That phrase makes me groan.

It brings to mind things like

“This year I am going to pray EVERY day”

or

“This year I am going to read the scriptures EVERY day”

or

“I am going to loose ALL the weight I gained over six pregnancies”

or even

“This year, I WILL be published.” (which, not to offend those who set this goal, is rather silly since we can’t control who says yes to our manuscript – though we can definitely try to get there.)

Some time ago I gave up on resolutions. It seemed that the goals made on New Years were doomed to fail or to make us feel guilty for our many flaws.

So, I  avoided them altogether.

But, aren’t we encouraged to set goals, to reach for new heights, to better ourselves?

The answer of course, is

YES!!!

So, this year I thought a bit about these resolutions and I had an epiphany.

Setting goals that require perfection are ridiculous.  If I’m not in a habit of reading and praying every day (or just really forgetful and distract easily), I can’t expect to be (or suddenly remember everything), simply by setting a goal.  (some people may be able to do that, but I sure can’t)  Setting goals that are beyond our control, or far too lofty, fall into the ridiculous category as well. Besides, making resolutions we are bound to fail makes us feel lousy.

So, I thought about what I wanted to accomplish this year and my difficulties in getting there.  Ultimately I would love to be 100 %  in reading my scriptures and praying every day.

But, I’m human.

which means, I forget. I get SO busy that I just plain forget.

Even if I set a goal to do it EVERY day, I know I’ll still forget, inevitably, some day in the year I’ll be SO busy it will slip my mind. And then

BAM

Resolution

FAILED

What I decided to do instead, is to set a small goal – with wiggle room even – that doesn’t require perfection, but will serve as a constant reminder to do the other things.

My resolution this year is to:

read the Ensign every month, cover to cover.

It’s just a magazine. Not hard to read. But the articles are such that will remind me to read and to pray. So, by working on my very reachable resolution, I will come closer to the other, loftier, resolutions. And maybe, some day I will be 100%.

Some of other resolutions to the above cases could be: send out 5 query letters (resolution met – go send out some more)or loose five pounds (and if you loose more, then AWESOME! but at least you met your resolution).

And you argue, but all the quotes say:

“Failure is the road to success” or “if you don’t set lofty goals you won’t attain them”

this is true, but I dare to argue:

You can also set yourself up for failure!

and if you do that

Discouragement can and does set in.

Yes, set your lofty goals

but give yourselves stepping stones to get there!

And don’t expect it to happen in a year

or five

or even ten.

Just keep stepping along those stones and pretty soon, before you realize it, you’ll have reached

the top of the mountain.

I believe it is the little things along the way, the short goals we make and achieve as we strive for the lofty ones, that create character and turn the weak into the mighty.

So, this year I am changing my stance on resolutions and….

I resolve to be a better person at the end of the year than I was at the beginning. I’m going to read my Ensign every month, and have a candle light dinner once a week with my husband, and enjoy all the little goals (like sending out queries) I set and achieve along the way.

Last week I received a bit of news.

A rough bit.

I found out my father has brain cancer – lymphoma – though now they aren’t too sure what it is and are doing more tests. What they do know for sure is that he has lesions on the front and back of his brain – and it came on fast in the last month and a half (or at least, that’s when the symptoms showed up).

My dad is an amazing man. Has always been active and healthy. He taught me to love hiking and nature. He taught me to be and do my best.  He has the wackiest sense of humor – the kind where some people  can’t tell if he’s joking, but there’s a twinkle in his eye, and he makes the craziest goofy faces.

I never thought about how old he was getting (he’s 74, after all) and how he was slowing down. He always seemed invincible to me, like he would live forever. But I feel my time with him here on earth slipping away between my grasping fingers.

Maybe I have many years yet to come, I choose to hope for the best. But, in case the time is short, I am going to visit. I’ve only seen him one day in these past 3 1/2 years – because of their mission and our move – and it’s been too long. I am so blessed to have such a supportive husband and family to allow me to take off for a while to be with my parents.

I’ll try my best to blog while I’m gone, but I might not have much time. I’ll be hanging with my most amazing parents and visiting amazing old friends too. I plan on having a blast.

But, all while I’m having a grand time, I’ll be praying. Praying for my dad. If you don’t mind sending a prayer our way, it would be so appreciated. And if you aren’t the praying type, good thoughts and wishes work well too. We can feel the support from everyone around us.

And I believe in miracles.

What a lovely Christmas we had!

And birthday too, as James turned 4 two days after. I will write about that later though.

We had our traditional re-enactment of the Christmas Story on Christmas Eve – which turns out more COMEDY than seriousness – but I think they still get the message of the true meaning of Christmas.

See Below:

First Jacob looks like he’s doing some sort of crazy bizarre thing.

Then Dad is giving him a talking to while James looks like he’s about to pounce on Emily.

Finally they all manage a quick smile.

Then Dad insists that Mom hop in the picture and Jacob spreads his angel wings.

So that is reminiscent of the whole evening – as you can see here:

I think that the idea of Jacob as the angel was amusing in and of itself as he tends to CAUSE (and get into) the MOST trouble

After we sent them off to bed “Santa” came…

Christmas morning dawned with EXCITEMENT and FUN…

The boys LOVED the quilts that I managed to throw together in five days

(silly me, thinking that I had plenty of time…)

And Dad loved his presents, apparantly….

But the FUNNIEST moment of the days was when…

The kids opened up their brand new toilet seat!

So, the story…

A few days before Christmas the toilet seat in the kids’ bathroom broke. While Paul and I were out Christmas shopping we bought a new one.

That night, as we went through our stash and tallied things up, we pulled the toilet seat from the pile.

“What if,”  my husband suggested, “we give it to the kids for Christmas.”

“Oh, that would be a riot!” I exclaimed.

So we did, and it was.

Though Dot had to ask,

“Is it clean?”

This week we are writing from the perspective of the girl beneath the arrow in the picture below.

The task was supposed to be a simple one. Slip the transmitter into Mai Lin’s purse and get out. Only I wasn’t a cool super spy. In fact, I wasn’t a cool or super anything. First gum, and now pigeon poop. If  the shwop of my sticky shoe didn’t alert her, my smell would. I pursed my lips and leaned in, failure wasn’t an option. My heart thumped against my ribs as the crowd pressed and jostled me. She didn’t even turn, just laughed at someone’s bad joke. For once I was grateful for my uncanny ability to be invisible.

That’s what was for dinner, and by the time

I got around to getting what was left to be gotten

there wasn’t much left for the getting.

In short, come evening as Paul and I dismantled Christmas, I was

FAMISHED.

There were no left-overs left and my mind sped through the items in the cupboards, fridge, and freezer like an empty rollodex until they came to rest on

chicken fingers

and

Totinos pepperoni pizza rolls.

I had snagged some on a whim (they were on sale – we don’t typically eat them) and they were sitting in our freezer.

With few options I decided to throw some in the oven. I asked Paul if he wanted some, and he said, “Sure.”

While Paul continued on packing away all the Christmas things, I decided to have a little fun.

I dusted off our

Wedgwood

pulled out a bottle of

sparkling cider

and found our

candelabra.

I placed the china on our

dark blue chargers

and arranged the table in a

soft candle-lit glow.

The oven beeped and I pulled out our pizza rolls and chicken fingers which I heaped on a

crystal platter.

I flicked off all the lights and called Paul in as he set the mood with Josh Groban and Michael Buble.

And we ate.

Finger food

off

Wedgwood

and laughed

and made jokes

and decided that every week this year we are going to have some kind of candlelight dinner.

Even if it’s just fingerfood

or pizza on pottery.

Paul chased me from the kitchen afterwards to do the dishes and said,

“Thanks for the nice meal.”

I burst out laughing and ran as he snapped my bum with a towel.

Yikes! We were having so much fun over Christmas, I’m a little late getting this in.

I had a hard time choosing, finally I settled on this beginning by SJB Writing

The Sparkler

The diamond sparkled as much as the lights on the Christmas tree, but less than lights in his eyes. “Marry me,” he murmured, pressing his lips against her shoulder.

She held her breath, then closed her eyes so as not to see the hurt in his. “I’m sorry. I can’t.”

Here is my ending:

He stood silently in front of her. She peeked at him from beneath her lashes. Her heart tugged at the sight of his slack jaw and slumped shoulders. A smile teased the corner of her mouth and his eyebrow raised.

Mischief laced her words. “I can’t because you’re not kneeling.”

Tonight, however, I shall share with you our funny faux-pas courtesy of

Apples

to

Apples

(for those of you who haven’t played the game the gist is the judge places a word on the table and everyone else choose a word from their hand that best fits – the judge decides which one wins)

Word:

Intelligent

card accidentally played by our daughter:

Divorce

(hopefully there was no secret meaning there)

Word:

Neglected

The card I couldn’t resist playing that none of the kids understood:

My Lovelife

(my hubby laughed insanely – trying to decide how I should take that one – ha ha)

Word:

Playful

it came down to two choices:

Barbed Wire

vs.

Mafia

Barbed Wire won

and finally, the icing on the cake, so to say…

the word was, well, I don’t even remember actually. The card that won was The Mississippi River and I guffawed and Paul was saying something about Nauvoo being along the Mississippi River to which Em says:

“What’s Nauvoo?”

Dot, full of big sisterly wisdom and love replies,

“That place in Star Wars, Du-uh!”

To which Dad and I reply,

“Uh, Honey, that was Naboo….”

This week is quite unique and fun – it’s a

50/50 challenge.

The theme is

“The Season”

Here’s the idea:

you write 50 words now (the beginning) then go read the others and choose one to finish. When you’ve chosen you write a 50 word ending to their 50 word beginning.

Pretty cool!

Here’s mine….

“Season’s Greetings”

Jenna sighed as the doorbell rang. The last time she’d seen him she was a fifteen-year-old klutz with a crush. The sound of male voices and laughter drew her to the door. She smiled at his stunned expression and didn’t notice the puddle of melted snow on the wood floor.

Well, there you go!

Go HERE to read the others.

Things have been CRAZY busy.

I THOUGHT I had everything ready for Christmas.

Or at least close to ready.

I WAS WRONG!

Paul and I finished up the last of the shopping Friday night and sat down to total everything up.

Turns out, that those quilts I had decided to post pone making until birthdays were CRUCIAL Christmas items.

So, between late Friday night and this afternoon I have been frantically putting together TWO twin-sized quilts and a fleece blanket.

That explains why I missed Monday.

Anyway, I am officially ready now.

YAY!

and looking forward to doing a new 100 word challenge – but that will have to wait until Friday.

So, tonight, Emily and I went to do her Christmas shopping.

Usually the kids make stuff, but I have been SO busy, that I hadn’t had the chance to help them, so we just went to the dollar store.

We walked up and down the aisles trying to find something for Liz and then stopped dead in our tracks.

I pointed at a toy hippo.

“Give her a hippopotamus for Christmas!”

Emily started laughing. I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas is her (Liz’s)  FAVORITE song.

I even found the sheet music to it this year and added it to our sing around the piano pile.

After we checked out we went to the car.

The radio came on and

guess what song they were playing??

The challenge?

to rewrite (using 100 or less words) a Christmas Carol making it be about Christmas dinner. Julia specifically stated (that is so weird saying my own name, I feel like I’m talking in the third person, ha ha – oh wait I am… oh never mind)

” I want you to choose a favourite carol and re-write it with the theme of a Christmas Dinner. You have to tell your readers which carol it is and they have to be able to sing your version back to themselves. That means the right tempo and beat.”

Anyway, it sounded FUN, so I HAD to do it.

I chose “It’s Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas”.

Problem is

it’s a LONG song

so I planned on just doing the first Refrain.

After I did that, I had less than 100 words and I thought the patter would be quite challenging and I had to give it a try.

By then I was at 104 words. I could have left you all to repeat the refrain, but what’s the fun in that? and since I was over the 100 word limit ANYWAY I dove in and finished it off.

So, I broke the rules.

but I promise to do better in the future

(if you’re a real stickler on the 100 words thing, just quit reading after the first refrain and you’re good. )

“It’s Beginning to Smell a lot Like Christmas”

Refrain

It’s beginning to smell a lot like Christmas

Oven is aglow

Take a peek at the ham and then,

Whistling once again,

You snitch a cookie quick so mom won’t know.

It’s beginning to smell a lot like Christmas

And the hour is late

All the yummiest things to eat

Are pulling you to your seat

But you’ll have to wait.

 Patter

A slice of strawberry pie and some rolls make you sigh as you wish the meal would begin

Warm Christmas cake and the punch make you ache as the drool de-sce-ends your chin.

Then fin’ly mother gives the call for you-u to dig in.

 Refrain

It’s beginning to taste a lot like Christmas.

Joy in every bite

Eat some mashed potatoes and ham

Slather some bread with jam

And get so full that all your jeans are tight.

It’s beginning to taste a lot like Christmas

Food and punch galore

But the thing that will taste the best

Is the late afternoon rest

Passed out on the floor.

Now, it’s YOUR turn!

(Let me know if you do it, because I want to read it!)

Go HERE to read others – and you can add your own link to the list if you want