Christmas at the Maasjo's

Christmas with the McLeods

Brendan and Carter's Program

The last time I left the house was on Wednesday evening. Bill and I went to Brendan and Carter's church Christmas program. We sat in the last row so I did not get any fantastic shots but the program was fantastic. The tree they have up in the church is absolutely amazing. I wish I had a good shot of that but I do not. Dustin went with someone and cut it out of a member's shelter belt. Lissa was part of the decorating and it was just gorgeous!
The boys did a fantastic job during the program. It was a ton of fun to watch the kids in my school class as well.

Gus and the Christmas Blizzard

Here are few shots of Gus today. He has been very busy today. Both the Maasjo and the McLeod Christmas celebrations were post-poned until the snow clears. We have not really done a whole lot the past two days. Pretty much just relaxing and enjoying time together with just the four of us! Sandy has not really moved except to go outside. Bill and I have been hanging out, and this is what Gus has been doing...

Christmas Goals 2009

I set a few goals for Christmas 2009...
The first was to destressify shopping. I did really well with that and managed to get some great deals with some careful planning.
The second was to bake early and freeze everything so I would have it to pull out when needed. I did pretty well with this one. The only problem was that I made Molasses cookies, which are my favorite. I put them in the freezer but I ate them. I could not figure out what happened to the cookies so I naturally blamed Bill. He laughed and explained to me that he has had 0 cookies from the freezer. mmm...Guess it was all me! To remedy the situation a made several dozen more on Monday night. Problem solved;)
The third was to enjoy the season. Holidays bring a great deal of stress for us because of Bill's feelings towards his family. To say the relationship is strained is an understatement. This year I am letting him vent when needed and I am going to enjoy our family, friends, and dogs. I am not going to let the ick tarnish what this season is actually about. Being blamed for something that has nothing to do with me is hard but I am not going to allow the mean words and actions hurt me anymore, twelve years (or maybe it is 13 now, I can not keep track;)  is long enough.
Which brings me to my fourth goal. To celebrate what this season is actually about, the birth of Jesus. I am sad that a storm is coming and may not allow for travel, however I am still celebrating Christmas as it is meant to be celebrated! My bible is marked, Luke 2, and I am truly enjoying the real meaning of Christmas.
Bill, Gus, Sandy, and I might be holding our first Christmas here together this year and that is OK. I know our extended families will find times to celebrate together and I know it will be fun when we do! There is nothing like being surrounded by caring, loving, kind people having a good time together.

We are heading to Brendan and Carter's Christmas program tonight and I can not wait to watch them. In fact I am so excited I am not really sure what to do the rest of the day! It was so much fun watching Brendan last year so it will be double the fun this year with both boys. It also gives us a chance to see Lonnie, Val, Marcy, and Aaron. We are so darn lucky to have Melissa and her extended family in our lives. They are kind of awesome people. Marcy and Aaron are expecting in March so it is fun to see how Marcy "grows" each time we see her. She is probably one of the cutest pregnant women I have every seen!

Merry Christmas to everyone and enjoy this wonderful blessing we can celebrate in our own ways, on our own time, for the same reason.

The good, the bad, and the o-well at least we are ok

Last evening we ventured down to Fort Ransom for a holiday party at Aunt Vicki and Uncle Don's new house. We had a ton of fun hanging out and playing Wii. Carter was hilarious! It was so much fun hanging out with everyone and playing:)

Unfortunately our fun ended when we nailed a deer on the way home. I named him Bucky. He is a 3 x 4 nice sized buck who is perfectly fine! He caused a bit of damage to our pick-up and was knocked out for about 10 minutes. Then he sat up, jumped up, and ran away into a corn field. We had to call the cops and file a report so that insurance could kick in because we are pretty sure we met our deductible:) We were just glad it is just cosmetic damage and we are both fine. We decided not to stress out about it because it really was not that big of a deal. When we got home I was talking about not over reacting and just taking it easy. I then proceeded to slip, fall, and rip my pants while getting out of the pick-up. That sent me over the edge in laughter. I really think it was God's way of reminding us how blessed we are and how wonderful the gift of laughter truly is!

Lutefisk and Jesus

Each year our church compiles a booklet of devotionals from the members. Here is my submission...
Lutefisk and Jesus

Cookies, Sun buckles, lefsa, meatballs, gravy, potatoes, corn casserole, pickles, olives, and homemade wine, are all traditional Christmas Eve staples at the Maasjo Christmas. The most important staple food of all was, and still is, the delicious lutefisk. We are Norwegian and proud of it. My greatest memories of Christmas Eve’s past are of my Grandma Martha in her peach polka-dotted apron, cheesecloth, a sticky pile of lutefisk, and everyone laughing and complaining about the stench of that wonderful fish. As most good Scandinavian Lutheran’s know, an over abundance of food is an essential part of any gathering. Food is how we show our caring and love for our guests.
Comparing Lutefisk and Jesus may seem like a bit of a stretch but in my world, the two have a grand association. We all know God sent Jesus to forgive our sins, we are sinful beings and God knew that we needed a savior. Jesus is a symbol of love and forgiveness. I am not saying that Lutefisk is a savior or that I believe Lutefisk is a true symbol of love; it is after all, stinky cod. It is the one blessed, and stinky, item that I remember bringing us together on Christmas Eve.
Like most families, the Maasjo’s are a bit quirky. We have all flavors of people in our family. We do not all claim to be best friends and at times probably are wondering why God blessed us some of us so much with the gift of willful obstinacy. We have a stubborn gene that seems to carry on from generation to generation. In spite of that gene, we all seemed to crowd around the tables on Christmas Eve and eat out our lutefisk together. Everyone had to try it, some with butter, some with cream, and some liked it with no flavoring at all. It is fun to see the new tasters as they let the fish slide down their throats, and trust me, it does slide. Some love it and some hate it. There really is no in-between when it comes to lutefisk. Either you are in or you are out. Kind of like our relationship with Jesus. A wise woman once told me to refer to Revelation 3:15-16. This text tells us that God does not like the in-betweeners of the world. We are either in or out just like eating lutefisk.
The Maasjo Christmas Eve celebrations were, and still are, about family. Coming together and spending time being thankful for the blessings in our lives, each other. Grandma Martha and Grandpa Clifford have passed on and it is wonderful reminiscing about them and our lutefisk fiascos. Grandma Martha loved our time together and she, like me, loved midnight service at St. Petri. I relished hearing the stories of getting to our little country church in a sleigh and the horses waiting outside. I miss my Grandma and her peach polka-dotted apron. However, her memory lives on in the lutefisk we eat each year. The best part of Christmas Eve was spending time together celebrating and eating lutefisk together as a family.

God, thank you for the great soul food, lutefisk and all it represents for my family and me. Thank you for allowing us to celebrate your son’s birth in our own and special way. Thank you for blessing us with the extraordinary gift of family, Amen.

His favorite things

Gus loves to play and cuddle with me. Life could not be better when he gets to do the two at the same time.
I know this may seem a little weird but here are a few pictures of our demented little dog sunggling and playing with his bottle.

Gus and the Christmas Tree

For the past six years we have put up a real Christmas Tree. We love the way they smell, I like the tradition of picking one out, and it is fun to have a different one each year. There is one more added bonus of a real tree, Gus is afraid of them. UNTIL NOW!
Gus has gotten over his fear of the pointy needles and has moved on to playing around the tree and eating the bottom branches.
Here is a picture of Gus behind the tree...

...and here is Gus coming out from behind the tree. He was playing hide and go seek with his ball in his mouth. ISN"T IT WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!