Christmas is . . . Meatballs

Yes, I enjoy meat.  But, it wasn’t the meat -- the meat was raw.  Three days before Christmas, David and I gathered the family together to make the traditional Swedish meatballs we would take to the Benson Family Christmas Eve Dinner.  Makenna, Alia, and I spent nearly an hour scooping teaspoonfuls of meat and forming them into balls that David would brown on the stove.  Alia’s were often way too big.  She had meat mixture between her fingers and up to her elbows.  Makenna and I secretly re-formed her meatballs to a reasonable size before they went to Dave at the stove.  Linnea, who didn’t want anything to do with raw meatball goo, still wanted to work with us.  She set about cutting bread for the Christmas Day dressing and acted as our official photographer.  There we were:  dirty dishes piled up to our ears, gifts yet to wrap, toys strewn about the family room, with Xerxes waiting for us to drop handouts.  We were  working together & laughing.  We were making memories for years to come.

Each year I desire to enjoy the “perfect” Christmas season.  My vision is one of Christmas music playing softly in a quiet, tidy house, with clean children peacefully playing games at the kitchen table.  The gifts are purchased (on sale) in September and are wrapped early and placed beneath a beautifully decorated tree in a designer living room, where I am curled up to enjoy the days of waiting in front of the fireplace with my husband, a great book and a glass of wine.

Never mind the fact that my vision is unrealistic and formed by Dickens, Hallmark, and the media.  I get it!  But, I still aim for it.  As a result of my unrealistic yearnings, I annually set myself up for disappointment.  I end up dreading the work that promises to make my family’s Christmas “picture perfect”.  I furrow my brow and fake a smile as I set about orchestrating the details behind the perfect gifts, decorating, errand running, list making, house cleaning, cookie baking, & Christmas-memory-making entertainment that will fulfill my vision.

This year, however, surprised me.  The lead-up to Christmas was much like any year, but in review, my favorite things weren’t the house, the music, the gifts, or the “vision”.  (Most of that didn’t happen like I planned anyway.)  When David and I stopped to talk about our favorite memories from this holiday season, my mind kept returning to individual moments that I’ll remember:  watching Alia dance in her new ballet clothes, changing outfits every few minutes; watching the big girls shop for each other and pay for their gifts with their allowance money; a breakfast out with David 2 weeks before Christmas; and last, but not least . . . the meatballs.

Stuck in Jail (Braces)

By Makenna Benson

Pretzel's Point of View
        I think she got her jail bars about 4 months ago.  Now I’m stuck here until Makenna brushes her teeth.  I can’t remember how I got here or why, but somehow I got here at lunchtime.  I haven’t eaten since!  That’s a major problem because I’m starving.  Maybe I’ll have to eat myself, a chewed up pretzel. 
        You know, I would rather be where I started out, as a pretzel.  I guess I shouldn’t wish too hard because that isn’t likely to happen.  So I won’t get my hopes up too high.  On the other hand, I don’t want to get out because then I would get washed down the sink.  I know that because when I was sitting on the counter waiting patiently for Makenna to pick me up and eat me, I looked around and saw the sink.  It was making grumbling noises.  I was totally freaked out!  It’s scary to think about.  I decided to name it The Sink Monster.  Maybe it won’t be as bad as I’m making it sound.  At least I’ll be with more food.  I’m not feeling so bad now.  In fact, I made friends with the sandwich.
It’s time to get brushed out of Makenna’s mouth.  I’m super, ultra nervous!  Uh, oh!  Here comes goo on a hairbrush like thingy.  Yikes!  It just touched me!  Hey, that actually feels pretty good.  Awesome!!!  This feels sooo good - at least better than being chewed.  It really paid off.  Time for her to spit.  This is the part I’ve been dreading!  Here I go.  Wee! That was fun! It kind of hurt, but . . . whatever.
          Now for the worst part of my trip… the shower.  It’s going to wipe me down the sink right to The Sink Monster.  Here it goes, and there I went. . . It’s not so bad down here after all.  Cool!

Makenna’s point of view

          “Makenna, time for lunch,” hollered Mommy.
          “Ok,” I replied.
          I walked over to the counter and picked up my plate of food.  Oh yah!  It’s my favorite, an egg salad sandwich with pretzels.  After lunch, I went into the family room and played Wii for a while.  Later, I wrote in my journal.  My teeth were really bothering me all afternoon.  So annoying!!  There were pretzels stuck in my braces.
          “I know,” I thought, “I’ll go brush my toofums.”  I went to the bathroom and brushed my teeth.
          “That’s better!” I said.

2009 in Pictures

Kara and kids went to Hilton Head for Spring Break with the Kilgores.

Makenna and Linnea recitals.

David had an ugly wreck in his first bike race of the year and ended up with a broken heel bone, sprained ankle, and sprained foot.  He hasn't raced since.

Back to Glacier National Park for year 15!

 

Hiking to Iceberg Lake.

 

 

The kids had great fun playing in the creek behind our house.

Fourth of July

Hike to Medicine Grizzly Lake.

We had a lot of visitors this summer.  Grandpa and Grandma Benson brought Kelsey and Courtney, and Chuck and Katherine brought their kids plus Zachary and Jennifer.  The Kilgores visited, too.

We also had a fun camping trip to Bowman Lake on the West side of the park.

Our friend Rachel had a Kayak that we borrowed.

Dave stayed an extra month to do research on White-tailed Ptarmigan.  He came home in early September.

Xerxes came to live with us and be our dog in August.

Alia turned three and we had a party at Lions Park in September.

Alia had a fun Christmas.

The family visited the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for New Years with the Kilgores.  Makenna, Kara, and Dave went on a fun hike in the park one afternoon.

Happy New Year

Welcome to RealFamily,

We've always wanted to keep a scrapbook, but we're not crafty. Dave and I both value our memories of family experiences and have dabbled in journals and photographs, but still no scrapbook. Our best attempt was to journal about our honeymoon nearly 17 years ago. We took turns writing on alternating days and what resulted was a well rounded account of our 8 week adventure.

Here's our newest attempt to keep a record of our family journey. We plan to have each of us write from time to time. Now that there are 5 of us (and a dog) there may be some interesting angles. Enjoy our musings.