A CPK UPdate

 So, I realized I haven't updated this since, oh, like June. You'd think with all this free time I'd have something to write about. With the way the world is, it was depressing and stressing to think of relevant to write about. 

Then, starting in the early fall, things got rather crazy for my immediate and extended family. I will go more in to it below. 

Preview: Happy tears, sad tears, lots of tears, and a pandemic. 

The summer was rather uneventful. Both Breaky and I continued to work from home successfully. BabyCPK, who we will now have to call ToddlerCPK as she's now 2.5, is going to a small, clean, safe, local daycare. In August as the numbers were deceptively going down, we decided to........

Thankfulness

This year, starting on November 1st, I made an Instagram/Facebook Story about something or someone I was thankful for. I called them my Thankfulness Posts. It really did help me center myself and realize how much we take for granted, be it that friend who is just always around, to having a house that has a roof and running water.

I saved my posts, and here they are below.

Words cannot express how grateful I am that Breaky came in to my life. My experience in this crazy ride called existence would be glaringly different had we not met. From introducing me to a bunch of great new people whom I now call friends, to letting me be a part of his family, and to showing me the love and support I had been wishing for all of my life; thank you Breaky! 

I am so grateful and still in disbelief that this child is the product of two crazy kids so in love and that she calls me "Mama". So thankful that she made me a Mom. 

Click Read More to continue

Pokemon Themed 1st Birthday Party

Our One-derful BabyCPK turned 1.

Since we did a Pokemon Themed Pregnancy Announcement, and BabyCPK is too young to choose a theme for herself, we decided to go with a Pokemon themed birthday party.

From some suggestions from Pinterest and lots of shopping on Amazon.com, I decorated and came up with some creative names for party food that involves Pokemon.

I could not have pulled this off without my amaaaazing family. They did sooo much work for this party. I do not have an "excuse" for not doing as much as I could have, although work, at the time, was a drama-filled frazzle cake. Even Breaky chipped in and was the one who made the pizzas!

Empowerment: The Women Who Came Before Me, Who Stand Beside Me and Who Shape the Future After Me

The whole "Your Word of the Year" was popular this year during the new year.

Mine was "Empowerment"

Now,a s you can tell from the definition above, it can mean to either empower someone or the state of being empowered to do something.

Happy New Year

2018 was a whirlwind for both me and my family.

I could write a novel about all the firsts, all the highs, all the lows, lots going on.

So instead, I'm making a bunch of top 5 for 2018.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the CPKFamily

We had a small, family Christmas on Saturday with just the 4 of us (Breaky, BabyCPK, DogCPK and me). We had our traditional steak and cheese sauce and exchanged gifts. We also watched Olaf's Frozen Adventure, since Die Hard, which was our go-to for our tradition, isn't exactly baby appropriate. We were going to watch it when the kid went to bed, but we got the itch to play video games, of course, which meant that Breaky and I played Borderlands 2 together for our Christmas.

Nice Matters

Wow, it's been a while since I've written a blog post. I've got my reasons though.

Some of you who may know me or my family personally may know that our Aunt Bette just passed away.

Aunt Bette was my only biological aunt. My mom only has brothers and my dad had one brother and one sister (Bette). She lived probably less than 2 miles from our house, and was essentially a member of my immediate family. Every Christmas, Easter, birthday celebrations, trips up to the cabin she was there.

Aunt Bette was not without health issues, especially towards the end of her life. She had cancer, heart issues, persistent back pain and a host of other ailments that made things very difficult for her and difficult for those who cared about her to witness. It helps me to think that she no longer is in any pain and can take a deep breath of relief. Relief that she is no longer in pain, but also that her family is continuing to pass on her stories, teachings, philosophies and knowledge. We had such a time reminiscing over Thanksgiving with all of my cousins. We laughed, we cried (ok, sobbed), we held each other, played with my cousin's kids, ate wonderful food and knew that Aunt Bette would have been so happy to know we were all together and supporting and loving each other.

Aunt Bette was a teacher, photographer, swim coach, aunt, friend, sister and so much more. Her creativity was contagious, which made her a great teacher and influence to everyone. This is evident by the numerous postings and stories that are being posted on her obituary and our social media posts. One of the many things that stuck with me that she would say and emulate was "nice matters". I have made references to it in this blog even, although I would have to do a search, as it such a part of my everyday, that I could have used it a million times naturally in this blog and in conversations.

Everyone grieves differently. I had a really hard time reading the condolences on my and my family's announcements. I did not even acknowledge or comment on any of them. I didn't have words. I didn't have words that could express my gratitude and sorrow. I sobbed while finding a picture to post. I sobbed reading my sister's post. I sobbed simply thinking about how Christmas will be so different. I sobbed writing this damn blog post. (I can just hear Aunt Bette yell at me. "Language Kelsey! Your daughter is going to learn to swear by the time she can talk!"). It's going to be thoughts and stories like that that will make me smile and remember her day by day.

I have lost members of my family and even a good friend. The best way I can think of to carry their memories is to let their influence shine in my everyday. I adopted the saying "Can Do" in memory of my friend, who was a Seabee in the Navy. I make an effort to be the best friend I can be in memory of my grandmother, who was the best friend you could ask for. Aunt Bette will be memorialized through me with the philosophy of "Nice Matters".

There will be trinkets, jewelry, furniture, family stories and genealogical documents that I'm sure will be dispersed that will remind us of her every day. But things are no replacement for how we can let her improve us moving forward. I think I have written this blog post 20 times over and I don't think it will ever be perfect enough to do her justice.

So, please hug your loved ones. Call that person you've been thinking about calling. Right now. do it.

If I haven't told you recently, I love you. The person reading this, I love you and cherish your friendship, even if we have not met face-to-face.

Rest in peace Aunt Bette. You were and are loved by many and will be missed by all.

And We'll Never Be Royals.... But We Can Watch Them Get Married

You may wonder what could compel someone to get up at the crack of dawn to watch two people she's never met get married.

Very good question.

The royal wedding of Harry and Meghan was this past weekend. You may wonder why someone who just celebrated her Norwegian heritage on Syttende Mai (Norwegian's Constitution Day) would be so very interested in the English Crown's latest pomp and circumstance. Well, I am also English by blood too. On my father's side, one half is English (his father's) and the other side is Norwegian (his mother's). In fact, I can trace my heritage in England back to 1240 with the birth of Ralph de Spalding. We, in fact, had several Lords and Ladies in our family tree until the 1600s when the first of the Spaldings (later changed to Spaulding) came over to the Americas.

Ancestry aside, the royal family always kind of held a special place in my family's hearts. My aunt has always had a kind of obsession with everything British, including the royal family. My parents were huge fans of Princess Diana. Heck, my Mom even rocked the Diana hair cut around the time my sister was born. I was far too young to understand what was going on, but I know my parents were devastated when she passed away.

My sister and I got up pretty early when Kate Middleton and Prince William got married. From what we can remember, I had tea to celebrate, but that was about it.

This year, it just so happens that this wedding corresponded with a "girls weekend" with my mom, my sister and my daughter. A perfect opportunity to get geeked out about a royal wedding.

We had scones, chocolates, tea (for me), and champagne. Now, before the mom-brigade jumps down my throat, I had enough champagne to toast to the new couple, and I pumped and tested my milk before giving it to my daughter. 

My daughter celebrated by being super cute in a very pink tutu.

We had a ton of fun, despite the very early morning. The wedding was significantly different from Will and Kate's, as it was more modern, laid back (as laid back as a royal affair can be I suppose) and more filled with celebrities than heads of state. Oprah, the Beckhams, Elton John, Serena Williams...the list goes on and on.

I thought Meghan's gown was perfect for her. I was in love with the veil, which, come to find out, had embroidered flowers for each of the 53 commonwealths. 

I could go on and on about the ceremony and the carriage ride after, but you can take a look at it online. This post is more about the geeky things the women did in our family for the Royal Wedding. :) Plus, an excuse to post about my little princess :)

Mothers Day

Happy Mother's Day everyone.

I usually will do a quick Facebook post about Mother's Day. Including what my Mom means to me, a shout out to all the Moms I know, etc...

This year, if I were to do that, I think my post would be far too long for anyone to read.

So, hence the blog post.

First and foremost, obviously the big difference this year is that I, myself, am a mother.

It is the most challenging, rewarding, beautiful, and messy thing I have ever experienced in my life. I am eternally grateful to Breaky for making me a mother and for joining me on this crazy journey.


A huge thank you to my husband's mother for raising such a wonderful, funny, patient caring man. He is the best father a woman could ask for, and that says a lot about how he was loved and raised growing up.


Obviously, I wouldn't be here if it were not for my own mother. More than that though, I owe her so much for being a wonderful role model. Not just as a woman, but as a mother. BabyCPK is lucky to have such a wonderful MiMi, and is lucky that I was raised by such a powerful, strong, smart, amazing young woman, because that is what I strive to be every day for my daughter.

A huge thank you as well to the wonderful mothers and mothers to be in both my family and my friends. Having a support group of women who understand what I am going through is one of the most important things I found helpful with raising this little bundle of joy (sometimes a bundle of terror, but you get the idea).

A very happy Mother's Day to all the moms, grandmothers, great grandmothers, and moms to be.



And in the meantime, don't mind me, I am just taking a well-deserved "me-time" break.

Out of the Blue

If you follow Breaky, you may know that he has been casting pretty much 2 weeks straight. I know it may not seem like a lot, but when you consider how much energy it takes to cast, and how unpredictable games can be, it really can be draining.

He had been working so hard, and you could just tell afterward he was just exhausted, especially on days in which there were three matches with three games each, starting at 8:00 am.

With a little inspiration from Pinterest, I wanted to let him know I was thinking about him and how proud I am for how hard he was working.

So "Out of the BLUE" (hehe) I got him a little gift basket with all things blue.

Oh?

Hendy's Pancakes-Guest Blog

What the Hendy’s?

Hello Bloggers! I have the privilege to be the Good Geek Wife’s younger yet taller sister. She has asked me to be a guest recipe blogger for your enjoyment.

This recipe has now reached a new generation. Every Sunday growing up, my mom and her family (her Mom, Dad, and brothers Jim and Rick) would have a big Sunday breakfast. This breakfast would put many breakfasts to shame. It consisted of eggs, toast, fruit, bacon, hash-browns, sausage, and the Hendy’s. Now Hendy’s is a name of which my family does not know the origin. Those who would know it, are sadly no longer with us. Glad to get that question out of the way. Now the moment you all are waiting for…what are Hendy’s?

Hendy’s are defined (Family dictionary) as silver dollar pancakes. So these pancakes are supposed to be small and bite sized. That small quirk is not the only quirk about these amazing treats. The Hendy’s mix has to be mixed and made the night before your breakfast.

My family is known for these pancakes. There is no judgement on how many you can eat, because they are so small, having 25 to 30 pancakes isn’t much at all! (Although I would not suggest it.)

My Uncle Jim is the Maestro of Hendy’s and has taught me well. So I hope you enjoy using the recipe for your next breakfast.

To prevent the use of many dishes, I suggest mixing the Hendy’s mix in the container you use to pour them on the skillet in the morning. We often use an old juice container. This offers a more precise way of pouring since your pancakes have to be so small.

Here are the ingredients you will need to make Hendy’s: (4 servings)

1 cup of sour cream

1 cup of half and half

3 eggs

1 small teaspoon of salt

1 cup of baking mix (Bisquick/Jiffy mix)

1 teaspoon of baking soda

The night before:

Mix the baking mix, salt, and baking soda. Stir in eggs and add sour cream and half and half. Mix all ingredients with a whisk. Make sure that you get the baking mix that inevitably is sitting at the bottom of the container. Make sure there are no “clumps” of baking mix at the bottom or floating around in the container. Place the container in the refrigerator overnight.

The morning of:

Warm up a griddle. I would suggest the griddle to be on medium heat. Remember that these pancakes should be small, so if medium heat is not hot enough and your pancakes begin to look like Pangea, please adjust accordingly. My Grandmother suggests the griddle to be at 380 degrees if yours has a temperature gauge. Take the container out of the refrigerator and grab something with which to stir. You will realize that the batter is much thinner than your normal pancake batter, and that is very normal.

Pour the batter on the griddle into circles only about 2 inches in diameter. I gauge when to flip them based on the bubbles that are created when poured. I would suggest you not flip them too early, because, well…they won’t flip especially due to the very thin texture of the batter. If you flip them too late, meaning all the bubbles have popped, then they are silver dollar hockey pucks and serve no use for your tummy. Since these take a longer time to make and flip, my family often has the oven on the keep warm setting, and I put the pancakes on an oven safe plate in there. So while I make 12 to 15 on the griddle at a time, I will put those 12-15 right onto the plate in the oven. If they are left out, they will stick together and won’t be as tasty!

It is suggested from the recipe to serve these with melted butter and warm maple syrup.

Every person has their own way of eating these. I am a melted butter and syrup girl, but many of my family members mix them with their eggs or cover them in peanut butter. Don’t even get me started on those in my family who turn the Hendy’s into tacos with the sausage or bacon in between the Hendy’s.

I hope that these little pancakes will be a staple at your next breakfast!

Thanks for having me on your blog sis! Hope you all enjoyed!

The photo below is the recipe we use. This recipe is on the last page of the Gourmet Gab: Presented by the Junior League of Saginaw.

Mrs. Richard Wendland is my Gaga…my Grandma who without her this blog post wouldn’t be possible. For You Gugs!

The CPKs in Chicago Day 2

Day number 2 in the windy city. June 6. 2017

We woke up way earlier than intended. Two reasons, one, we forgot to close the curtains all the way and dang does it get bright early here. And two, we are an hour off, so 8 here is 9 back home.

Upon a recommendation, again, from the concierge, we headed to a breakfast and lunch place called Yolk just a block or two down from our hotel. It was so super good. So far the best meal we both have had while in Chicago, which is saying something.

I had Eggs Benedict with salmon. Yes, salmon. I never serve salmon anymore, as Breaky and half of my immediate family do not like it. So that was a little unexpected treat. Breaky got a breakfast wrap. Fantastic coffee, fun atmosphere, would definitely recommend.

From there we hiked to the Shedd Aquarium, as a part of the City Pass we had purchased. I do not know if it was just a busy day for school groups, or during the week is always bad, or if it is always this packed, but oh....my....God, so many kids.

Despite the swirling masses of mini devils, we did have a lot of fun. We touched sting rays, saw Beluga Whales, saw a myriad of sea, lake and river creatures, including, believe iit or not, bluegills, which, when I mentioned out loud that I have caught more bluegills fishing than any other fish in existence, this woman turned around and said, oh my God, me too! It was a moment.

We wrapped up the Shedd experience with a 4D adventure. We saw Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure. A 4D movie, evidently means on top of the actual movie being in 3D, your seat rumbles, wind is blown around your face, you get sprayed by misty water, poked in the back, and have little cord things whip around your ankles. While that sounds like torture to some, it actually was really well done. I did feel kind of bad, there were some kids that were waaay too young to be in there, and started freaking out and crying. Come on parents, the movie was "Sea Monsters" not "cuddly little harmless bunnies" or something. I do not think your 3 year old is going to do well with a 3 million year old monstrosity biting out at the audience in 3D, let alone all these other things happening around them. But you know what, none of my business. But really, I did enjoy the movie. Very entertaining and educational.

We then headed out of the aquarium and boarded a water taxi to take us to Navy Pier. Last time we took a water taxi/shuttle was when we went on our honeymoon in Mackinac Island. This was pretty similar, although didn't hit the speeds like we did last time.

At the Navy Pier, we grabbed a hot dog, walked around a bit, took pictures. Basically did the touristy thing. Breaky vetoed the Ferris Wheel, which is fine with me, I've already been on it. We have plans that will take us to breathtaking views of the city anyway, so overall I wasn't that disappointed.

We debated all day about how to get back to the hotel after Navy Pier. I insisted it was walk-able, and that we didn't have to waste money on either the water taxi back to the museums, which were within walking distance of our hotel, or an Uber. Breaky looked up on the GPS, and sure enough, just about 2.5 miles away. We can totally do that. You want to know how you can tell we did? I now have a nice llittle sun burn on my chest, despite sunscreen application earlier in the morning. But in all seriousness, the walk wasn't really that bad.

For dinner, we headed to a restaurant called the Pump Room. The reason we went there was because that is where my grandparents on my Mom's side had their first date. At the time, they couldn't afford to actually have a meal there, so they ordered a drink and sat outside for a good hour or so.

So we take an Uber, which is becoming our main source of transportation as, since we don't care if we share a ride with others, is insanely inexpensive.

We arrive at the Pump Room, and this is fancy. I am talking like, pushing my chair in for me fancy. I start asking questions about where this "outside" bit would be that my grandparents would have sat, and I guess it would have been upstairs on the roof. Nifty! Also found out that much of the original Pump Room has been auctioned off about 5 years, all except the chandelier in the hallway.

Breaky and I had what was probably one of the top 5 meals of our lifetime. For drinks, I got a cucumber martini, and Breaky had a Stella. For appetizer, we had calamari, which is tradition! For the main course,  Breaky had filet mignon with white asparagus and mashed potatoes and I had red snapper with a brown gravy sauce mushrooms and vegetables.

When we were explaining the connection to the Pump Room and my grandparents, I had mentioned that we were in Chicago celebrating our 2 year anniversary. This is true, although our actual anniversary isn't until later June, the intention of this trip was to spend time together and celebrate my birthday and our anniversary. Our waiter went well above and beyond! As a result of our anniversary, we got complimentary bubbly, and a dessert! Both were to die for.

We ended up ordering another round of drinks before departing, as neither of us were driving or even walking back to the hotel. Grabbed another Uber back, headed upstairs and legitimately crashed. Which is why this blog post is getting posted a little later than the previous one. Sorry, kinda....not sorry.

Money money money must be funny-An introspective and an ABBA song

Hello all!

Breaky and I work tirelessly, in general. Breaky has super weird hours, often very randomly and in the case of last night, for very long periods of time. I work a comparatively normal "9-5", which really is a 7:30 am to 4:00 pm, but who's counting. I have never not held a job since I could drive, my first job being a hostess at an Italian restaurant in a German tourist town, the irony of which is not lost.

As any and most every college student, I had a bunch of student loans, and during and immediately following college, my jobs were not huge money makers. Luckily for me (hindsight of course), my first job was at a bank. A bank call center to be specific. Lucky? Why you ask? Well, because they trained us really well with how banking and personal finance should and does work. I managed to save up and paid for a used car that was all my own (I had one before, but it was my Dad's and we ended up selling it to a friend for like, $300, because that was all it was worth) without having to take out a car loan.

Not to say times weren't tough. I bet you didn't know how versatile and cheap rice was, did you? I had roommates, which 3/4th of the time was financially advantageous and  1/4th the time hurt my bottom line (you know who you are).

When Breaky and I started getting serious, our combined income, plus the steadiness of it all since he was still with Frostburn Studios, led us to make the decision to buy a house, where we now reside. Small little one story, two bedroom, three bathrooms. We didn't buy it on a whim, we saved up, budgeted like crazy, sold some of my old furniture (at least that which did not get chucked out a window. Different story for a different time), and watched our budget for the next year very carefully.

Now, with Breaky working odd hours and random events when they come around, money is not consistent, but doesn't not exist. This makes budgeting and spending appropriately very difficult. His stream may get hundreds in donations and subs one month, but not even scrape together $5 the next. He may have 8 events in a week and then not have a thing for the next 3 weeks.

If you or your significant other held a contract or commission job, you can relate to how difficult it can be to plan out any kind of budget. I should have added the struggle of not being able to set a budget in my "You May Be an esports Significant Other" post. I'll add it to the next one!

Intiuit Mint has been our lifesaver. **disclaimer: This is what we use, and I am not getting anything for advertising this app. It works for us, but may not work for others. Use what you want, but you should be tracking your spending anyway**

Mint allows us to keep all of our accounts in one area, where we can track credit cards, car loans, my student loans, my retirement accounts, etc... It also tracks our transactions, allowing us to categorize those transactions. Such as "groceries" "doctor visits" etc...In addition, it allows us to label the different kind of income. For example, we have different budgets for Breaky's stream, a different one for events he casts for, and of course, my income.

Our budget in the beginning of the month is super thin. Mostly because we are not sure how much we have to work with. I can add more to the budget items if/when we need to, after confirmation of payment dates or an estimation/goal of how much the stream will bring in.

Another feature that has been great is the ability to "roll over" on our budget. This means that if Breaky has a great month, we can budget more than we know we will be spending in a category, and that amount will roll over in to next month, because we didn't spend it, it will be there in case of emergencies, or in case we wanted to save up for something special. Or both. Both is good.

Now, for anyone that is self employed knows you also have to be careful about taxes. Because of the categories of types of income, we are able to set aside what will be taken out, based on, but rounded up on, the income Breaky would get that he is not taxed on upon receipt. That being said, because it is an Intuit product, it automatically syncs with Turbo Tax, which our credit union, (WHO WE LOVE BTW) has a discount through. It cannot hurt to check with your banking institution upon tax season to see if they give any discounts for tax assistance software.

I take a little pride in how safe and maintained we have been since Breaky went freelance. We are happy to announce that we no longer have any credit card debt, leaving just my student loans, our mortgage and Breaky's truck loan. We still use our credit cards, but pay them off at the end of the month. But this is huge for us. A huge milestone.

So....

As a result of planning, budgeting, lots of saving and a few minor domestic squabbles, we are going on vacation to Chicago, just Breaky and me. He has never been, so it should be tons of fun!

I will continue to update on the blog our daily adventures, and I'm sure Breaky will live stream parts of it.

Only When He Leaves

This sh*t (literally) only seems to happen when he is gone.

So, in case any of you did not know, Breaky is gone for a full week (and a few days) to cast the qualifiers for a Dota2 major event. I wrote two different blog posts (1 and 2) about what it is like to have a spouse who leaves all the time for events like this.

We have a pretty good system going regarding our day-to-day lives, both when he is here and when he is not. Ever since he went free-lance, it has been nice, as he takes DogCPK out for her first walk of the day before he starts streaming, and she can hang out with him while he streams. This means I can stay at work and have a working lunch. When he is gone, I go home during lunch, take her for a walk and then come home and take her for another one (or let her play outside on the lead... depending on how nice the weather is).


She needs to have at least one long-ish walk halfway through the day, or else our guard dog thinks she must protect us from scary things like, oh, cords, glasses, heels, carpet etc... So keeping her exercised is a very, very good idea. If I wrote about DogCPK's shenanigans, this blog would be more aptly called The Sometimes-Good-But-Sometimes-Naughty Geek Dog.

"Wanna play some Hearthstone? Let me sit between you and the laptop

That helps, right mom?"

But this crazy antic happened during my lunch walk and I couldn't help but write about it in my head, and it made me laugh out loud.

So. DogCPK was very happy to go for her walk today. Lots and lots of energy. Having had our dog for about a year, we know she usually is quite rambunctious right before she has to potty. Now if potty talk makes you uncomfortable, you might as well stop right there, because this story is about poo. Sorry (not really).

So, DogCPK is zooming back and forth, and I can tell a #2 is a-coming. So, as to expedite the process of doggy doo pick-up, because let's be honest, no one looks hot or sexy picking up dog crap, I get a baggie ready. She's doin' her bizznazz, and I notice that she's getting done, but there is some still kinda hanging on. I watch with eyes rolling as she darts away with not one, but two completely separate dingleberries stuck to her behind. One goes flying on to the other side of the sidewalk, as the other is still.... well.... stuck. She's hunching over, while still running around mind you, trying to get it out, all the while, I'm chasing after her with the bag trying to swipe it away.


Giving up, I pick up the two separate piles and get another bag, trying to get the berry swinging from her rafters as she is avoiding me like the plague. I don't blame her, I wouldn't want anything to do with a crazy lady with two bags that smell like my poo trying to touch my butt all while I have something stuck to my backdoor. Finally, she cowers over, and I am able to grab the once flying feces.

So now I have two bags of poo, a dog who is spooked out of her mind, and I am getting a third bag to put the other two in (because I have no idea how much, if any, poo got anywhere else), when, wouldn't my luck just have it, two joggers came flying by. I am trying to juggle the now Matryoshka doll of doggy poo-bags, with my dog making circles around my legs, while I get tangled with the leash causing me to  do this weird kind of curtsy to the nice gentleman who passed by.

Sorry gentlemen, I am taken.... because you all know I was 10 kinds of sexy right there.

Of course, this all happened on a pretty busy residential street near where we live, so I am sure as we speak someone is getting a huge number of views or likes on whatever they could record of my very sexy little dance I had to do with my dog. Because that's my luck.

The rest of the walk was uneventful. Well, except for her horrendous bark/whimpers she does when she sees another dog and wants to play. You think, if you heard her, that we were torturing her. No, DogCPK, we will not let you cross a busy intersection to play with a Dalmatian who looks like he would rather not have anything to do with you. And I swear, nice looking Dalmatian owner, I am not hurting my freaking-out-dog, she just wants to play. *facepalm*

 Who's a good girl? YES, YOU ARE!

Do I miss Breaky? Yes. He is a wonderful husband and a great Dad to our dog. I miss him greatly because he is also my best friend. But I am looking forward to the day that I will not have to wash my hands 80 times when I get back from my walks because miss-poos a lot can't seem to figure out how to poop correctly. 

Disclaimer: I love my dog very, very much and I know this was not her fault. How could I stay mad at this face: 

Holiday Traditions

Ok, I know months ago I said that Halloween was my favorite holiday. But... I do enjoy Christmas quite a bit.

All people ha- their holiday traditions. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah. Kwanza, Festivus, or nothing at all, there are things in this time of year that are standard staples in your life. It could be as simple as going out for Chinese food on Christmas Day, or staying put during the week of Christmas to avoid the crazy traffic of last-minute shoppers, or packing up the family and going to Florida for the week.

My side of the family is rich with holiday tradition. My grandfather made (MADE!) a snowman that moved his hand and tipped his top hat when you opened up their door. To my understanding, he attached the arm with the top hat to the door so when you opened it he was tipping his hat. My Dad's love of Christmas shone in the continuation of many traditions and many new ones that he created when he started his own family. One neat tradition he got from Alfred Burt was to create a Christmas Carol and include it on our Christmas card.

Now, having been married to Breaky for a year and a half, my traditions have evolved in to continuation of my family's traditions and new ones that were created after Breaky and I got married and got our own place.

Our traditional Christmas meal on Christmas Eve-Eve

Since I started in higher education, I have been blessed with getting a few days off around the holidays. Unfortunately, this usually does not include the day before Christmas Eve (and sometimes Christmas Eve even), so usually Breaky and I are still in Kalamazoo for the day before Christmas Eve-Eve. We have now turned this into "Our Christmas" where we exchange our own gifts, put on Christmas pajamas, enjoy and great dinner and then watch some kind of Christmas movie. This year we decided that the Christmas movie was going to be Die Hard, because it IS a Christmas movie (and if you think differently, you can leave). This year also, we have the addition of our wonderful DogCPK, who bundled up in her sweater from her Nanna and helped us enjoy the wonderful evening.

looky what BreakyCPK got me! :) 

Big Daddy, a Little Sister and CLAPTRAP

Christmas Eve is spent at my parents' house in the city in which I grew up. Traditions for Christmas Eve include Mom frantically wrapping presents that she has put off doing, and filling stockings, making Norwegian Jule Kakke (Christmas bread) and watching Scrooge (1970 w/Albert Finney) and having either hors d'oeuvres or in the case of this year, pizza, for dinner. 

Lovely Jule Kakke

Breaky is officially a Norwegian by marriage :) 

A new tradition that is now just three years old, is that early Christmas morning, Mom and I go for a Christmas morning walk around the block (which is just about one mile). Once again, we added a new member, DogCPK, who LOVES walks, or as we have to say "w" because she knows what "walk" means.

Christmas morning walk selfie!!! 

Christmas morning has evolved from having a big fancy breakfast before opening up presents to having a piece of toast and a crap-ton of coffee before opening up presents, and having a big brunch after presents. Speaking of presents, the way our family has always opened our presents was in order, one at a time, from youngest to oldest. I believe this started when we were really little, the adults wanted to see what the kids got and I imagine there is some lesson in patience and giving that occurred as a result, but in reality it was probably to stem the chaos that is wrapping paper and boxes. I did not realize this was not something everyone did, until I would watch Christmas TV specials and, to my horror, kids would be unwrapping presents all willy-nilly. The HORROR. 

Thanks Mom! Junkrat primed and ready! MERRY CHRISTMAS. Who says Christmas can't include the Geeky side?

Anyway, presents are all unwrapped, so we enjoy a brunch which includes the Jule Kakke, scrambled eggs, toast bockwurst, coffee and freshly squeezed orange juice.

We then plug in White Christmas, and everyone takes a nap. You think I'm kidding. This was a tradition even way back when my Grandmother was still with us (bless her soul), who would take up the couch, and snore through "The Best Things Happen While You're Dancing.:"Another new tradition is that there are a few football games on the other tvs. Thanks Breaky. Mom and I will start making the beef en croute for dinner. Now Breaky helps with dinner by making his Dad's mashed potatoes.

Then comes Muppet Christmas Carol (the VHS version because they cut a scene when they made it into a DVD)

My Dad was a teacher for 35 years before he retired a few years ago. He taught choir, and if anyone was in choir or band in high school, you know what a production it can be. We had a bunch of parents, helpers and former students who would come back and help every year. A tradition was to have that group come back to our house for snacks and drinks. When he retired, we made it a point to invite those friends and family to our house the day after Christmas for food, drink, and lots and lots of music and singing. 

What are some of your Christmas traditions? Which have evolved and which have been older traditions?