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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Holiday Cheer

Last Christmas I made a super secret pact with myself to allow for a focused, relaxed, quiet Christmas season this year. I had my Christmas cards done and paid for in September. I planned to do most of my Christmas shopping online, through Tastefully Simple, or Norwex this year. We had our tree up and house decorated Thankgsiving weekend. Everything has been pretty low stress.
THEN GUS HIT!!!
He ate some of the presents! Now I know what you are thinking. Why would Dana put the presents under the tree? She knows Gus will eat them. Well of course I know that! They were not under the tree! They were up on the buffet so he could not reach them!
O-well I guess this is just a reminder of the fact that you can not plan for everything and my dog drives me nuts;)
Love you Gus!

Thanksgiving 2009

 This year's Thanksgiving was absolutely fantastic! Spending the day with family was great. The kids entertained, the adults visited and enjoyed spirits, and reconnected with one another.

Kelsey and Kalli are one happy family! This little girl is an absolute honey!

Carter had a great deal of wisdom to share.

The girls were great entertainers all day!

Brendan thought is was fun to play with Kalli.

Brendan is not much for cuddling anymore but I think he still likes a good hug!

These are my buddies!

Kalli is a fun little six month old to hang with!

The gang hanging out.

Ashley and Dale pride themselves on having "cool" glasses.

Ode To The Blue Ball That Floated In At The Lake

Gus is a strange, weird, twisted dog. He does things that most people would not put up with. In fact most people would not have "picked" Gus to begin with! He is a naughty, naughty, naughty dog!
He is also a cuddly, loving, sweet dog. He is fun to play with and fun to watch.
A few years back we took Gus to the lake, refer to previous posts about Gus at the lake. It never ends well. There was one time that he acquired a new toy.
His precious blue ball.
The one and only toy Gus seems to love is his blue ball. We have purchased many toys, balls, and chews for Gus. He has managed to destroy all of them, except the one toy we watched float unto the shore.
Thank you whoever lost this darling little ball. We appreciate the time and energy that is spent with this ball. Gus loves it and will spend hours gumming it and playing with it!