Chocolate Day

I'll be the first to admit that I am a binge blogger. There you have it. You'll hear nothing for weeks and then there will be three posts in a day. I blog as time permits, and I have just found a quiet moment.
Going through the pictures, I had to share this one:

This was taken at the Cummings' version of Chocolate Day. This is borrowed from a time-honored Wride Family Tradition. Let me just say that I married into the right family. :0)  Chocolate is of the utmost import around here. In fact, when Adam and I approached our first married Christmas, he made arrangements for Grandma Wride to teach me the art of dipping chocolates. It was a previously unknown but much enjoyed discovery that this is a requirement in Wride Christmas celebrations.

On the Wride side, Chocolate Day occurs first during election day - when the centers are made because the kids have a day off school. Then, the day after Thanksgiving is dipping day. Christmas music abounds, and people are light on their feet (much dancing occurs to the tracks of Trans-Siberian Orchestra), though their hands are heavy into mounds of melted chocolate. It is glorious!

The Cummings version of Chocolate day is scaled down a bit; we end up with 6 types of chocolate instead of the Wride pros'...hmm...17 I think it was this year. My favorite alternates between mint truffles and pecan turtles. Here is a picture of my "little" brother Dan and I dipping the latter. Okay...so that last picture won't upload. I'll try later.

Christmas Kids

We're getting excited around here. Family is coming into town; the tree is decorated; presents are piling up; and Christmas is just around the corner! Makes me feel like a little girl! I've always had trouble sleeping on Christmas Eve.

Here are our cute kiddos at the ward Christmas party.

Beeps wants a fire truck for Christmas

Beeps wants a fire truck for Christmas
Originally uploaded by Adam W.

In preparation for a visit to the local mall to see Santa, Spencer and I read a children's book entitled "Brave Santa" about a little boy who works up the courage to see Santa only when he finds out Santa is a little shy too. Beeps (aka Spence) had a wonderful time practicing for this big event by sitting on Daddy's lap. He even requested that Emma take her turn practicing in like manner and in the end we were all sitting on Spencer's lap to hear him say "HO, HO, HO...what do you want for Christmas?...have you been a good boy/girl?" When the time came to see Santa, he was so brave. He sat right down and announced that yes, he has been good; he wants a fire engine for Christmas; and Emma wants a snowman. Emma was happy to join her big brother on Santa's lap and didn't mind his speaking up for her. We were so pleased with how the outing went.

That was just before Thanksgiving (no lines if you go two days early). Fast forward two weeks or so to our ward party. Adam was on a business trip, and I had gone early with the kiddos to help with the last minute details. I was putting plastic cutlery in baskets when someone announced that Santa had arrived in the primary room and any children there early could go ahead and visit with him. I thought it would be nice if we waited for the rest of the fam (Gma, Gpa, and Laura) to come so we could all watch Spencer sit on the jolly fellow's lap. However, I was not quick enough to catch my little man. By the time I had emptied the plastic knives and strolled Emma over to the primary room, Spencer had already sat on Santa's lap, announced once more that he wanted a fire engine, and was nearly done chomping on his lollipop. He was the absolute first kid in line; fortunately, the ward e-mailed out photos later. I tried to have Emma take her turn, but no dice. She screamed without her Brave Spencer to set the stage. I should have snapped that picture too, just for kicks.

Still a secret

Still a secret
Originally uploaded by Adam W.

In case you didn't gather from the previous post, the secret is still intact. If for some reason you know more than Marie - please refrain from giving anything away. For the rest of you, you can speculate as you wish.

As you can tell from this picture, I'm not mad. =) (other picture told a different story)

Ticketmaster Tickets

Ticketmaster Tickets
Originally uploaded by Adam W.

Lucky for me, Ticketmaster has been in this business for a long time. See this picture? That's what the tickets look like when you look into the envelope (both sides). They know that more often than not, the intended gift recipient will open the envelope and take a look (even with the best of intentions =). As far as I can tell, the surprise was preserved.

A word to the wise: If you're gonna be sneaky this Christmas, you may need to get the mail before the surprisee.

Don't worry Marie - we're going to have a fabulous time at ____ ______ __ ______. Merry Christmas!

As you may or may not have heard, I have started a web-based software business for language learning and one of the biggest issues we are working through is the design of the product. Certainly these types of product design only come with time, but I am fascinated with well designed products - even when it is just how a ticket is printed, folded, stuffed, and mailed.

(Yes, this will be the only positive Ticketmaster blog post on the blogosphere today)

Ticketmaster envelope

Ticketmaster envelope
Originally uploaded by Adam W.

If you get one of these in the mail... don't open it unless it has your name on it. =)

See next post.

Let it Snow!

Admittedly, metric estimations are not my strong point, but I would say that I just swept a good 3-4 inches off our car, and it is still coming down (albeit more gradually than earlier today)! It was a glorious surprise to wake up to a white world this morning. I found a bit of time to peruse the blogs of some VA friends, and many are commenting on this wet, white phenomenon. Time to join the crowd!

Just after lunch, when there was a respectable amount of snow, I got the kids all gussied up in their winter weather gear, and we headed outside to take a few runs down the hill in the backyard. It took about half an hour to get ready (had to make sure Spencer had used the facilities and Emma had a dry diaper before putting on all those layers) and then we had a good 15 minutes of fun before the mittens were falling off and it was getting cold. I didn't fight it; we headed inside because I want to have LOTs of sledding parties this winter, so I didn't want any negative impressions of the first to ruin those in the future. We made a track down the hill and were careful not to walk on it as we trekked back up for more runs. We even made a few snowballs before heading back inside for hot cocoa. Spencer loves the snow - but he didn't appreciate the snowflakes falling in his eyes. Emma didn't seem to mind that at all. She was a happy little snow bunny. Spencer was a good big brother and held onto her - and then I onto him - during our sledding runs. It is nothing to compare with the sledding we used to do at my parent's place when I was young - or those down suicide hill before they leveled it out and built houses. But still, it was an appropriate celebration of the first snowfall of the year. Tonight, post shoveling, I plan to snuggle down with some hot cocoa by the lit Christmas tree. Adam's in Utah for a biz trip or else I'd be snuggling with him. Hot cocoa it is for tonight.

p.s. I know, I know...my kids look like that one character on the movie "The Christmas Story". At least they were protected against the elements.