savior, our family is ever grateful for the blessings that we enjoy. This year has brought our family triumphs as well as challenges, and we have felt the Lord’s guidance and protection in all of them. Paul and Vicky both graduated from Brigham Young University feeling accomplished as well as relieved, and we moved our family to Bellingham, WA, for Paul’s first post-college job.

Two days after Paul and Benjamin left Provo, and four days before we all arrived in Bellingham together, our family was joined by Rhett Buehler Duersch on June 28, 2008. He arrived three weeks early, but was a welcome surprise! Rhett is a very happy baby who is loves his older brother tremendously and brings great amounts of added joy to our lives.

Benjamin is a feisty two-year-old who loves to repeat everything his mom and dad say but who, fortunately for us, has not done it too often in public yet. He is a great helper for Vicky, who feels blessed to stay at home and raise her two little boys, and is a sweet brother to Rhett. Benjamin loves to read books, sing songs, and play with basketballs.

We are grateful for all of you who have helped and supported us this year, as well as for old friends and new, and we wish you all the very best of things during this Christmas and the coming New Year.

Love,

Paul, Vicky, Benjamin & Rhett Duersch

We appreciated receiving cards and letters from many of our friends and family, and hope that you won't take it personally if you didn't receive them from us. It's amazing we got them out at all! We are grateful for you and hope you each find many blessings in the New Year!

Snow Day

With a few inches of fresh powder on the ground, we decided to let Benjamin tromp through the wintery wonderland of our back yard yesterday afternoon. He donned his almost-new, seven-dollars-from-Value-Villiage snowsuit that will probably fit him next year (yay!), finally found the thumb holes in his mittens after the bajillionth try, and off he went.



Paul took a moment to toss some snow around with Benjamin and pose for a picture next to the thermometer before he had to go back to work. He would much rather have spent the afternoon stomping through the snow with Benjamin.




While Rhett napped I took Paul's place in the back yard. I was really surprised at Benjamin's enthusiasm for our snowy activity. We stomped and tromped and even made snow angels. He was unfailingly thrilled every time I made a snow ball and gently placed it in his mittened hands, from which he would enthusiastically fling it to see the snow scatter in the air.



He probably would have stayed outside all afternoon despite rosy cheeks, runny nose, and the freezing wind that made his eyes water, but I managed to coax him inside with the promise of hot chocolate. I was too cold.

On another note, we went back to the pumpkin patch (which is now a Christmas tree patch) last weekend to cut down this handsome doug fir. (No pictures of that since the wind was blowing 40 mph and Benjamin was screaming. We didn't even bother taking the camera out of the car.) Paul and I strung it with some popcorn (which is slowly being munched by Benjamin) and put up our small collection of ornaments. Five days till Christmas and we're still working on putting up all our decorations and getting out our Christmas cards and such. And I just finished making Rhett's birth announcement. There's still a lot to do, but I suppose if it doesn't all get done "in time" it won't really make a difference. That's what I'm trying to tell myself, anyway.

First Snow

What is evergreen is now covered in white. This weekend we welcomed a wintry blast. Our neighbors to the north provided the extreme wind chill and the ocean to the west provided the moisture. Put them together and you get one cold storm.

Temperatures on Friday started in the 40's and by Saturday they were in the 20's with a wind chill factor dropping the temperature to 1 degree Fahrenheit. The news continues to report that this is now the coldest December since 1990.

So what did we do? Well, since this has been Paul's first open Saturday since October, we went to a tree farm and cut down a Christmas tree. Paul hung up the Christmas lights outside, covered the hose bibs, and worked on the car. After all that, we enjoyed some hot cocoa in our warm home.

This morning we were woken by phone calls that church was canceled, and there was ice on the windows of our house. As the temperatures continue to stay in the teens and single digits, we stay inside and enjoy our Mormon Tabernacle Christmas music. Maybe we'll have a white Christmas since the cold is here to stay and more snow is expected later this week.

Thankful

Although the Thanksgiving holiday has passed, I still want to share a few things that I've been thankful for these past few weeks.

I am thankful for beautiful flowers on gray days.
(And especially for the wonderful husband who gave them to me.)

I am thankful for a good helper around the house.

I am thankful for this rambunctious boy...

...and this wiggly baby.

And I'm thankful for so many other things that don't have pictures to go with them right now, like wonderful extended family members, a kind and diligent visiting teacher, the gospel of Jesus Christ and, again, my marriage to a wonderful, loving husband. Life is good!

Life, briefly

Benjamin makes sure all shoes are where they belong, even Mr. Potato Head's.

I read the boys some books.

Benjamin chats with 'Nene (Aunt Alene) on Dad's cell phone.

Paul and I share sleeping quarters with these two bed hogs.

Laundry still isn't folded.


The End.