"Ho Ho Ho and stuff"

Apologies for the title, but every time I think of Santa, I think of Jim Carey's version of The Grinch.  My family will tell you that I spent a number of years with an odd obsession with that movie, and to this day I have the entire thing memorized. That's completely off track though, because what I really wanted to share today, were the pictures of Henry meeting SANTA!
We saw pictures of this incredibly convincing Santa and desperately wanted to find him for Henry's pictures. It was so nice because he was in the lobby of a business here in town and although he's the busiest Santa in town, this new location hadn't yet become popular so there was no line at all to see him.  I got there after work before Eric and Henry arrived, and Santa and I chatted for about 20 minutes. I'm telling you, if someone hadn't ruined that for me long ago, I would be fairly convinced that this man IS Santa. He looks like this year round (minus the suit), likes kids better than adults, and calls his wife Mrs. Clause. He was so nice, and Henry adored him! It feels funny to go on and on for an entire post about Santa Clause, so I think I'll get on to sharing the pictures.  I have to throw in a quick cheesy mom moment, but it was really sweet to see Henry staring at the man in the big red suit, while I imagined all of the excitement that will some day center around the idea of Santa for him in the future. Some day we will get to bake cookies together to leave out on Christmas Eve, and read stories of the man who takes his reindeer on a huge trip around the world in one night. Some day he'll want to wait up to try to catch a glimpse of the Santa that he imagines to look just like this person in front of him. It was awfully cute.

More on the tree

In yesterday's post I talked about our first real tree. And our first tree as a family of three. We went on an adventure to find it, but our wonderful friends ended up spotting and hauling it for us. We set it up together on Monday, while eating burgers (we made them with moose meat!) and malts as Eric's family has a tradition of doing so. (One that I was more than happy to adopt).  The tree has more character than any tree I've had in the past, the top of it fell off and since it's wild it has more gaps than a tree grown for the purpose of Christmas trees. I love the big full ones, but I am surprised by how much I love this tree and its unique qualities.   I had been so anxious to put it up and see what Henry would think of it; he was so fascinated with it all.  He climbed right under the tree to help Eric set it up, and was thrilled with the little pinecones that are still attached all around the tree. I of course got sappy and teary eyed as Henry stood watching the lights, holding the ornaments in his perfectly chubby little hands. It's hard to believe we have a baby, and it's his very first Christmas.  Christmas trees always make me swell with that comfy, warm, happy feeling, and that feeling is magnified by 1000 with my little boy standing in front of it.

Guest Post

I absolutely meant to post just after Thanksgiving to let you all know that I was guest posting on Cait's awesome blog Pretty&Fun.  But things got crazy as they often do during the holidays, and we were very busy chasing after two 9 week old puppies that we were taking care of (stories for another day in the near future) so it slipped my flustered mind. Click here if you'd like to read my post on what I'm most thankful for this year. I'm sure it won't be hard to guess what that is. 

Why Moving to Alaska Felt Like A Good Idea

A few years ago, when Eric and I were dating, we would spend a few hours of nearly every single day in a coffee shop dreaming of adventures that could be in our future.  Maybe we would travel to Africa, or meet each other in Italy for a summer, move to Colorado.  We dreamt of the adventures we could have living in Alaska, thousands of miles from where we had started together to see where it would lead us.  Not knowing for sure that the dream would be our reality, we talked more and more of Alaska and how our lives could lead us there.  A place where we'd spend weekends hiking up the sides of mountains, camping oceanside, skiing in long dark winters, fishing, walking hand in hand where the land never seems to end and the adventures are right outside the front door.  We visited in 2008 and it was exactly how we imagined it to be.  We fished for salmon in hip-high rivers and rafted down the water that held them, we camped in Seward with the ocean just beside us and we were in love.  It was exactly the change we craved, and we knew that we would spend a few years there together.  We packed up the Subaru in May of 2009 dragging a small trailer behind us, carrying whatever belongings would fit and camping along the way. For the first year, we hiked often, camped a bit, rafted a couple of times.  Then we found jobs that we loved, and got settled into a routine and still did those things but did them a bit less.  Got pregnant, had the most wonderful boy, and find that we struggle a bit to get outside of Anchorage.  It is no one's fault, and it's not because we had a baby, although that does make it more challenging.  We just got comfortable in our routine here in town.  But as I look back to that coffee shop years ago and the image we had of our life up here in the great north, I can't help but to feel slightly disappointed in the fact that we don't do those activities as much as we had hoped to.  We are really trying now, with those dreams in mind, to make the effort to get out more often. Neither Eric nor I are really in love with Anchorage, but rather the areas surrounding it.  Alaska is absolutely covered with beautiful land to explore, and I go stir crazy when we stay on the exact same path in town week after week. So I'm happy to say that last weekend we packed up and headed out of town. The moment we leave the city I feel a wave of relief, a rush of excitement.  There are no houses or many buildings surrounding us, but rather ocean, mountains, winding roads, and wooden lodges. Ice climbers making their way up the wall of ice on the side of the road, adventures everywhere. We met friends and took off into the woods on snowshoes, with Henry napping on my back, and went searching for our first live Christmas tree. We went to an area where you are allowed to cut trees, and it was so energizing to be out in the deep snow as it continued to fall on us, staring up at the wild trees that would come home to help our family celebrate this season.  After more than an hour of walking, we didn't find trees that were short enough to climb and full enough to cut for a Christmas tree.  But we felt so thankful that we were able to get back out to the activities that called us to Alaska in the first place, and able to share a new experience with Henry. It was gorgeous. Finn was insanely happy as he treaded through the snow that was just as tall as he is. Our family needed that day.

Our friends continued the search, and ended up carrying two trees home with them-- one for their family, and one for ours.  I'm looking at it in the corner lit with white lights and dressed in our ornaments, a bit wild and "imperfect", and yet so perfect at the same time.  We're back to our comfortable routine, but there is a reminder of the wild outside, of our adventures, sitting just on the other side of the room.

Goals

I'm a huge fan of goals both big and small-- even the smallest goals keep me striving for things that are outside of the day to day comfort zone, which I like.  I'm a dreamer by nature and my imagination loves to run away with the thoughts of living in far off places, having various jobs, experiences, and learning new things.  I'd love to learn to sew, paint, I imagine sculpting lovely mugs for tea, etc.  While time and skill will not allow every one of these little dreams to be reached in the near future, there are some that I can fight for a bit more than others. For the past few years, I have wanted so badly to learn how to play guitar.  I have had numerous people try to teach me, but it is not coming easily at all.  My husband would tell you it's because I rarely practice, and he would be right, but it's certainly not that I haven't tried.  I get the guitar out to practice, and immediately forget everything I have learned just days before.  Other instruments have come much more naturally to me, but this is the one I really want to learn and learn well.
It may come as a surprise (or not...:)) that I am not always the most patient person in the world.  If I can't pick up the guitar and belt out a song like I'm the next Brandi Carlile then it isn't much fun to play at all.  Not exactly an attitude I want to have, and it's only the occasional attitude that slips its way in there.  That is not the lesson I want to teach Henry at all, so I have picked up the guitar and am trying again.  And this time I'm going to make it happen.  I want to teach this boy that he needs to be persistent and patient in things he wishes to accomplish, so for that reason and because I honestly have the desire to play, I'm resetting the goal to play guitar.  Hold me to it!
I have been practicing chords, but simply memorizing chords hasn't proven to be the best way for me to learn. I have no doubts that if I want to be a truly good player I need to memorize and connect them all, but I'm much more inspired to play by the music that I love.  There are certain songs I listen to that I would so love to be able to play along with, so I find myself more motivated when I learn the chords for those pieces. I have decided this will be the perfect goal for the winter, as it is currently -4 degrees outside, we will have plenty of time indoors.  I need to learn, and Henry loves to participate.  He bounces and dances with each strum, and loves every opportunity to get his fingers on those strings.

A few of my favorites:
Probably my all time favorite song
another great one
and this one

For the pleasure of your ears

This is one of those songs that I can just listen to over and over. I have a bit of an obsession with her music. Enjoy your Thursday!

On little things that go a long way.

Sometimes it is extremely easy to let my wish lists get a bit lengthy, and allow them to creep to the front of my mind.  Things I wish we could buy (hello, iPad), places I wish we could go, things I wish were different.  It's a natural thing and I don't always think it's unhealthy to keep track of things you would like to have and to look forward to the future,  but at times I have a little reality check and reel it back in a bit.  I don't want to want things I don't have all of the time.  I appreciate what I do have, both big and small, and it's often the smaller things that end up being just what I need. A little boy who giggles with joy when I walk in the door, a husband that senses how badly I want a certain snack and heads out into zero degree weather to go get it, who makes dinner while I'm putting Henry to bed.  As I write these things out I'm thinking, these are actually not small things at all.  These are incredibly special things that I wish never to take for granted. We may not have every material thing that we wish to have, but the simple things we do have are beautiful.  Will we still think of these things sometimes and wish for them? Sure. We are always going to have our eyes out for a house we love, or cars we'd like to carry our little family on future adventures, art that we cannot afford but speaks to us, clothing that we shouldn't buy but love.  But what we do have is everything we need to allow us to be comfortable, and a lot of love around us to make us happy.  
And salt and pepper chips that my sweet husband went to get for me. Little things like that go a very long way. :)