Merry Christmas!

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I hope everyone had a WONDERFUL holiday!  We at the Moll house, has a wonderful Christmas!  We spent the early part of Christmas Eve at Carl’s dad’s house with his family.  We had a bit to eat, opened gifts and then headed off to The Acosta’s for another quick visit.  We hung out with them for a while and then headed to our last stop…. dinner with friends at the Ringheimer’s house.  What a fun night.  Lots of yummy, yummy food.  The kids had a great time (as did we adults!).  When we arrived home we let the kids open one gift (pajamas) and then I relented and let them open one more (slippers!).  We sent the kids off to bed and Carl and I filled the stockings and finished up some loose ends.  We finally made it to bed around 1:00 am.  Thankfully, our kids NEVER wake us up early (what is up with that?)  Tyson got up around 9:30 and we finally had to wake Madi up at 10:00!!!!!  Crazy kids!  The kids recieved a bunch of clothes, dvd’s and video games.  The dog and cat each got new beds and some yummy (for them) treats!  We had breakfast at our house and then headed down to my parent’s house for more presents and dinner.  Grandma and Grandpa outdid themselves this year, as did my brothers with their gifts.  Tyson’s 16th birthday is on New Year’s Eve, so his Christmas present from my parents was a joint Christmas/Birthday gift.  Are you ready for this….. they gave Tyson a NEW CAR!!!  He goes to school about 20 miles from our house and having a car can be such a blessing (mostly for us!)  Tyson is an honor student and maintains a high GPA, while still playing three different sports (year round).  My parents wanted to reward him.  My brothers were also involved in giving Tyson the car and then contributed a sub woofer and amp for his stereo.  Tyson was ABSOLUTELY STUNNED and in SHOCK!  He never in a million years thought he would get such a gift. He has been soooooo thankful to everyone.  What a great kid!  Madi was also spoiled by grandma and grandpa as well as her uncles.  She got a flip phone/camera phone, which she totally wanted as well an an iPod Video!  She was beyone thrilled!  She also got some cute (?) skater shoes and more clothes.  Tyson spent the remainder of the day learning how to drive a stick shift!  Too funny!  He got it though, and is doing great!  He’s getting in lots of driving time with us, to  prepare for his test next week.  Oh, the specs on the car….. 2001 Volkswagon Passat.  It is silver and only has 50k miles.  It is in awesome condition!  I think I want to drive it!

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Ali

I’ve been Christmas Tagged!

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Tagged!

The awesome & talented Melissa tagged me!

Hot Chocolate or Egg nog.

I’m not really a huge chocolate fan (weird huh) and Egg Nog gives me the HEEBIE JEEBIES!  Just the thought of it!  ICK!  I prefer a nice Latte from Starbucks instead!

Does Santa wrap the presents or just set them under the tree. 

He wraps them. When the kids were little, Santa didn’t wrap, but somehow that changed over the last few years!  Santa wraps everything now.  I love to wrap so it works out great for me!

Colored or white lights on the tree/house?

All white lights on the house outside, and on all of our trees and garland inside.  I have kind of a red/white Christmas theme in the house, so colored lights wouldn’t work too well.

Do you hang mistletoe?

I never have!  Weird!  Maybe I should this year!

When do you decorate?

The day after Thanksgiving!  Tradition!  Although this year I had to work, so I didn’t get started until Friday night!  I’m kind of anal about decorating too.  I like to do it all myself!  The kids do their tree, and Carl does the lights outside and puts up the HUGE tree in the living room, but the rest is all mine!  And I LOVE IT! 

What is your favorite holiday dish?

Hmmmmmm… hard decision!  I have a few!  My mom makes this yummy potato dish every year for Christmas dinner.  They are called lots of different things Company Potatoes, Funeral Potatoes, or if you are from Utah, Mormon Potatoes! LOL!  On Christmas Eve after Mass, and visiting with Carl’s family, we usually end up at our friends The Ringheimer’s house, and they always have this yummy roasted red pepper/mushroom/olive oil dish that is amazing!  AND of course I can’t forget the yummy breakfast casserole that we have on Christmas morning.  Random choices, I know!  I’m not a real dessert eater!

Favorite Holiday memory as a child?

So many!  Probably my favorite would be trying to stay up all night with my brothers!  My parents would let my brothers and I sleep in their bed when we werel little, while they stayed up and waited for santa.  They would sleep in my brother’s twin beds :)!  We would try and stay up as late as we could to see if we could hear Santa.  We used to laught and giggle all night!  Eventually, we would fall asleep only to wake up around 4:00 am to start bugging my parents to let us get up and see what Santa brought!

How and when did you learn the truth about Santa?

I can’t really remember!  I think I still believe!

Do you open gifts on Christmas Eve? 

We open one gift and it is always pajamas!

What kind of cookies do you set out for Santa on Christmas Eve?

We usually buy sugar cookies for Santa, which we did last night!  And we always leave a glass of milk, or a bottle of coke (when we can find bottles!)

Snow! Love it or hate it?

I LOVE it on Christmas!  My ideal would be to have snow from Thanksgiving through New Years!  And then on January 2nd… bring on the warm balmy weather!  I don’t think we’ll have a white Christmas this year.  The weather has been soooooo nice the last few days!  Must be what you Californians have at Christmas!  Temps in the mid to upper 50’s!

Can you ice skate?

Yes!  Not very well, but my friend’s Amy & Ilona and I took ice skating lessons a few years ago!  Fun times!

Do you remember your favorite gift? 

I ‘ve had some great gifts!  When I was younger…. the year I got skiis, or the year I got a phone for my room… or the year I got those awesome blue clogs that I just had to have! I even opened that package and peeked to make SURE I was getting them! LOL! As an adult, I don’t really care about getting gifts… the best gift is giving presents to my kids and watching their faces when I’ve picked out just the right thing!

What’s your favorite holiday dessert?

I’m not really a huge dessert eater!  I’m weird, I know!  BUT, my Mom makes these awesome chocolate cookies every year at Christmas!  They are my favorite and are a tradition for sure! Mom, if you are reading this, you better get baking those cookies! 🙂 And my late sister-in-law Anne, was known for her sugar cookies!  She made them every year for us for Christmas!  Chris, if you’re reading this, HAVE YOU BAKED THOSE COOKIES YET?  ;)!

What’s your favorite holiday tradition?

Carl and I give the kids (and my niece Erin) a new Hallmark ornament every year!  The kids have thier own tree that they put their ornaments on.  We had to upgrade to a bigger tree last year, because they have quite the collection now that they are 13 & 16!  Another favorite tradition is going to Mass on Christmas Eve as a family!  Reminds us of the reason for the season!

What is your favorite Christmas Carol?

So many favorites. I can’t name just one!  I love "Mary’s Boy Child Jesus" (not sure of the real title!) Winter Wonderland, really all of the classics!  And I LOVE, LOVE Feliz Navidad!  I know, I know, that is just weird!  BUT it ALWAYS makes happy to sing along with it! 

Are they fake or real? Er, I mean…What type of tree? 

Well that’s kind of personal!  LOL!  Our trees are all fake, BUT my ‘girls’ are REAL! 🙂

And now I am going to tag Angie and Katherine, two great girls!  Angie, you better update your blog woman!  And Katherine, LOVE the target UGGS!  CUTE!

Ali

Christmas Eve EVE!

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Merry Christmas Eve EveI’m finally starting to get excited for Chrismas!  Phew!  It has been a crazy week with 2 basketball games, a Christmas Party, a Birthday Party AND STILL SHOPPING TO FINISH UP!  Ü  BUT, it is Friday!  And tomorrow is Christmas Eve!  WOO HOO!  I am working today (hopefully we’ll get off early), but I thought I would post some photos of what I see everday while I am at work.  I work for an Ad Agency (Crowell Advertising) and we work in in a pretty funky building with lots, and lots of color.  Here are pictures of our Christmas Tree, our Christmas Card Christmas Tree, our GIANT Logo (the face) and also a picture of the view outside my window today (It’s GORGEOUS here today)!

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Okay, the bowling pin picture…. how random is that?  Apparently, my boss thinks we are going to have cocktails at lunch time and then have a bowling tournament down our long hallway…… ????????  Ugh!  Did I mention I still have Christmas shopping to do? 

Have a wonderful CHRISTMAS EVE EVE today!

Ali

Winter Formal News

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The Judge Memorial Winter Formal (girl’s choice) is coming up right after the Christmas break.  Usually the formal is held the week or two before Christmas, but this year it is changed to January 6th.  With all the drama of Homecoming this year (ex girlfriend, two "no" answers), it was nice that Tyson was asked to the Winter Formal right off the bat and by a cute girl, that just happens to be a scrapbooker!  How cute is this:

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She made this cute little scrapbook for Tyson!  It was waiting for him in his homeroom class.  Cute, cute!

So, Tyson of course said YES!  He answered her with a cute "Build-A-Bear" dressed in a cute knitted "J" (for Judge) sweater that a friend of mine knitted, along with a flag saying he would be "BEARY" happy to go to Winter Formal with her.  She loved it too!

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Ali

Clara, The Mouse King & Sugar Plum Fairies!

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Yep!  You guessed it!  I went to The Nutcracker on Saturday night!  My good friend Nicole called me Saturday morning asking me if I wanted to go.  She had an extra ticket!  We had a great time!  I just love The Nutcracker!  Thanks for inviting me Nicole!  I had a wonderful time!

Forgive the blurry picture!  We had great seats, but my digital camera sucks! Ü

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Ali

Christmas Card Photos

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I took the kids up Meuller Park Canyon yesterday to hopefully get some pictures for our Christmas Cards.  These are a few of the options!  I finally got Madi to get her hair out of her eyes!  I love the way it looks pulled back like this.  Cutie patootie!  It was freezing cold (we are in the middle of a cold snap), but it was sooooo beautiful.  All of the snow and ice!  Very cool!

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Ali

Behold the 6th Man Club!

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Judge Memorial Catholic High School, located in Salt Lake City, UT, has the VERY BEST 6th Man Club in the State….. possibly in the Nation?  ÜÜ  Ha ha!  What started out last year as a small group of kids (12-13) cheering on the varsity basketball team, has now grown to include over 40+ members!!!  40+ screaming, yelling fans!  It is so much fun to watch these boys and girls have so much team spirit.  The varsity basketball team loves the extra boost the 6th man club gives them!  Most other teams HATE coming to Judge to play.  We have a very small gym and when you add a good size student section AND the 6th Man Club…. it gets pretty crazy!  Oh and did I mention we have the top basketball recruit in Utah?  Senior Daniel Deane.  He was recruited by Kansas, North Carolina, Wake Forest, University of Utah, Gonazaga, UCLA and Stanford…. BUT, he chose to stay and play here at the University of Utah, where his dad played years ago.  So…. nobody likes to come to our gym and play us! I don’t blame them!  Anyway, here are some photos of the 6th Man Club.  They all where "retro" jerseys and have now begun wearing "retro" shorts… you know the kind…. really, really short! Oh my!  Oh, and Tyson is right in the middle of things, (#15) as usual!  The funny thing is, he has said that if he makes the varsity team next year, he is really going to miss being part of the 6th Man Club.  It is that fun for them! 

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Ali

A cool gift and a crafty daughter….

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Last week, our friends the Meske’s, dropped off the COOLEST gift for Tyson.  The Meske’s have a son named Chad who is a senior at Judge this year.  Chad has driven Tyson to school everyday for the last year and a half.  He is just an awesome kid.  The summer before Tyson’s freshman year, he was eligible to play summer baseball with the high school team.  Chad made sure he took Tyson under his wing and definitely looked out for him.  It has been that way ever since.  Awesome, awesome kid.  Anyway, after the football banquet, the Meske’s called to say they had a gift for Tyson since he was named JV MVP.  This is what they brought over: 000_0579

How cool is that?  The rock is pretty big and is sitting on our porch right now!  Cool!  We love all things BULLDOGS! I just had to share!

On another note…… I walked upstairs the other night to see what Madi was up to.  She kept grabbing paper out of my ‘scraps’ drawer, and taking other miscellaneous scrap supplies up to her room.  Come to find out, she is making music CD’s for all of her friends for Christmas, and she has been decorating the CD jewel cases.  Pretty creative, I thought! 

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Ali

MVP in da house!

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CONGRATS to Tyson!  Tyson was named JV MVP last night at the end of season football banquet!  He had a great year and showed that hard work, discipline, and determination pay off!  Being a sophomore, we didn’t know how much playing time he would get this year on JV, let a lone the varsity team.  Tyson played almost every down during the JV games and was the leading rusher.  He also played A LOT of varsity, even becoming the leading rusher in the game against Ben Lomond.  Nice job T!  WE LOVE YOU AND ARE VERY PROUD OF YOU!

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Ali